Feature 
 

Science

Saturday vs. Shanivar

Was science born in ancient Greece? The answer is ‘No,’ because there is an uncanny similarity between ancient Greek and Indian science

By Prof. Shirin Haque | December 2025

The story of Western history of science typically begins with the Greeks, with Aristotle often being claimed as the leading scholar of ancient times. Dig a little deeper, and an uncanny similarity between Greek and Indian philosophy, science, and mythology begins to appear. However, modern science, as a triumph of Western civilization, is typically attributed to the Greeks as its starting point.

The interaction between the Greeks and Indians is well-documented, dating back to the arrival of Alexander the Great in 327 BC and even earlier, under the Persian Achaemenid Empire, which stretched from Anatolia to the northwestern regions of India. There are far more historical records that we rely on from the Greeks than from Indian scholars, who, it seems, did not leave as many records behind. We shall explore just some of the uncanny similarities between Greek and Indian ancient science, as to who influenced whom often remains an open question. At the same time, most Western scholarly writing attributes the influence of Greek culture on India.

Common human needs give rise to similar developments. For example, all cultures seem to venerate the skies due to their common need for survival through agriculture, and thus the importance of understanding seasonal patterns, time-telling, and directions. This is common to all people, regardless of their location. So, common themes emerging in the archeoastronomy of the ancient people are not surprising.

However, creating similar mythologies based on pseudoscience, which is essentially a form of storytelling, is a different matter. Let us look at some examples of uncanny similarities between early Greek and Indian scientific ideas and what is essentially considered pseudoscience today.

Why are there seven days in a week? Not many people realise that it is linked to ancient astronomy and the observations of the ancient people. While archaeological records indicate its origin in Mesopotamia, we commonly learn that it was propagated by the Greeks and Romans, where each day represents a god in the sky linked to a celestial body that moves among the stars. The ancient Babylonians invented the seven-day week around the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, based on their observations of the seven visible celestial bodies in the sky – the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. As such, the Western nomenclature, originating from the Greco-Roman tradition and the Anglo-Saxon or English adaptation, reveals that Sunday is linked to the Sun, Monday to the Moon, Tuesday to Mars, Wednesday to Mercury, Thursday to Jupiter, Friday to Venus, and Saturday to Saturn.

In the Indian culture, the days of the week in Hindi are linked as follows: Sunday is related to the Sun (Surya) - Ravivar, Monday to the Moon (Chandra) - Somvar, Tuesday to Mars (Mangal) - Mangalvar, Wednesday to Mercury (Budha) - Budhavar, Thursday to Jupiter (Guru/Brihaspati) - Guruvar, Friday to Venus (Shukra) - Shukravar, and Saturday to Saturn (Shani) – Shanivar. They are identical and clearly one culture borrowed from another, but which came first? India and Mesopotamia are the oldest ancient river civilizations, and there is archaeological evidence of connections between these cultures long before the occupation of the Western regions.

Our following example comes from the ancient world of astrology, which is built around the idea that the planets and their positions influence humans’ lives on Earth. Therefore, let us look at horoscopes.


Once again, archaeological evidence also shows that this originated with the ancient Babylonians in the 2nd millennium BCE. It is generally thought that the modern horoscope with the 12-sign zodiac emerged through the Greeks. The origin of Indian horoscopes, also known as Vedic astrology or Jyotisha, is rooted in the Vedic period (c. 1500–500 BCE), with its earliest concepts documented in the Vedas. This is clearly long before any documented contact between the Greeks and Indians. Both the Western and Indian horoscope systems are based on the same twelve signs of the zodiac in the sky. How uncanny!

Both the Western and Indian horoscope systems are based on the same twelve signs of the zodiac in the sky. How uncanny!

The primary difference is that Western astrology employs the tropical zodiac, which is based on the seasons and the Sun’s position. In contrast, Indian astrology utilizes the sidereal zodiac, which is based on the fixed stars. While they both use the same zodiac system, Indian astrology is more accurate regarding the position of the zodiac at the time of birth. In contrast, the Western system, based on the Sun’s position, has varied by some 23-30 degrees, and in some cases, causing a horoscope shift by an entire sign. Is it not uncanny the similarities between Vedic and Western Astrology? The Vedas predate any Greek contact with the Indian culture. Can such mythologies truly appear independently, while, interestingly, the nearby Chinese astrology follows no such pattern as a control?

Let us look at ancient medicine in the two cultures. Ancient Indian medicine, known as Ayurveda, is based on the balance of three vital energies (doshas), where an imbalance leads to illness. These are (wind/air), Pitta (bile/fire), and Kapha (phlegm/water and Earth). Early Greek medicine, owed to Hippocrates and Galen, relies on the balance of the four humours or bodily fluids: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. These were associated with the four elements (air, water, fire, Earth) and specific personality traits, and seasons again relied on their balance. The similarity, once again, is uncanny, given the inaccuracy regarding modern medicine. It is interesting to note that Ayurvedic medicine dates to ancient texts like the Charak Samhita and Sushruta Samhita, dating back to at least 1500 BCE, while Hippocrates lived from approximately 460 to 370 BCE during Greece’s Classical period, and Galen lived much later, from 129 to approximately 216 CE in the Roman Empire. Interestingly, Hippocrates is considered the “father of modern medicine,” and doctors still take the Hippocratic oath.

Even the concept of the atom shares similarity between the Greeks and Indians, with the ideas of Democritus much better known than those of Ancient Indian ideas about atoms, particularly from the philosopher Kanada around 600 BCE. He proposed that all matter is made of eternal, indivisible particles called paramanu or anu. Ancient Greek atomism, proposed by philosophers such as Leucippus and Democritus around 440 BCE, theorized that the universe is composed of tiny, indivisible particles called “atomos” (Greek for “uncuttable”) that move in space. Uncanny indeed!

These examples of pseudoscience, including the days of the week, horoscopes, ancient medicine of humours and fluids, and the concept of the atom, clearly indicate that there was a significant amount of interaction between the Indians and Greeks, and that the emergence of such similar ideas cannot be attributed to chance. However, what is far from settled is the question of who originated the concepts highlighted in this write-up, specifically whether they originated in one culture and subsequently influenced another.

Read More