[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930) › v7.c89.167 # History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c89.167 History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c89.167 - **Language:** English ### [v7.c89.167](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v7.c89.167) The rules to be observed about eclipses have already been stated above (pp. 243–250). Though the real causes of lunar and solar eclipses were known long before the time of Varāhamihira as shown above (p. 242, n 622) this knowledge was not accepted by the masses for centuries and even now many people in India still entertain the old beliefs about eclipses.¹²³⁰ Varāha criticises ancient writers like Vṛddha Garga and Parāśara who prophesied an eclipse when five planets including Mercury came together or there were such \*nimittas\* as halo of the Sun, dim rays ¹²³¹ (Br. S. V. 16–17). Here the Śānti for it will be briefly described. One view was that an eclipse was auspicious ¹²³² to a person, if the eclipse occurs when the Sun or the Moon is in the 3rd, 6th, 10th or 11th rāśi (zodiacal sign) from the rāśi of the birth of a person, it is neither auspicious nor inauspicious when any one of the two is in 2nd, 5th, 7th or 9th rāśi from that of birth and it is inauspicious when the eclipsed sun or moon is in the 1st, 4th, 8th and 12th rāśi from the rāśi of birth. The view of Garga was that if an eclipse occurs when the sun or moon is in the rāśi of the birth of a person or if any of them is in the 1st, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th or 12th rāśi from that of birth or if any of them occupies the nakṣatra of the birth of a person or the 9th nakṣatra from that of birth, it leads to calamities for that person. If an eclipse occurred when the Sun or Moon occupied the nakṣatra of the day of the coronation of the king, that portends the ruin of the kingdom, the loss of friends and the death of the king.¹²³³ Atri said that when the eclipse of the Sun or Moon occurs in the nakṣatra of a person's birth, disease, journeys and death are portended, and great danger for the king (whose nakṣatra is so affected). The averting of evil would follow if the man makes gifts and is engaged (that day) in worship of gods and \*japa\*.¹²³⁴ Several modes of śānti are prescribed, particularly for him whose rāśi or nakṣatra of birth or one of three nakṣatras (viz. that of birth, the one preceding and the one following the nakṣatra of birth) is occupied by the eclipsed Sun or Moon. One way is to make the figure of a serpent (that represents the demon Rāhu) with gold or flour and to donate it to a brāhmaṇa. Another was to make a serpent out of gold weighing a \*pala\* (i e. 320 \*guñjas\*) or one half, one fourth or one eighth \*pala\* and to fix a jewel on its hood and place the serpent figure in a vessel of copper, bronze or cast iron full of ghee and donate it with a dakṣiṇā and also donate a silver disc of the moon and a golden serpent when it is a lunar eclipse and a golden disc of the Sun and a golden serpent when it is a solar eclipse. Further gifts of a horse, chariot, cows, land, sesame, ghee and gold also are recommended. The mantra accompanying the gifts addressed to Rāhu is quoted below.¹²³⁵ The Nirṇayasindhu also sets out a far more elaborate śānti from the Matsyapurāṇa, which is passed over for reasons of space. - [Previous: v7.c89.166](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v7.c89.166) - [Next: v7.c89.168](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v7.c89.168) - [Up: v7.c89](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v7.c89) ## Cites (1) - [Bṛhatsaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.samhita.rsi.brhatsamhita.5.16) — Varāhamihira, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v7.c89.167](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v7.c89.167) · Pramāṇa