CHAPTER XVI
Muhūrta
The word ‘muhūrta’ occurs twice in the R̥g. In the dialogue between the rivers and sage Viśvamitra that had come to the confluence of the Śutudri (modern Sutlaj) and the Vipāś (modern Beas) occurs the following 1 ‘for the sake of my words (of your praise) that will be followed by the offering of soma may you, that follow the established order (of nature ), stop from 2 flowing for a short while’. In another place the R̥gveda says ’the opulent Indra, employing many tricks, often assumes different forms from off his own body, since he, being invoked by mantras addressed to him and upholder of the cosmic order and drinking soma at (usual and even) unusual times, comes thrice from heaven for a short time.’ In both these passages ‘muhūrta’ means ‘a short time, a few moments’. This meaning of muhūrta is found in the Śat. Br. I. 8. 3. 17 (tan muhūrtam dhārayitvā) and II. 3. 2. 5 (atha prātaḥ anaśitvā muhūrtam sabhāyām-āsitvāpi) and in classical Sanskrit works like the Raghuvaṁśa ( V. 58).
There is another meaning of the word ‘muhūrta’ in Śat. Br. X. 4. 2. 18 and XII. 3. 2.5 where it is said that there are fifteen muhūrtas of the day and fifteen of the night (i.e. 30 in ahorātra) and that in a year there are 10800 muhūrtas (30 X 360 3).
Here the word muhūrta means 15th part of the day ( i.e. in a general way about two nāḍikas or ghaṭikās). R̥g. x. 189.3 appears 7 to contain a somewhat recondite allusion to thirty parts of the day and night ‘by the rays of the sun thirty locations of the day (and night) shine forth; a laud is offered to the bird (the sun).’ The fifteen names (viz. citra, ketu &c.) of the muhūrtas of the day and 15 muhūrtas of the night occur in Tai. Br. II1.8 10. 1. 1-3. The Vedāṅga-Jyotiṣa states that two nadikās are equal to a muhūrta (verse 7 of Vedāṅga-Jyotiṣa of R̥g.) and that there is a difference of six muhūrtas ( i.e. 12 ghaṭıkās) between the longest and shortest day. 9 Manu I. 64, Kauṭilya ( quoted in note [^681]) and several purāṇas ( quoted in note [^682]) state that day and night are together equal to thirty muhūrtas. Therefore, the second meaning of muhūrta from early Brāhmaṇa times at least was ‘a period of two ghaṭikās’. The Kauṣitaki-upaniṣad speaks of muhūrtas called Yeṣṭihas. 10
It appears that some centuries before the Christian era the 15 muhūrtas of the day had received names different from those in the Tai. Br. The Baudhāyana-dharma-sūtra (II. 10. 26), Manu IV. 92 and Yāj. I. 115 prescribe 11 that a householder should get up from his bed in the Brāhma-muhūrta ( the last half watch of the night). The Brāhmamuhūrta is mentioned in
Fifteen muhūrtas of day
Droṇaparva (80.23). In the Raghuvaṁśa (V. 36) Kālidasa says that Aja was born on the Brāhma muhūrta ( i.e. Abhijit of which Brahmā is the presiding deity) and in the Kumārasambhava (VII. 6 ) he says that the female relatives of Pārvati decked her in readiness for her marriage on Maitra muhūrta and when the Moon was in Uttarā-Phalguni-nakṣatra tithi (5th). Besides, in several places auspicious tithis, nakṣatras and muhūrtas are mentioned in general (e.g. Sabhā 2. 15 and 23. 4, Vana 253. 28). The Ātharvaṇa Jyotiṣa (1. 6-11 ) names the 15 muhūrtas of the day as noted below. 7 The Muhūrtadarśana (or Vidya-mādhaviya) gives almost the same 15 names ( except Gāndharva for Viśvāvasu), inserts Śakra before Vāruṇa and omits Saumya and states that seven of these are auspicious viz. 12 Abhijit, Vairāja, Śveta, Sāvitra, Maitra, Bala and Vijaya. The Ādiparva (123.6) states that Yudhiṣṭhira was born when the moon was in the nakṣatra presided over by Indra (i.e. Jyeṣṭhā), on the 8th muhūrta called Abhijit, when the sun was on the meridian by day and on a tithi called pūrṇā (here the 5th ). In the Udyogaparva it is stated that a purohita was sent as a dūta of the Paṇḍavas on Puṣya yoga 13 and Jaya muhūrta (here Jaya is probably the same as Vijaya). The Manusmr̥ti says that naming the child should be done on the 10th or 12th day (from birth ) on an auspicious tithi, muhūrta and nakṣatra14. It would be proper to assume that the auspicious muhūrtas intended by Manu are the same as the seven mentioned in the Vidyāmādhaviya.
The Vāyupurāṇa enumerates the names of the 15 muhūrtas in the day somewhat differently and also of the night. 4 The Matsyapurāṇa (in chap. 22. 2) refers to two muhūrtas, Abhijit and Rauhiṇa and mentions eight muhūrtas as auspicious on which to begin the construction of a new house. 15 It also speaks of Kutapa as the 8th muhūrta ( 22. 84 ) and states that Kutapa and the following four muhũrtas are the home of svadhā (i.e. śrāddha must be begun on kutapa and completed before the 12th muhūrta ends). It would be seen from the above that the names of muhūrtas were given at least twice, first in the Tai. Br. and then in the Ātharvaṇa Jyotiṣa and the Purāṇas. A further stage was probably reached when their names receded into the background and practically disappeared from such works as those of Varāhamihira and only the names of the deities presiding over the 30 muhūrtas of day and night remained and the muhūrtas came to be known by the names of the deities. Though Varāhamihira refers to the muhūrtas of day and night in Bṛhat-samhitā 42. 12 and 98.3, he does not set out their names in that work, but in his Bṛhad-Yogayātrā he sets out the 30 names of the deities presiding over the muhūrtas of day and night as quoted in the note below.16
What should be done on muhūrtas of day
Varāha remarks: whatever has been stated as proper for being done on certain nakṣatras, may be done on tithis presided over by the deities of those nakṣatras and also on karaṇas and on muhūrtas; that leads to success as the deity is the same.17 For example, if a certain thing is recommended for being done on Ārdrā nakṣatra, then it may be done also on the muhūrta of Śiva (i.e. the first muhūrta of the day) as the devata of both (the nakṣatra Ārdrā and the first muhūrta) is the same (viz. Rudra). The Ātharvaṇa Jyotiṣa ( 2. 1-11 ) and (3. 1-6 ) dilates upon what should be done on the 15 muhūrtas of the day. Some examples may be cited here: on Raudra may be done whatever is of a terrific nature; on Maitra should be done whatever is affectionate or friendly; on Sārabhata black magic may be resorted to against enemies; Abhijit is proper for all desired objects and gives success in all undertakings; Vijaya leads to victory if one marches on it, one may perform auspicious acts on it and śānti rites; on Bhagamuhūrta one should choose a brāhmaṇa maiden for marriage and such a one married on Bhaga does not turn out unchaste. It may be noticed that Patañjali (on Vārtika one on Pāṇini V.1. 80 ) refers to the fact of a person being engaged for a month to teach one muhūrta every day18.
After the vernal equinox, days become gradually longer than the night and after the autumnal equinox nights are gradually longer and longer than the day. As there are only thirty muhūrtas from one sunrise to the next sunrise it is proper to say that a muhūrta is equal to two ghaṭikās (i.e. 48 minutes). But it is also said that there are 15 muhūrtas of the day. The longest day in India of the Vedāṅga-jyotiṣa locality was of 36 ghaṭikās and therefore if one insisted on the number 15 each muhūrta on that day would be 2 2/15 ghaṭikās, while as the shortest day was 24 ghaṭikās in length each muhūrta of that day would be only 1 3/5 ghaṭikās. This difference in length in the case of muhūrtas is noted by the Viṣṇudharmottara (I. 73. 6-8) and by the Brahmāndapurāṇa (I. 2. 21. 122–123). The Viṣṇudharmottara (I. 83. 67-73) sets out the names of the deities of the 30 muhūrtas. It appears that in ancient times it was understood that the longest day gained and was of 18 muhūrtas, while the short night of hat day had only 12 muhūrtas i. e. 6 muhūrtas got attached to the day sometimes and 6 muhūtas got attached to the night sometimes when it was longest.
Patañjali 19 in his bhāṣya on Vārtika 2 of Pāṇini II. 1. 29 mentions this. This would be a matter of personal observation which need not extend beyond a few years. But even here Prof. Neugebauer smells Mesopotamian influence (‘Exact sciences in Antiquity’ p. 178). This is a characteristic example of the jaundiced eyes with which most Western writers look at things Indian. If the writer of the Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa was a native of the extreme north west of India or had stayed there for some years he would have easily noticed the difference between the longest day and the shortest day as about twelve ghaṭikās, particularly as that very verse of the Vedāṅga-jyotiṣa shows that water clocks were then used. Even illiterate people in the villages of Bombay State know that the difference between the longest and shortest day in their villages is about six ghaṭikās (as Bombay is a little over 18 degrees, N. Lat.). There is nothing to show that the writer of the Vedāṅga-Jyotiṣa was not a person who was either born in the extreme north-west of India or stayed there. The North-West of India was a centre of Sanskrit culture at least six centuries preceding the Christian era and Takṣaśila (Taxila ) was a great University where princes came to learn (vide Rhys Davids in ‘Buddhist India’ p. 8). Paṇini hailed from that part, it appears, and teaches the formation of words like Saindhava, Takṣaśila and Śālāturiya as meaning a person whose ancestors lived in or who himself stayed in Sindhu or in Takṣaśila or in Śālātura ( Pān. IV.3. 89-90 and 93–94). Later writers call Pāṇini Śālāturiya (vide Bhāmaha VI 62-63). To suppose that a learned Indian who was writing a work on Jyotiṣa had to run all the way from India to Mesopotamia a thousand or more miles for finding out the difference between the longest and shortest day in his own country or for saying that the difference between the longest and shortest day in Mesopotamia being 12 ghaṭikās the same was the difference between them in India or for consulting works written in the Cuneiform characters for that purpose almost borders on the absurd. Besides Prof Neugebauer is not quite correct. The latitude of Babylon is 32’. 40’ North and even there the ratio would not be exactly as 3 to 2. Gāndhāra is 31°. 40’ North Lat; one who is to the north of Gāndhāra may quite naturally say that the ratio is about 3 to 2. Vide C. R. C. Report p. 225. Further in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 8 (pp. 6-26), Prof. Waerden points out (at p. 18) that even in Babylonia the great omen series started from the primitive ratio 2:1 and that it was only later that the more accurate value 3:2 became known.
Meaning of ‘Muhūrta’
It has been shown so far that the word ‘muhūrta’ had two meanings in the ancient Vedic times, viz. ‘for a short time’ and ‘a part equal to two ghaṭikās.’ As some muhūrtas of the day (of the duration of two ghaṭikās) were declared to be auspicious, gradually a third meaning came to be attached to this word viz. ’time that is fit for the performance of an auspicious act’20 It would be shown later on how the medieval Dharmaśāstra works are full of muhūrtas in this sense.
In order to thoroughly understand the requirements about muhūrta in this third sense some knowledge of the planets, the twelve bhāvas ( houses or places in a horoscope ) and the rāśis would be necessary. Before entering on a discussion of these latter matters reference must be made to the change that came over even the best minds of India from about the 4th century B.C. It has been seen above (p.527) how the star-gazer and the gaṇaka had come to be condemned and how one who was a professional astrologer (for money ) had been looked down upon as an unworthy brāhmaṇa. All the same there was even about 500 or 600 B. C. a small section of people who looked upon the astrologer as all important, particularly to the king. The Gautamadharmasūtra 21 provides ’the king should choose as his purohita (palace priest) a brāhmaṇa endowed with learning, good family, eloquence, handsomeness, (middle ) age ( neither too young nor too old ), character, and who is righteous in conduct and austere; the king should perform all (religious ) acts as directed by the priest; he should respect (i.e. follow and not discard) what those who have devoted thought to astrology and the lore of omens and portents announce ( as required to be done ), because some ācāryas (teachers ) assert that the welfare ( of the country or king ) depends upon that (upon doing what astrologers and experts in portents declare ).’
This trend of thought gradually gathered greater and greater strength till at last even the great smr̥tikāra Yājñavalkya categorically 22 declared in the first centuries of the Christian era “one should sedulously worship that planet that is badly affected (in a person’s horoscope ). Brahmā conferred a boon on then (planets) ‘when worshipped you should honour the worshipper’ (with favours ). “The rise and fall of kings is dependent on the planets, as also the emergence and the disappearance of the world; therefore planets are to be worshipped most”. Yājñavalkya no doubt declares23 that ‘success in undertakings is dependent upon daiva (luck) and human effort; out of these, daiva is really human effort of previous lives made manifest ( in this life ). Just as a chariot cannot be set in motion on one wheel, so luck does not succeed unless there is human effort ( also )’.
Daiva ( Fate) and Puruṣakāra
Discussion of the relative importance of daiva (luck or destiny) and human effort are frequent in Dharmaśāstra works, particularly in the Mahābhārata, there being three tendencies viz. (firstly ) daiva is all powerful, ( secondly ) human effort is superior, (thirdly ) a golden mean between the two. Vide H. of Dh. vol. III. pp. 168–169 for discussion and for passages supporting all the three views. The first chapter of Bṛhad yogayātrā ( 20 verses ) and also of the Yogayātrā ( 22 verses ) deal with daiva (Luck, Fate) and puruṣakāra. In spite of this, from the king to the lowliest man, almost everyone was firmly in the grip of astrology and even now astrology has great influence over some highly educated Indians. Astrology based on horoscopes and dealing with individuals was called horāśāstra or jātaka. By the time of Varāhamihira even learned men had forgotten the origin of the word horā. The Bṛhajjātaka says 24 ‘according to some the word horā is obtained from ahorātra by dropping the first and last syllables, that horāśāstra well manifests what the fruition of acts, good or bad, done in previous lives is going to be’. It should be noticed that the Bṛhajjātaka insists on two matters, viz. (1) it links up the horoscopic astrology to the doctrines of karma and punarjanma (re-incarnation to wipe out karma) and (2) the śāstra holds that the horoscope to be only a map or plan, which indicates future trends in a man’s life arising from what he had done in a previous life or in previous lives. It does not here say that the planets in a man’s horoscope will compel him to do this or that, but it says that the horoscope will only intimate in what directions a man’s future might be evolved. These principles were repeated even by late medieval writers. For example, Raghunandana 25 in his Udvāhatattva (p. 125 ) agrees with the Dipikā that the planets only convey that sins were committed in former lives, but they do not themselves produce evil results and quotes the Matsyapurāṇa in support that ’evil actions done in former lives bear fruit in the present life in the form of diseases, distress and the death of those dear to one’.
There was probably a third underlying principle viz. the stars are the temples in which the gods reside, as said in the Śat. Br. and Tai. Br. 26 The Babylonians 27 and Assyrians based their astrology mainly on three assumptions viz. (1) the stars are temples in which the gods reside; (2) the stars reveal to men the intentions of the gods with regard to the future; (3) human history is predetermined at a heavenly council over which Marduk presides. These, except the first, are entirely different from the principles emphasized by Varāhamihira and those who came after him. The Babylonians and Greeks had no (generally believed) doctrines of karma and punarjanma. Therefore, they could not make astrology serve indirectly a higher purpose, viz, of inducing people to lead a life of virtue in the present. Instead of the somewhat childish and often immoral legends of ancient times the cult of planetary influence and worship seemed to many minds far more rational and convincing.
The Sārāvali of Kalyāṇa-varman follows this and adds 28 that what is known among the people as Jātaka is called horā in this śāstra or the word (horā) may indeed be taken to be & synonym for ‘consideration of what the destiny would be’. The word ‘horā’ has two other meanings in Sanskrit astrology viz. lagna ( that sign which is rising on the eastern horizon at a particular moment) and half a rāśi (Bṛhajjātaka I, 9). Extravagant claims were made for the importance and utility of astrology and astrologers. The Sārāvali declares : 29 there is no one else except astrology that would serve as a helper of men in acquiring wealth, as a boat in the sea of calamities and as a councillor when one starts on a journey or invasion. Varāhamihira boasts30 ‘Even those who have resorted to a forest (i.e. who have become forest hermits), who are free from worldly attachments and are without property, ask questions of one who knows the movements of heavenly luminaries.
Importance of astrologers
As the night without a lamp or the sky without the sun, so a king without an astrologer (with him) wanders about (or wavers ) as a blind man on a road. If there be no astronomer and astrologer, auspicious times, tithis, nakṣatras, seasons and the ayanas (northward and southward passages of the sun ),-these would all become confused. What a single astrologer knowing the country and time can effect, that even a thousand elephants or four thousand horsemen cannot accomplish.’
The Rājamārtaṇḍa provides 31 ’the purohita (family or palace priest ), an astronomer, a councillor and an astrologer as the fourth – these must always be supported by the king even with great trouble, as in the case of women.’
It has, however to be noted that Varāhamihira himself frequently gives up the principle that the horoscope is only a map showing tendencies and talks the language of certainty and of the planets causing this or that state of things. To mention one or two examples. In Bṛhaj-jātaka 32 he says the sages declare that a person is born from a paramour for certain (and not from his reputed father ) if in his horoscope Jupiter has no dṛṣṭi ( aspect) either on the lagna or on the moon or on the sun and moon that are in conjunction (in his horoscope ) or when the moon is in conjunction with the sun and with a malefic planet (Mars or Saturn)’. In VI. 11 Bṛ. J. says33 ’the moon in conjunction with a malefic planet in the 1st, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th or 12th house ( in a horoscope ) causes death ( of the new-born child ) if it is not also in conjunction with powerful Venus, or Mercury or Jupiter or if it is not in aspect with one of those powerful three.’
Again in Bṛhaj-jātaka XIV. 1 it is said: If the sun is in conjunction with another planet, he produces the following results, viz, with the moon a man who makes (lethal) machines or works in stones; with Mars a man addicted to evil ways; with Mercury a man who is skilful, intelligent, famous and happy; with Jupiter, a cruel man or one intent on carrying out the objects of others; with Venus a man who makes money by going on the stage ( or in a ring for boxing &c.) or by the use of arms; with Saturn a man clever in metals or different kinds of (merchandise or) vessels. The Sārāvali very frequently says that such and such a position produces (janayati, utpādayati) or causes (karoti or kuryāt &c.) certain results. Vide chap. 33. 48–61.
Chaldeans and Greek Science
Before proceeding further I must point out that India was not singular in its firm belief in Astrology. The case was the same throughout Europe and among the Greeks after Alexander the Great. It has been already seen (p.521) how Babylonian astrologers made reports to the king about the position of the Sun, the Moon and the planets and what they portended for the country, the king and the people. Vide for example, Nos. 9, 15, 16, 21, 32, 33, 52, 53, 63, 66, 67, 72, 74, 76, 86, 151, 164 from ‘The Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon’ by R. Campbell Thompson (vol. I and II, Luzac and Co. London, 1900). But horoscopic astrology was developed by them later. In the Old Testament Isaiah (759–710 B. C. ) 47.1 and 5 apostrophize Babylon as the daughter of the Chaldeans and in verse 13 we read ’let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee’. In Daniel 4.7 it is said that on Nebuchadnezzar’s order ‘came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans and the soothsayers’. Vide also Daniel 1.20 and 2.2 and 27. The Chaldeans held that the five planets specially controlled men’s destinies and five Babylonian deities were identified with them. As Bouché Leclercq observes (in’L’Astrologie Grecque’, p. 572 ) ‘Chaldean astrology had lived on a fund of naive ideas, it began at a time when the heavens were deemed to be nothing but a cover of the earth, when all the stars were ranged at small distances on the vault and the planets were supposed to move in the midst of stars like shepherds inspecting their flocks. Greek science having extended the world, the influence of stars moved back at enormous distances was not a postulate of common sense’ (vide note [^748] above ). Herodotus 34 ( II. 82) refers to a peculiar practice of the Egyptians to regard each month and day as sacred to some deity, and says how from the day of a man’s birth they determined his fortune, character and the manner of his death. But this has no reference to horoscopic Astrology. The Egyptians knew nothing about the Zodiac before the Alexandrian age. There is no trace of astrology in early Greek astronomical writers and it appears that the Greeks got it from Babylon 35 after Alexander conquered Babylon, when teachers of astrology began to arrive in Greece. The Hellenistic mind was soon completely captivated by astrology. Before the advent of astrology the Greeks tried to peep into the future by oracles, interpretation of dreams and inspection of the entrails and livers of sacrificed animals, from the flight and cries of birds and from prodigies and unusual occurrences such as eclipses, comets and meteors. Berossus 36, a priest of the god Bel at Babylon, dedicated to his patron Antiochus I Soter (280-261 B. C.) an elaborate work on Babylonian and Chaldean history and it was he who was instrumental in spreading Babylonian astrology in Greece by first introducing it in his school at Cos, an island not far from the south-western corner of Asia Minor. From Greece astrology spread to Rome about the 2nd century B. C. The signs of the Zodiac became house-hold words in Greece and Rome.
Stoics like Posidonius helped it by defending it. Cato in 37 his work on agriculture warns a farmer against consulting a Chaldean and in 139 B. C. an Edict was passed for expelling Chaldeans from Italy. Diodorus 38 Siculus (a contemporary of Augustus of Rome ) describes the theory and method of the Chaldeans in casting horoscopes. Horace 39 ( died in 8 B. C.) in his ode to Maecenas refers to the influence of the signs Libra, Scorpion and Capricornus and of the protective power of Jove and about baleful Saturn in his horoscope. Strabo, 40 who died in 24 A. D., averred (XVI. 1.6) that some Chaldeans were skilled in astronomy and the casting of horoscopes. Petronius (1st century A. D.) describes in his novel Satyricon a dinner in forty pages in which a tray displayed the signs of the zodiac under each of which was placed appropriate food ( vide Will Durant in “Caesar and Christ” page 298, (New York 1944). Juvenal,41 who flourished about the close of the 1st century A. D., strongly inveighs against ladies who have great confidence in Chaldean astrology. It should not, however, be supposed that no dissenting voice was raised against astrology in Rome and medieval Europe, Cicero did not believe in astrology 42 as he said that the planets were too far away (Bouché Leclerq’s work p. 572). St. Augustine (354-430 A. D.) in his work ‘City of God’ calls astrology a delusion.43
Babylonian and Greek Astrology
There were some points of difference between Babylonian astrology and Greek astrology, viz. Babylonian astrology originally at least was interested in the State and the royal family, while Greek astrology was interested only in the individual and Babylonian astrology was a priestly business while in Greece the astrologers were laymen, Astrology became a study of international importance in Europe and was cultivated in the Universities as a subject of real value throughout Europe by the side of astronomy. Its great vogue among even well educated people was due to its apparent scientific structure with its houses, planets, twelve signs and so forth. Allen (in ‘Star-crossed Renaissance’ Preface p. VIII) says that everybody in the Renaissance period in the West believed to, some extent in astrology. In ‘Stars above us’ by Prof. E. Zinner, Tycho Brahe is quoted as saying that he prepared every year an astrological forecast for his king (p. 76). Even Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler practised astrology themselves or countenanced its practice. Bacon was prepared to say that there was no fatal necessity in the stars, but they rather incline than compel. Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos reigned supreme for about 1400 years and is even now a work of great authority for those who believe in astrology. It may interest the reader to know that the great German poet, dramatist and philosopher, Goethe 44 (1749-1832), begins his Memoirs by mentioning the aspects of planets at his birth.
