कल्पान्तरे विश्वासटिप्पन्यः

Source: MT

Parking a little comment in response to (I believe) what @goghritaM raised earlier regarding catoptromantic prashna in H mantra-tradition. Here it is mentioned a remarkable verse of the great Kashmirian kavi shivasvamin (in the form provided by Somadeva Vasudeva) but translation mine.

संध्या-ध्यान-प्रगुणित-जपैर् मन्त्रवादि-प्रधानैर्
दृष्टा मृष्टे गगन-मुकुरे ऽमुत्र कृत्वावतारम् ।
नष्टान्-नष्टान् झगिति जगतो लम्भयन्ती पदार्थान्
एषा तोषं दिशति मनसः पूषमूर्तिप्रसेना ॥

Enhanced by the japa of the foremost mantravādin-s in Sandhyā-meditation,
making an appearance in polished mirror of the yonder sky, in a flash,
joining together the substances of the world that were being lost,
may this Prasenā of the form of Puşan, point the mind to satisfaction.

Interestingly, from the opinion of the great Kashmirian AchArya-s it appears that shaiva-s were more inclined towards prashna-s where it was seen as fake by the vaiShNava-s like kShemendra. Notably it was condemned by the tathAgata but plagiarized by the the lu~nchaka-s.

My limited points here:

Why the term prashna/deva-prashna with deep roots in H tradition, with IE precedents become re-Sktized from apabhraMsha pasinA? We believe this pasinA is actually acquired from a H Iranic corruption. This consistent with how the early prashna-s invoked the goddess rAjyalakShmI in the mirror: this closely parallels invocation of the royal goddess tabiti in non-Zoroastrian Iranic catoptromancy. Parallel tradition was also there - like in India as suggested by the characteristic mirror seen in the hand of H goddess, including an early exemplar from Barhut. In light of this, we posit that the catoptromancy of the Iranic invaders during the inter-empire period was known as pasinA which was reincorporated with older tradition into the tantra-s as prasenA, an alternative name for prashna.
So whatever the older traditions, we hold that shivasvamin’s mention of the prasenA of puShan is not merely a poetic expression of a solar apparition. However, it is a specific reference to the mantra to puShan in the upaniShat with which the shruti of the vAjasaneyin-s concludes. The apparition of this prasenA conjured by mantravAdin-s in their saMdhyA is related that vision which is sought from the puShan in the veda. That might suggest a deep link between that enigmatic shukla tradition and its much later tAntrika form.

As an aside the catoptromantic tradition of the Japanese imperial clan was also likely transmitted via the shaka groups from the steppes to them.