History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.499

v6.c82.499

One rather convenient doctrine of the astrologers was that an evil planet may be mollified and the evil consequences of its influence avoided, or, if not altogether avoided, substantially reduced or abated by appropriate rites (called śāntis) or by wearing certain precious stones and metals and by various other means enumerated in the Ratnamālā⁹²¹ 'one should wear coral for appeasing Mars and the Sun, silver for Venus and the Moon, gold for Mercury, pearl for Jupiter, iron for Saturn and *rājāvarta* (a kind of inferior gem) for the other two (Rāhu and Ketu). The Ratnamālā provides that planets may not possibly afflict a man if he engages in prostrations before images of gods and before brāhmaṇas, if he carries out the advice of elders, by holding daily conversations with the good, by listening to the loud recitation of the Vedas and to the stories about the great, by offering *homa*, by seeing the performance of Vedic sacrifices, by making the mind pure, by *japa* (inaudible repetition of mantras), by making gifts. The Bṛhatsaṃhitā has a similar verse. Ratnamālā X. 16 and Muhūrtacintāmaṇi IV. 9 provide that one should possess a golden ring divided into nine compartments, one being in the middle in which there is to be a ruby for placating the Sun, and in eight directions from the east onwards should be set in order: a diamond for placating Venus in the east, a fine pearl for the moon (in S. E ), coral for Mars (South), gomeda for Rāhu (in S. W.), fine sapphire for Saturn (West), Vaidūrya (cat's eye gem) for Ketu (N. W.), pusyarāga (topaz) for Jupiter (North), emerald for Mercury (N. E.). Such rings are worn even in these days by some people.