Two circumstances tended to weaken the influence of astrology in Europe, viz. the giving up of the geocentric theory in favour of the heliocentric theory and the vast additions to astronomical knowledge made during the last two centuries. But it should not be supposed that astrology has become defunct in the West or U. S. A. The immense strain and distress caused by the two world wars provided a powerful fillip for the spread and influence of astrology.
Even in papers the circulation of which runs into millions there is a regular astrological feature every day or every week, which tells people what the stars portend for twelve groups of the world’s population in the week or on the day mentioned. 45 What benefit the people derive from these prognostications it is difficult to understand. Often the prognostications are extremely vague and not of greater extent than three or four short cryptic sentences. There must be millions of people in each of the twelve groups (such as those born from 23rd September to October 23rd, those born from 24th October to 22nd November and so on). It is said that in U.S.A. alone there are about 25000 registered astrologers.
Those interested in astrology in general and Greek astrology in particular and those who desire to know how astrology is regarded by many modern scientific minds may read ‘L’Astrologie Grecque’ by A. Bouchè-Leclercq’(1899, a masterly work in French on Greek Astrology ) pp. 570-593 (for arguments against astrology ); ‘The Royal Art of Astrology’ by Robert Eisler (London, 1946), which contains a reasoned and sustained refutation, and Mr. J. C. Gregory’s Article on ‘Ancient Astrology’ in Nature, vol. 153 pp. 512-515 ( a brief, but instructive and detached survey of astrology from Chaldean times to this day ). The number of books in favour of astrology or expounding it is large and I do not propose to mention them. One book arrested my attention, viz. Louis de Wohl’s ‘Secret service of the sky’. On p. 31 he propounds a doctrine very similar to what Varāha-mihira laid down as the scope of horāśāstra viz. that Astrology has nothing whatsoever to do with mere predictions, that it only indicates tendencies and that human will is free. He began well, but he did not observe his own precepts. On p. 235 he predicts ‘I do not believe that Mahatma Gandhi will survive the first half of 1939.’ This prediction turned out to be untrue and it is well-known that Mahatma Gandhi was killed on the 30th of January 1948.
Astrology and the English language
The English language itself bears witness to the great influence of astrology in England; e.g. such words and expressions as ‘ill-starred expedition’, ‘disastrous consequences’, temperaments being either jovial, mercurial, or saturnine, ‘moonstruck46 (mad) lover’. The word influence (from fluo to flow) itself is due to astrological beliefs and words like ‘aspect’, ‘conjunction’, ‘ascendant’, ‘retrograde’ are all due to the language of astrology.
In support of Astrology Ptolemy (in Tetrabiblos, 1.2) puts forward certain arguments. The Sun not only affects every thing on the earth by the change of season, but by its daily revolutions furnishes heat, moisture, dryness and cold in regular order. The Moon, the nearest heavenly body to the earth, causes the seas to change their tides with its own rising and setting times, and plants and animals wholly or partly wax and wane with the moon. The planets often signify hot, windy and snowy conditions of the air and affect mundane things. The changes of seasons and winds are understood even by very ignorant men and by some dumb animals. Sailors know the special signs of storms and winds that arise periodically by reason of the aspects of the sun, moon and planets. But because sometimes sailors err, no one says that there is no science of navigation. Therefore, a sufficiently observant man wise enough to know accurately the movements of the sun, moon and planets can predict whether the weather will be warmer or 47 wetter. Why can he not, with respect to an individual, perceive the general quality of his temperament from the surroundings at the time of his birth, as for example that he would be such and such in body and mind? Ptolemy then condemns impostors who do not study the science but deceive common and trusting people and fill their pockets.
He further points out that the nativity alone is not the sole basis of judging a person’s future, that the country of birth, the race to which he belongs, the customs of the people among whom he is born, the way in which he is reared, the age in which he lives have also to be considered, all which will contribute materially to the proper prediction, other things being equal. In IV.10 he points out that if one looks only at the horoscope without paying attention to nationality, manners and customs and the like he may call an Ethiopian fair 48 of complexion and having straight hair and a German a dark-skinned person and endowed with woolly hair or not knowing the peculiar customs say that an Italian whose horoscope is being examined may marry his sister (as ancient Egyptians did) or that the man may marry his mother (as only Persians did). Vide Tetrabiblos IV. 10 p. 439 (Loeb. cl. Library). In I. 3 Ptolemy argues that astrology is not only possible but is beneficial, because fore-warned is fore-armed. It is a very far cry to argue from the undoubted influence of the Sun and the Moon on mundane matters, such as heat and cold, rains, storms and droughts that the particular positions and aspects of the Sun, Moon and planets at the time of birth or conception ( as some hold ) are throughout an individual’s life ( it may be for a day or a hundred years ) the dominating factor (if not the sole factor as many astrologers say ) governing his conduct, character, family affairs and destiny. The reasoning of Ptolemy, though very cleverly put and though with a slight scientific appearance, is rather vague and not at all cogent or convincing. He distinguishes between universal or general astrology (treated of in Books I-II ) which relates to whole countries, races, cities and large bodies of men and particular or genealogical astrology treated of in books III-IV.
Astrologers to consider country, caste, family
Indian works also require the astrologer to consider the customs of the country and of the people. The Rājamārtaṇḍa 49 says ‘First the usages of people must be considered; whatever is firmly established in the several countries, that alone must be followed; the learned give up what is hateful to the people ; therefore an astrologer should proceed along the people’s way. A learned man should never go against the inclinations of the family (to which the person belongs ) and of the country’; and then he gives examples of the astrological requirements as regards planets in the case of marriages in several countries. The general astrology about calamities or occurrences that affect all people spoken of by Ptolemy would fall under Śākhā or Saṁhitā in the narrower sense ( vide notes [^688] and [^690]). Some important and interesting conclusions of Ptolemy may be noted here.
Ptolemy speaks of beneficent and malefic planets (1.5), of masculine and feminine planets (1.6 ), of diurnal and nocturnal (in Sanskrit dinabali and niśābali) planets (I. 7), (I. 12 ) masculine and feminine rāśis ( signs ), the aspects of the signs (I. 13 ) viz. opposition ( 180 degrees), trine (120°), quartile (90°) and sextile (60°), of the houses (svagr̥has in Sanskrit ) of the planets. In Book II he divides the inhabited world into quarters equal in number to the triangular formations of the signs of the zodiac and after a disquisition which would be regarded by modern men as casuistical and practically unintelligible, Ptolemy sets forth a list of over seventy countries ( then known), assigning to each sign some countries. For example, to Aries he assigns Britain, Gaul, Germania, Bastarnia, Syria, Palestine, Judaea and one more; to Capricorn he assigns India, Ariana, Gedrosia, Thrace, Macedonia, Illyria. The whole of America, almost the whole of Africa (except the northern part), Indonesia and Australia and the other neighbouring lands are not considered by Ptolemy at all, because these were unknown then. He remarks at the end of II. 3 that as to metropolitan cities they should be treated like individuals and their nativity is to be cast by taking the time of the foundation 50 of the city instead of the times of birth, but where the exact time of foundation is not known then the nativity of the founder or of the king is to be taken.
A few important points of agreement and disagreement between Sanskrit astrological works and Ptolemy will be set out later on.
In the Bulletin of the London School of Oriental Studies vol. 9 for 1935-37 there is a paper (pp. 125-139 ) on some chronological data relating to the Sassanian period in which reference is made to an Arabic book on astrology composed about 275 of the Hejira (equal to 888-889 A. D.) by a Persian astronomer and astrologer, the 2nd part of which describes a horoscope of the accession of Khosrove to the throne on a date corresponding to 18-8-531 A. D. (p. 129).
Works on Muhūrta
The literature on muhūrta ( auspicious time for undertaking anything ) is extensive. Almost all works on Kāla mentioned above such as Hemādri on Kāla, the Kāla-mādhava, Kālatattva Vivecana, Nirṇayasindhu are in a way works on muhūrta, since they discuss the proper times for performing the saṁskāras and religious rites. Among the works the names of which begin with the word muhūrta are: Muhūrtakalpadruma (published by Nirn. Press, Bombay) composed by Vitthala Dikṣita in 1628 A.D.; Muhūrta-ganapati composed in 1685 A. D. by Ganapati Raval, son of Harishankar; Muhūrta-cintāmaṇi composed at Benares in śake 1522 (1601 A. D.) by Rāma, son of Ananta, with a commentary called Piyūṣa-dhārā composed in śake 1525 (1604 A.D.) by Govinda, son of Nilakantha elder brother of Rāma (published in 1945 by the Nirn. press); Muhūrtatattva by Gaṇeśa, son of Keśava (ms. in Bhau Daji collection of Bombay Asiatic Society); Muhūrtadarśana (also called Vidyāmādhaviya) by Vidya madhava with a commentary called Muhūrta-dipikā (about 1363 A. D.) by his son Viṣṇu, edited by Dr. Shamsastri (publishedby Mysore University, 1923-1926, in three parts); Muhūrta dipaka by Nāgadeva (a short work in 9 folios, ms. in Bhau Daji collection); the Muhūrta-mārtaṇḍa, composed in sake 1493, Māgha (1572 A. D.), by Nārāyaṇa, son of Ananta, of Tāpara village to the north of the temple of Śiva which is to the north of Devagiri, with his own commentary called Mārtapdavallabhā (published by Nirn. Press, 1925); Muhūrtamālā by Raghunatha (mg. in Bhau Daji collection); Muhūrta-muktāvali (incomplete ms. with only 45 verses in the same collection). Out of these, three works alone are now available in print viz. Muhūrta darśana, Muhūrta-cintāmaṇi and Muhūrta-mārtaṇḍa. The rest are mss. ( in Bombay Asiatic Society’s Library). In this section on muhūrtas reliance has been placed mainly on the three printed works along with the Jyotiṣaratnamālā of Sripati (about 1039 A. D.), the Rājamārtaṇḍa of Bhoja (ms in B. O. R. I., Poona) and the other works on Kāla. Among the works described as especially dealing with muhūrtas, the most elaborate are the Muhūrta-cintānani (containing about 480 verses with a very exhaustive commentary) and the Muhūrtadarśana (with about 600 verses) and also a very elaborate commentary. It would not be possible to deal with all matters contained in these works. The Muhūrtamārtaṇḍa (containing 161 verses) follows a middle course. According to it the subjects dealt with in it are briefly as follows:–what positions and aspects of the planets, what yogas, what tithis, nakṣatras, months and conditions of the family and of the mind should be avoided in the case of śubha ( auspicious ) actions; the proper times for saṁskāras, such as garbhādhāna, puṁsavana, jātakarma, piercing the infant’s ear, caula, upanayana, the end of the period of Vedic study; topics connected with marriage (this takes up 55 Verses i.e. a little over one-third of the entire work); times for kindling sacred domestic fire (gr̥hyāgni); times for construction of a house and for first entrance into it; the proper times for starting on a journey or marching against an enemy king; auspicious and inauspicious śakunas (omens or prognostications); times for king’s coronation, for wearing of rich clothes and ornaments and for agricultural operations, for sale and purchase of animals (such as cattle, horses ), for bath with sesame and myrobalan, for finding lost articles, for constructing wells and tanks: times when Vedic study should be stopped (anadhyāya ) for long or temporarily; the results of a lizard or chameleon falling on one’s body; what planet is inauspicious or auspicious in which sign from the sign of one’s birth; the puṇyakāla of Saṅkrāntis. It may be mentioned that many of the provisions about auspicious aspects of planets, about upanayana and marriage, construction of and first entrance into a house, śakunas about the fall of lizards and chameleons were observed in the author’s boyhood and are still observed by many, though there is gradually an increasing looseness of observance in these matters.
It should be noted that even as to śakunas Varāha-mihira puts forward the principle that it is the fruition of actions, good or evil, done in previous lives by men, that is manifested by śakunas for those who start on a journey or invasion, 51
How people had become almost crazy with the idea of finding out a muhūrta for everything from shaving, wearing a new garment to such solemn matters as marriage is well illustrated by the provision of a muhūrta for a theft in the Muhūrta muktāvali, viz. the act of thieving succeeds when done on the nakṣatras Āśleṣā, Mr̥gaśiras, Bharaṇī, Svāti, Dhaniṣṭhā, Citra and Anurādhā, on a Saturday or a Tuesday and on a riktā tithi ( 4th, 9th and 14th ). 52
Before entering on a discussion about individual acts or rites, it is necessary, in order that the reader may understand the prescriptions about muhūrtas, to explain some simple details of Jātaka. To discuss in detail all the details of Jātaka works is much beyond the scope of this work and would necessitate the writing of a volume by itself. A middle course has to be followed. Besides nakṣatras, their lords and their classifications, one has to bear in mind the rāśis, the planets and the bhāvas (houses or places) in a horoscope. For these reliance will be mainly placed on the Br̥hatsaṁhita and Br̥haj-jātaka of Varāhamihira, the Sārāvali, Jyotiṣaratnamālā of Sripati, the Rājamārtaṇḍa, Jātakālankara of Gaṇeśa ( composed in śake 1535, 1613-4 A. D.). The 27 or 28 nakṣatras and their presiding deities have already been enumerated above ( pp. 499-504 and note 731 ). It has to be remembered that the devatā of a nakṣatra is often employed to indicate the nakṣatra or the tithi itself also.
Classification of nakṣatras
Here the classification of nakṣatras will be first discussed. From a passage of the Br̥hadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad quoted above (in note [^754] ), it is clear that the nakṣatras had very early (i.e. about 1000 B.C. at least) been classified as puṇya ( auspicious ) and pāpa (inauspicious ) and into male and female. The Vedāṅgajyotiṣa ( Yājuṣa ) gives a classification of nakṣatras into ugra and krūra, 53 The nakṣatras are further classified in the Bṛhat-saṁhitā (chap. 97. 6-11) into dhruva ( or sthira = fixed), tikṣṇa (or dāruṇa), ugra (or krūra ), kṣipra ( or laghu ), mr̥du (or maitra), mr̥dutikṣṇa (or sādhāraṇa or miśra), cara ( or cala ). 54
The Br. S. (97. 6-11 ) states that on Dhruva nakṣatras the coronation of a king, śānti ( propitiatory rite for averting impending evil or calamity ), planting of trees, foundation of a city, charitable acts, sowing seeds, and other permanent acts should be done; on tikṣṇa nakṣatras succeed attempts to harm, the acquisition of mantra (mystic verse or formula ), raising ghosts, arrest (of a person), beating, separating (two friends or) relationships; ugra nakṣatras are to be used for success in extermination, destruction of another’s property, cheating, arrest, poisoning, incendiarism, striking with a weapon, killing; kṣipra (or laghu) nakṣatras are declared as leading to success in sales, in making love, in the acquisition of knowledge, decoration, arts, crafts (such as carpentry), medicines, journeys; the mṛdu nakṣatras are beneficial in securing friends, sexual affairs, clothes, ornaments, auspicious ceremonies (marriage, upanayana &c.) and singing; the mr̥dutikṣṇa (or sādhāraṇa) nakṣatras produce mixed results ( on which mild or fierce acts may be done); the cara nakṣatras are beneficial in doing fleeting actions. The Muhūrta-mārtaṇḍa provides that wise men engage in actions similar to the names of the groups of nakṣatras for attaining success. It should be noticed that some works like the Jyotiṣa ratnamālā (III. 9 ) and the Muhūrta-cintāmaṇi (II. 2-8) hold that Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday are respectively dhruva, cara, ugra, miśra, laghu, mr̥du, and tīkṣṇa and that actions that are appropriate for nakṣatras of those groups are appropriately performed on the respective week days55.
The Br̥haj-jātaka devotes fourteen verses for the characteristics of persons born on the 27 nakṣatras from Aśvinī. Two Verses are translated for sample : 56 a person born on Āśvinis is fond of ornaments, is handsome, has a prepossessing appearance, is clever (in all things ) and intelligent; one born on Bharaṇis is of firm resolve, truthful, free from disease, clever and free from worry; one born on Kṛttikās is a heavy eater, fond of other’s wives, impatient, famous; one born on Rohiṇī is truthful, pure, of agreeable speech, of resolute intellect and is handsome. The Rājamārtaṇḍa in verses 16-40 sets out the synonyms of 27 nakṣatras which include the names of the lords of the nakṣatras and synonyms of the lords of nakṣatras. The Jyotiṣaratnamālā, Bhujabala and M. C. 2. 22–23 divide 28 nakṣatras (including Abhijit ) into four groups 57 of seven each, called’ andhākṣa’ (blind), ‘mandākṣa’ (of dim sight), ‘madhyākṣa’ (of medium sight) and ‘svakṣa’ (of good sight) and state that property stolen on ‘andhākṣa’ nakṣatras may be recovered quickly, stolen on ‘mandākṣa’ nakṣatras after effort, stolen on ‘madhyākṣa’ (there is no recovery but) the owner may hear that it has been taken to a distant place by the thief; stolen on ‘svakṣa’ or “sulocana’ the owner would not recover it nor even hear about its whereabouts. The Bṛhat-saṁhita (chap. 14) has already been referred to (on p. 530) in connection with the provinces of India governed by nine groups of nakṣatras (three nakṣatras in each group) and chapter 15 of the same (1-27) sets out what substances are governed by the 27 nakṣatras from Kr̥ttikā to Bharaṇi.58 One verse is translated as a specimen: under Kṛttikās are white flowers, those who have consecrated the Vedic fires, those who know Vedic mantras, sūtras and bhāṣyas (commentaries), officers over mines (or stores), barbers, brāhmaṇas, purohita, astrologers, potters.
Nakṣatras as limbs of Prajāpati
The Bṛhat-saṁhitā (104.1-5) declares what nakṣatras (out of 27) form part of Time looked upon as a puruṣa (Person). This is an extension of a very old conception. The Tai. Br. says: ‘Prajāpati has Hasta-nakṣatra as his hand, Citrā as his head, Niṣṭyā (i.e. Svāti) as his heart, the two stars of Viśākhā as the thighs, Anurādhās as his stability (or support). This is indeed Prajāpati in the form of groups of nakṣatras’ 59.
From the above it would be noticed that a nakṣatra astrology apart from the rāśi astrology had been thoroughly developed in India while Ptolemy is hardly concerned with the nakṣatras, but concentrates only on rāśis.
The twelve rāśis are to be found in the Zodiacal belt (or circle ); each extends over 2 1/4 nakṣatras i.e. Meṣa extends over Aśvinī, Bharaṇi and 1/4 of Kr̥ittikā, vr̥ṣabha extends over 3/4 of Kṛttikā, whole of Rohiṇī and half of Mr̥gaśirṣa and so on. These twelve rāśis from Meṣa are identified respectively with the following limbs of the Kālapuruṣa[835a] viz. the head (Meṣa), mouth (Vr̥ṣabha), chest, heart, stomach, waist, the abdomen (between the navel and the private parts), the private parts, the pair of thighs, the pair of knees, the two shanks, the two feet. Varāha adds that the words rāśi, kṣetra, gr̥ha, r̥kṣa, bha and bhavana are used as synonyms in Jātaka. The purpose of the identification of rāśis with the limbs of Kāla put forward by astrological works is that if a malefic planet occupies in a person’s horoscope a certain rāśi, he is adversely affected in that limb of his body to which the rāśi corresponds among the limbs of Kāla, but if a beneficent planet occupies at birth a rāsi, then the person prospers as to the corresponding limb. This is succintly put by the Sārāvali (III. 5-6).
The twelve rāśis with their English and Latin equivalents and their synonyms are set out below:
| English | Latin | Sanskrit | Synonyms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ram | Aries | Meṣa | Aja, chāga, kriya |
| Bull | Taurus | Vr̥ṣabha | Ukṣan, vṛṣa, go, gopati, tāvuri (or Tavuru ) |
| Twins | Gemini | Mithuna | Yugma, nr̥yuga, jituma, jutuma or jitma. |
| Crab | Cancer | Karka | Karkin, Karkaṭa, kulira |
| Lion | Leo | Siṁha | Hari, Mr̥gendra, leya |
| Virgin | Virgo | Kanya | Aṅgana, yuvati, pramadā, kumari, Pāthona (Pāthena ?) |
| Balance, Scales | Libra | Tula | Tauli, dhaṭa, vaṇij, tulādhara, jūka |
| Scorpion | Scorpio | Vrschika | Ali, Kiṭa, Kaurpya or Kaurpi |
| Archer | Sagittarius | Dhanus | Cāpa, Kārmuka, dhanvin, hayāṅga, Taukṣika (or Taukṣa) |
| Goat | Capricornus | Makara | Mr̥gasya, mr̥ga, Ākokera |
| Water-carrier | Aquarius | Kumbha | Ghaṭa, kumbhadhara, hr̥droga |
| Fishes | Pisces | Mina | Matsya, jhasa, animiṣa, Ittha (or Celtha?) |
The words in this list that are put in italics are mentioned in a separate verse by Varāha ( Bṛhaj-jātaka I. 8).60
Names of rāśis and their synonyms
It should be noted that the list of synonyms is not exhaustive; other words with the same meaning are often employed. For example, for Siṁha, Mr̥garāja may be used or for Mīna the word pr̥thuroman may be used. The words in italics are deemed by Weber and many others as borrowings from or Sanskrit adaptations of Greek words. It may be admitted that most of them bear a striking resemblance to Greek names of rāśis. Pāthona should be Pāthena to correspond with the Greek word. There is no reason why kulira should be regarded as a Greek word. Kern (preface to Br. S. p. 29 ) thinks that it is a pure Sanskrit word. There is no Greek word corresponding to Kulira in Ptolemy. The word Karka or Karkin appears to mean ‘white’ and occurs as early as in Atharvaveda IV.38. 6-7. All that the Br̥haj-jātāka (1.8) means is that there are other words like kriya used for the twelve rāsis in other works. Varāhamihira frequently refers to the views of the Yavanas and sometimes differs from them. It has been shown by me in my paper on ‘Yavaneśvara and Utpala’( in J. of Bombay Asiatic Society, vol. 30, pp. 1-8) that there is a Sanskrit work on astrology called Yavana-jātaka of about 4000 verses composed by a king of the Yavanas called Sphujidhvaja and another Vr̥ddhayavanajātaka also in several thousand verses by Mīnarāja who styles himself the overlord of Yavanas. I cannot agree with Prof. Sen-Gupta (‘Ancient Indian Chronology’ p. 99 ) that words like Meṣa and Vr̥ṣabha in verses like R̥g. I. 51.1 (abhi tyam mesam) refer to rāśis, when he himself had to concede that he could not find the other ten in the R̥g.
