Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) have successfully used a custom deep-learning model to decipher a series of damaged astronomical tables found in a recently discovered 8th-century Sanskrit manuscript. The manuscript, written in an early variant of the Sharada script, contains precise calculations for the saros cycle and lunar eclipses that were previously thought to have been developed much later in the region.
The study, published in the Journal of Indian History and Culture, highlights how these ancient astronomers used a sophisticated base-60 system for celestial coordinates. The AI was able to fill in missing numerical data by cross-referencing the patterns with known planetary positions from the period, confirming that the Spiti Valley was a major center for Vedic astronomical research during the early medieval period.