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Art. XIII.—The Bṛhat-Saṅhitâ; or, Complete System of Natural Astrology of Varâha-mihira

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Extract

The eastern half of the Narbadda district, the Çoṇa, Orissa, Vanga, Suhma, Kalinga, Balkh, the Scythians, Greeks, Magadhas, Çabaras, Prâgjyotisha, the Chinese, Kâmbojas, Mekalas, Kirâtas, Viṭakas, the people beyond and within the Mountains, the Pulindas, the eastern half of the Draviḍas, the south bank of the Jamnâ, Campâ, Udumbara, Kauçâmbi, Cedi, Vindhya forest, Kalinga, Puṇḍra, Mounts Golângûla, Çrîparvata, Bardwân, the river Ikshumatî; moreover, robbers, Pârata, wildernesses, herdsmen, seeds, grains in husks, pungent substances (pepper, etc.), trees, gold, fire, poison, heroes, medicines, physicians, quadrupeds, ploughmen, princes, evil-doers, chiefs on march, thieves, beasts of prey, woods, renowned men and bravoes; of all these the Sun is the lord.

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Original Communications
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Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1871

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References

page 231 note 1 These are the same tribes who by a synonymous term are called Lampâkas and Utsavasanketas; they are said to scorn the institution of matrimony, and to form only temporal engagements, lasting for the time of a festival.

page 231 note 2 i.e. a part of the Himalâya; cf. Mahâbh. ii. 27, 3 (Bombay ed.).

page 231 note 3 The author forgets that he has mentioned Kalinga just before.

page 231 note 4 Throughout this chapter Varâha-mihira appears to have chiefly followed Kâçyapa; for comparison the corresponding passage in Kâçyapa here follows:

page 233 note 1 Another reading, also in Kâçapa, is Paroshṇî.

page 232 note 2 Or Bhâsâpura or Bhâsâparas. May be, Bhâsâparas (= Bhâsâvaras), means “those who live on this side of Mount Bhâsa.” Utpala gives no explanation.

page 232 note 3 Perhaps an error of the copyists or of the copies of some works consulted by the author, for : “with Atri's hermitage and the Ṛshikas.” ch. xix. 14 and 15.

page 233 note 1 The r. of the printed text would denote “ignorants.”

page 233 note 2 It is difficult to decide upon the true form; my MSS. of C. have , or Cf. B. and R. Sans. Diet. i.v.

page 233 note 3 The construction in the text is ungrammatical, jna being connected not only with âyushya and çilpa, but also with gaṇita, çabda, and âlekhya. The irregularity would disappear if we read prasâdhana.

page 233 note 4 Comm.

page 233 note 5 Utpala: The word or, as a MS. has in the passage cited in the footnote on ch. ii. 16, , is evidently synonymous with . Since the verbal base is stated to mean “to extend,” like or must be a regular derivative of it, or the base may have been made in order to explain the existing noun. Neither nor is found in the dictionaries.

page 234 note 1 The ungrammatical nomin. pi. vidushaḥ is by no means rare in the Mahâbh. and kindred works.

page 234 note 2 Comm. .

page 234 note 3 For r. .

page 234 note 4 i.e. the country about Thanesar (Skr. Stâṇvîçvara).

page 235 note 1 This is an elliptical way of intimating “jailers and captives,” , as Utpala understands it.

page 235 note 2 Comm. :.

page 235 note 3 Comm. but

page 235 note 4 The singular Ketu is here perfectly meaningless, because in the system of Varâha-mihira Râhu is both the ascending and the descending node; just before (v. 37) Râhu is called Arkaçaçatru. The plural Ketavaḥ would denote “the comets.”

page 236 note 1 The whole of this chapter has been condensed in the author's Samâsa-Sanhitâ into the following

page 237 note 1 Utpala:

