History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.400

v6.c82.400

⁸⁶⁹ Vide for 'Dreṣkāna' Colebrooke's Miscellaneous essays, vol II pp. 364-373 Colebrooke (on pp 370-71) states that Manilius employs the word Decania, that Firmicus differs in the names and does not allow the complete degrees to each decanus This would show that the Br J could not have followed about dreṣkāṇa Firmicus in astrology as Jacobi supposed but some other more ancient author. Nor can it be said that the Br J follows Manilius The description of the middle dreṣkāṇa of Meṣa rather resembles the rotund figure in Plate 10 in Prof Neugebauer's book 'Exact Sciences in Antiquity' p 83, which plate reproduces the representation of the Decan deities on the tomb of Senmut (in Egypt). B L Van Der Waerden in his paper 'Babylonian Astronomy, thirty-six stars' in Journal of Near East Studies, vol VIII (pp 6-26) shows how thirty-six stars from old Babylonian times finally became mixed up with the twelve Zodiacal signs and 36 Egyptian decans On p 8 he gives lists of 36 constellations, the so called 'decans', which were found on coffin lids of the middle kingdom in Egypt and on ceilings of tombs belonging to kings of the New Kingdom The risings, culminations and settings of decan constellations were supposed to determine not only the date but also the time of the night On p. 20 he gives a table of Babylonian stars and their modern equivalent stars and their times.