History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.395

v6.c82.395

A few words must be said about dreṣkāna Weber and others think that it represents the Greek word 'decanoi' The 'dekans' were a legacy from ancient Egypt, which⁸⁶⁶ had originally no zodiacal signs. Bouché-Leclercq has discussed⁸⁶⁷ the question of decans at great length in his 'L' Astrologie Grecque' pp 215–240 The decanal system can be traced as far back as the third dynasty of Egypt (about 2800 B. C.) and may be older still. Originally, the decans were conspicuous stars or groups of stars rising at particular hours of the night during 36 successive periods of ten days each that constituted the year in Egypt The series began with Sirius and they were distributed in a wide equatorial belt The ancient Egyptians had a fixed idea that each division of time, large or small, must have its protective tutelary deity. Therefore, the decans were originally the divinities (or *genii*) that presided over the 36 decades of the Egyptian year. Each period of ten days was marked by the rising of the next decan on the eastern horizon at sunset. Bouché Leclercq points out that in the Egyptian language a specific name (like the Greek word 'decanos') is not met with and that the decans are designated by a number of synonyms. When the Zodiacal signs were introduced in Egypt by the Greeks, the tutelary spirits slipped into or got intertwined with the signs of the Zodiac (each sign of 30 degrees being divided into decans of 10 degrees) and played an important part in astrology The original division referred to the equator, while the later distribution of 36 decans among the twelve signs refers to the⁸⁶⁸ ecliptic Bouché Leclercq avers (p 53) that it has been proved beyond doubt that the Egyptian Zodiacs (they had four, viz 2 at Denderah, one at Esneh and one at Akhnum) are all of the Roman epoch and are imitations of the Greek Zodiac