Cf. comment, on Sûrya-siddhânta, vii. 18, seq. The apasavyam or asavyam yuddham takes place, when the interval is some what less than a degree; at a greater interval there is no conflict at all. This statement of the Sûtrya-siddh. is more explicit than our author's; yet it is clear that the asavyam or apasavyam in this chapter is that kind of conflict which oecurs at the greatest interval allowable. About the words apasavya and asavya, see next note.

page 237 note 2 Utpala says:

(ch. xviii. 8)

This is not difficult to understand, for the moon leaving, in her eastward course, a planet or star at her own right (i.e. standiag north from the planet or star), may be said to make a pradakshiṇa; standing to the south, i.e. leaving a planet or star at her left, she makes an apasavya. Thus apasavya means “from the left, at the left,” and, in a special application, “at the south side;” but from this it does not necessarily follow that apasavya originally was simply the opposite of savya, “left.” Yet it cannot be doubted that they have taken apasavya as the reverse of savya, or, in other words, that apa was understood to mean, not “from, from the side,” but “not;” therefore asavya was considered to be simply synonymous with apasavya. Moreover, savya has got the meaning of “right,” precisely the reverse of its most common acceptation, viz. “left.” Savya, “right,” e.g. from hands, arms, etc., as opposite to vâma, “left,” occurs, e.g. in Bṛh. Sanh. li. 41; asavya, “left,” 43. Savya, “right,” also in Râjaçekhara's drama of Bâlarâmâyaṇa, Act i. 33 (ed. Govinda Deva):

Also in the same Act, 47 and 50. Not to be confounded with this acceptation of savya is its use in augury. Applied to augural birds, etc., savya is strictly and properly “left,” but as birds first appearing from the left of the observer move in the direction of his right, and keep him at their own right, savya, “left,” and pradakshiṇa, “moving to the right,” imply the same, without being the same. Utpala remarks:

In astronomical works

moving (revolving) toward the right,” and

“moving toward the left,” is common enough; e.g. Sûtrya-siddh. xii. 55; Siddh. Çirom. Golâdhy. 3, 51; Âryabhaṭîya iv. 16:

cf.

in B. and R. Skr. Diet. Suppl.

page 239 note 1 The comm. explains as “a village not received in fief,” which implies, I suppose, that such a village is exempt from tributes.

page 241 note 1 Cf. ch. xvii. 5, note, and the following lines:

page 242 note 1 Nevertheless, Varâha-mihira himself speaks, in ch. xvii. 6, of Sun and Moon as “an ally coming to the rescue, marching,” etc. Why such incongruities abound in the Saṇhitâ has been explained more than once. Utpala remarks:

page 242 note 2 In the text r. of course, .

page 242 note 3 Comm. i.e. “provincial governors, counts.”

page 243 note 1 This chapter bears a different stamp from those which originally make part of an Indian Sanhitâ. Its subject is treated in the Greek Horâçastra, but Varâha-mihira judged it to belong rather to the Phalagrantha, i.e. Sanhitâ. We are informed by Utpala that the author himself in a former work (the Pancasiddhântikâ ?) had promised to reserve the subject of this chapter for the book he intended to write after finishing his Horâ:

It is not known which source has been chiefly used by our author in this particular instance; thus much, however, is certain, that long before his time Greek horoscopy had been introduced into India. Utpala quotes Yavaneçvara;

page 243 note 2 r. : instead of

page 243 note 4 Preferate to .

page 244 note 1 Comm.

page 244 note 2 Comm.

page 244 note 3 Comm. Cf.Vâtsyâyana on Nyâya-Sûtra i. 1 (p. 3, ed. Calc).

page 245 note 1 The compound is irregular, inasmuch as it ought to be The same irregularity is met with also in Mṛcchakaṭî (p. 10, ed. Stenzler), where has the meaning of . In both instances grammar has been sacrificed to the exigencies of prosody.

page 246 note 1 According to ch. xiv. and xv.

page 246 note 2 Koça, “fellowship,” especially secret fellowship, or the German Brüderschaft, also Râjatarangiṇî 5, 325; pîtakoçâḥ are those who have drunk the cup of secret fellowship.

