History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.612

v6.c82.612

Before closing this brief account of Indian astrology I must in a few words advert to a work called Bhṛgusaṁhitā in Sanskrit which is supposed to contain numberless horoscopes with descriptions of persons born on the twelve rāśis from Meṣa onwards, references to the deeds of such persons in previous lives, 'the horoscope with the positions of the several planets, the important happenings in each person's present life from the year of his birth to his death. Persons who profess to have in their possession the Bhṛgusaṁhitā are generally averse to showing the whole work to any one, but read to those who consult them verses from the work said to be in their possession and people feel often amazed at the accounts about themselves which are read out to them. There is much of deception in this. I have examined four Mss in the Desai Collection of Sanskrit mss in the Bombay University called Bhṛgusaṁhitā said to have been imparted to Śukra by his father Bhṛgu on mount Gandhamā- dana which contain about 600 horoscopes each of the four *lagnas*, Meṣa, Vṛṣabha, Mithuna and Karka, describing in 15 to 20 verses each of the horoscopes in the same *lagna* but with different positions of the planets in each case. No Bhṛgusaṁhitā can be accommodated even in a big library if it contains descriptions of all possible horoscopes in 15 or 20 verses each. There are twelve *rāśis* as *lagnas*, 9 planets (including Rāhu and Ketu) and twelve *bhāvas*. By permutations and combinations of these there would be crores of possible horoscopes and if at least 15 verses were to be assigned to each there would be millions on millions of verses. Hence describing a horoscope by extracts from Bhṛgusaṁhitā is often a fraud.