History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c89.285

v7.c89.285

From ancient times the throbbing of the limbs, particularly of the arm and eye, have been regarded in India as the harbingers of coming events, auspicious or inauspicious. Manu prohibits a *sannyāsin* (*parivrājaka*) from obtaining alms by means of declaring prognostications from *utpātas* or *nimittas*, from *nakṣatras* and from Angavidyā etc In the *Śākuntala* Kālidāsa twice mentions the throbbing of the arm of the hero as indicative of good fortune and the throbbing of the right eye of Śakuntalā as presaging¹³⁰⁰ misfortune. Shakespeare in "Othello" makes Desdemona speak about the itching of her eyes as a bad omen. The Bṛhad-yogayātrā (XIII. 10), Bṛ. S. (51. 10) and Vasantarāja declare that the throbbing of moles, boils, marks, eruptions (on limbs) are to be deemed to indicate consequences similar to the limbs on which they exist.¹³⁰¹