Kak's writings concerning the astronomy of the Vedic period in his book
The Astronomical Code of the Rgveda (1994) back "Indigenous Aryans" ideology, questioning mainstream views on the Indo-Aryan migration and the nature of early Indian science. His chronology and astronomical calculations have been opposed by several Indologists (such as Michael Witzel) and historians of science, but found a supporter in German Indologist Klaus Klostermaier". Kak's interpretation has been included in recent overviews of astronomy in the Vedic period in India and the West.
The Astronomical Code of the Rigveda
The Astronomical Code of the Rigveda (New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 1994; revised and enlarged edition, New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 2000) claims regularities in the organization of the Rigveda, connecting the structure to certain numbers in the astronomy-based ritual of the five-layered brick altars of the Vedic times.
Kak's archaeoastronomical claims have the effect of significantly extending the Vedic period, postulating the arrival of ethnic Indo-Aryans to the 7th millennium BC. This claim is in contradiction with mainstream Indology and historical linguistics and science historians
Kak arranges the number of hymns in each book of the Rigveda as follows, and compares the arrangement to a Vedic fire altar:
[[RV 10]]:191 [[RV 9]]:114
[[RV 7]] :104 [[RV 8]]: 92
[[RV 5]] : 87 [[RV 6]]: 75
[[RV 3]] : 62 [[RV 4]]: 58
[[RV 2]] : 43 [[RV 1]]:191
He then computes various sums and subtractions within the diagram, finding numbers related to the distance between the Earth and the Sun, and the sidereal periods of various planets.
Kak's method depends on the structure of the Rigveda as redacted by Shakalya in the late Brahmana period as opposed to the intrinsic content in the oldest portions of the text. Specifically, Witzel (2001) believes that Kak's approach relates to the organizations of the Rigveda into mandalas ("books"), a process of redaction undertaken by the shakhas long after the composition of the individual hymns (the
samhita prose period, dating to well within the Indian Iron Age), rendering the attempt to date the text in this flawed. Other scholars have discredited Kak's claims, finding them to be contrived. Nanda has said that Kak's "method is breathtakingly ad hoc and reads like numerology 101."
In Search of the Cradle of Civilization
Kak co-authored
In Search of the Cradle of Civilization (1995) participating in the controversy in Indian politics surrounding Indigenous Aryans and the Out of India theory.
Ashvamedha
Kak's book
The Asvamedha: The Rite and Its Logic (2002) provides a symbolic interpretation of the Vedic Ashvamedha (horse sacrifice) rite.