History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.392

v6.c82.392

Thibaut (in *Grundriss* p 68) following Jacobi boldly asserts that the doctrine of the twelve astrological houses which is a chief point in the Indian system found developed in Varāhamihira does not occur among Western authorities earlier than Firmicus Maternus (middle of 4th century A. D) and that Greek astrology entered into India only between Firmicus and Varāhamihira One is regretfully constrained to say that this is a case of one blind man following another In the first place the conception of houses (bhāvas) is not totally absent even in Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, as can be seen in II 8 p 191, III. 10 pp 273-275 (Loeb Classical Library), where houses I, VII, IX, X and XI are referred to, though Ptolemy does not pay much attention to the system of *bhāvas* Probably this escaped the attention of both Jacobi and Thibaut In the second place, the system of bhāvas does not occur for the first time in Varāha Varāha refers to a host of Indian writers before him as will be shown below in whose works the system appears in a fully developed form It is not possible to believe that all this vast literature was developed in a hundred years or so after Firmicus. Besides, authors like Garga, Parāśara, who are placed between the Vedāṅgajyotisa and the siddhāntas (about 800 B C to 250 A D) knew this system and Garga is assigned to 50 B. C. by Kern (Preface to Br S p 50) Thibaut, a great scholar, proposing to write an encyclopaedic work on Jyotisa is content to rely on Jacobi and does not appear to have cared to see for himself even Ptolemy and examine works like the Ātharvana Jyotisa, the Vaikhānaśasūtra, Visnudharmottara which teach astrology based on naksatras. This, to say the least, is most surprising Prof Zinner (in 'Stars above us') p 67 says that the twelve houses denote life, business, brothers, father, sons, health, wife, death, religion, gain, good deeds, gaol. In the 3rd place Thibaut takes no account of Sanskrit works written by Yavanas settled in India, to whom Varāha frequently refers, from whom he sometimes differs on vital points of doctrine and from whom Utpala quotes hundreds of verses, which are found in the ancient Yavanajātaka of Sphujidhvaja. Further, it has been shown above (pp. 533-34) that extant references to astrology based on nakṣatras actually exhibit the names of at least five bhāvas centuries before Firmicus It is quite possible to argue that Firmicus borrowed his astrology from the predecessors of Varāha, who were Greeks and wrote in Sanskrit, or that even Ptolemy did so as he knows of the bhāvas, but furnishes only a dilettante treatment It may be further noted that no adaptations of Greek words for all the bhāvas from the first to the twelfth are to be found in Sanskrit works Such words occur only for some viz. 1st, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 10th and 12th bhāvas and for groups of a few bhāvas (such as kendra, panaphara and āpoclima ). Besides, the peculiar points to be deduced from the several bhāvas as stated in Br. J do not all agree with what Firmicus says. Varāha designates the 2nd bhāva as kuṭumba and sva (family, wealth) while Firmicus calls it 'lucrum' (how one shall earn one's living), the 11th bhāva is called āya (income) and bhāva by Varāha while Firmicus calls it the house of good deeds; in Firmicus the 4th bhāva is that of father or parents, while Varāha calls it 'bandhu' (relatives) and gṛha in Br J. and 'suhṛt' (friends) in Laghujātaka and some later Indian writers say that 4th and 10th bhāvas are respectively of the mother and father. In Firmicus the 6th and 12th bhāvas are respectively wealth and jail, while Varāha holds them to be 'enmity' and 'expenditure'.