Tales from India. 1: Meteor showers in classical and colonial sources

Abstract

Meteor phenomena are always fascinating and capture popular attention. This paper reports results of a search for references to and records of meteor showers observed in the Indian region, until the close of the nineteenth century. The sources explored were the Indian classics and chronicles, institutional reports and accounts by individuals, including those published in professional journals. We found very few references to such events in the classical sources. The earliest datable references that we found were in Shuka's Rajatarangini (Perseids or Leonids, 1533), Abu'l Fazl's Akbarnama (Alpha Capricornids or Delta Aquarids, 1592) and in Krishnaji Sabhasad's account of the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (Leonids, 1680). The subsequent accounts belong to the nineteenth century. Some of these are about sporadic meteors, while others are about meteor showers. The earliest published report is of the November Leonid meteor shower of 1832. We also came across a strong meteor shower on 10 September 1841 reported in the 13 September issue of the Englishman newspaper. We believe this is the September Epsilon Perseids, a minor shower known to peak on 9/10 September. This 1841 observation is 37 years before the September Epsilon Perseids were first described by William Denning, in 1878. We believe that such records can be of great value in fine-tuning time-lines in Indian history and understanding the dynamics of meteoroid streams.