The appearance of the rāśis is briefly described by the Br̥hajjātaka 61 1. 5 and explained by Utpala as follows: (The sign Mīna i.e. Pisces ) appears as two fishes (each facing the tail of the other), Kumbha appears as a man carrying an empty jar placed on his shoulder, the sign of Gemini is represented as a man carrying a mace and a woman holding a lute, the sign of Sagittarius is a man with a bow whose legs are like those of a horse, the sign Capricorn is a crocodile with the face of a deer, sign of Libra is a person holding scales, the sign Virgo is represented by a maiden in a boat with an ear of corn in one hand and fire in the other; the remaining signs are similar (in form ) to the objects indicated by their names and all signs reside in places appropriate to their names. For more detailed descriptions, vide the twelve verses quoted from Yavaneśvara by Utpala which I have quoted and translated in my paper in the Journal of the Bombay Asiatic Society vol. 30 parts 1 and 2 pp. 1-7 and which are found in the Yavana-jātaka of Sphujidhvaja (a palm leaf ms of which exists in the Nepal Durbar Library ) and in the Vr̥ddhayavanajātaka of Mīnarāja. Those verses also name the special objects and places governed by the different rāśis. Several verses of Kāśyapa are quoted by Utpala on Bș. S. 40 that deal with the materials or things that are under the influence of the several rāśis. For example, Meṣa is the lord of garments, woollens, cloth made of the hair of a young goat, of Masūra pulse, wheat, resin, barley, gold and plants that grow on dry land. 62 The Vāmanapurāṇa 63 ( chap. 5.45-60 ) describes the appearance of the rāśis and the places and objects they reside in or dominate and the verses closely resemble the wording employed in the two Yavanajātakas of Sphujidhvaja and Mīnarāja.
Rāśi names in India, China and elsewhere
Some verses are quoted below by way of illustration. From Varāha’s description it appears that Meṣa, Vr̥ṣabha, Karkaṭa, Siṁha, Vr̥ścika, Makara and Mīna are figures of animals (either four-footed or insects) and the remaining five resemble human beings with special characteristics in each case. These rāśi names have more or less the same meanings in Babylonia, 64 in Europe including Greece and in India. But it should not be supposed that everywhere the several groups of stars were imagined to be identical with the figures of the same animals or of human beings. In China for instance, the twelve rāśis are rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, sheep, monkey, hen, dog and pig( Encyclopaedia Americana, vol. 29 under the word ‘zodiac’ and New Funk and Wagnall’s Encyclopaedia vol. 36 under ‘Zodiac’)65. It is further stated that these are still found in some parts of Asia, in Japan and also among the remains of the Aztec race in America. There are many who deny that except for a few signs (like the Scorpion) there is hardly any very striking similarity between the twelve groups of constellations called Aries &c. and the natural appearance of the objects denoted by the twelve names.66 The origin of the names assigned to Zodiacal signs is unknown. The zodiacal signs named Meṣa, Vr̥ṣabha &. are purely imaginary, are mere subjective configurations of stars which appear to be in one plane and which appear to certain persons to possess somehow the outline of a scorpion or a lion which are, as modern astronomy tells us, situated at enormous distances (light years as they are called) from each other. The same constellation is often given different names; e.g. the constellation called Great Bear was called by Thales ’the wain’ (waggon drawn by horses). The twelve Zodiacal signs are clearly absent from the sacred astronomy of Egypt67 and the Egyptians know nothing of the Zodiac before the Alexandrian age and very few Zodiacs are older than the Roman times.
Since Assyriologists began to reveal the astronomical knowledge in the valley of the Euphrates, the Babylonian origin of the Zodiac has been taken for granted by almost all scholars.68 The dissenting voice is that of E. J. Webb in ‘Names of stars’69 who very strenuously argues against the Babylonian origin of the Zodiacal signs and holds that the Zodiac as we know it is a Greek invention and that Cleostratus who according to Pliny was concerned in forming it lived about 520 B. C. In spite of the vehemence of Webb’s arguments, in my humble opinion, he is far from convincing and for the present at least the Babylonian origin of the Zodiacal signs has to be accepted. The passage of Pliny on which Webb relies is differently understood by Prof. J. K. Forheringham.70 The latest work of Sarton on ‘History of Science’ (1953) holds that the Zodiac had been distinguished by Babylonian astronomers a thousand years before Cleostratus and all that Cleostratus probably did was to divide those constellations into twelve equal lengths of the ecliptic i.e. the twelve signs of the Zodiac. A somewhat amusing argument has been advanced by Hickey 71 that the fact that there are in the sky no animals (figures) suggestive of Egypt or India such as the hippopotamus and the elephant seems to rule out those countries as sources. Is there any logical necessity that certain animals must be introduced in a system of Zodiacal signs if that system originated in a certain country that may be the home of dozens of wild and tame animals? Are all the principal animals of Mesopotamia or of Greece included in the seven animals that figure as signs, if one of the above two was the origin of the present Zodiacal signs? All the seven animals in the Zodiac are found in abundance in India even now, while some of them may not be found in the present day Greece or Babylonia.
Origin of Zodiacal signs
At present I am only concerned to say that out of the three ancient lands, viz. Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece, Mesopotamia has the greatest claims to be regarded as the source of the Zodiacal signs. The case of India will be dealt with a little later on.
The astrological rāśis are 72 variously classified as male and female, cara ( movable ) and sthira (fixed or lasting ) and dvisvabhāva ( of both characters ), as saumya (mild ) and krūra ( fierce or malignant ), as dinabala ( powerful by day ), niśābala (powerful by night ), as pṛṣṭhodaya (rising from the hind part), śirṣodaya ( rising by their head first ) or ubhayodaya, and as lords of the four main directions (east &c.). The above table will show at a glance these classifications, in which n. stands for niśābala, d. for dinabala, p. for pṛṣṭhodaya and s. for śirṣodaya.
| Rāsi | Lord of | Male or Female | Cara or Sthira | dinabala or niśābala | saumya or krūra | pṛṣṭhodaya or śirṣodaya |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meṣa | east | male | cara | n. | krūra | p. |
| Vṛṣabha | south | female | sthira | n. | saumya | p. |
| Mithuna | west | male | dvisbhāva | n. | krūra | ś |
| Karka | north | female | cara | n. | saumya | p. |
| Siṁha | east | male | sthira | d. | krūra | ś |
| Kanya | south | female | dvisbhāva | d. | saumya | ś |
| Tula | west | male | cara | d. | krūra | ś |
| Vr̥ścika | north | female | sthira | d. | saumya | ś |
| Dhanus | east | male | dvisbhāva | n. | krūra | p. |
| Makara | south | female | cara | n. | saumya | p. |
| Kumbha | west | male | sthira | n. | krūra | ś |
| Mina | north | female | dvisbhāva | n. | saumya | both p. And ś |
| Fishes | Pisces | Mina | Matsya, jhasa, animiṣa, Ittha (or Celtha?) |
The Bṛhajjātaka compresses these details in I. 10–11 and Utpala explains the purpose of some of these technical terms. Yātrā (invasion ) undertaken on śīrṣodaya rāśis yields the desired result but if undertaken on pṛṣṭhodaya rāśis there is failure and one’s army is routed. Those born on krūra signs are of cruel nature and those born on saumya signs are mild by nature, while those born on male signs are energetic and those born on female signs are mild. Those born on cara signs are unsteady by nature, those born on sthira signs are of a fixed nature and those born on dvisvabhāva signs are of mixed character. The knowledge of the signs as lords of quarters is useful in finding out the direction where a person who stole something on a particular sign could be found or the stolen article could be found. Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos I. 11 speaks of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius as solid signs ( sthira) and Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces as bi-corporeal ( dvideha or dvisvibhāva), and in I. 12 there is agreement with Bṛhajjātaka as to the masculine and feminine signs but there is disagreement as to diurnal ( dinabala ) and nocturnal signs ( niśābala ), since Ptolemy holds that Aries and other signs are alternately diurnal or nocturnal, while Varāha holds Aries and the next three and also Sagittarius and Capricornus as nocturnal and the rest diurnal. It does not appear that the Bṛhajjātaka knows of the commanding and obeying signs (Tetrabiblos I. 14 ) and of signs which behold each other or of disjunct signs (Tetrabiblos I. 15 and 16). The Bṛ, J. (I. 20) and Laghujātaka I. 6 assign the following colours to the twelve rāśis from Meṣa onwards viz, red, white, green (like a parrot’s body ), dark-red (pink), whitish like smoke, speckled, dark, golden, yellowish, variegated, deep brown (like ichneumon), white. There is hardly anything corresponding to this in the Tetrabiblos. The rāśis are also divided into four classes viz, anthropomorphic ( Mithuna, Kanya, Tulā, Dhanus forepart, Kumbha), quadruped (Meṣa, Vṛṣa, Siṁha, Dhanus latter portion, Makara forepart), aquatic (Karkaṭa, Mīna, Makara (latter part ), insect (Scorpion). Vide Tetrabiblos IV. 4 pp. 389 and 391 for slightly varying enumeration.
Effects of Moon’s positions
Br. J. (chap. 17. 1-12 ) sets out the characteristics of persons born when the Moon was in Meṣa and the following rāśis and remarks at the end (in verse 13 ) that the results described will come out fully if the moon, the rāśi it occupies and the lord of that rāśi are powerful. In Bṛ. J. I. 19 it is said that two-footed rāśis ( mithuna, kanyā, tulā, kumbha and forepart of dhanus) are powerful by day if they be in kendra; four-footed rāśis ( mesa, vṛsa, Siṁha, makara forepart and dhanus latter part ) are powerful at night in kendra position and the rest i.e. watery signs and insect signs (kulira, vṝścika, mina and latter part of makara ) are powerful at twilight, when in kendra position. Bṛ. J. 18. 20 provides that similar results (as in chap. 17) follow if a person is born when the lagna at his birth is meṣa or any one of the other rāśis.
Planets, their relations to the rāśis and their conjoint influence will now be briefly indicated. We saw above (pp. 493-495) that in the Vedic Saṁhitās and Brāhmaṇas express references to planets other than Jupiter are almost absent, that in some Vedic Verses five planets and Venus ( as Vena) appear to be referred to. Svarbhānu, the son of an asura, is said to have struck the sun with darkness ( i.e. caused an eclipse ) in R̥g. V. 40. 5, 6, 8, 9. In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad the soul that has acquired true knowledge is said to shake off the body after casting off all evil like a horse ( that casts off dust by ) shaking his hair ( mane and tail) or like the moon becoming free from the mouth of Rāhu. 73 The Maitrāyaṇi Upaniṣad mentions Śani, Rāhu ( ascending node ) and Ketu ( descending node).74 But hardly anything is said about the astrological significance of planets in the ancient Vedic Literature. In the Mahābhārata there are plenty of references to the evil influence of planets, but that is restricted to nakṣatras. Both Rāhu and Ketu are said in Karṇaparva to rise in the sky for ( i.e. portending ) the destruction of the world. 75 Kauṭilya offers the curious information that a foreknowledge of rainfall can be had from the position, the motion and the garbhādhāna of Jupiter, from the rising, setting and motion of Venus and from the natural and unnatural aspects of the sun and that from the sun the sprouting of the seed (can be predicted), from Jupiter the formation of abundant sheaves of corn when the seeds are sown and from the ( movements ) of Venus rainfall (can be predicted ). 76
It will be seen from the above that general or universal ( not individual or horoscopic) astrology like the reports made by royal priests in Mesopotamia was prevalent in India many centuries before Christ. The Bṛhajjātaka ( II. 2–3 ) enumerates the nine planets, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, Rāhu and Ketu and furnishes some synonyms of all these.
Observations of planets by the Babylonians go back to 2nd millennium B. C. Venus was the first to be studied. Tables about Venus based on observations are found from 1921-190177 B. C.; Jupiter and Mars were also observed. Jupiter was held to be normally favourable when he shone brightly or followed the moon, while Mars was the planet of ill-luck, but, if Mars shone weakly or disappeared, its evil influence disappeared. Saturn as its name indicates (‘firm standing one’) was regarded mostly a planet of good luck. Various favourable prognostications were made about a child, according as the planets like the Moon, Venus or Jupiter were rising or unfavourable prognostications were made if Mars was rising or if Jupiter or Venus were setting78. Each planet received a variety of names in the astronomical texts of Babylonia. The teaching that every planet has its exaltation i.e. the strongest pitch of its might and influence when in a particular sign goes back to ancient Babylonia. 79
Planets, their names and arrangement
The arrangements of the order of planets differed at different times. Planet comes from a Greek word meaning ‘a wanderer’ and the word was applied to the planets because as compared with the stars they appeared to wander in different ways and at different times80. In modern times there are three more planets, viz. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto discovered respectively in 1781, 1846 and 1930 A. D.81 Bouché Leclercq mentions that modern astrologers asserted that Chaldeans saw Uranus and Neptune and three other planets (Juno, Vulcan and Pluto), when they had good eyes (p. 573 note 2 of ‘L’ Astrologie Grecque).
The Br̥. J. (1). 2-3), Sārāvali (IV. 10-11) and Rājamārtaṇḍa (verses 8-15) set out the various names for the sun, the moon and the other seven planets. They are specified in the note82 below and the names underlined are deemed by Western writers to have been derived from Greek; but it should be noted that no Greek name for the moon occurs in these or other works and I am not convinced that Jiva is a Greek word or adaptation of a Greek word. The word Jiva occurs in the R̥gveda itself in many places (as in R̥g. I. 164.30,X. 18.37) and means - living being, an individual’ and in Chāndogya Upaniṣad VI. 3.2 it means ’ individual soul’.
When Bṛhaspati came to be regarded as the most prominent of planets and was said to preside over knowledge and happiness (as in Br. J. II. 1. ‘Jivo jñāna-sukham’) he came to be regarded as the very life of beings and was called Jiva. The Sārāvali (X. 116) says that Bṛhaspati is the life of men (Bṛhaspatir-nṛṇām jivaḥ). In Bhujabala it is said ‘what will all the planets do to him in whose horoscope Jupiter is in kendra position. A herd of wild elephants is killed by a single lion.’83 The Br. J. and Sārāvali provide that further synonyms may be derived from popular usage.
In the following some characteristics of the planets (based on Br. J. II. 5-7) are brought together, viz. the colour ruled by each, the lords of each, the direction, element, Veda and class ( brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya &c.) dominated by each and whether they are beneficent or malefic.
Table of colours, direction, &c ruled by planets 84
| planet | colour dominated by | by whom ruled | direction | element ruled by | veda | class | beneficent or malefic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | red | Fire | east | kṣatriya | malefic | ||
| Moon | white | water | N.W | vaiśya | waning moon 84 malefic | ||
| Mars | very red | Kārtikeya | south | Fire | Sāmaveda | kṣatriya | malefic |
| Mercury | green | Viṣṇu | north | Earth | Atharva | śūdra | malefic when in conjunction with malefic planets |
| Jupiter | yellow | Indra | N.E | Ākāṣa (ether) | Ṛgveda | Brāhmaṇa | beneficent |
| Venus | variegated | Indrāṇi | S.E | Water | Yajurveda | Brāhmaṇa | beneficent |
| Saturn | dark | Prajāpati | west | Air | Cāṇḍāla | malefic | |
| Rāhu | S.W |
In the Yogayātrā VI. 1 a distinction is made between the gods that rule the eight directions and the planets that rule them, Indra, Agni, Yama, Niṛṛti, Varuṇa, Vāyu, Yakṣa (Kubera ) and Śiva are the lords of the eight directions from East to North-East, while the same directions are governed by planets as in the above table.
The purpose for these classifications is explained as follows: As regards colours ruled by planets, they are useful in indicating the colour of the thing lost by or stolen from a man and the colour of the flowers with which the planets are to be worshipped; the lords of the planets are to be worshipped along with the planets in grahapūjā; the direction in which a king should march on an invasion is indicated by planets that rule the directions; according as beneficent or malefic planets are powerful in the horoscope, the character of the person concerned is indicated as good or bad. The Br. J. II. 7 further provides that the Moon, the Sun and Jupiter are lords of sattva-guṇa, Mercury and Venus of rajo-guṇa, Mars and saturn of tamoguṇa. Utpala points out that Varāha differs from Yavaneśvara, who regards the Sun, Mars and Jupiter as Sāttvika, the Moon and Venus as full of rajoguṇa, Saturn as having tamoguṇa and Mercury taking on the character of the planet with which it is in conjunction.85 Rāhu is the ascending node or the point where the orbit of the moon intersects the ecliptic in passing northwards. Bṛ. J. (II. 8–11) and Laghujātaka II. 13–19 describe the form and appearance of the planets from the Sun to Saturn, giving full rein to association of ideas, imagination and to personification of them. For illustration, I translate one verse ( 10 ) ‘Jupiter 86 has a large body, his hair and eyes are brownish in colour, he has eminent intellect and has a phlegmatic constitution; Venus is given to pleasures, has handsome body and pretty eyes, has wind and phlegm in his constitution and black but curling hair on his head.’
Table of parts of human body and planets
Another table based on Bṛ. J. II.11, 12, 14 and Sārāvali IV. 15–16 about the parts of the human body governed by the planets, 87 about their habitat (sthāna), about the kinds of cloth they govern, about the metals, precious stones and the flavours they rule is given below.
Table of parts of human body and planets
| planet | bodily part | habitat | cloth | Metal & Jewels | rasa (flavour) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | bones | temple | coarse | copper | pungent |
| Moon | blood | watery place | cloth fresh from loom | jewels | salt |
| Mars | marrow | Fire-place | burnt in a part | gold | bitter |
| Mercury | skin | playground | wet | bronze | mixed (all six together) |
| Jupiter | fat | treasury | neither new nor much worn | silver | sweet |
| Venus | semen | bedroom | strong | pearl | sour |
| Saturn | muscles | Dust-hole | tattered | iron | astringent |
It was said that if Jupiter was in his own house (i.e. Dhanus or Mīna), then Jupiter also ruled over gold. 88 The object of assigning these was practical, viz. the astrologer could judge of the place of birth if the planet was powerful or of the place of the thief or, if a question were put about the food which one invited to a dinner may be served with, the powerful planet would suggest the kind of food.
The Br. J. (II. 5 ) states that the Sun, Mars and Jupiter are masculine, the Moon and Venus feminine, while Mercury and Saturn are neuter or common (napuṁsaka). Here Tetrabiblos differs ( I. 6), as it regards Saturn as masculine. Acc. to Bṛ. J. II. 21 the Moon, Mars and Saturn are nocturnal (powerful at night), the Sun, Jupiter and Venus are diurnal (powerful by day) and Mercury is common (both diurnal and nocturnal ). The Tetrabiblos differs (I. 7) by making Venus nocturnal and Saturn diurnal.
Certain rāśis are declared to be the houses (svagṛha) of planets and certain other rāśis as their ucca (exaltation) and certain parts or degrees of the ucca are declared to be paramocca; the 7th rāśi from the ucca is said to be nīca i. e. depressed and certain parts (or degrees ) of the latter are said to be paramanīca. The Sun and the Moon have each only one rāśi as svagṛha, while the other five planets have two each. The following diagram will indicate all this at a glance :
| Planet | Svagr̥ha | Sign of Exaltation | Sign of Depression |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | Siṁha | Meṣa [10] | Tulā [10] |
| Moon | Karkaṭa | Vr̥ṣabha [3] | Vr̥ścika [3] |
| Mars | Meṣa and Vr̥ścika | Makara [28] | Karkaṭa [28] |
| Mercury | Mithuna and Kanyā | Kanya [15] | Mīna [15] |
| Jupiter | Dhanus and Mīna | Karkaṭa [5] | Makara [5] |
| Venus | Vr̥ṣabha and Tulā | Mīna [27] | Kanya [27] |
| Saturn | Makara and Kumbha | Tulā [20] | Meṣa [20] |
The figures under signs of exaltation and depression are the aṁśas ( degrees) respectively of paramocca and paramanīca. The explanation offered by Yavanajātaka of Sphujidhvaja and the Vṛddhayavana-jātaka of Mīnarāja is that the sign of Leo was assigned to the Sun as his house because it is the most powerful sign and Cancer (a watery sign) was assigned to the Moon, and the Sun and the Moon each gave one sign out of the remaining to the other five planets viz. Kanyā, Tulā, Vr̥ścika, Dhanus and Makara were given by the Sun to Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn ( arranged according to distance ) and the Moon gave to the same five planets one each of the rāśis of Mithuna, Vr̥ṣabha, Meṣa, Mīna and Kumbha (vide my paper on ‘Yavaneśvara and Utpala’ in J. B. B. R. A. Ṣ. vol. 30 on p. 5.for the verses of Mīnaraja and p. 7 for translation).
Ptolemy on svagr̥has
Tetrabiblos I. 17 practically gives a similar explanation about houses (svagr̥has) and I. 19 agrees with Br. J. I. 13 about the exaltation and depression signs. Ptolemy does not give the degrees (of paramocca and paramanica 89 ).
That rāśi that is occupied by its own lord or has an aspect (dr̥ṣṭi ) of its lord or is occupied by Mercury or Jupiter or has an aspect with them is powerful 90 if it be not occupied by any one or more of the remaining planets or has no aspect with any one of the rest. There is a further provision that Scorpion if it is in the 7th house is powerful, the human signs (Mithuna, Kanyā, Tulā, the forepart of Dhanus and Kumbha ) are powerful in the lagna, the watery signs (Karkaṭa, Mīna, latter half of Makara ) are powerful if they occupy the 4th house and the quadrupeds ( Meṣa, Vṛṣa, Siṁha, latter half of Dhanus, and the forepart of Makara ) are powerful in the 10th house (Br. J. I. 17.)
The natural powerfulness of planets is in the following order: Saturn, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, the Moon, the Sun, each succeeding one is more powerful than each preceding one; if the power of any two or more is equal in other respects, then one has to take into consideration this natural powerfulness for determining which is more powerful.91
The astrological houses in a horoscope are twelve and each is expressed by various synonyms, many of which indicate what particular matters are to be judged from the state of that house. They are enumerated in Br. J. I. 15-19, Laghujātaka I. 15-19, Sārāvali III. 26-33.