page 246 note 3 The definition is simply omitted. Utpala:

page 247 note 1 Another reading has Vajra

page 247 note 2 Comm.

page 250 note 1 To wit, celestial, atmospheric, and terrestrial; cf. ch. xi. 2; xlvi. 2.

page 250 note 2 See ch. xxiii. 2.

page 250 note 3 Viz, wind, rain, lightning, thunder, and clouds; see ver. 37.

page 251 note 1 Consequently, fifty, twenty-five, and twelve and a half yojanas.

page 251 note 2 Sâyaṇa, in his comment on Ṛg Veda alludes to the formation of rain-embryos in explaining garbhatvam erire by meghamadhye jalasya garbhâkâram preritavantaḥ. For eliciting this meaning he must have recourse to the quite fanciful and unwarrantable supposition that erire implies, though not formally expresses, a causative sense. But it is sufficiently clear that garbhatvam er is only a variation of such common expressions as garbhatvam âyâ, âgam, âpad, or yâ, gam, or upayâ, upagam, etc. Garbhatvam erire is, according to English idiom, simply, “they became garbhas.” The Maruts become garbhas again, in other words, “retire to their place of birth” (mythologically, Priçni's womb, e.g. R. V. 6, 68, 3), or “disappear.” The whole verse in English is: “And after they disappeared again of their own accord, rendering their name to be revered.”

page 252 note 1 Dhâraṇâ, agreeably to its grammatical form, properly means “bearing” and “womb,” but in the same manner as racanâ, properly “composing,” has got the passive notion of “composition,” so dhâraṇâ may have been taken in the passive sense of “what is borne.” In no other way can I account for its construction with parisruta, which applies also to receptacles, wombs; but in this instance dhâraṇâ hardly denotes that which contains the embryo.

page 253 note 1 In the printed text erroneously separated from i.e.

page 253 note 2 Utpala:

page 253 note 3 Comm.

(“the quantity of rain to be announced for the rainy season”)

page 255 note 1 The comm. intimates that tryahoshita implies fasting:

page 255 note 2 The Comm. mentions a r. which cannot be but a superficial innovation by some one whom the construction struck as very abrupt. The common r. is undoubtedly right, because a prayer to the Maruts may not be omitted from the ceremony.

page 256 note 1 i.e. the wind being favourable during the first watch, rain will fall during the first half of Çrâvaṇa; in the contrary case, there will be no rain during the same period; and so forth.

page 256 note 2 The belly of the snake is fair, the back dark.

page 257 note 1 Comm.

page 257 note 2 Comm. r. “half,” viz. of the crops, which r. seems preferable.

page 258 note 1 in the text is, of course, a misprint for .

page 258 note 2 See ch. ix. 25, footnote.

page 258 note 3 This means, in common prose, that there is drought, and in consequence thereof hard times.

page 258 note 4 i.e. if Rohiṇî at the Moon's rising is seen at the west side. Comm.

page 259 note 1 Comm. .

page 260 note 1 From this statement, compared with Sûrya-siddhânta viii. 21, we must infer that Apâṃvatsa (i.e. the Little one of Âpas) is the small star between Spica Virginis and ζ Virginis (Âpas) The maps consulted by me show the star, but no indicatory letter.

page 260 note 2 Comm.

page 260 note 3 Sarasvatî or Vâc is not only word, speech (Lat. oratio) personified, but also oracle (oraculurn). Cf. xlvii. 98; lxxxviii. 42.

page 261 note 1 It is not clear by virtue of what function Sarasvatî is identified with the Balance. Maybe that Sarasvatî in older times had the attributes of the Greek goddess Themis. To explain the cosmical function of the goddess is no less difficult. Since Tulâ (i.e. an attribute or part, ança, of Sarasvatî) is the daughter of Aditi (i.e. Not-light), and of the family of Kaçyapa (i.e. Crepusculum), she may denote the horizon, the limit between day and night; hence the words in v. 3. About Aditi and Kaçyapa, cf. preface to the text, p. 41. I will add here that Aditi is the same idea as in the later Sanskrit adṛshṭa, the unseen, highest power or eternity. It is a general rule that the “unseen” is higher than the “visible,” the latter being only a part (ança) of the former. Therefore Kṛshṇa is higher than Arjuna, though both are essentially the same and inseparable.

