A History of Assam c25.s2.3

c25.s2.3

I have been unable to obtain any explanation of the Ahom words used in these series. The Chinese call the words in their denary series *tien kan*, or terrestrial signs, while those in the duodenary series are the horary characters, and are known as *teche* or celestial signs. The denary series in the Japanese system is made up of the elements, of which they reckon five, doubled by the addition of the masculine and feminine signs *je* & *to*; the second series consists of the signs of the zodiac. The Tibetans, like the Japanese, employ the names of the elements for the denary series, but, for the duodenary, they take the names of certain animals—mouse, ox, tiger, etc.