1st house-horā, tanu, kalpa, śakti, mūrti, lagna, deha, aṅga, udaya, vapus, ādya, vilagna. 2nd -dhana, sva, kuṭumba, artha, kośa. 3rd -sahottha, vikrama, paurusa, sahaja, duścikya. 4th -bandhu, gr̥ha, suhṛt, pātāla, hibuka, veśma, sukha, caturasra, ambu, jala, ambā, yāna, vāhana. 5th -suta, dhi, putra, pratibhā, vidyā, vāk-sthāna, trikoṇa. 6th -ari, ripu, kṣata, vraṇa. 7th -jāyā, jāmitra, dyūna, dyūta, patni, stri, cittottha, astabhavana, kāma, smara, madana. 8th -maraṇa, randhra, mr̥tyu, vināśa, caturasra, chidra, vivara, laya, yāmya. 9th -śubha, guru, dharma, puṇya, tritrikoṇa, trikoṇa, tapas. 10th -āspada, māna, karma, meṣūraṇa, ajñā, kha, gagana, tāta, vyāpāra. 11th -āya, bhava, lābha, āgama, prāpti. 12th -Vyaya, riḥpha (or riṣpha), antya, antima.
It should be noted that the appellations given to these bhāvas are of two classes, (1) those which are used as mere designations, without indicating the special function of the house, such as horā, duścikya, meṣūraṇa, riḥpha, caturasra; the second class of these appellations conveys the special functions of the houses, such as tanu (body), sva ( wealth) or kuṭumba (family ), sahaja ( brothers ).
There are certain appellations that apply to a number of houses. The 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses are all called kaṇṭaka, kendra, catuṣṭaya, the houses beyond the kendra are called paṇaphara ( 2nd, 5th, 8th and 11th ), the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th houses are called Āpoklima, 6th, 8th and 12th houses are called trika; the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th houses are called upacaya and the rest are called apacaya. Garga held that the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th are called upacaya only if there is no aspect of them with malefic planets or with the enemy of the lord of them. Trikoṇa is claimed to be a Greek word.
Prognostications froin twelie bhāvas
From the several names of the bhāvas, it appears that the following were to be predicted from the several bhāvas; from first bhāva, health and the growth of the body; from 2nd the wealth of one’s family; from 3rd brothers (and sisters ) and valour; from 4th relatives friends, happiness, house and mother; from 5th sons, intellect, learning; from 6th enemies and wounds; from 7th wife, love affairs., marriage; from 8th death, one’s foibles and sins; from 9th dharma, elders (including parents ), austerities; from 10th actions and dignities or position and father; from 11th acquisition of good qualities and of wealth; from 12th expenditure, debts.
Thibaut (in Grundriss p. 68 ) following Jacobi boldly asserts that the doctrine of the twelve astrological houses which is a chief point in the Indian system found developed in Varāhamihira does not occur among Western authorities earlier than Firmicus Maternus ( middle of 4th century A. D.) and that Greek astrology entered into India only between Firmicus and Varāhamihira. One is regretfully constrained to say that this is a case of one blind man following another. In the first place the conception of houses ( bhāvas ) is not totally absent even in Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos, as can be seen in II. 8 p. 191, III, 10 pp. 273-275 (Loeb Classical Library), where houses I, VII, IX, X and XI are referred to, though Ptolemy does not pay much attention to the system of bhāvas. Probably this escaped the attention of both Jacobi and Thibaut. In the second place, the system of bhāvas does not occur for the first time in Varāha. Varāha refers to a host of Indian writers before him as will be shown below in whose works the system appears in a fully developed form. It is not possible to believe that all this vast literature was developed in a hundred years or so after Firmicus. Besides, authors like Garga, Parāśara, who are placed between the Vedāṅgajyotiṣa and the siddhāntas ( about 800 B.C. to 250 A.D.) know this system and Garga is assigned to 50 B.C. by Kern (Preface to Bṛ.S. p.50). Thibaut, a great scholar, proposing to write an encyclopaedic work on Jyotiṣa is content to rely on Jacobi and does not appear to have cared to see for himself even Ptolemy and examine works like the Ātharvaṇa Jyotiṣa, the Vaikhānasasūtra, Viṣṇudharmottara which teach astrology based on nakṣatras. This, to say the least, is most surprising. Prof. Zinner ( in ‘Stars above us’) p. 67 says that the twelve houses denote life, business, brothers, father, sons, health, wife, death, religion, gain, good deeds, gaol. In the 3rd place Thibaut takes no account of Sanskrit works written by Yavanas settled in India, to whom Varaha frequently refers, from whom he sometimes differs on vital points of doctrine and from whom Utpala quotes hundreds of verses, which are found in the ancient Yavanajātaka of Sphujidhvaja. Further, it has been shown above (pp. 533-34 ) that extant references to astrology based on nakṣatras actually exhibit the names of at least five bhāvas centuries before Firmicus. It is quite possible to argue that Firmicus borrowed his astrology from the predecessors of Varāha, who were Greeks and wrote in Sanskrit, or that even Ptolemy did so as he knows of the bhāvas, but furnishes only a dilettante treatment. It may be further noted - that no adaptations of Greek words for all the bhāvas from the first to the twelfth are to be found in Sanskrit works. Such words occur only for some viz. Ist, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 10th and 12th bhāvas and for groups of a few bhāvas ( such as kendra, paṇaphara and āpoclima). Besides, the peculiar points to be deduced from the several bhāvas as stated in Br. J do not all agree with what Firmicus says. Varāha designates the 2nd bhāva as kuṭumba and sva (family, wealth ) while Firmicus calls it ’lucrum’ (how one shall earn one’s living); the 11th bhāva is called āya (income) and bhāva by Varāha while Firmicus calls it the house of good deeds; in Firmicus the 4th bhāva is that of father or parents, while Varāha calls it ‘bandhu’(relatives ) and gr̥ha in Br̥. J. and ‘suhr̥t’( friends ) in Laghujātaka and some later Indian writers say that 4th and 10th bhāvas are respectively of the mother and father. In Firmicus the 6th and 12th bhāvas are respectively wealth and jail, while Varāha bolds them to be ’enmity’ and ’expenditure’.
Lords of horās
Certain technical words have yet to be explained. One meaning of horā is half a rāśi. In the case of the rāśis of odd numbers ( viz. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 ) the lord of the first half is the sun and that of the 2nd half is the moon, while in the case of rāsis of even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 ) the lord of the 1st half is the moon and of the 2nd half the sun (Br. J. I. 11). The purpose of this is that those born on sun’s horā are energetic ( assertive) by nature and those born on moon’s horā are mild by nature. Bṛ. J. (I. 12) mentions the view of some 92 (of Yavaneśvara, according to Utpala ) that the lord of the first horā is the same as the lord of the rāśi and the lord of the second horā is the lord of the 11th house in the horoscope. The result of this view would be that all planets can be lords of horās and not the sun and the moon alone as Varāha, Satya and others say. Each rāśi (of 30 degrees) is divided into three parts, each of 10 degrees, called dreṣkāṇa or drekkāṇa or dr̥kāṇa or dr̥gāṇa ( in Bṛ. J. III. 5, probably for the sake of the metre ). The lords of the three parts of each rāśi are respectively the lord of the rāśi itself ( of the first part), the lord of the 5th rāśi ( of the 2nd part ) and the lord of the 9th rāśi ( of the 3rd part). For example, in the case of Vr̥ṣabha (of which the lord is Venus ), the lords of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd parts are respectively Venus, Mercury (lord of 5th from Vr̥ṣabha) and Saturn ( lord of 9th from Vr̥ṣabha). And go on for the other rāśis.
A few words must be said about dreṣkāṇa. Weber and others think that it represents the Greek word ‘decanoi’. The ‘dekans’ were a legacy from ancient Egypt, which93 had originally no zodiacal signs. Bouché-Leclercq has discussed 94 the question of decans at great length in his ‘L’ Astrologie Grecque’ pp. 215–240. The decanal system can be traced as far back as the third dynasty of Egypt (about 2800 B. C.) and may be older still. Originally, the decans were conspicuous stars or groups of stars rising at particular hours of the night during 36 successive periods of ten days each that constituted the year in Egypt. The series began with Sirius and they were distributed in a wide equatorial belt. The ancient Egyptians had a fixed idea that each division of time, large or small, must have its protective tutelary deity. Therefore, the decans were originally the divinities (or genii ) that presided over the 36 decades of the Egyptian year. Each period of ten days was marked by the rising of the next decan on the eastern horizon at sunset. Bouché Leclercq points out that in the Egyptian language a specific name (like the Greek word ‘decanos’) is not met with and that the decans are designated by a number of synonyms.
When the Zodiacal signs were introduced in Egypt by the Greeks, the tutelary spirits slipped into or got intertwined with the signs of the Zodiac (each sign of 30 degrees being divided into decans of 10 degrees) and played an important part in astrology. The original division referred to the equator, while the later distribution of 36 decans among the twelve signs refers to the 95 ecliptic. Bouché Leclercq avers (p. 53 ) that it has been proved beyond doubt that the Egyptian Zodiacs ( they had four, viz. 2 at Denderah, one at Esneh and one at Akhnum ) are all of the Roman epoch and are imitations of the Greek Zodiac.
The Bṛhajjātaka has a special chapter 27 (in 36 verses ) called dreśkāṇādhyāya in which the 36 presiding deities of dreśkāṇas are described. This chapter appears to conserve the ancient Egyptian conception of the decans as guardian 96 divinities. The language must be regarded as rather metaphorical or symbolic. It is parts of the Zodiac that are being described. Nearly two-thirds of 36 are male and the rest are female. Some composite figures of males and females and quadrupeds or birds or serpents occur. In verses 2, 19 and 21 (of chap. 27) Varāha expressly says that he only sets out what the Yavanas have said.
Description of dreṣkāṇas
Here I translate two verses (2 and 21 ) ’the Yavanas have declared the form of the middle dreṣkāṇa of Meṣa sign ( Aries ) viz. she is a female clad in red garments, intent on ornaments and food, has the mouth of a horse and has a jar-like (i.e. rotund ) form, she is oppressed by thirst and is standing on one leg’; ’the Yavanas have declared the appearance of the last dreṣkāṇa of Tula (Scales) as a male having the form of a monkey, decked with ornaments, frightening deer in a forest, wearing golden armour and quiver, and holding fruits and flesh ( in his hands )’. There is nothing in the Tetrabiblos of Ptolemy corresponding to this and Varāha probably refers to a Sanskrit work by a Yavana writer much earlier than even Ptolemy and Manilius. Manilius, author of ‘Astronomica’, a didactic poem on astrology, referred to the decans but he wrote about 9 A. D. and it appears that decans had gone out of vogue in Greece by the time of Ptolemy. Bouché-Leclercq notes (p. 219) that the system of decans is a characteristic of Manilius and that after him one does not hear it spoken of any longer. On p. 219 of his work Bouché-Leclercq furnishes a figure of the Decans of Manilius, which is entirely different from the descriptions of decans given by Br. J. Manilius divides each sign into three parts, each of which represents no deity but the signs themselves. For example, Aries is divided into three parts and those three are the same as Aries, Taurus and Gemini. The Sārāvali 97 in chap. 49 devotes thirty-six verses to the description of 36 dreṣkāṇas, but the description differs from that of the Br. J. as the note below will show. The Sārāvali had probably before it a Sanskrit yavana work different from the one relied upon by Br. J.
Greek words adapted in Sanskrit
Zeus agrees with Sanskrit Dyaus and not with Jiva and Zeus is an Indo-European word meaning ‘Heaven’ or ‘sky’. The different forms of the word dreṣkāṇa or ‘dyūtam’ for ‘dyūnam’ should not be separately counted. The word horā is used in early Indian astrology in three different senses, none of which agrees with the sense of hour. It is possible that even in Greek it is a word borrowed from Egypt or Babylonia, since in the definite sense of an hour, it is much later and it is doubtful whether Hipparchus (140 B. C.) uses it in that sense. If we exclude these four words only 33 words may at the most be argued to have been adapted from Greek. Some of these words such as the 12 names of rāśis and six of the planets, some names of the bhāvas like hibuka, jāmitra, dyūna and kendra have several synonyms ( sometimes by the dozen ) in Sanskrit employed in Br. J. and so no emphasis should be laid on them. They were mentioned by Br. J. because they had been employed by ancient Greek authors who wrote in Sanskrit and so Br. J. took cognisance of them for the sake of completeness of treatment. Even kendra meaning 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses or bhāvas has two Sanskrit synonyms ‘kaṇṭaka’ and catusṭaya’, besides the fact that its meaning is different in Sanskrit astrology from the meaning of the Greek word (kentron, spike). Therefore, barely ten Greek words like Anaphā, Sunaphā remain which have a very minor role to play in Indian astrology and it is a far cry to argue or assert from the occurrence of these few words that the whole Indian astrology as developed in Varāhamihira was borrowed from Greek works. It is extremely doubtful whether any Indians except a few sages or gymnosophists ever went to Greece or lived long in Greece or settled there and returned to India to spread Greek words and astrological knowledge in India; but we have ample evidence that Greeks settled in India, composed inscriptions in Sanskrit and wrote extensive works on astrology in Sanskrit. Vide ‘L’Astrologie Grecque’ by Bouché-Grecque p. XIX for the Greek. Latin, French names and astrological symbols of the signs of the zodiac and planets and G. R. Kaye in Memoir No. 18 of the Archaeological Survey of India pp. 39-40 (for the Greek twelve names of Zodiacal signs and nine other Greek words occurring in Br. J.) and p. 100 for Greek ‘bhāvas’ and symbols for signs and planets.
A good deal is said in Br. J. II. 15-17, Laghujātaka II. 10-12, Sārāvali IV, 28-31, Muhūrta-cintamaṇi (VI. 27-28 ) and other works about the planets being friends, enemies or indifferent among themselves. Friends and enemies are of two kinds, natural and incidental ( temporary ). The following table will show natural friends and enemies among planets.
| Planet | Friend | Enemy | Indifferent (udāsina or madhya or sama) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | Moon,Mars,Jupiter | Venus,Saturn | Mercury |
| Moon | Sun, Mercury | none | Mars,Jupiter,Venus,Saturn |
| Mars | Sun, Moon, Jupiter | Mercury | Venus,Saturn |
| Mercury | Sun,Venus | Moon | Mars,Jupiter,Saturn |
| Jupiter | Sun,Moon,Mars | Mercury,Venus | Saturn |
| Venus | Mercury,Saturn | Sun,Moon | Mars,Jupiter |
| Saturn | Mercury,Venus | Sun,Moon,Mars | Jupiter |
It may be noticed that there is no reciprocity for these relationships. For example, the Moon has Mercury as one of its friends, while Mercury has the Moon as its enemy; the Moon has no enemy but Venus has the Moon as its enemy. According to the Yavanas no planet is sama ( neither friend nor foe) but that planets are either friends or enemies. 98
As regards temporary friendships and enmities the following rules apply; when planets are in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th places from each other they become friends for the occasion (such as marriage, invasion or journey &c.), otherwise they become enemies when in the same rāśi or in 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th or 9th from each other. There are differences of opinion here but they are passed over.
Four kinds of power of planets
The bala ( strength) of planets is of four kinds ( arises in four ways ) viz. place, direction, activity (ceṣṭā), time. A planet is powerful in its position when it is in its own house or in exaltation (ucca) or in its friend’s house or in its trıkoṇa or navāṁśa. This is sthānabala. Mercury and Jupiter are powerful in the east ( i.e. when they are in the lagna ), the Sun and Mars in the south (i.e, in the 10th house ), Saturn in the West (i.e. 7th house ), the Moon and Venus are powerful in the north ( i.e. 4th house). This is digbala. The Sun and Moon are powerful in the northern ayana 99 ( i.e. in the six rāśis from Capricorn); the remaining planets are powerful when they are retrograde or in conjunction with the Moon or when there is a fight ( between planets other than the Sun and the Moon ), the one to the north being more powerful. Garga quoted in the Adbhutasāgara says that grahayuddha (fight of planets) occurs when one planet occults the other, or when it slightly covers, or when the light of one throws into the background the light of another or when one planet is to the left of the other slightly. This is ceṣṭābala. The Moon, Mars and Saturn are powerful at night, Mercury is powerful both by day and night, and others are powerful by day; krūra and saumya planets are respectively powerful in the dark half and bright half of the month;
A planet is powerful in the year of which he is the lord, or on his own week-day or horā or in the month of which he is the lord. This is kālabala. 100 Yavaneśvara says ‘for ten days from the 1st tithi of the bright half the Moon is of middling power but in the next period of ten days (from śukla 11th to kṛṣṇa ) 5th Moon’s power is highest and in the last ten days (from kṛṣṇa 6th to amāvāsyā) the Moon has slight power; but if Moon has an aspect with saumya planets (Jupiter &c. ) he is always powerful.
A planet is said by Sārāvali to have nine vicissitudes, 101 dipta (blazing, when it is in exaltation), svastha ( at ease when it is in its svagṛha ), mudita ( glad, when it is in a friend’s svagṛha), śānta ( quiet, when it is in an auspicious varga), śakta ( capable, when it is shining brightly ), nipīḍita ( oppressed, when it is overwhelmed by another planet ), bhīta (frightened, when it is in depression ), vikala ( impaired when its light is lost is Sun’s light), khala ( evil, when it is in the midst of evil company ). The Sārāvali ( V.5-13 ) describes at length the results of a planet being in these nine conditions.
How even mythological accounts are pressed into service by astrological works may be well illustrated by two verses from the Yogayātrā of Varāhamihira: ‘The Sun was born in Aṅga (Bengal), the Moon among Yavanas, Mars in Avanti ( Ujjayini), Mercury in Magadha, Jupiter in Sindhu, Venus in Bhojakaṭa, Saturn in Surāṣṭra (Kathiawar), Ketu among Mlecchas and Rāhu in Kaliṅga; if these planets are affected, they cause distress to the countries in which they were born: hence a king should invade the respective countries when any one or more of the planets are affected. 102
Doctrine of dr̥ṣṭi
A very important doctrine of Indian astrology is that of dr̥ṣṭi (lit. glance, i.e aspect ). The Br. J. II. 13, Laghujātaka II. 8, Sārāvali IV. 32-33, Muhūrtadarśana I. 27 lay down the following rules. All planets 103 have a full aspect (pūrna.dr̥ṣṭi) on the 7th house from the one which each occupies. Besides, Saturn has full aspect on the 3rd and 10th rāśi from the one which it occupies and on the planet which is 3rd or 10th from its own position. Similarly, Jupiter has full aspect on the 5th and 9th rāśi from the one it occupies and also on the planet that is 5th or 9th from itself; Mars has full dr̥ṣṭi on the 4th and 8th rāśis and the planet in the same. So the Sun, Moon, Mercury and Venus have full dr̥ṣṭi only on the 7th rāśi from the one each of them occupies and on the planet that is 7th from them. Besides, all planets have 1/4th dr̥ṣṭi on the 3rd and 10th, half dr̥ṣṭi on 5th and 9th, 3/4 dr̥ṣṭi on 4th and 9th. There is no aspect of any planet on any rāśi or sthāna except the seven expressly mentioned (viz. 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th ) and in the case of partial dr̥ṣṭis the fruit also is partial (i.e. 1/4,1/2 or 3/4). The Tetrabiblos (I. 13 and 20 ) treats of four aspects viz. opposition (7th house of Varāha), trine ( 5th and 9th houses ), quartile ( 4th and 10th ), sextile ( difference of 60 degrees and two signs) and does not distinguish between fractions of dr̥ṣṭis as Varāha does. So in the matter of aspects also there is substantial difference between Ptolemy and Varāha-mihira.
Another important doctrine is that of gocara. It means 104 the consideration about the auspicious or inauspicious positions of planets at any particular period in question in places either declared auspicious or inauspicious judging from the rāśi of birth.
The Muhūrta-cintāmaṇi in five verses (of chap. 4) deals with this subject. I shall illustrate the application of the word by some examples. If the Sun is in the 6th place from the rāśi of birth he is auspicious but if at the same time the 12th place from the rāśi of birth is occupied by other planets (except Saturn), then, though auspicious by himself, he becomes inauspicious. This result does not arise in case one planet is the father or son of the other (as Saturn is the son of the Sun and Mercury is the son of the Moon). Similarly, if Mercury is in 2nd place from rāśi of birth or in the 4th or 6th or 8th or 10th or 11th and other planets (except the Moon who is the father of Mercury ) are respectively in the 5th, 3rd, 9th, 1st, 8th or 12th, Mercury, though originally auspicious, becomes inauspicious for the time being. Kāraka is another word to be explained. It is rather complicated. Br. J. XXII and Sārāvali 105 VI. and VII, deal with it. As many planets as occupy their own gṛha or ucca or Mūlatrikoṇa and also are in the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th places ( in the horoscope ) they become Kārakas of each other, while the planet that is in the 10th place (in horoscope ) is specially kāraka. Suppose the lagna is Karka and the moon occupies it (it is moon’s svagṛha ) and Mars, Saturn, the Sun and Jupiter are in their uccas(i. e. in Makara, Tula, Meṣa and Karkaṭa respectively), they are all kārakas of each other. Many more rules are given in this matter in Br, J. XXII. and Sārāvali VI. The Sārāvali gives ( VII. 7-13) another meaning. Each planet is specially concerned with, rules over or produces several matters or persons &c. I shall quote two verses. The Moon is the lord of poets, flowers, edibles, precious stones, silver, conch, salt, waters, clothes, ornaments, women, ghee, sesame, oils and sleep. Jupiter is the lord of auspicious things, dharma, rites for prosperity, greatness, education, orders, cities and nations, vehicles, seats, beds, gold, corn, dwelling house and sons.
Daśas and Antardaśās
Then there is the doctrine of daśās and antardaśās of the seven planets. In the Viṁśottarī system man’s maximum life is supposed to be 120 years and in Aṣṭottarī it is supposed to be 108 and those are distributed among the planets in varying numbers of years and it is said that daśās have further divisions of antardaśās. This doctrine is elaborated in the 8th chapter of the Bṛhajjātaka and Utpala quotes numerous verses from Yavaneśvara on this. The theory of Aṣṭakavarga is set out by Varāha in chapter 9 of the Bṛhajjātaka viz. that the seven planets and lagna are eight entities and they produce their fullest or auspicious results only when they are in particular houses and at particular periods of a man’s life. All this has to be passed over for reasons of space.
