History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.235

v6.c82.235

It should be noted that the Ātharvaṇa-Jyotiṣa gives at least five names that are the same as the corresponding bhāvas in extant *Jātaka* works. It is difficult to state the date when the extant Ātharvaṇa Jyotiṣa might have been composed It mentions week-days but does not enumerate the twelve zodiacal signs, it refers to the doctrine of Bhṛgu (9. 1) Verses 1-4 of Ātharvaṇa Jyotiṣa (chapter 13) are the same as Manu III. 46-49, similarly, Ātharvaṇa Jyotiṣa 12 8-9 are almost the same as Manu IV. 41-42. It is quite possible that the present text is a recast of an older work. In any case the present text of the Ātharvaṇa Jyotiṣa cannot be placed earlier than the 2nd or 1st century B. C. and may be a little later still But it appears that the present Ātharvaṇa Jyotiṣa only collects together the ideas then current and therefore the five names (janma, sampat, naidhana, mitra and karma) could very well have been current centuries before the present Ātharvaṇa Jyotiṣa text. Similarly, it is difficult to assign an exact date to the Viṣṇu-dharmottara-purāṇa. It is in the nature of an encyclopaedia of the then knowledge of several lores and its present text may be assigned to some period between the 4th and sixth century A. D