History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.372

v6.c82.372

The purpose for these classifications is explained as follows. As regards colours ruled by planets, they are useful in indicating the colour of the thing lost by or stolen from a man and the colour of the flowers with which the planets are to be worshipped, the lords of the planets are to be worshipped along with the planets in *grahapūjā*; the direction in which a king should march on an invasion is indicated by planets that rule the directions; according as beneficent or malefic planets are powerful in the horoscope, the character of the person concerned is indicated as good or bad. The Br. J. II. 7 further provides that the Moon, the Sun and Jupiter are lords of *sattva-guṇa*, Mercury and Venus of *rajo-guṇa*, Mars and Saturn of *tamoguṇa*. Utpala points out that Varāha differs from Yavaneśvara, who regards the Sun, Mars and Jupiter as Sāttvika, the Moon and Venus as full of rajoguṇa, Saturn as having tamoguṇa and Mercury taking on the character of the planet with which it is in conjunction.858a Rāhu is the ascending node or the point where the orbit of the moon intersects the ecliptic in passing northwards. Br. J. (II 8-11) and Laghujātaka II 13-19 describe the form and appearance of the planets from the Sun to Saturn, giving full rein to association of ideas, imagination and to personification of them. For illustration, I translate one verse (10) 'Jupiter⁸⁵⁹ has a large body, his hair and eyes are brownish in colour, he has eminent intellect and has a phlegmatic constitution; Venus is given to pleasures, has handsome body and pretty eyes, has wind and phlegm in his constitution and black but curling hair on his head'. Another table based on Br. J. II. 11, 12, 14 and Sārāvalī IV 15-16 about the parts of the human body governed by the planets,⁸⁶⁰ about their *habitat* (*sthāna*), about the kinds of cloth they govern, about the metals, precious stones and the flavours they rule is given below.