Varāhamihira’s predecessors
In the Bṛhatsaṁhitā, the Bṛhaj-jātaka, and the two works on Yātrā, Varāhamihira mentions a host of his predecessors in astrology. In my paper on ‘Varāhamihira and Utpala’ (JBBRAS, N. S. vol. 24-25, 1948-49, pp. 1–31 ) I brought together the names of all the predecessors of Varāhamihira and gave extensive references to them in his works. That paper may not be available to all readers of this volume of the History of Dharmaśāstra and therefore I propose to give a brief abstract of it here for ready reference. Purely astronomical writers or works have been generally not included in the following list : Atri ( who acc. to Br. S. 45. 1 wrote a work on utpātas for which Garga gave him instruction, or who was the disciple of Garga); Bādarāyaṇa 106 (named in Br. S. 39.1) from whom about one hundred verses are quoted by Utpala in his several commentaries, in one of which on Br J. VI. 2 the view of Yavanendra on the premature death of a child is cited; Bhāguri (Bṛ. S. 85. 1 mentions him as an ancient author on śakunas); Bhāradvāja (mentioned in Br. S. 85. 2 as an author on whose treatise king Dravyavardhana of Ujjayini based his own work on śakunas); Bhṛgu (Bṛ. S. 85. 43 ); Cyavana (Br. Y. 29. 3); Devala (mentioned in Br. S. 7. 15 for the four motions of Mercury such as straight, retrograde and on Yogayātrā IX. 12); Devasvāmin (mentioned in Br. J. VII. 7); Dravyavardhana (mentioned as king of Ujjayini and as an author on śakunas); Garga 107 (over three hundred verses of Garga are quoted by Utpala in his commentary on Br. S. alone, a work called Mayūracitraka is ascribed to him by Utpala on Br. S 35. 3 and on Br. S. I 5 Utpala quotes three verses of Garga about Vedāṅgajyotiṣa, about his deriving astronomy from it and about other sages obtaining it from him), Vṛddhagarga 108 (twenty-five verses of his are quoted by Utpala on Br. S. I. 11, in one of which the rāśis are expressly referred to); Gārgi (usually styled ‘bhagavān’ by Utpala who quotes about 60 verses of his on Br. J. alone ); Gautama ( in Br. Y. 29. 3); Jīvaśarman ( named in Br. J. VII. 9, XI. 1 and Utpala on XIII. 3 quotes him for the words Sunaphā, Anaphā, Durudharā and Kemadruma); Kaśyapa (in Br. Y. XIX. 1); Kāsyapa 109 ( Utpala quotes about 260 Anuṣṭubh verses from him in his commentary on Br. S. , some of which show his acquaintance with all the rāśis ); Māṇdavya (named in Br. S. 103. 3 and quoted by Utpala several times on Br. J. VI. 6, XI. 3 and 5, XIII.2 and XV. 4); Maṇittha (mentioned in Bṛ. J. VII, 1 along with Maya, Yavana, and Parāśara on āyurdāya, and in Bṛ. J. XI. 9, while Utpala quotes 13 Āryās and 2 Anuṣṭubh verses of his on Br. 110 J. alone); Maya (mentioned several times in Bṛ. S. 24. 2, 55. 29, 56. 8, in Br. J. VII. 1 with Yavana, Maṇittha and Parāśara on the topic of length of life, on Br. J. VII, 13 an āryā verse of Maya is quoted by Utpala and to Maya king of dānavas the science of Jyotiṣa was imparted by the Sun, as stated in the last chapter of the extant Sūryasiddhānta and in a verse quoted by Utpala on Br. S. 2.14 ); Nārada (mentioned in Bṛ. S.11.5 as holding the view that Ketu was one though assuming various forms, Bṛ. S. 24.2 mentions that Nārada learnt from Bṛhaspati on Meru the results of the conjunctions of the Moon with Rohiṇī on which he composed a work on which Bṛ. S. draws); Parāśara ( a Parāśaratantra is named in Br. S. VII. 8 on Budhacāra, Br. S. XI. mentions Paraśara’s treatment of Ketucāra along with that of Garga and of Asita-Devala, Br. S. XVII. 3 mentions Parāśara’s disquisition on four kinds of grahayuddha, Br. S. XXI.2 mentions him on prognostications about rainfall along with the works of Garga, Kāśyapa and Vajra, Br. J. VII. 1 refers to the work of Parāśara on length of life along with those of Maya, Yavana, Maṇittha from whom Utpala on Bṛ. J. VII, 9 quotes a verse in which Parāśara is named, Bṛ. J. XII, 2 mentions Parāśara as having spoken of two Yogas called Srak and Sarpa); Pauliśa (vide pp. 515-517 above), almost all quotations in Utpala are on purely astronomical matters, except that on Br. J. II. 20 Utpala quotes half an āryā of astrological character; Pitāmaha (reputed author of one of the five siddhāntas, from Br. S. 1. 4 it appears that Pitāmaha regarded Tuesday as inauspicious); Ratnāvali (mentioned in Bṛhadyoga-yātrā II. 1 ); Ṛṣiputra (Br. S. 48. 85 names him and then Br. S. quotes 15 verses from him, Utpala quotes about 20 Anuṣṭubha verses from him on different verses of Br. S. and a long prose passage on Br. S. 85. 15 and several Anuṣṭubh verses on Yogayātrā I. 15, one peculiarity being that he quotes the views of over a dozen authors such as Garga, Gautama, Devala, Parāśara, Bṛhaspati ); Satya ( very frequently named in Br. J. such as on VII. 3, 9-11, 13, XII. 2, XX. 10, and in Bṛhadyogayātrā XI. 34, about 90 āryās being quoted by Utpala on Br. J. alone, in Br. J. VII. 11 Varāha refers to him as ’ Bhadatta’ according to Utpala, which may be really ‘Bhadanta)’; Sārasvata ( named in Br. S. 53. 99 as a writer on ‘dakārgala’, over 20 Anuṣṭubh verses being quoted by Utpala ); Siddhasena (Bṛ. J. VII, 7 names him along with Devasvāmin and Viṣṇugupta on the length of life ); Uśanas (named by Varāha in Yogayātrā V, 3 for the view that no march should be made on Svāti or Maghā); Vajra (named by Br. S. 21.2 along with Garga, Parāśara and Kāśyapa about prognostications of rainfall and on Ketucāra in Bṛ. S. XI. 1 with Garga, Parāśara and Asita-Devala); Vasiṣṭha mentioned in Br. S. 51. 8, in Bṛhad-Yogayātrā II, 3, VIII. 6 where his view is opposed to that of Satya, IX. 2 ( about Horā and Drekkāṇa ), XI. 9 (which mentions that Vasiṣṭha and Maṇittha held the same view); Viṣṇugupta ( mentioned in Br, J. VII. 7 as holding the same view as Devasvāmin and Siddhasena about the length of life to be judged from a horoscope, in Bṛ. J. XXI, 3 where Viṣṇugupta is opposed to the views of Yavanas that the Kumbhadvādaśāṁśa in the Lagna is inauspicious and Utpala quotes two āryās from him, mentioned in Bṛhad-yogayātrā 22.4, whether identical with Cāṇakya discussed in the paper on ‘Varāhamihira and Utpala’p. 19); Yavana (generally mentioned by Varāha in the plural as in Br. J. VII. 1, VIII. 9, XI. 1, XXI. 3, XXVII. 19 and 21, Laghujātaka IX. 6 about Veśi, Utpala on VIII, 9 refers to Purāṇayavana-mata and Sārāvali 21. 11 mentions pūrvayavanendras; vide paper on ‘Varāhamihira and Utpala’ pp. 19–21 and on ‘Yavaneśvara and Utpala’ JBAS, vol. for 1957, pp. 1-5).
The vast literature presupposed by these numerous authors cannot be compressed as said above within the brief space of a hundred years or so but requires the lapse of several centuries. From Garga, who is assigned to 50 B. C. by Kern to Varāha mihira there is a period of about five centuries which might be held to suffice for the production of this vast astrological literature. Garga himself knew the rāśi system, the system of the exaltation of planets and of dṛṣtis as the quotation in note 109 will show. Ptolemy came at least two hundred years after Garga and Firmicus four hundred years after him. Therefore there is nothing to prove that the rāśi system in India was borrowed from Greek authors. The Greeks themselves got their inspiration for horoscopic astrology from Babylon after the invasion of Alexander in 4th century B. C. and particularly after Berossus.
Senses of ‘signs of zodiac’
It would be necessary to say something about the signs of the Zodiac. The word Zodiac is derived from a Greek word ‘Zodion’ meaning ’little animals’ and means literally a ‘circle of animals’. In Herodotus I. 70 it is used in the sense of ‘figure painted or carved’. It was then applied to one of the figures imagined as formed by certain star-groups in the belt of the heavens. The Zodiac is a belt in the sky about 16 degrees broad, divided in two by the ecliptic, in which the Sun, Moon and planets move. The expression ‘signs of the Zodiac’ may be used in two senses,111 viz. (1) the 12 groups of constellations which are found sown in the vicinity of the ecliptic (the path of the Sun ) irregular in position, unequal in extent and in brightness; (2) the twelve equal artificial divisions of the belt each extending to 30 degrees of longitude. It is generally held that the first meaning alone can be the earlier of the 112 two. Meissner points out that the most ancient Babylonian observation text belonging to the 37th year of Nebuchadnezzar ( 567 B. C.) knows only the figures or pictures of the constellations, while the twelve equal divisions occur first of all in a text of the reign of Darius II (about 418 B. C.). Nothing definite is known about the first formation of these picture-signs nor is it known who gave these fanciful names to stars. There is hardly any doubt that the picture names were due to popular fancy and not to men of science. The names were probably given at different times, Meissner states that the picture signs are already mentioned in part in a Hittite text of the 13th century B. C. and are also to be found on boundary stones of the same period.
Schiaparelli in ‘Astronomy in the old Testament’ (p. 85 ) observes that in Babylonia upright stones were placed in fields as boundary marks ( Kudurru in Babylonian ) or rather as titles of property by way of public notice, of which thirty have been so far discovered on which figures are drawn and on which inscriptions are found containing most terrible curses on those who would remove the stones. On p. 86 he gives the drawing on a Babylonian monument of the 12th century B. C. in which the Moon, the Sun and Venus occupy the central position and round about them there is a crowd of figures, of which one can easily recognize the scorpion, the goat with a fish’s tail (Capricornus) and the Archer. 113
Hooke remarks that several constellations are assigned to Ea in the astrological texts, the two most frequently mentioned being Pisces and Aquarius and that Ea’s symbol as represented on boundary stones was either Rani’s head or goat-114 fish. It is stated by Frankfort 115 that of Zodiacal signs in their Babylonian forms only two, Cancer and Sagittarius, do not occur on the seals of the first dynasty of Babylonia.
It is possible to argue that in two verses of the R̥gveda (I. 24.8 and I. 164.11 ) there is a reference to the Zodiacal belt. ‘King Varuṇa made a wide path in order that the Sun may follow it’;’ the wheel of ṛta has twelve spokes and it again and again revolves round the sky, but it is not worn out’.116
The above references to Babylonian boundary stones and monuments are enough to show that in Babylonia some four or five signs of the Zodiac had been distinguished before 1000 B. C. But the complete list of picture signs of the Zodiac was known in Babylonia at least from about 6th century B. C. as Meissner (referred to above ) says. 117 Sarton cautiously suggests the probability of Babylonian influence on other Oriental peoples (Iranian, Indian and Chinese) but he gives up the discussion of this question as a debatable 118 one. Authorities are agreed that the oldest horoscopes are found in Mesopotamia and not in Greece nor in Egypt. Sarton states that the first known horoscope is a cuneiform tablet in the Bodleian referring to the date 29th April 410 B. C., and that the second is another tablet in the Pierpont Morgan Library referring to April 263 B. C. (in JAOS. vol. 75, No. 3 p. 172). F. C. Cramer in ‘Astrology in Roman Law and Politics’ (Philadelphia, 1954) agrees with this and gives references to horoscopes of 258 B. C., 231 B. C. and 142 B. C. (pp. 5-8).
Antiquity of Mesopotamian horoscopes
Prof. Neugebauer on the other hand remarks 119 that only seven horoscopes are found preserved from Mesopotamia, all written in Seleucid period, the earliest being of 263 B. C. C. V. Maclean refers to a horoscope of 28th February 142 B. C. Sarton says that the very word ‘horoscopos’ was coined very late in Greece, that it is used by Manilius (first century A. D.) and Clement of Alexandria (150–220 A. D.) and that its use cannot be found earlier.120 The earliest Greek horoscope from Egypt concerns the year 4 B. C. and Prof. Neugebauer says that he knows about 60 horoscopes from 4 B. C. to 500 A. D. The earliest Demotic and Greek horoscopes were written about the beginning of the Christian era and the earliest Demotic horo scope refers to 13 A. D. 121 Prof. Neugebauer holds that the rising times of zodiacal signs mentioned in Bṛhajjātaka (I. 19) are precisely the same as the rising times of zodiacal signs in the Babylonian system (called A.). Vide Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 7 No.. 3 pp. 100-102.
It has been seen above that not only was general astrology developed in early Vedic times, but individual astrology based on nakṣatras had begun to be studied even as early as the Atharvaveda, 122, that beginnings of a regular terminology resembling the later bhāva nomenclature had been made and prognostications had been based on the nakṣatra of birth and on the nakṣatras at certain distances from the nakṣatra of birth.
Here we have the germs of the basic assumptions of early and medieval astrology, viz. that a person’s future is determined at the time of his birth and that his destiny can be inferred from his horoscope. It will be shown immediately that India was in contact with Mesopotamia and the countries of the Near East from very ancient times. This contact became very close after Alexander’s invasion of India about 325 B. C. and in the 3rd century BC. It appears to me probable that Indians who had already the nakṣatra astrology saw the signs of the Zodiac on Babylonian monuments and boundary stones and adapted them to their own astrological purposes just about the time when the Greeks derived their inspiration for individual astrology from Babylonians.
In ‘Gayā and Buddha Gaya’ (Calcutta, 1934 ) Dr. B. M. Barua draws attention (pp. 90-92 and 121 of vol. II) to the fact that one can detect on the railing pillars at Buddha Gaya some of the motifs representing the rāśis or signs of the Zodiac (vide figures 43 a to j, which resemble the signs from Vṛṣa to Tulā, Dhanus and Makara). These figures were drawn in the 1st century B. C. and would go at least some way towards negativing the view of Weber and others that the rāśi system was borrowed by Indians from such Greek writers as Firmicus and Paulus in the 4th century A.D. These Buddha Gayā figures closely resemble the figures drawn on monuments and boundary stones in Babylonia (vide figures opposite ). All the railing pillars are not preserved.
Ancient intercourse between Babylon and India
A few words may be said about the intercourse between Babylon and India. A. H. Sayce says 123 that as far back as the 3rd millennium B. C. there was cultural and possibly racial continuity between Babylon and the Punjab and the intercourse was by land and that so far there is no evidence that it was by Sea. Peacocks, rice and Indian sandalwood were known in Palestine under their Tamil names in the Hebrew chronicles of Genesis and Kings. 124 The Bogozkeui Inscription of about 1400 B. C. recording treaties between the king of Hittites and the king of Mitanni shows the dynasts of the latter people had the Vedic gods Indra, Varuṇa, Mitra and Nāsatya in their pantheon.125 The archives of Bogozkeui contained an elaborate treatise on four tablets on the training of horses by a certain Kikkuli of the land of Mitanni in which are found certain technical terms akin to Sanskrit; and the personal names of the kings and nobles from Mitanni, Nuzi and Syrian documents betray an Indo-European126 origin. The Bāveru-jātaka refers to the trade by sea between Babylon and India. 127 Greek ambassadors such as Megsthenes from Seleucus to Candragupta Maurya, Deimachus to Bindusāra ( son of Candragupta ) had been sent to India and it is not too much to hold that there was reciprocity from the Indian side and Indians had gone as envoys to the Seleucid and Ptolemaic courts many years before Aśoka sent his missionaries. 128 Aśoka’s edict No. 13 refers to five kings of the Near East to whom Buddhist missionaries had been sent, viz, to Antiyoga (Antiochus of Syria), Turamaya (Ptolemy II of Egypt), Antikina ( Antigonus of Macedonia), Magā ( Magas of Cyrene) and Alikasundara 129 (of Epirus). The Gospel of Matthew (chap 2.1-2 ) states that at the birth of Christ in Bethlehem wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying that they had seen in the east the star of the newly born child and had come to worship him. The life of Apollonius of Tyana written by Philostratus130 ( in the first quarter of the 3rd century A. D.) states that it was usual in India to show great hospitality to Babylonians and that the Indian king, Iarchus, presented to Apollonius seven rings named after the seven planets, of which he was to wear one on each week day.
The theory that is sought to be propounded here is that the sight of the signs of the Zodiac on such patent objects as monuments and boundary stones in the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. excited the curiosity of Indians visiting Babylonia, that on knowing their significance they brought the knowledge back to their country and fitted it on to the nakṣatra astrology that already existed in India and developed the rāśi astrology in their own way. Varāhamihira expressly says about dreṣkāṇas that he describes them in accordance with the views of Yavanas. If the whole Indian astrology had been derived from the Yavanas there was nothing to prevent him from saying so. The verse ‘Mlecchā hi yavanās &c.’(in note [^743] above) implies that the Yavana astrological tradition and Indian one were not the same and that the Yavanas had composed Sanskrit works on astrology (as the author’s two papers show).
Position of Vernal Equinox
Varāha expressly differs from the Yavanas on several substantial points131. About 200 B.C. the vernal equinox was at the beginning of the divisional sign Aries, which very closely coincided with the picture sign Aries. The Indian astronomers, when they began to make use of the signs Meṣa and others, switched over from the reckoning with the Kṛttikās as the beginning of the series of nakṣatras on to the reckoning from the nakṣatra Aśvinī, and counted Aśvinī as the first nakṣatra, though the vernal equinoctial point has now receded owing to precession to the Uttarābhādrapadā nakṣatra group. It is difficult to trace and describe the early efforts of Indian astrologers in the centuries preceding the Christian era on the system of rāśis, since the excellent work of Varāha, the Bṛhajjātaka, eclipsed all its predecessors and led to their gradual disappearance just as the two works of Ptolemy, Syntaxis (or Almagest) and Tetrabiblos, led to the gradual loss and disappearance of Greek works on astronomy and astrology composed before Ptolemy. Though all scholars maintain that Greek horoscopic astrology was influenced by Babylonian astronomy and astrology, the connecting links have snapped and become obliterated132. It is likely that, as both India and Greece were influenced by the Babylonian system of signs and astrology, both show some common characteristics. But it is too wide of the mark to assert that Indian astrology as developed in Varāhamihira was borrowed from Firmicus and Paulus Alexandrinus. Prof. Neugebauer, while asserting that the Sūrya-siddhānta is based on Greek eccentric and epicyclic devices, holds that they were modified by the Indians and that what he means is not that there was copying, but an intelligent modification of the initial impetus ( vide ‘Archives Internationales D’ Histoire des Sciences’ for April-June 1955 ( at p. 171 and note 32). It has been shown above in note 96 that the Br. J. differs from Firmicus as to dreṣkāṇas and about bhāvas ( places in the horoscope ). My hypothesis is that Indian astrology about rāśis and bhāvas was developed before even Ptolemy. I have pointed out the differences between Ptolemy and Varāha in many places133.
Horoscopes are cast not only for individuals, but also for companies, ships, animals,134 foundations of buildings, cities and countries. If a person comes to an astrologer for consultation on any matter, the astrologer notes the sign rising at the time the question is asked, calculates the positions of the planets also for that day and time and then makes his prognostications.135 For casting the horoscope of an individual one must know the year, month, day, hour or ghaṭikā of birth and the place of birth. Almanacs are prepared on the basis of the latitudes and longitudes of cities like Bombay or Poona or Calcutta and they furnish tables by following which one can find the sign rising at the time of the birth of a person. But the almanacs being based on the latitudes and longitudes of certain towns and cities, if a person uses an almanac prepared in Poona for casting the horoscope of a person born in Berar or Central India there is likely to be some inaccuracy in arriving at the proper lagna.
Figures of horoscopes
Horoscopes are framed either in square figures or in circular figures and even as to square horoscopes, there is some variance in the practice of placing the lagna (the sign rising on the horizon at the time of birth ). Supposing the lagna is Siṁha, the square horoscope as usually drawn in Mahārāṣṭra would be as follows where the figures 6, 2 and 4 would represent the 2nd, 10th and 12th bhāvas (places ), while a horoscope cast on the modern European method would be like the one next to it with the same lagna and employs symbols for the signs as for Aries and for planets such as for Mars.
