History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.318

v6.c82.318

Before entering on a discussion about individual acts or rites, it is necessary, in order that the reader may understand the prescriptions about muhūrtas, to explain some simple details of *Jātaka*. To discuss in detail all the details of Jātaka works is much beyond the scope of this work and would necessitate the writing of a volume by itself. A middle course has to be followed. Besides nakṣatras, their lords and their classifications, one has to bear in mind the *rāśis*, the planets and the *bhāvas* (houses or places) in a horoscope. For these reliance will be mainly placed on the Bṛhatsaṃhitā and Bṛhaj-jātaka of Varāhamihira, the Sārāvalī, Jyotiṣaratnamālā of Śrīpati, the Rājamārtaṇḍa, Jātakālaṅkāra of Gaṇeśa (composed in śake 1535, 1613-4 A. D.). The 27 or 28 nakṣatras and their presiding deities have already been enumerated above (pp. 499-504 and note 731). It has to be remembered that the *devatā* of a nakṣatra is often employed to indicate the nakṣatra or the tithi itself also. Here the classification of nakṣatras will be first discussed. From a passage of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad quoted above (in note 754), it is clear that the nakṣatras had very early (i. e. about 1000 B. C. at least) been classified as *puṇya* (auspicious) and *pāpa* (inauspicious) and into male and female. The Vedāṅgajyotiṣa (*Yājuṣa*) gives a classification of nakṣatras into *ugra* and *krūra*.⁸²⁹ The nakṣatras are further classified in the Bṛhat-saṃhitā (chap. 97. 6-11) into dhruva (or sthira = fixed), tīkṣṇa (or dāruṇa), ugra (or krūra), kṣipra (or laghu), mṛdu (or maitra), mṛdutīkṣṇa (or sādhāraṇa or miśra), cara (or cala).⁸³⁰