The History of Indian Literature c9.348

c9.348

∗ See above, p. 205: the same applies also to the Vṛiddha-Gautama law-book. [According to Jacobi, *De Astrologiæ Indicæ Originibus*, p. 14, the statement in Yájnavalkya, i. 80, that *coitus* must take place '*susthe indau*,' rests upon an acquaintance with the Greek astrological doctrine of the 'twelve houses' (and, in fact, this is the sense in which the Mitákshará understands the passage); so that, in his opinion, Yájnavalkya cannot be placed earlier than the fourth century of our era. This interpretation, however, is not absolutely forced upon us, as *sustha* might equally well refer to one of the lunar phases or mansions which from an early period were regarded as auspicious for procreation and birth; see *Lit. C. Bl.*, 1873, p. 787.]