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रमध्वं मे वचसे सोम्याय ऋतावरीरुप मुहूर्तमेवैः। ऋ. III. 33.5. This is paraphrased in the Nirukta ( II. 25) as follows : उपरमध्वं मे वचसे सोम्याय सोमसम्पादिने ऋतावरी: ऋतवत्यः …मुहूर्तम् एवैः अयनैः अवनैर्वा । मुहूर्तः मुहुः ऋतुः । ऋतुः अर्तेः गतिकर्मणः । मुहुः मूढः इव कालः।’. मुहूर्त here means ‘for a short time, for a moment ‘. The निरुक्त derives it from मुहुः and ऋतुः (time that passes quickly). ↩︎
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रूपंरूपं मघवा बोभवीति मायाः कृण्वानस्तन्वं परि स्वाम् । त्रिर्यद्दिर्वः परि मुहूर्त मुहूर्तमागात्स्वैर्मन्त्रैरनृतुपा ऋतावा ॥ ऋ. III. 53. 8. There are three savanas (soma pressings in the day ) viz. प्रातःसवन, माध्यन्दिनसवन and तृतीयसवन, Vide H. of Dh vol. II. p. 981 for references to the three savanas in the R̥gveda itself. ↩︎
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स पञ्चदशाह्रो रूपाण्यपश्यदात्मनस्तन्वो मुहूर्ताँ लोकम्पृणाः पञ्चदशैव रात्रेस्तद्यन्मुहुास्रायन्ते तस्मान्मुहूर्ताः । शतपथ X. 4. 2. 183; दश वे सहस्राण्यष्टो च शतानि संवत्सरस्य मुहूर्ता यावन्तो मुहूर्तस्तावन्ति पञ्चदशकृत्वः क्षिप्राणि यावन्ति क्षिप्राणि तावन्ति पञ्चदशकृत्व एतर्हींणि &c । शतपथ XII. 3. 2. 5. मुहूर्तs are so called because ’they straightway save’. ↩︎
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रौदः सार्व (पर्?) स्तथा मैत्रः पिण्ड्य (पित्र्यो ?) वासव एव च। आप्योथ वैश्वदेवश्च ब्राह्मो मध्याह्नसंश्रितः प्राजापत्यस्तथा ऐन्द्रस्तथेन्द्रो निर्ऋतिस्तथा। वारुणश्च तथार्यम्णो भागाश्चापि (भाग्यश्चापि ?) दिनाश्रिताः । एते दिनमुहूर्ताश्च दिवाकरविनिर्मिताः । वायु 66 40-42. The text is corrupt and the names of devatās are used in most cases; e g. ब्राह्म is अभिजित् as ब्रह्मा is the presiding deity of अभिजित् , प्राजापत्य is probably रौहिण as प्रजापति is the presiding deity of रोहिणी. Verses 43-44 of वायु 60 enumerate the names of the 15 muhūrtas of the night as अजस्तथाहिर्बुध्न्यश्च पूषाहि यमदेवताः। आग्नेयश्चापि विज्ञेयः प्राजापत्यस्तथैव च। ब्रह्मा सौम्यस्तथादित्यो बार्हस्पत्योध वैष्णवः । सावित्रोथ तथा त्वाष्ष्ट्रो वायव्यश्चेति संग्रहः । एकरात्रिमुहूर्ताः स्युः क्रमोक्ता दश पञ्च च। But almost all these are names of presiding deities. ↩︎ ↩︎
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वर्गोत्तमाश्चरगृहादिषु पूर्वमध्यपर्यन्ततः शुभफला नवभागसंज्ञाः । बृहज्जातक I.14; उत्पल explains वर्गोशकसमूहे उत्तमाः। …तथा च यवनेश्वरः । स्वे स्वे गृहेषु स्वगृहांशका ये वर्गोत्तमास्ते यवनैर्निरुक्ताः।. This occurs in यवनजातक of स्फुजिध्वज folio 4. ↩︎
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उत्पल on बृहज्जातक V. 17 paraphrases हरिज as उदयलेखा and quotes a Sanskrit half verse defining it. ‘यत्राकाशं भूम्या सह संसक्तं समन्ताद् दृश्यते तद्धरिजम् । उक्तं च। हरिजमिति गगनमवनौ सम्पृक्तमिव लक्ष्यते यथोक्तेषु।. This is probably a quotation from यवनजातक. ↩︎
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त्रिंशद्धाम वि राजति वाक्पतङ्गाय धीयते । प्रति वस्तोरह द्युभिः ॥ ऋ. x. 189. 3, The same is अथर्ववेद VI. 31 9 with different readings ‘त्रिंशद्धामा विराजति वाक्पतङ्को अशिश्रियत् । प्रति वस्तोरहर्द्युभिः ॥’. सायण and Geldner take the words त्रिंशद्धाम as referring to 30 मुहूर्तs of day and night. ↩︎ ↩︎
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चित्रः, केतुः, प्रभान, आभान् , संभान, ज्योतिष्मान, तेजस्वान्, आतपन्, तपन्, अभितपन्, रोचनः, रोचमानः, शोभन:, शोभमानः, कल्याणः। ते. ब्रा. III. 10 1. These are 15 मुहूर्तs of the day. The 15 मुहूर्तs of the night are : दाता, प्रदाता, आनन्दः, मोदः, प्रमोदः, आवेशयन् , निवेशयन, संवेशनः, संशान्तः, शान्तः, आभवन्, प्रभवन्, संभवन्, संभूतः, भूतः. ↩︎
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धर्मवृद्धिरपां प्रत्थः क्षपाह्रास उदग्मतौ। दक्षिणे तो विपर्यस्तौ षण्मुहूर्त्ययनेन तु ॥ वेदाङ्गज्योतिष 7th of ऋग्वेदाङ्ग-ज्यो. and 8th of याजुष. The longest and shortest days would be 36 and 24 ghaṭikās and this would be approximately true for the extreme North-West of India about 32 degrees of north latitude and some miles north or north-west of Taxila. ↩︎
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तस्य ह वा एतस्य ब्रहालोकस्यारो ह्रदः । मुहूर्ता येष्टिहाः। विजरा नदी ॥ &c. कौषीतकि उप. I 3. ↩︎
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अथ ब्राह्मे मुहूर्ते उत्थाय काल एव प्रातरग्निहोत्रं जुहोति। बौ. गृ.सू. II. 10. 26, ब्राह्मे मुहूर्तेबुध्येत धर्मार्थौ चानुचिन्तयेत्। मनु IV. 92; ब्राह्मे मुहूर्ते चोत्थाय चिन्तयेदात्मना हितम् । याज्ञ I, 115, मार्कण्डेय 31. 17 (Veन्k. ed.). मिता. explains ‘ब्राह्मे मुहूर्ते उत्थाद् पश्चिमेऽर्धप्रहरे प्रबुध्य’. ↩︎
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संज्ञाः पुराणकथिता रौद्रः श्वेतस्तथा मैत्रः। आरभटः सावित्रो वैराजश्वाय गान्धर्वः। आभजिच्च रोहिणबलौ विजयाख्यो नैर्ऋतः शाक्रः। वारुणभगदैवत्याविति विज्ञेया दिवा मुहर्तानाम्॥ अभिजिद्वैराजश्च श्वेतः सावित्रमैत्रबलविजयाः । शुभकार्यसिद्धिजनकाः सप्त प्रोक्ताः पुराणज्ञैः ॥ विद्यामाधवीय chap. 4 pp. 277-80. उत्पल on बृहत्संहिता 98.3 quotes a long prose passage from पराशर in which occur some of the names of मुहूर्तs, such श्वेत, मैत्र, सारभट, रोहिणी (रौहिण?), आत्मसह, अभिजित्, बल, जय, गन्धर्व. ↩︎
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स भवान् पुण्ययोगेन मुहूर्तेन जयेन च। कौरवेयान्प्रयात्वाशु कौन्तेयस्यार्थसिद्धये। उद्योगपर्व 6. 17-18. ↩︎
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नामधेयं दशम्यां तु द्वादश्यां वास्य कारयेत् । पुण्ये तिथौ मुहूर्ते वा नक्षत्रे वा गुणान्विते । मनु II. 30. ↩︎
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स्वातौ ( श्वेते ?) मैत्रेऽथ माहेन्द्रे गान्धर्वाभिजिति रौहिणे। तथा वैराजसावित्रे मुहूर्ते गृहमारभेत् । मत्स्य 253. 8-9. ↩︎
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शिवभुजगमित्रपित्र्यवसुजलविश्वविरिञ्चिपङ्कजप्रभवाः । इन्द्राग्नीन्दुनिशाचरवरुणार्यमयोनयश्चाह्नि ॥ रुद्राजाहिर्बुध्न्याः पूषा दस्रान्तकाग्निधातारः । इन्द्वदितिगुरुहरिरवित्वष्ट्रनिलाख्याः क्षणा रात्रौ ॥ अह्नः पञ्चदशांशे रात्रेश्चैवं मुहूर्त इति संज्ञा। बृहद्योगयात्रा VI. 2.4 (Ms in the Bhau Daji Collection in the Bombay Asiatic Society ). Vide also रत्नमाला VII. 1-2. These are quoted by उत्पल in his com. on बृहत्संहिता 42. 12 and 98. 3 and in his com. on योगयात्रा II. 3-5 and V. 10. It should be noted that the verses about the मुहूर्तs of night in वायु (note 4) correspond to these verses of वराह. The मुहर्तमार्तण्ड II. 4 specifies the devatās of the 15 muhūrtas of the day and 15 of the night. Alberuni (Sachau, vol. I. pp. 338-342) discusses at length how muhūrtas may be short or long and gives the dominant deities of the 15 muhūrtas of the day. ↩︎
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यत्कार्ये नक्षत्रे तद्देवत्यासु तिथिषु तत्कार्यम् । करणमुहूर्तेध्वपि तत् सिद्धिकरं देवतासदृशम् ॥ बृहत्संहिता 98.3. ↩︎
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The वार्तिक is अधीष्टभृतयोर्द्वितीयानिर्देशोऽनर्थकस्तत्रादर्शनात्। (on तमधीष्टो भृतो भूतो भावी । पा V. 1. 80), on which पतञ्जलि explains ‘न ह्यसौ मासमधीष्यते । किं तर्हि । मुहूर्तमसावधीष्टो मास तत्कर्म करोति।’ ↩︎
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अनन्यन्तसंयोगार्थे तर्हीदं वक्तव्यम् । षण्मुहूर्ताश्चराचराः। ते कदाचिदहर्गच्छन्ति कदाचिद्रात्रिम् । तदुच्यते । अहर्गताः रात्रिगताः इति । नैतदस्ति । गतग्रहणादप्येतत्सिद्धम् । महाभाष्य on वार्तिक 2 on पा. II. 1.29. ↩︎
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कालः शुभक्रियायोग्यो मुहूर्त इति कथ्यते। मुहूर्तदर्शन or विद्यामाधवीय I. 20. ↩︎
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ब्राह्मणं च पुरोदधीत विद्याभिजनवाग्रूपवयःशीलसम्पन्नं न्यायवृत्तं तपस्विनम् । तत्प्रसूतः कर्माणि कुर्वीत । …यानि च दैवोत्पातचिन्तकाः प्रब्रूयुस्तान्याद्रियेत । तदधीनमपि ह्येके योगक्षेमं प्रतिजानते। गौतमधर्मसत्र XI. 12-13, 15-16. For the various meanings of योगक्षेम, vide H. of Dh. vol III. pp. 588-589. The बृहत्संहिता II. declares that दैवचिन्तक is one who is a master of Saṁhitā (संहितापारगश्च दैवचिन्तको भवति). It may be noted that in Italy the court astrologer was an established officer at the beginning of the 14th century A. D and from Italy he found his way to the French court (vide. ‘Star-crossed Renaissance’ by D.C. Allen.p. 51). ↩︎
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यस्य यस्य यदा दुःस्थः स तं यत्नेन पूजयेत् । ब्रह्मणैषां वरो दत्तः पूजिताः पूजयिष्यथ । ग्रहाधीना नरेन्द्राणामुच्छ्रायाः पतनानि च। भावाभावौ च जगतस्तस्मात्पूज्यतमा ग्रहाः ॥ याज्ञ° I 307-308 विष्णुधर्मोत्तर (I. 105.9-10) contains the latter half of the first verse and the whole of the 2nd. The word दुःस्थ: here is used in the sense of being in evil nakṣatras and being sea which is explained in note 766 above. It is the exact opposite of सुस्थ in Yaj. I. 79 ‘एवं गच्छन् स्त्रियं क्षामां मघामूलं च वर्जयेत् । सुस्थ इन्दौ सकृत्पुत्रं लक्षण्यं जनयेत्पुमान् ॥’. सुस्थे इन्दो means when the moon is well-placed in auspicious nakṣatras. नक्षत्रs were divided into three groups for various purposes. Some were to be avoided altogether as inauspicious, some were very auspicious and some neither auspicious nor inauspicious. Yāj. says: if a man desires to have a son endowed with auspicious characteristics, at the time of sexual intercourse he should avoid Maghā and Mūla, and should have intercourse when the moon is in an auspicious nakṣatra and also avoid other nakṣatras (besides Maghā and Mūla). But if he wanted only sexual pleasure and nothing more, then he may choose a day when the moon is in any nakṣatra except Maghā and Mūla. As stated in बार्हस्पत्यसंहिता quoted in the पीयूषधारा com. on मुहूर्तचिन्तामणि v.6 हरिहस्तानुराधाश्च स्वाती वारुणवासवम् । उत्तरात्रितयं सौम्यं रोहिणी च शुभाः स्मृताः। आधाने मूलसार्पान्त्यमशुभं सममन्यभम्॥’ ↩︎
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दैवे पुरुषकारे च कर्मसिद्धिर्व्यवस्थिता । तत्र दैवमभिव्यक्तं पौरुषं पौर्वदेहिकम् । यथा ह्येकेन चक्रेण रथस्य न गतिर्भवेत् । एवं पुरुषकारेण विना दैवं न सिध्यति॥ याज्ञ.I. 349, 351. ↩︎
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होरेत्यहोरात्रविकल्पमेके वाञ्छन्ति पूर्वापरवर्णलोपात् । कर्मार्जितं पूर्वभवे सदादि यत्तस्य पक्तिं समभिव्यनक्ति । बृहज्जातक I. 3; यदुपचितमन्यजन्मनि शुभाशुभं तस्य कर्मणः पक्तिम् । व्यञ्जयति शास्त्रमेतत् तमसि द्रव्याणि दीप इव ॥ लघुजातक I. 3 q. by उत्पल on बृहज्जातक I. 3. ↩︎
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अत एव दीपिकायां ये ग्रहा रिष्टिसूचकाः इत्यनेन ग्रहाणां पूर्वसिद्धपापबोधकत्व मिति न तु पापजनकत्वम् । तथा च मत्स्यपुराणम् । पुरा कृतानि पापानि फलन्त्यस्मिंस्तपोधनाः। रोगदौर्गत्यरूपेण तथैवेष्टवधेन च। तद्विघाताय वक्ष्यामि सदा कल्याणकारकम् ।। उद्वाहतत्त्व p. 125. ↩︎
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नक्षत्रेभ्यः स्वाहेति। नक्षत्राणि वै सर्वेषां देवानामायतनम् । शतपथ XIV. 3.2.12; देवगृहा वै नक्षत्राणि। य एवं वेद गृह्येव भवति । ते. बा. I. 2. 5. 11. Vide Matsyapurāṇa 127. 14-15 for the same idea. ↩︎
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Compare C. V. Maclean on ‘Babylonian Astrology and its relation to the old Testament (United Church Publishing House, Toronto) p. 10. Even Aristotle believed that stars were divine beings endowed with independent volitions; vide Lewis ‘Survey of Astronomy’ p. 313; J. L. Stocks on ‘Time, Cause, Eternity’ p. 23. ↩︎
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आद्यन्तवर्णलोपाद्धोराशास्त्रं भवत्यहोरात्रम् (v. I. रात्रात् )। …जातकामिति प्रसिद्धं यल्लोके तदिह कीर्त्यते होरा । अथवा दैवविमर्शनपर्यायः खल्वयं शब्दः ॥ सारावली II. 2 and 4. ↩︎
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अर्थार्जने सहायः पुरुषाणामापदर्णवे पोतः। यात्रासमये मन्त्री जातकमपहाय नास्त्यपरः ॥ सारावली II. 5. ↩︎
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वनं समाश्रिता येपि निर्ममा निष्परिग्रहाः। अपि ते परिपृच्छन्ति ज्योतिषां गतिकोविदम् ॥ अप्रदीपा यथा रात्रिरनादित्यं यथा नभः । तथा सांवत्सरो राजा भ्रमत्यन्ध इवाध्वनि । मुहूर्ततिथिनक्षत्रमृतवश्चायने तथा। सर्वाण्येवाकुलानि स्युर्न स्यात्सांवत्सरो यदि॥ बृहत्संहिता II. 7-9. The last two verses are q. by कालविवेक p. 4 (without name). न तत्सहस्रं करिणां वाजिनां वा चतुर्गुणम् । करोति देशकालज्ञो यदेको दैवचिन्तकः । बृहत्संहिता II. 20, which the भुजबल of भोज inserts without acknowledgement as its 2nd verse. ↩︎
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पुरोधा गणको मन्त्री दैवतश्च चतुर्थकः। एते राज्ञा सदा पोष्याः कृच्छ्रेणापि स्त्रियो यथा ॥ राजमार्तण्ड verse 4. ↩︎
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न लग्नमिन्दुं च गुरुर्निरीक्षते न वा शशांङ्क रविणा समागतम् । सपापकोऽर्केण युतोथवा शशी परेण जातं प्रवदन्ति निश्चयात॥ ब्रहज्जातक V. 6. लघुजातक IV. 4 is very similar. सारावली has a similar verse ‘पश्यति न गुरुः शशिनं लग्नं च दिवाकरं सेन्दुम् । पापयुतं वा सार्के चन्द्रं यदि जारजातः स्यात् ॥’. It may be noted that उत्पल found it necessary to qualify the doctrine and statement of Varāha. ↩︎
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सुतमदननवान्त्यलग्नरन्ध्रेष्वशुभयुतो मरणाय शीतरश्मिः । भृगुसुतशशिपुत्रदेवपूज्यैर्यदि बलिभिर्न युतोऽवलोकितो वा॥ बृहज्जातक VI. 11. उत्पल introduces a modification from Sārāvali X. 98 that the Moon must be kṣīṇa (waning, i.e, from 8th of dark half to the 8th of the following fortnight) for the application of this rule. ↩︎
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Vide Prof. Neugebauer in ‘Exact Sciences in Antiquity’ p. 179. ↩︎
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Vide E. J. Webb in ‘The names of the stars’ (1952) p. 189 and in Journal of Hellenistic Studies, vol. 48 p. 66; C. V. Maclean in ‘Babylonian astrology and its relation to the Old Testament’ p. 7; in J. of Near Eastern Studies vol. IV at p. 26 Prof. Neugebauer averred that the Mesopotamian origin of the astrological omina cannot be doubted; but in ‘Exact Sciences in Antiquity’ p. 164 he appears to modify his position by saying that only the original impetus to horoscopic astrology in Greece came from Babylon and that its actual development must be considered as an important component of Hellenistic Science. In the same journal at p. 15 he does not know how horoscopic astrology in Greece originated from the totally different omen type astrology of the preceding millenium. ↩︎
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Vide Cambridge Ancient History, vol. I. p. 150; Gregory in ‘Nature’ vol. 153 at p. 515. ↩︎
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Vide Colson on ‘Weekday’ p. 66; Lewis’ ‘Historical Survery of the Astronomy of the Ancients’ p. 298. ↩︎
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For Diodorus of Sicily (i.e. Siculus), vide Prof, Farrington in ‘Science and Politics in the Ancient World’ (1939) pp. 201-202. ↩︎
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Vide C. E. Bennett’s English Translation of ‘Odes’ Book II, 17. lines 17-24. ↩︎
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See Strabo in Loeb classical Library Series, vol. VII. p. 203. ↩︎
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Vide Juvenal’s Satires-English translation by J. D. Lewis (1873) Satire VI. p. 81. ↩︎
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E. J. Webb in ‘The names of the Stars’ (1952) p. 108; Thorndike’s ‘A History of magic and experimental Science,’ vol. I. pp. 272-274 for Cicero’s views on astrology and Thorndike’s criticisms. But Cicero appears to have condemned the Chaldean form of astrology, though he was so learned in divination that he considered it to be given by God (vide ‘Star-crossed Renaissance’ by Don Cameron Allen (Duke University Press, 1941) p. 47. ↩︎
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See ‘De Civitate Dei’ V. 5 pp. 183-184 (translated by M. Dods, 1872), Thorndike’s work (mentioned in 1, 820) pp. 513-521 for a statement of the objections of Augustine against astrology and criticism thereof. ↩︎
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‘Memoirs of Goethe’ (London, 1824, vol. I) ‘I was born under fortunate auspices; the Sun was in the sign of the Virgin at the utmost degree of elevation. The aspects of Jupiter and Venus were favourable to the day. Mercury testified no signs of hostility ; Saturn and Mars were neutral. The Moon, however, the near the full, was an important obstacle; and the more so as the labour which attended my birth coincided with the hour of her new phase. She retarded my entrance into the world until the moment had elapsed’. Vide ‘Stars above us’ by Prof. Zinner p. 68 for Goethe’s horoscope. ↩︎
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The following may be cited as a sample : Taurus (April 21-May 20) - ‘You realize that a break in one relationship is probably inevitable. This week you will see your way to making it without undue loss. Harden your heart where money is concerned and don’t allow friendship to interfere with business’. ↩︎
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It is believed that the moon (luna), when full, increased madness; hence a mad man was called lunatic. Vide an article ‘Lunar influence on living things’ by Prof. George Sarton in Isis vol. 30 (1939) pp. 495-507, where he examines the beliefs about the Moon’s connection with lunacy, tides, menstruation, terrestrial magnetism, says that these are matters for experiment, advises scientists to keep an open mind and holds that lunar influence is unproved as to some of them. ↩︎
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A short passage from Bouché-Leclercq (p. 574) may be set out here : ‘how to justify the ridiculous associations of ideas attached to the purely imaginary forms of the figures of the Zodiac and the reciprocal influeñce of planets on the signs and of the signs on the planets when these are (one knows this since a long time) at a great distance from the constellations and do not appear to be placed there except by the effect of perspective’? ↩︎
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Utpala on Laghujātaka IV. 1 states similarly that one (the astrologer ) should specify the form (or appearance) of a person after knowing his caste, since śvapākas ( cāṇḍālas) and niṣādas are dark-skinned by caste; similarly, he should consider in what family, whether of fair persons or dark persons, the person (whose horoscope is being examined ) was born or in what country, since all people from Karnātaka are dark, people from Videha (i.e, Mithilā, part of present Bihar State) are dark-brown and from Kashmir fair. लघुजातक IV. 1 is : सत्त्वं रजस्तमो वा त्रिंशांशे यस्य भास्करस्तादृक्। बलिनः सदृशी मूतिर्बुद्ध्वा वा जातिकुलदेशान् ॥ जातिं बुद्ध्वा मूर्तिनिर्देशः, यतः श्वपाकनिषादा जातित एव कृष्णा भवन्ति । तेषां त एव निर्देशाः॥ कस्मिन्कुलेयं जातो गौराणां कृष्णानां वा कस्मिन्देशे जातः, यतः कर्णाटकाः सर्व एव कृष्णाः वैदेहाः श्यामाः काश्मीरा गौरा: । follo 15b of commentary on लघुजातक IV. 1 (Ms. in Bhadkamkar collection of the Bombay University). For śvapāka vide p. 97 of H, of Dh, vol. II and for niṣāda pp. 43, 46, 86-87 of the same. ↩︎
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लोकाचारस्तावदादौ विचिन्यो देशे देशे या स्थितिः सैव कार्या। लोकद्विष्टं पण्डिता वर्जयन्ति दैवज्ञोऽतो लोकमार्गेण यायात् ॥ कुलस्य देशस्य च चित्तवृत्तिर्न खण्डनीया विदुषा कदाचित् ॥ …बृहस्पतौ गोचरशोभनस्थे विवाहमिच्छन्ति हिदाक्षिणात्याः। रवौ विशुद्धे प्रवदन्ति गौडा न गोचरो मालवके प्रमाणम् । राजमार्तण्ड folio 25 b verses 399-401. The irst two also occur in the भुजबल of भोज (pp. 34-35 verses 143-144). ↩︎
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An interesting Indian example is furnished by the Mirat-i-Ahmadi translated by C. N. Seddon which gives (on pp. 248-253 supplement) the date and horoscope of the foundation of the city of Ahmedabad in Śake 1314, saṁvat 1449, Vaiśākha śu. 5, Thursday, 15 ghads (ghaṭīs) and 35 pals. ↩︎
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अन्यजन्मान्तरकृतं पुंसां कर्म शुभाशुभम् । यत्तस्य शकुन: पाकं निवेदयति गच्छताम् ॥ बृहद्योगयात्रा 23. 1. ↩︎
