History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.353

v6.c82.353

Planets, their relations to the rāśis and their conjoint influence will now be briefly indicated. We saw above (pp. 493-495) that in the Vedic Saṁhitās and Brāhmaṇas express references to planets other than Jupiter are almost absent, that in some Vedic verses five planets and Venus (as Vena) appear to be referred to. Svarbhānu, the son of an asura, is said to have struck the sun with darkness (i e. caused an eclipse) in Ṛg V. 40. 5, 6, 8, 9. In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad the soul that has acquired true knowledge is said to shake off the body after casting off all evil like a horse (that casts off dust by) shaking his hair (mane and tail) or like the moon becoming free from the mouth of Rāhu.⁸⁴⁷ The Maitrāyaṇī Upaniṣad mentions Śani, Rāhu (ascending node) and Ketu (descending node)⁸⁴⁸ But hardly anything is said about the astrological significance of planets in the ancient Vedic Literature. In the Mahābhārata there are plenty of references to the evil influence of planets, but that is restricted to nakṣatras. Both Rāhu and Ketu are said in Karṇaparva to rise in the sky for (i. e. portending) the destruction of the world⁸⁴⁹ Kauṭilya offers the curious information that a foreknowledge of rainfall can be had from the position, the motion and the *garbhādhāna* of Jupiter, from the rising, setting and motion of Venus and from the natural and unnatural aspects of the sun and that from the sun the sprouting of the seed (can be predicted), from Jupiter the formation of abundant sheaves of corn when the seeds are sown and from the (movements) of Venus rainfall (can be predicted).⁸⁵⁰ It will be seen from the above that general or universal (not individual or horoscopic) astrology like the reports made by royal priests in Mesopotamia was prevalent in India many centuries before Christ The Bṛhajjātaka (II 2–3) enumerates the nine planets, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, Rāhu and Ketu and furnishes some synonyms of all these.