[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930) › v6.c82.335 # History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.335 History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.335 - **Language:** English ### [v6.c82.335.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c82.335.1) It should be noted that the list of synonyms is not exhaustive; other words with the same meaning are often employed. For example, for Siṁha, Mṛgarāja may be used or for Mīna the word \*pṛthuroman\* may be used. The words in italics are deemed by Weber and many others as borrowings from or Sanskrit adaptations of Greek words It may be admitted that most of them bear a striking resemblance to Greek names of rāśis Pāthona should be Pāthena to correspond with the Greek word. There is no reason why kulīra should be regarded as a Greek word Kern (preface to Bṛ S. p. 29) thinks that it is a pure Sanskrit word There is no Greek word corresponding to Kulīra in Ptolemy. The word Karka or Karkin appears to mean 'white' and occurs as early as in Atharvaveda IV 38. 6-7 All that the Bṛhaj-jātaka (I 8) means is that there are other words like \*kriya\* used for the twelve rāśis in other works Varāhamihira frequently refers to the views of the Yavanas and sometimes differs from them. It has been shown by me in my paper on 'Yavaneśvara and Utpala' (in J of Bombay Asiatic Society, vol. 30, pp. 1-8) that there is a Sanskrit work on astrology called \*Yavana-jātaka\* of about 4000 verses composed by a king of the Yavanas called Sphujidhvaja and another \*Vṛddhayavanajātaka\* also in several thousand verses by Mīnarāja who styles himself the overlord of Yavanas I cannot agree with Prof Sen-Gupta ('Ancient Indian Chronology' p 99) that words like Meṣa and Vṛṣabha in verses like Ṛg I. 51. ### [v6.c82.335.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c82.335.2) 1 (abhī tyam meṣam) refer to rāśis, when he himself had to concede that he could not find the other ten in the Ṛg The appearance of the rāśis is briefly described by the Bṛhajjātaka⁸³⁷ I. 5 and explained by Utpala as follows: (The sign Mīna i e Pisces) appears as two fishes (each facing the tail of the other), Kumbha appears as a man carrying an empty jar placed on his shoulder, the sign of Gemini is represented as a man carrying a mace and a woman holding a lute, the sign of Sagittarius is a man with a bow whose legs are like those of a horse, the sign Capricorn is a crocodile with the face of a deer, sign of Libra is a person holding scales, the sign Virgo is represented by a maiden in a boat with an ear of corn in one hand and fire in the other; the remaining signs are similar (in form) to the objects indicated by their names and all signs reside in places appropriate to their names For more detailed descriptions, vide the twelve verses quoted from Yavaneśvara by Utpala which I have quoted and translated in my paper in the Journal of the Bombay Asiatic Society vol. 30 parts 1 and 2 pp 1-7 and which are found in the Yavana-jātaka of Sphujidhvaja (a palm-leaf ms of which exists in the Nepal Durbar Library) and in the Vṛddhayavanajātaka of Mīnarāja Those verses also name the special objects and places governed by the different rāśis Several verses of Kāśyapa are quoted by Utpala on Br. ### [v6.c82.335.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c82.335.3) S 40 that deal with the materials or things that are under the influence of the several rāśis For example, Meṣa is the lord of garments, woollens, cloth made of the hair of a young goat, of \*Masūra\* pulse, wheat, resin, barley, gold and plants that grow on dry land.⁸³⁸ The Vāmanapurāṇa838a (chap 5 45-60) describes the appearance of the rāśis and the places and objects they reside in or dominate and the verses closely resemble the wording employed in the two Yavanajātakas of Sphujidhvaja and Mīnarāja Some verses are quoted below by way of illustration From Varāha's description it appears that Meṣa, Vṛṣabha, Karkaṭa, Siṁha, Vṛścika, Makara and Mīna are figures of animals (either four-footed or insects) and the remaining five resemble human beings with special characteristics in each case. These rāśi names have more or less the same meanings in Babylonia,⁸³⁹ in Europe including Greece and in India. But it should not be supposed that everywhere the several groups of stars were imagined to be identical with the figures of the same animals or of human beings. In China for instance, the twelve rāśis are rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, sheep, monkey, hen, dog and pig (Encyclopaedia Americana, vol. 29 under the word 'zodiac' and New Funk and Wagnall's Encyclopaedia vol 36 under 'Zodiac')839a. It is further stated that these are still found in some parts of Asia, in Japan and also among the remains of the Aztec race in America. ### [v6.c82.335.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c82.335.4) There are many who deny that except for a few signs (like the Scorpion) there is hardly any very striking similarity between the twelve groups of constellations called Aries &c. and the natural appearance of the objects denoted by the twelve names.⁸⁴⁰ The origin of the names assigned to Zodiacal signs is unknown. The zodiacal signs named Meṣa, Vṛṣabha &c. are purely imaginary, are mere subjective configurations of stars which appear to be in one plane and which appear to certain persons to possess somehow the outline of a scorpion or a lion which are, as modern astronomy tells us, situated at enormous distances (light years as they are called) from each other. The same constellation is often given different names; e. g. the constellation called Great Bear was called by Thales 'the wain' (waggon drawn by horses). The twelve Zodiacal signs are clearly absent from the sacred astronomy of Egypt⁸⁴¹ and the Egyptians knew nothing of the Zodiac before the Alexandrian age and very few Zodiacs are older than the Roman times Since Assyriologists began to reveal the astronomical knowledge in the valley of the Euphrates, the Babylonian origin of the Zodiac has been taken for granted by almost all scholars⁸⁴² The dissenting voice is that of E J. ### [v6.c82.335.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c82.335.5) Webb in ‘Names of stars’⁸⁴³ who very strenuously argues against the Babylonian origin of the Zodiacal signs and holds that the Zodiac as we know it is a Greek invention and that Cleostratus who according to Pliny was concerned in forming it lived about 520 B. C. In spite of the vehemence of Webb's arguments, in my humble opinion, he is far from convincing and for the present at least the Babylonian origin of the Zodiacal signs has to be accepted The passage of Pliny on which Webb relies is differently understood by Prof. J K. Fotheringham.⁸⁴⁴ The latest work of Sarton on ‘History of Science’ (1953) holds that the Zodiac had been distinguished by Babylonian astronomers a thousand years before Cleostratus and all that Cleostratus probably did was to divide those constellations into twelve equal lengths of the ecliptic i. e. the twelve signs of the Zodiac A somewhat amusing argument has been advanced by Hickey⁸⁴⁵ that the fact that there are in the sky no animals (figures) suggestive of Egypt or India such as the hippopotamus and the elephant seems to rule out those countries as sources Is there any logical necessity that certain animals must be introduced in a system of Zodiacal signs if that system originated in a certain country that may be the home of dozens of wild and tame animals? Are all the principal animals of Mesopotamia or of Greece included in the seven animals that figure as signs, if one of the above two was the origin of the present Zodiacal signs? ### [v6.c82.335.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c82.335.6) All the seven animals in the Zodiac are found in abundance in India even now, while some of them may not be found in the present day Greece or Babylonia. At present I am only concerned to say that out of the three ancient lands, viz Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece, Mesopotamia has the greatest claims to be regarded as the source of the Zodiacal signs. The case of India will be dealt with a little later on --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c82.335](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c82.335) · Pramāṇa