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सार्पेन्द्रान्तकस्वाती (सार्पेन्द्वन्तक!) धनिष्ठा शाक्रमैत्रभम् (भे्?)। शनौ च भौम (मे्?) रिक्तायां चौर्यकर्म प्रसिध्यति। मुहूर्तमुक्तावली verse 42 (ms. in the Bombay Asiatic Society ). ↩︎
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उग्राण्यार्द्रा च चित्रा च विशाखा श्रवणोश्वयुक्क् । क्रूराणि तु मघा स्वाती ज्येष्ठा मूलं यमस्य यत् ॥ वेदाङ्गज्योतिष (याजुष verse 42). ↩︎
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For classifications of nakṣatras, vide note 558 above. ↩︎
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संज्ञातुल्यमिहाचरन्ति सुधियो कार्ये हि संसिद्धये। मु. मा. II. 3. ↩︎
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प्रियभूषणः सुरूपः सुभगो दक्षोऽश्विनीषु मतिमांश्च । कृतनिश्चयसत्यारुग्दक्षः सुखितश्व भरणीषु ॥ बहुभुक्परदाररतस्तेजस्वी कृत्तिकासु विख्यातः । रोहिण्यां सत्यशुचिः प्रियंवदः स्थिरमतिः मुरूपश्च ॥ बृहज्जातक 16. 1-2. The बृहत्संहिता (chap. 160) has the same verses as बृहज्जातक 16. ↩︎
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The भुजबल (pp. 253-254 ) arranges the 28 नक्षत्रs counting from रोहिणी into the four groups (of seven each) and calls them अन्ध, मन्दाक्ष, मध्याक्ष and सुलोचन viz. रोहिणी, मृग, आर्द्रा, पुनर्वसु are अन्ध, मन्दाक्ष, मध्याक्ष, सुलोचन respectively, then पुष्य, आश्लेषा, मघा, पूर्वा are the same four अन्ध &c; and so on. ↩︎
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आग्नेये सितकुसुमाहिताग्निमन्त्रज्ञसूत्रभाष्यज्ञाः आकरिकमापितद्वि्जवट्कार पुरोहिताब्दज्ञाः। वृहत्सं. 15. 1. ↩︎
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हस्त एवास्य हस्तः । चित्रा शिरः । निष्टया हृदयम्। अरू विशाखे। प्रतिष्ठा अनूराधाः । एष वै नक्षत्रियः प्रजापतिः । तै. ब्रा. I. 5.2-7; पाणिनि IV. 4. 141 (नक्षत्राद् घः) derives Vedic नक्षत्रिय from नक्षत्र. ↩︎
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कियताबुरिजितुमकलीरलेयपाथोनजूककौर्प्याख्याः। तौक्षिक आकोकेरो हृद्रोगश्चान्त्यभं चेत्थम् । बृहज्जातक 1.8. The words अन्त्यभं चेत्थम् create a difficulty: Utpala takes them to mean ‘and the last sign, in this way’. ‘Antyabha’ is a pure Sanskrit word and not Greek and there is on this interpretation no Greek word corresponding to Mīna (Pisces). Another commentator Guṇākara says that the last rāśi is called ‘cettha’ (vide Subrahmanya Sastri’s translation of Bṛhajjātaka p. 8). The T.S.S. edition of बृहज्जातक has ‘हृद्रोगश्वेर्थासिः क्रमशः’ i.e. the last rāśi is called ‘irthasi’. The मूहुर्तदर्शन has इत्यसि ‘संज्ञाभिः क्रियलेयजूकजतुमाः कौर्पिः कुलीरस्तथा हृद्रोगेत्थसितौक्षिकाश्च कथिताः पाथोनकस्ताबुरुः । I.9. Ptolemy employs a Greek word for Pisces (Loeb Classical Library pp. 52, 314, 328 &c. ), to which ‘ittha’ or ‘ikthasi’ or ‘irthasi’ would correspond rather than cettha’, The Sāravali (III. 7) reads संज्ञास्तु जूककौर्पिकतौक्षाकोकेरहृदयरोगान्त्याः. That shows that it had no Greek word for ‘mina ’ before it. It may be noted that the Sārāvali expressly says that is Varāha’s work is brief it ( Sārāvali) took essential matters from the extensive Śāstras composed by Yavananarendra and others I have not been able to find the word ittha or a similar Sanskrit adaptation for Mīna in the Brhajjātaka. Vide Indische Studien vol. II. PP, 254-261 and JRAS for 1893 p. 747 for the Greek and Latin equivalents of the Sanskrit words for the signs of the zodiac, planets &c. ↩︎
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मत्स्यौ घटी नृमिथुनं सगदं सवीणं चापी नरोऽश्वजघनो मकरो मृगास्यः। तौली ससस्यदहना प्लवगा च कन्या शेषाः स्वनामसदृशाः स्वचराश्च सर्वे ॥ बृहज्जातक I. 5; some read खचराश्च सर्वे (all move in the sky). But this appears redundant and meaningless. ↩︎
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वस्त्राविककुतु(त)पानां मसूरगोधूमरालकयवानाम् । स्थलसम्भवौषधीनां कनकस्य च कीर्तितो मेषः॥ वृहत्संहिता 40. 2. If the reading be कुतुपानां it meave ‘hide drums for oil’ ↩︎
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स्त्रीपुंसयोः समं रूपं शय्यासनपरिग्रहम् । वीणावाद्यधृङ् मिथुनं गीतनर्तन शिल्पिषु ॥ स्थितं क्रीडारतिर्नित्यं विहारं ध्वनिकस्य तु । मिथुनं नाम विख्यातं राशिर्द्वधात्मक शिवः। कर्किः कुलीरेण समः सलिलस्थः प्रकीर्तितः। केदारवापीपुलिनविविक्तावनिरेव च । वामनपुराण 5.49–51. ↩︎
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Vide Campbell Thompson’s Intro. to ‘Reports of the Magicians &c.’ for a table of late Babylonian, Assyrian and modern English names of signs (pp. XXIII-XXIV) and Expository Times, vol 30 (for 1918) pp. 164-168 on ‘Assyro-Babylonian astrologers and their lore’ by T. G. Pinches. On p.167 the latter says that Europe is indebted to the Babylonians for the names of the signs of the Zodiac except Crab and Archer and sets out the Babylonian names with their meanings and modern names (Ram &c.). These two tables do not agree. Babylonians called Capricorn goat-fish. Bouché Leclercq (on p. 57 note 1) gives a list of the twelve Chaldean zodiacal signs, which differs from both the above. ↩︎
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Vide ’the Stars above us by Prof. Zinner p. 35 and plate III opposite p. 19 showing the Japanese animal sequence from Rat to Pig. ↩︎
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Vide ‘Introducing the universe’ by J. C. Hickey p. 123. ↩︎
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‘Legacy of Egypt’ (ed. by Glanville) p. 162; ‘The names of the stars’ by E. J. Webb p. 96. ↩︎
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Vide Bouché-Leclercq. p. 53 ( ‘L’‘Astrologie Grecque’); p. XVI of the Intro. to Heath’s ‘Greek Astronomy’: Alexander Moret on ‘The Nile and Egyptian civilization’ (1927 ) p. 453 ( where he says that the Greek Zodiac was itself derived from Babylonian astronomy). ↩︎
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Vide pp. 163-175 and p. 189 of ‘Names of Stars’ by E. J. Webb. ↩︎
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Vide Journal of Hellenistic Studies, vol. 39 pp. 164-184 and vol. 45 pp. 78-83 (both by Fotheringham), ibid vol. 41 (pp. 70-85 ) ‘Cleostratus Redivivus’ by E. J. Webb (who himself remarks on p. 70 that the question when and by whom our constellations were invented is never likely to find its solution) and ibid. vol. 48 pp. 54-63 on’ Cleostratus and his work’ by E. J. Webb. Vide Prof. Neugebauer in ‘Exact Sciences in Antiquity’ p. 67 ( note) about the history of Zodiacal and planetary symbols being virtually unknown. But in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. IV at p. 28 Prof. Neugebauer asserts that the predominant influence of Babylonian concepts on the grouping of stars into pictures must be maintained. ↩︎
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Vide ‘Introducing the universe’ p. 103 by J. C. Hickey. ↩︎
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गोजाश्चिकर्किमिथुनाः समृगा निशाख्याः पृष्ठोदया विमिथुनाः कथितास्त एव शीर्षोदया दिनबलाश्च भवन्ति शेषा लग्नं समेत्युभयतः पृथुरोमयुग्मम् ॥ क्रूरः सौम्यः पुरुषवनिते ते चरागाद्विदेहाः प्रागादीशाः क्रियवृषनृयुक्कर्कटाः सत्रिकोणाः। बृहज्जातक I. 10-11. Separate चरागद्विदेहाः as चर + अग (अचल or स्थिर) + द्विदेह ( = द्विस्वभाव). त्रिकोण is the 5th or 9th rāśi from a specified rāśi (Brhaj-jataka I. 11). There is another meaning of त्रिकोण (which उत्पल calls मूल-त्रिकोण) in बृहज्जातक I. 14 viẓ. सिंह, वृषभ, मेष, कन्या, धनुः, तौलि, कुम्भ are त्रिकोणs of the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. ↩︎
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अश्व इव रोमाण विधूय पापं चन्द्र इव राहोर्मुखात्प्रमुच्य धूत्वा शरीरमकृतं कृतात्मा ब्रह्मलोकभभिसम्भवामि । छान्दोग्योप. VIII. 13. ↩︎
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शनिराहुकेतूरगरक्षोयक्षनरविहगशरभेभादयोऽधस्तादुद्यति। मैत्रायणी उप. VII. 6. ↩︎
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राहुकेतू यथाकाशे उदितौ जगतः क्षये। कर्णपर्व 87.92. ↩︎
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तस्योपलब्धिर्वृहस्पतेः स्थानगमनगर्भाधानेभ्यः शुक्रोदयास्तमयचारेभ्यः सूर्यस्य प्रकृतिवैकृताच्च । सूर्याद् बीजसिद्धिः । बृहस्पतेः सस्यानां स्तम्बकरिता । शुक्राद् वृष्टिरिति ॥ अर्थशास्त्र II. 24th अध्याय p. 116 (Sham shastri’s ed. of 1919). For गर्भाधान as to rainfall, vide बृहत्संहिता chapter 22. Aratus (270 B. C.) and Theophrastus ( 322 B. C. ) say that the disappearance of the coastellation corresponding to our Puṣya was reckoned by the ancients as a sure presage of rain. Vide Dr. Fleet in J. R. A.S. for 1911 at p. 516. ↩︎
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Vide Heath’s ‘Greek Astronomy’. Introduction pp. XVII-XVIII, Meissner’s ‘Babylonien and Assyrien’ (1925) vol. II pp. 254-256; Sarton in ‘A history of Science’ p. 77. ↩︎
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M. Jastrow in ’the Religion of Babylonia and Assyria’ (1898) P. 460. ↩︎
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Meissner, ibid. vol. II p. 406. ↩︎
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C. V. Maclean on ‘Babylonian Astrology and its relation to the Old Testament’ (United Church Publishing House, Toronto) p. 27, Prof. Neugebauer in E. S. A. p. 162 (for arrangements of planets in cuneiform texts in Seleucid period and in Greek horoscopes ). In the Seleucid period the standard arrangement was Jupiter-Venus-Mercury-Saturn–Mars. Ordinary arrangement in Greek horoscopes is Sun, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury. For the planetary week the arrangement in Greece is said to be Saturn-Jupiter-Mars-Sun-Venus-Mercury-Moon. On p. 163 Prof. Neugebauer thinks that Hindu arrangement of planets is obviously Greek in origin for two reasons, as it is based on the arrangement according to distance from the earth and also on a division of days into 24 hours, which is not Babylonian but Hellenistic and ultimately of Egyptian origin. In this latter he can be said to be wrong, as a similar arrangement of week days can be arrived at by relying on the 60 ghaṭikā system of India. We saw above that horā in Indian astrology has three meanings, viz. Jātaka, lagna and half a sign, but the very early Sanskrit astrological texts at least do not appear to employ the word horā in the sense of ‘hour’ or 1/24th part of the whole day or 1/12th part of the day. Any one who asserts that the arrangement of week days is copied from the Greeks must prove two things, (1) the definite time when the Greeks hit upon the particular arrangement of planets for purposes of week-days and (2) the borrowing people had definitely not arrived at the same arrangement before the Greeks, Prof. Neugebauer, so far as I can see, offers hardly any evidence on any of these two matters beyond mere assertions and conjectures. It has further to be remembered that Alberuni (Sachau, vol. I. p. 343) states that nobody in India uses the hours except the astrologers, for they speak of the dominants of the hours. The 30 muhūrtas of ahorātra are much older than the Śatapatha Br, and it was easy to divide a muhūrta into two nāḍis or ghaṭikās as the Arthaśāstra does (I. 19 p. 37 Nālikābhiraharaṣṭadha rātrim ca vibhajet) and Purāṇas like Viṣṇu VI. 3. 6-9 do. There is hardly anything in the vast Sanskrit Literature (of ancient or medieval times) to show that common people or writers ( not being astronomers or astrologers ) employed the method of 24 hours of the day. ↩︎
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Vide Prof. Van Pen Bergh in ‘Universe in space and time’ p. 177 and D. S. Evans in ‘Frontiers of astronomy’ p. 41 for tables and data about planets from Mercury to Pluto as regards distance from the Sun, period of revolution, diameter, mass &c. ↩︎
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- The sun : सूर्य, रवि, भानु, इन, आदित्य, सवितृ, भास्कर, अर्क, दिवाकर, तिग्मांशु, तपन, सहस्रांशु, प्रभाकर, उष्णकर, उष्णगु, मार्तण्ड, दिनमणि, दिनकृत, हेलि. 2 The moon.-विधु, इन्दु, चन्द्र, चन्द्रमस्, शीतांशु, सोम, मृगाङ्क, निशाकर, शीतरश्मि, निशानाथ, रोहिणीप्रिय, शशिन, हिमगु, शीतगु, नक्षत्रपति. 3 Mars- अङ्गारक, कुज, भौम, भूमिज, महीसुत, आवनेय, लोहिताङ्ग, क्षितिसुत, क्रूराक्ष, माहेय, रुधिर, वक्र, आर. 4 Mercury-बुध, ज्ञ, विद्, बोधन, विबुध, कुमार, राजपुत्र, सौम्य, चन्द्रसुत, तारापुत्र, रौहिणेय, हिमरश्मिज, हिम्न (or हिम्ना). 5 Jupiter- गुरु, इज्य, ईड्य, अङ्गिरस्, सुरगुरु, सुरमन्त्रिन्, सुराचार्य, बृहस्पति, वाक्पति, गिरीश, धिषण, सुरि, जीव. 6 Venus -शुक्र, भृगु, भृगसुत, सित, भार्गव, कवि, उशनस्, दैत्यमन्त्रिन्, दानवपूजित, असुरगुरु, काव्य, आस्फुजित् . 7 Saturn-शनैश्चर, सौरि, सूर्यपुत्र, मन्द, असित, अर्कनन्दन, आर्कि, भास्करि, दिनेशात्मज, सहस्रांशुज, पातङ्गि, यम, शनि, छायापुत्र, कोण. 8 Rāhu-राहु, तमः, अगु, असुर, स्वर्भानु, सिंहिकासुत, दानव, सुरारि, भुजङ्गम, विधुन्तुद, अमृतचौर, उपप्लव. 9 Ketu–केतु, शिखिन् , ब्रह्मसुत, धूम्रवर्ण. Vide Campbell Thompson’s ‘Reports of the magicians &c.’ vol. II. Introduction p. xxIII. for the Babylonian and Assyrian names for Moon (Sin), Sun (Shamash) and so on. The sun is called Helio in Devipurāṇa quoted by Hemādri on vratas. vol. II. p. 434 and frequently in Bhaviṣyapuraṇa as in I. 104. 2 ‘सप्तम्यां शुक्लपक्षे तु फाल्गुनस्येह मानवः । जपन्हेलीति देवस्य नाम भक्त्या पुनः पुनः’॥
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किं कुर्वन्ति ग्रहाः सर्वे यस्य केन्द्रे बृहस्पतिः । मत्तवारणसङ्गातः सिंहेनैकेन हन्यते । भुजबल p. 280 verse 1262. ↩︎
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उत्पल on Br. J. II. 5 explains ’ कृष्णाष्टम्यर्धाच्छुक्लाष्टम्यर्धे यावत् क्षीणश्चन्द्रः । … शुक्लपक्षाष्टम्यर्धात् कृष्णपक्षाष्टम्यर्धे यावत् चन्द्रः सौम्यः बुधः पापनियुतः सौम्य एव’.Tetrabiblos I. 5 regards Jupiter, Venus and Moon as beneficent and places the Sun on the same footing as Mercury. Utpala notes that Yavaneśvara holds that Moon is never malefic and quotes two verses from him, which are found in the Nepal Durbar ms. of Yavapajātaka of Sphujidhvaja. ↩︎ ↩︎
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अत्राचार्यस्य यवनेश्वरेण सह मतभेदः । तेन भौमः सात्त्विक उक्तः। तथा च तद्वाक्यम् । सत्त्वाधिका भास्करभौमजीवा भृग्वात्मजो राजसिकः शशी च। शनैश्चरो तामसिको बुधस्तु संयोगतोऽस्माल्लभते विशेषान् ॥ उत्पल on II. 7. The verse occurs on folio 6 of यवनजातक ( Nepal ms.) ↩︎
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बृहत्तनुः पिङ्गलमूर्धजेक्षणो बृहस्पतिः श्रेष्ठमतिः कफात्मकः । भृगुः सुखी कान्तवः । सुलोचनः कफानिलात्मासितवक्रमूर्धजः॥ वृहज्जातक II. 10; compare the similar descriptions in वृहत्सं. 8. 53. ↩︎
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Vide Tetrabiblos III. 12 pp. 319 and 321 for parts of the human body governed by planets, which description differs from that of the Br. J. ↩︎
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अर्कादि ताम्रमणिहेमयुक्तिरजतानि मौक्तिकं लोहम्। वक्तव्यं बलवद्भिः स्वस्थाने हेम जीवेपि ॥ लघुजातक quoted by उत्पल on बृहज्जा. II. 12. The relation between planets and the chief metals was, it seems, based on colour similarity. The theory that different planets governed different areas and limbs of the body led to the influence of astrology on medicine. ↩︎
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सूर्यस्य भागे दशमे तृतीये सोमस्य जीवस्य तु पञ्चमे स्यात् । सौरस्य विंशे त्वधिसप्तके च विद्याद् भृगोः पञ्चदशे बुधस्य ॥ भौमस्य विंशेऽष्टयुते (परोच्चम्)। ..विंशल्लवे स्वोञ्चगृहे निवेशम् । स्वोच्चात्तु जामित्रमुशन्ति नीचं त्रिंशल्लवो यच्च समानसंख्यः । folio 4 of palm-leaf Nepal ms. of यवनजातक of स्फुजिध्वज q. by उत्पल with slight variations as from यवनेश्वर on बृहज्जा. i. 13. Vide सारावली III. 35-36 for उच्च, परमोच्च, नीच and परमनीच. ↩︎
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अधिपयुतो दृष्टो वा बुधजीवयुतेक्षितश्च यो राशिः। स भवति बलवान्न यदि युक्तो दृष्टोपि वा शेषैः॥ लघुजातक I. 14; vide also बृहजातक I. 19. ↩︎
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मन्दार-सौम्य-वाक्पति-सितचन्द्रार्का यथोत्तरं बलिनः । नैसर्गिकबलमेतद् बलसाम्येऽस्मादधिकचिन्ता॥ लघुजातक II. 7, quoted by उत्पल on बृहज्जा. II. 21, the last quarter of which is ‘शरुबुगुशुचसाद्या वृद्धितो वीर्यवन्तः’, where शरुबुगुशुचस stand for शनि, रुधिर (अङ्गारक), बुध, गुरु, शुक्र, चन्द्र and सवितृ. ↩︎
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केचित्तु होरां प्रथमां भपस्य वाञ्छन्ति लाभाधिपतोर्द्वितीयम् । द्रेक्काणसंज्ञामपि वर्णयन्ति स्वद्वादशैकादशराशिपानाम् ॥ बृहज्जातक I. 12; उत्पल quotes on this a verse of यवनेश्वर ‘आद्या तु होरा भवनस्य पत्युरेकादश क्षेत्रपतेर्द्धितीया । स्वद्वादशैकादशराशिपानां द्रेष्काणसंज्ञाः क्रमशस्त्रयोत्र ॥’. This verse occurs in the यवनजातक of स्फुजिध्वज on folio 2. It would be noticed that one पाद is the same in both बृहज्जा. and यवनजातक. In the यवनजातक of स्फजिध्वज ( Nepal ms.) the 24 horas of the 12 rāśis are described at length in about 48 rather poetic verses and it winds up the description with the words ‘एतास्तु होरा यवनैर्निरुक्ताश्चित्तासमुद्भूतिगुणाश्रयार्था (?)॥’ (folio9.) ↩︎
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‘Legacy of Egypt’ ed. by S. R. K. Glanville ( Oxford, 1942, p. 163 ). ↩︎
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‘L’Astrologie Grecque’ p. 220 note 2. Vide ‘The royal art of Astrology’ by Eisler p. 82 and plate VII facing p. 81 for Egyptian Decan-stars on the lids of a sarcophagus of the 6th Dynasty. ↩︎
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Vide Webb in Journal of Hellenistic Studies, vol. 48 (1925) p. 56, Prof. Neugebauer in E. S. A. pp. 81-83. The latter notes that with the exception of Sirius and its neighbours decans have defied identification with known constellations. Vide Prof. Neugebauer’s latest note on The Egyptian Decans’in ‘Vistas in Astronomy’ (ed. A. Beer, vol. I. pp. 47-51). ↩︎
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Vide for ‘Dreṣkāṇa’ Colebrooke’s Miscellaneous essays, vol. II. pp. 364-373. Colebrooke (on pp. 370-71 ) states that Manilius employs the word Decania, that Firmicus differs in the names and does not allow the complete degrees to each decanus. This would show that the Bṛ. J. could not have followed about dreṣkāna Firmicus in astrology as Jacobi supposed but some other more ancient author. Nor can it be said that the Br J. follows Manilius. The description of the middle dreṣkāṇa of Meṣa rather resembles the rotund figure in Plate 10 in Prof. Neugebauer’s book “Exact Sciences in Antiquity’p. 83, which plate reproduces the representation of the Decan deities on the tomb of Senmut (in Egypt), B. L. Van Der Waerden in his paper ‘Babylonian Astronomy; thirty-six stars’ in Journal of Near East Studies, vol. VIII (pp. 6-26 ) shows how thirty-six stars from old Babylonian times finally became mixed up with the twelve Zodiacal signs and 36 Egyptian decans. On p. 8 he gives lists of 36 constellations, the so called ‘decans’, which were found on coffin lids of the middle kingdom in Egypt and on ceilings of tombs belonging to kings of the New Kingdom. The risings, culminations and settings of decan constellations were supposed to determine not only the date but also the time of the night. On p. 20 he gives a table of Babylonian stars and their modern equivalent stars and their times. ↩︎ ↩︎