page 261 note 2 i.e. the receptacles wherein the things to be weighed are put. Comm:

page 261 note 3 Comm.

page 261 note 4 Comm.

page 262 note 1 Utpala:

page 261 note 2 This koça, or rather kosha, is derived from hush, kushṇâti, in the sense of nishkarsha, i.e. “to weigh.” In the Dhâtumanjarî (ed. Bombay, 1865), the example given is: with the derivative . Cf. B. and R. Skr. Diet, under and Apparently a different word is koça, kosha, “the interior of something, calice, case,” which is etymologically identical with English house, whence follows that the orthography and pronunciation koça, though Vedic, is as far removed from the original form as çvaçura, çushka, etc.

page 263 note 1 On the day of full moon in Âshâḍha, it is to be understood, hereand in the sequel.

page 263 note 2 in the printed text is an error for .

page 263 note 3 An error, committed also by Subandhu, in his Vâsavadatâ (p. 196, sq.).

page 264 note 1 The poet quibbles upon tâla, “Borassus flabelliformis,” and “flap, slap.”

page 265 note 1 Cancer, Capricorn, or Pisces.

page 265 note 2 Comm. gives for examples: The dictionaries only mention , Cassia Tora; but pa and pâlaka are synonymous, and therefore interchangeable terms.

page 266 note 1 Thus also in Râjatarangṇî, viii. 722, where we have to read

page 267 note 1 Cf. ch. xlvii. 20.

page 267 note 2 See ch. xxx. 11, and cf. ch. xlvii. 20.

page 267 note 3 As mentioned in ch. ix. 10, sqq.

page 267 note 4 i.e. are about to set heliacally.

page 267 note 5 According to their motion, being slow (near the apsis), or swift (near the conjunction).

page 268 note 1 The Comm. explains to be .

page 268 note 2 Otherwise the Comm.

page 268 note 3 If we follow the reading of the Comm., i.e. kâruka, we have to translate, “artisans are indicated by Carthamus.”

page 269 note 1 The expression in the original is, properly, “having half set,” i.e. “half the orb still appearing above the horizon.”

page 269 note 2 Comm.

The word jyoti, instead jyotis, is worth being remarked. Cf. in B. and R. Skr. Dict. The feminine gender of sandhi, too, has not been met with elsewhere, so far as I am aware.

page 269 note 3 i.e. facing the sun, .

page 269 note 4 Utpala explains it differently, viz., “from the south.”

page 270 note 1 Comm.

page 270 note 2 “Twilight” denotes here and in the sequel both dawn and evening twilight.

page 270 note 3 comm.

page 271 note 1 Comm.

page 271 note 2 The r. is preferable to

page 271 note 3 The word is a striking example of inaccuracy, as the author must have meant or . This must be inferred from the plural , which would have been , if only the beginning and middle of the day were meant. Utpala also: .

page 272 note 1 From the south.

page 272 note 2 About and , cf. ch. lxxxvi. 12, and Ind. Stud. x. p. 202.

page 273 note 1 Otherwise Utpala:

page 274 note 1 Comm.

page 274 note 2 Comm.

The names of the elephants differ wholly from those we meet with in Amarakosha i. 1, 2, 5; Hemac. 170.

page 274 note 3 e.g. Vasishṭha.

page 275 note 1 Utpala says: ; erroneously, so far as concerns this passage. He cites himself the following stanzas of Vṛddha-Garga's:

It is manifest that corresponds to . Moreover, Utpala takes to mean , which is purely fanciful.

page 275 note 2 e.g. Parâçra.

page 275 note 3 Comm.

or what purpose a natural day is divided into four parts, and the whole of the lunar mansions into as many portions, will appear from stanza 27.

page 276 note 1 Or chlorosis (?). Comm.: . Probably the same disease as ; Atharva-Veda i. 22. In the text is, of course, a typographical error for .

page 277 note 1 Utapala r. , but clouds can scarcely be compared to seeds, or the fine drops to shoots.

page 277 note 2 Comm.

