A History of Sanskrit Literature c35.s7: 7. Greece and Indian Astrology

A History of Sanskrit Literature c35.s7

Language: English

7. Greece and Indian Astrology

c35.s7.1

The case, however, is clearly different with the *Horā* section of astrology on which Varāhamihira has left us a *Bṛhaj*² and a *Laghu Jātaka*. The borrowing of the name and of other terms from Greece is flagrant and it is only interesting to note the efforts made to give the words an Indian tinge; the names of the Houses prove dependence beyond a peradventure: Horā, Paṇaphara, Āpoklima, Hibuka, Trikoṇa, Jāmitra, Meṣūraṇa; the signs of the zodiac include Kriya, Tāvuri, Jituma, Leya, Pāthona, Juka, Kaurpya, Taukṣika, Ānokero, Hṛdroga, and Itthya, as well as translations. Moreover, among his authorities, Maya, Satyācārya, Viṣṇugupta, Devasvāmin, Jīvaçarman, Piṇḍāyu, Pṛthu, Çaktipūrva, and Siddhasena, occur Maṇittha and Yavanācārya. The only difficulty is the period when the borrowing took place. Jacobi³ held that it fell not before the fourth century, as the stage reached seems to be that attained in the works of Firmicus Maternus (*c.* 350), but it is by no means certain that this view can any longer be accepted. A Nepalese manuscript⁴ of a *Yavana Jātaka* contains a very obscure and mutilated statement which appears to mean that a Yavaneçvara translated the work from his own speech in the year 91 of an unspecified era, while another person, a king Sphūrjidhvaja, brought out the work in the shape of 4,000 Indravajrā verses in 191. Now Bhaṭṭotpala, the commentator on Varāhamihira, tells us of one Yavaneçvara Sphujidhvaja who used the Çaka era, and who, therefore, may be a somewhat confused reminiscence of this set of two people—unless our fragmentary text has obscured the true facts. Kern's suggestion¹ that Yavaneçvara was younger than Varāhamihira ignores the fact that Varāhamihira cites a Yavanācārya who may well be meant for this writer, whose date then would be A.D. 169. We have later texts of the *Yavana Jātaka*, a *Vṛddha* of 8,000 verses, and another text ascribed to Mīnarāja Yavanācārya,² which need not be before Varāhamihira, but the evidence clearly renders it difficult to rely implicitly on Jacobi's dating. Maṇittha has been compared with Manetho, author of the *Apotelesmata*, and this view is strongly supported by the fact that he is given as agreeing with the ancient Greeks and disagreeing with Varāhamihira and Satya. The date of Jacobi is supported by Fleet, who lays stress on the order of the planets in Varāhamihira, beginning with the sun, as showing that India adopted a Jewish-Christian week, Jewish in respect of order and Christian in respect of the names. We know that, according to Dio Cassius, the calendrical use of the names of the planets was regular in his time, and in 321 Constantine gave the seven days' week its definite sanction by appointing Sunday as a day of rest. It is fair, however, to note that the use of planet names is to be traced much farther back than Dio Cassius, and that the argument is not altogether conclusive. But it is supported to some extent by the fact that the first case of the use of a name of this kind in an inscription is in A.D. 484, after which it is still rare down to A.D. 800.

Linked texts (3)

Vṛddhayavanajātaka — Mīnarāja, Sanskrit
Bṛhajjātaka — Varāhamihira, Sanskrit
Laghujātaka — Varāhamihira, Sanskrit

A History of Sanskrit Literature c35.s7: 7. Greece and Indian Astrology

7. Greece and Indian Astrology

c35.s7.1

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c35.s7.6

Linked texts (3)