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Compare ‘रक्ताम्बरा भूषणभक्ष्यचित्ता कुम्भाकृतिर्वाजिमुखी तृषार्ता । एकेन पादेन च मेषमध्ये द्रेष्काणरूपं यवनोपदिष्टम् ॥’ (बृहज्जा. 27. 2 ) with ‘स्त्रीचञ्चलो विहारी रतिमान गीतप्रियो मनस्वी स्यात् । मित्रार्थभाक् सुरूपः स्त्रीवित्तरुचिर्द्वितीये च ॥ सारावली 49. 2; in the Nepal ms of यवनजातक the मेषद्वितीयद्रेष्काण is described as follows : गौरः प्रहारी रिपुदारुणाक्ष: शुक्लाम्बरो वारणतुल्यमूर्धा । वस्तायुषा ( ? ) धातुरसार्थविश्व मेषे द्वितीयो गुरुलोमशाङ्गः ॥ folio 9. This indicates that the यवनजातक had a third tradition about द्रेष्काणs. It is expressly stated that the three parts of a rāśi are known among the Yavanas as dreṣkāṇas ‘षद्धद्गुणा (?) राशितृतीयभामा द्रेष्काणसंज्ञा यवनारग्यया ये ।’ folio 9. 4 Some other technical words may be mentioned and defined here. The six items, viz. the rāśi of a planet, the horā, dreṣkāṇa, navāṁśa, dvādaśāṁśa and triśāṁśa of the rāśi are each called the varga or Ṣaḍ-varga of that planet (Br. J. I. 9). The first navāṁśa of Meṣa, Karki, Tūlā and Makara ( that are cara signs ) is called Vargottama, so also the 5th navāṁśa of Vr̥ṣabha, Siṁha, Vr̥ṣcika and Kumbha (that are sthira), and the 9th navāṁśa of Mithuna, Kanyā, Dhanus, Mīna ( that are dvisvabhāva) are called Vargottama (Br. J. I. 14) and they yield beneficent results.5 The vargottama-navāṁśas of all rāśis bear the same names as the rāśis themselves. The Yoga called Sunaphā occurs when some planet other than the sun occupies the 2nd house from that occupied by the Moon; the Yoga Anaphā occurs when some planet other than the sun occupies the 12th house from that occupied by the Moon and Durudharā occurs when planets occupy the 2nd and 12th houses from that occupied by the Moon. The Yoga called Kema-druma occurs when the above three don’t occur and the Moon is not in kendra position or if kendra is not occupied by any of the planets (except the Sun). Br. J. 13. 4 notices that varieties of Anapha and Sunaphā are 31 each and the varieties of Durudharā are 180. The Br̥. J. does not devote more than 6 verses to all these four yogas but the Vṛddha-Yavanajātaka of Mīnarāja has 30 verses on Anaphā, 30 verses on Sunaphā, 172 verses on Durudharā. The rāśi which is 2nd from the rāsi occupied by the Sun in a horoscope is called ‘Veśi’ (Bṭ. J. I. 20). All the above five words are said to be Greek, The word ’liptā’ meaning ‘60th part of a degree’ is also said to be Greek. The word ‘harija’ occurring in Br. J.V.17 means ‘horizon’ and Kern says it is adapted from Greek (Preface to Br̥.S. p. 29 ).6 The Greek word is horos ( boundary ). All the words used by Varāha and supposed to be Greek by Weber, Kern and others may be brought together in one place here ( 37 in all); Kriya, Tāvuri, Jituma, Kulīra, Leya, Pāthena, Jūka, Kaurpya, Taukṣika, Akokera, Hr̥droga, Ittha (?); Heli, Āra, Himna, Jiva, Āsphujit, Koṇa; horā, dreṣkāṇa, kendra, trikoṇa, paṇaphara, āpoklima, mesūraṇa, duścikya, hibuka, jāmitra, dyūna, riḥpha, anaphā, sunaphā, durudharā, kemadruma, veśi, liptā, harija. I dispute the derivation of kulīra and trikoṇa from Greek and Kern agrees that they are pure Sanskrit words. I also doubt whether Jiva is an adaptation of Zeus. ↩︎
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Vide उत्पल on बृहज्जातक II. 15 ‘अत्र च तेषां शत्रुमित्रव्यवहार एवेष्टो नोदामीनव्यवहारस्तस्मान्मित्रेभ्योऽन्ये ह्यमित्राणीति केचिद्यवनेश्वरादयः । तथा च यवनेश्वरः । रवेर्गुरुर्मित्रमतोन्यथान्ये गुरोस्तु भौमं परिहाय सर्वे । चान्द्रेरनर्का भृगुनन्दनस्य त्वर्केन्दुवर्जे सुहृदः प्रदिष्टाः ॥ भौमस्य शुक्रः शशिजश्च मित्रे इन्दोर्बुधं देवगुरुं च विद्यात् । सौरस्य मित्राण्याकुजेन्दुसूर्याः शेषान् रिपून् विद्धि नृणां च तद्वत् ॥. These occur on folio 6 of Nepal ms. of यवनजातक. ↩︎
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उदगयने रविशीतमयूखौ वक्रसमागमगाः परिशेषाः । विपुलकरा युधि चोत्तरसंस्थाश्वेष्टितवीर्ययुताः परिकल्प्याः ॥ बृहज्जातक II. 20. This is explained by the following verse of विष्णुचन्द्र : दिवसकरेणास्तमयः समागमः शीतरश्मिसहितानाम् । कुसुतादीनां युद्ध निगद्यतेऽन्योन्ययुक्तानाम् ॥ q. by उत्पल on बृ. जा. II. 20. Conjunction of planets is of three kinds; when any planet is in conjunction with the sun, that is called astamaya (setting), when in conjunction with the moon it is called samāgama, when the other planets, Mars &c. are in conjunction with each other that is called yuddha ( fight of the planets); (in the case of yuddha) that planet which is to the north of the other is called victorious or powerful (except in the case of Venus tbat is powerful when to the south of the other ). गर्गः । छादनं रोधनं चैव रश्मिमर्दस्तथैव च । अपसव्यं ग्रहाणां च चतुर्धा युद्धमुच्यते ॥ अद्भुतसागर p. 207. The अ. सा. (p. 208) quotes पराशर as saying that there is no real fight between planets, but a sight of them being together or close indicates to people auspicious or inauspicious happenings. The अ. सा. is quoted in शान्तिकमलाकर (D. C. ms. No. 306 of 1884-87) folio 81a. ↩︎
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यस्माद्यवनेश्वरः । मासे तु शुक्लप्रतिपत्प्रवृत्तेः पूर्वे शशी मध्यबलो दशाहे। श्रेष्ठो द्वितीयेल्पबलस्तृतीये सौम्यैस्तु दृष्टो बलवान्सदैव ॥ उत्पल on बृहज्जा. II. 21. This verse occurs in the Nepal ms. of यवनजातक folio 5; सारावली has probably this verse in view ‘शुक्लप्रतिपद्दशके मध्यबलः कीर्त्यते यवनवृद्धैः । श्रेष्ठो द्वितीयदशके स्वल्पबलश्चन्द्रमास्तृतीये च ॥’ V. 16. ↩︎
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दीप्तः स्वस्थो मुदितः शान्तः शक्तो निपीडितो भीतः । विकलः खलश्च कथितो नवप्रकारो ग्रहो हरिणा ॥ सारावली V. 2. ↩︎
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अङ्गेषु सूर्यो यवनेषु चन्दो भौमो ह्यवन्त्यां मगधेषु सौम्य । सिन्धौ गुरुर्भोजकटेषु शुक्रः सौरः सुराष्ट्र विषये बभूव ॥ म्लेच्छेषु केतुश्च तमः कलिड्गे जातो यतोऽत: परिपीडितास्ते। स्वजन्मदेशान्परिपीडयन्ति ततोभियोज्याः क्षितिपेन देशाः ॥ योगयात्रा III. 19-20 compare सारावली VII. 14-15, where शुक्र is said to have been born in समतट and both राहु and केतु in द्राविड. Vide the Chammak plate of Pravarasen 11. where the village Carmāṅka is said to be in Bhojakaṭarājya (Gupta Inscriptions, No. 55 p. 237). In Brahmapurāṇa 201.9 Bhojakaṭa is said to be the capital of Rukmin, of Vidarbha. Similar verses occur in the वृद्धयवनजातक of मीनराज chap. II. 9-10 (I. O, ms. folio 4b and Baroda ms. No. 9183 folio 4b). In the अथर्वपरिशिष्ट (No. 41.1.3-5) on ग्रहयुद्ध , verses 3-6 are similar but there the sun is said to have been born in कलिङ्ग, Venus is said to have been born in महाराष्ट्र, केत on मलय, राहु on गिरिशृङ्ग. Vide Indische Studien vol. X p.317. The बृहत्संहिता has chap. 17 on ग्रहयुद्ध. In verse 2 वराह says that the planets move one above the other, but, on account of the great distances, to the human eye they appear level with each other. The बृहत्संहिता describes at length the results to different countries and peoples of yuddha between different planets. The अथर्वपरिशिष्ट adds ‘यस्मिन्देशे तु यो जातः स ग्रहः पीडयते यदा। तं देशं घातितं विद्याद् दुर्भिक्षेण भयेन वा’॥ ↩︎
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त्रिदशत्रिकोणचतुरस्रसप्तमान्यवलोकयन्ति चरणाभिवृद्धितः । रविजामरेज्यरुधिराः परे च ये क्रमशो भवन्ति किल वीक्षणेऽधिकाः ॥ बृहज्जातक II. 13. This has been variously interpreted as testified by Utpala. ↩︎
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तत्र जन्मराशितः प्रोक्तनिषिद्धस्थानस्थितेदानींतनग्रहवशेन शुभाशुभनिरूपणं गोचर इत्युच्यते। पीयूषधारा com. on मु. चि. IV. 1. ↩︎
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स्वर्क्षतुङ्गमूलत्रिकोणगाः कण्टकेषु यावन्त आश्रिताः। सर्व एव तेऽन्योन्यकारकाः कर्मगस्तु तेषां विशेषतः ॥ बृहज्जातक XXII. 1; कविकुसुमभोज्यमणिरजतशङ्कलवणोदकेयु वस्त्राणाम् । भूषणनारीघृततिलतैलकनिद्राप्रभुश्चन्द्रः ॥ माङ्गल्यधर्मपौष्टिकमहत्त्वशिक्षानियोगपुरराष्ट्रम् । यानासनशयनसुवर्णधान्यवेश्मपुत्रपो जीवः ॥ सारावली VII. 8 and 11. ↩︎
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पूर्वापरभागगतैः शुभाशुभैरलिनि कर्कटे लग्ने। जातस्य शिशोर्मरणं सद्यः कथयन्ति यवनेन्द्राः ॥ बादरायण q. by उत्पल on बृहज्जातक VI. 2. ↩︎
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हिमवदादौ स्थितो गर्गादिको मुनिः शिष्येण क्रौष्टुकिपूर्वेण पृष्टः ।… ततः कालप्रसिद्ध्यर्थे राशयः पूर्वमीरिताः ॥ उत्पल on बृहत्सं. I. 11. ↩︎
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Garga and Vṛddha-Garga appear to be different authors and flourished several centuries before Varāhamihira. Vide my paper ‘Varāhamihira and Utpala’ in JBBRAS, N. S. vol. 24-25 pp. 6-8, Whether Gārgi is another writer than the above two or the same as Garga is discussed in the same paper at p. 9. Vide Kern’s Preface to Br. S. pp. 33-40, where he assigns Garga to 50 B. C. It may be noted that though Garga is not expressly named in Br. J., he is named 15 times in Br. S. and Utpala on Br. S. 16. 41 cites a verse of Garga which clearly shows his acquaintance with the Rāśi system; स यदा स्वोच्चराशिस्थो मित्रभे स्वगृहेपि वा। स्थितः शुभग्रहैर्दृष्टः स पुष्णाति परिग्रहम् ॥. Kern states that the incomplete ms. of गार्गीसंहिता which he had secured had almost the same titles for its chapters as Br. S. has. ↩︎
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तथा च काश्यपः । मेषे सुवर्णस्थलजा गोधूमाजाविकास्तथा । ग्रहवर्णर्क्षसंयोगे शोभने सफलं भवेत् ॥ उत्पल on बृहत्सं. 40. 2. ↩︎ ↩︎
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From Utpala’s com. on Bṛ. J. VII. 9, it appears that Maṇittha in his Horāśāstra refers to Parāśara ‘चित्रं प्रोज्ङ्य पराशरः कथयते दौर्भाग्यदं योषिताम्इत्येवप्नादि मयमणित्थयोर्होराशास्त्रे विद्येते’।. मणित्थ may be an Indian name also like डित्थ which occurs in the महाभाष्य on वार्तिक 5 on पाणिनि V. 1. 119. There were two Maṇitthas, one a contemporary of Berossus, who wrote a history of Egypt, the other, author of Apotelesmata an astrological poem in Hexameters. The मणित्थ whom उत्पल quotes composed bis work in Sanskrit verses and is probably an Indian double, if at all, of the Greek Maṇittha. Vide kern’s Preface p. 52 for मणित्थ. ↩︎
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Vide Meissner in ‘Babylonian and Assyrian’ vol. II. p. 406, Webb in Journal of Hellenistic studies, vol. 41 p, 72, Sarton in ‘a History of Science’ p. 179 note 2. Webb in ‘Names of stars’ p. 160 points out that Crab and Scales are only 19 and 17 1/2 degrees in extent respectively, while Virgo and Fishes are respectively 48 and 41 degrees in extent in the sky. ↩︎
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Vide Webb in Jouroal of Hellenistic Studies vol. 48 (1925) p. 59; and Journal of Near East Studies vol. 8 pp. 6–26 by Waerden on Babylonian Astronomy (at p. 25) in which he refers to an observation text from 6th year of Darius II (420 B, C.) containing such statements as Jupiter and Venus being at the beginning of Gemini and the like and emphasizes that Babylonian signs were of equal length. ↩︎
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The same figure occurs in Rawlinson’s ‘Five great monarchies of the ancient world’ , (ed. of 1889 ) vol. II. p. 574 and that author thinks that there are the Ram, the Bull, the Scorpion, the Serpent, the Dog, the Arrow, the eagle or vulture. Vide George Smith’s ‘Assyrian Discoveries’ (London, 1875) pp. 235-241 where he gives a figure on a boundary stone of about 1370 B. C. which records the grant of land to one Merodach Baladan and a complete English translation of the inscription. Smith thinks (p. 237) that the figure contains the symbols of the Sun and Moon, a Scorpion, dove, winged lion, a ziggurat ( tower ). One can also detect therein a bull and a goat with fishes’ tail. Waerden in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 8 at p. 22, holds that symbols on boundary stones are of little help and that the figure of Scorpion might first be an earthly Scorpion considered as a symbol of a god or it might be a zodiacal Scorpion. ↩︎
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S. H. Hooke in ‘Babylonian and Assyrian Religion’ (1953) p. 28. ↩︎
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Vide ‘Cylinder seals’ (1939) p. 156. ↩︎
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उरुं हि राजा वरुणश्चकार सूर्याय पन्थामन्वेतवा उ । ऋ. I. 24. 8. वाज. सं. VIII 23, ते. सं. I. 4. 45, 1.; द्वादशारं नहि तज्जराय वर्वर्ति चक्रं परि द्यामृतस्य । ऋ. I. 164. 11, अथर्व IX. 9. 13. ↩︎
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M. Jastrow in ‘Aspects of religious life and practice in Babylonia’ (1911) pp. 230-231, where it is said that, besides the Ram, Twins, Lion, Crab, Scorpion, Archer, Fishes in Babylonian and Assyrian astrology, in place of the Virgin we have a constellation designated ‘plant growth’ and instead of the “bull” a spear. ↩︎
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Vide ‘A History of Science’. p. 78. ↩︎
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Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. IV at p. 16. Vide Maclean’s ‘Babylonian Astrology and its relation to the old Testament’ p. 7 note 3. ↩︎
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‘A History of Science’ p. 453 note 79. ↩︎
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Prof. Neugebauer in E. S, A, P. 85 and in ‘Demotic Horoscopes’ in J. A. O. S, vol. 63 pp. 115–124. ↩︎
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Vide above pp. 523-525 notes 751–754. Hemādri on ‘vrata’ (vol. 11. pp. 645-648) contains a dialogue between Garga and Bhargava, wherein Garga says to the questioner that if a child be born on Mūla first quarter, it causes the father’s death, if in 2nd quarter mother’s death, if in the 3rd quarter loss of property and birth in the 4th quarter is beneficial and then provides that in case of birth in 1st quarter the child may be pierced and blood allowed to flow, in the 2nd quarter it may be handed to a stranger, in the case of birth in the other two quarters a Śanti rite may be performed. ↩︎
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‘On Aryan problem-fifty years later ’ in Antiquity vol. I ( 1927 ) pp. 204-215, particularly p. 206 and p. 210; on p. 204 be rebukes the European scholars, and especially Germans for their fondness for treating negative evidence as of great value in putting forward theories which broke down on further search being made. ↩︎
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Vide I Kings chap. X. 11-29, 2 Chronicles IX. 21 and ‘Early commerce of Babylon with India’ JRAS for 1898 pp. 241-273. ↩︎
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L.R. Farnell (1911) in Greece and Babylon ‘p. 46, Winternitz’s History of Sanskrit Literature vol. I. pp. 303-306 (Eoglish tr.) and ‘Antiquities of Iraq’ by Svend Aage Pallis (Copenhagen, 1956) p. 615. ↩︎
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Vide J.A.O.S. vol. 67 (for 1947) pp. 251-253 by Dr. P. E, Dumont, Gurney on ‘The Hittites’ (Pelican series) pp. 104-105, Sarton in ‘a History of Science’ p. 85. Hrozny tentatively puts the date at 1360 B. C. A. H. Sayce in Pavry conmemoration vol. pp. 399-402 draws attention to the fact that Hittite numerals like aika, tere, panz, satta, nāwa are Sanskrit and also words like aikawartanna (one tura) and concludes that in Mesopotamia and East Asia Minor lived in 15th century B. C. a people that spoke Sanskrit. Vide ‘Comparative Grammar of the Hittite Language’ by E. H. Sturtevent and E, A, Hahn, vol. I (1951, Yale University Press) p. 4 para 8 about the treatment of the few Indian words that are quoted in the Bogyzkoy documents. It is stated there that the works on horses composed by Kikkulis of Mitanni contain several technical terms that include Indian numerals, that a treaty between the Hittite king Suppibilimas and Mathivaza of Mitanni contains the names of several vedic gods, and that these forms are clearly traces of the language of Indian aristocracy in the Hurrian State of Mitaani. ↩︎
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‘Jātakas’ tr, by Francis and Neil, vol. III. p. 83 (Jātaka No. 339 ) about a crow and a peacock carried in a ship to Bāveru, where the peacock was the Buddha in a former life. ↩︎
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Vide ‘House of Seleucus’ vol. I, p. 297 by E. R. Bevan (London 1902). Strabo (15. 1. 4 and 15. 1. 73 ) states that an embassy from a king Pandion ( Pāṇḍya) was received in the west and that an Indian embassy brought to Augustus a letter from its king in Greek written on parchment and a sophist from Barogsa (? Barygaza or Broach). The Junagadh Inscription of Rudradāman (2nd century A. D.) mentions a yavanarāja Tuṣaspha, a provincial governor of Aśoka in Kathiawar (E. I. vol. VIII p. 36). ↩︎
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The latest date at which all these five kings were alive is 258 B.C. Vide Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, vol. I. (ed. by Hultzsch, 1925) pp. 48, 87. ↩︎
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Vide a summary of the ‘Indian travels of Apollonius’ by Osmond De Beauvoir Priaulx in JRAS 1860, pp. 70-105 (p. 78 for Babylonians and p. 99 for seven rings ), Loeb Classical Library. vol. I p. 323, Some scholars hold that the life is a fabrication and that Apollonius never came to India. Supposing for argument that it is a fabrication, the fact remains that in the first quarter of the 3rd century A. D. Philostratus knew that Babylonians were respected in India, that seven planets were known in India and that planets were supposed to be propitiated by the wearing of rings on appropriate week days. Charpentier wrote a booklet ‘Indian travels of Apollonius of Tyana’ (Leipzig, 1934 ) in which he stated that he felt convinced that Apollonius had been in India but did not go further than the altars of Alexander (vide ‘Indian Culture’ vol. III. p. 241 for a review of Charpentier’s booklet). ↩︎
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To mention only a few striking matters of differences of opinion between Varāha and Yavanas; (1) Yavanas favoured the view that all planets could be lords of horā (half of a rāśi), while Br. J. said no to this (I. 11-12); (2) Yavanas held that the moon was never a malefic planet, Br. J. (11. 5) said it was so in certain cases; (3) Yavanas regarded Mars as sāttvika, while Br. J.(11. 7) held Mars to be tāmasika; (4) Yavanas held that planets could only be friends or enemies among themselves, while Br. J. (II. 15) held that they could also be neither friends nor foes ; (5) Yavanas and Varāha differed on the temporary friendship or enmity of planets (Br. J. II. 18); (6) Yavanas spoke of Vajrayoga, but Bṛ. J. (XII.3 and 6) held that such a yoga was impossible; (7) Yavanas held that only the Kumbhadvādaśāṁśa was inauspicious, the Br. J. (XXI. 3 ) found fault with this. ↩︎
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Vide Prof, Neugebauer in E. S, A., p. 93. Prof. Waerden (in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 8 p. 76 ) remarks that Hellenistic Astrology is a mixture of Chaldean, Egyptian and Greek elements and that there are more Babylonian elements in this mixture than is generally supposed. ↩︎
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Vide e.g. pp. 568, 575, 583, 589. ↩︎
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Aldous Huxley in his novel ‘Crome yellow’ (Phoenix Library, 1929 ) satirizes society ladies who spent their days in casting the horoscopes of horses on which they laid heavy bets (p. 13). ↩︎
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There are two well-known works dealing with astrology connected with the time of questions, viz. Ṣaṭ-pañcāśikā of Pṛthuyaśas, son of Varāhamihira, and the Āryāsaptati of Utpala (printed by Nirn. Press, Bombay). Two verses (5 and 35 ) from the first book may be quoted here: होरास्थितः पूर्णतनुः शशाङ्को जीवेन दृष्टो यदि वा सितेन। क्षिप्रं प्रणष्टस्य करोति लब्धिं लाभोपयातो बलवान् शुभश्च॥ दूरगतस्यागमनं सुतधनसहजस्थितैग्रहैर्लग्नात् । सौम्यैर्नष्टप्राप्तिः लघ्वागमनं गुरुसिताम्याम्॥ लग्नात् in verse 35 means the lagna at the time the question is asked. Verse 55 of the same is अंशकाज्ज्ञायते द्रव्यं द्रेष्काणैस्तस्कराः स्मृताः । राशिभ्यः कालदिग्देशा वयो जातिश्च लग्नपात् ॥ ‘material stolen is inferred from the navāṁśa of the lagna at the time of the question, the characteristics of the thieves from dreṣkāṇas of the lagna ( as described in Br. ). chap. 27), from the rāśis time, direction and location are learnt and the age and caste of the thief from the lord of the lagna’. ↩︎