The three stanzas in brackets are taken from our author's Samâsa Sanhitâ.

page 278 note 1 i.e. the influence of an earthquake that is to occur when one of the asterisms in the division or department of Indra happens to be the asterism of the day, is paralyzed in case the period of its occurrence coincides with the peculiar period of the day allotted to Vâyu, and vice versa.

page 278 note 2 Comm.

page 278 note 3 Comm.

page 279 note 1 Comm.

The explanation of these mythological phrases is not difficult. Ulkâ, in the most common acceptation of the term, is a “shooting” or “falling star.” Now, the notions of star, ray and darted weapons are generally expressed by the same word. One instance may suffice, viz., the etymological identity of Sanskrit and Greek ἄστρου. Hence an ulkâ may be called an astram. The notion of “shooting,” or “shot” finds its expression in ; that of “falling,” in and

page 280 note 1 What here is called “tail” (puccha), is not to be confounded with the tail, or rather crest (çikhâ, cûlâ) of a comet. The former is simply a result of optical illusion.

page 280 note 2 Utpala r. , about which he remarks that it is well known, (prasiddha). From other passages it appears that he takes to be synonymous with , Ægle Marmelos. Cf. Weber, Fragment der Bhagavatî, pp. 306, 312. The compound , 1.c., is an error for , I presume; whereas Weber proposes to read . The compound is a Bahuvrîhi, and may be rendered “whose Çrîvṛksha-figure possesses the proper marks.”

page 280 note 3 Comm.

It is not necessary to point oat bow closely our author has imitated this passage.

page 282 note 1 As enumerated in, ch. xv. and xvi.

page 282 note 2 Among the asterisms are called constant (): Rohiṇî, Uttara-Bhadrapadâ, Uttara-Ashâḍhâ, and Uttara-Phalgunî; kind (): Mṛgaçiras, Citrâ, Anurâdhâ, and Bevatî; harsh (): Bharaṇî, Maghâ, Pûrva-Bhadrapadâ, Pûrva-Ashâḍhâ, and Pûrva-Phalgunî; cruel (, ): Ârdrâ, Açleshâ, Jyeshṭhâ, and Mûla; swift (): Açvinî, Tishya, Hasta, and Abhijit; neutral (): Kṛttikâ and Viçâkhâ. Cf. ch. xcviii. 6–11; also Weber, Jyotisha, p. 95; and Naxatra, ii. 385.

page 282 note 3 The planets of the eight regions, east, south-east, etc., are the Sun, Venus, Mars, Râhu, Saturn, the Moon, Mercury, and Jupiter.

page 283 note 1 About the banner of Indra, see ch. xliii.

page 284 note 1 Comm.

page 284 note 2 Much more perspicuous is the following passage from Kâçyapa:

Curious are and , instead of the locative, instrumental, or even accusative case.

page 285 note 1 Comm.

page 285 note 2 Utpala:

page 285 note 3 The lord of the horoscope is the planet presiding over the horoscope; the signs Aries, Taurus, etc., are lorded over by Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Saturn and Jupiter. See Bṛh. Jâtaka, i. 6; Laghu-Jâtaka, i. 8 (Ind. Studien, ii. p. 278). The lord of nativity is the sign the Moon is standing in at the time of one's birth. About the birth-star, see ch. iv. 28, footnote. Utpala: , and in his comment on Yogayâtrâ, iv. 43: (i.e. lunar mansion, here) .

page 286 note 1 Comm.

page 286 note 2 In the latter case the effects of the comet only should be considered. Comm.

page 287 note 1 Amongst others, Kâçyapa.

page 287 note 2 The classes presiding over the eight quarters are enumerated in ch. lxxxvi. 34, q.v.