Speed of light calculated in Vedic age!
Perhaps , the greta Indian talents in the Vedic age had the knowledge of speed of light. G.V.Raghavrao in his book quotes a verse from Rigbeda (I, 50-4) 'Yojananm Sahastra Dwe Dwe Shate Dwe Cha Yojane Aken Nimishardhena Krammana Namostute'. In this verse, the author pays respect to the one (the reference is to the sun light) who moves 2202 yojans in half nimish. Yojan is quite common unit in India,it means 4 kose,each kose measuring 8000 British yards and each yard measuring 0.9144m. The definition of the time unit nimish can be found in Shrimadhbhagwat (III, 11-3 to 10) where it is mentioned that 15 nimishas make 1 kashta, 15 kasthas make one laghu, 30 laghus make 1 muhutra and 30 muhutras make one 1 diva-ratri. A diva-ratri is of course, a day-night of 24 hours in modern language.When you convert 2202 yojans per half nimish into SI units, it turns out to be 3.0 x 10^8 m/s up to two significant digits, a value quite accurate as we know today.
2202 yojans = 2202 x 4 x 8000 x 0.9144 =64432281.6m
half nimish =0.2133333333s
dividing (64432281.6m/ 0.2133333333s)= 3.0 x 10^8 m/s
Source :CONCEPTS OF PHYSICS BY H.C. VERMA PART 1 PAGE-444
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