Bharatiya Jyotihshastra (History of Indian Astronomy), translated by R. V. Vaidya v2.c14.49

v2.c14.49

This is a very famous work. It appears to be an “ ārṣa ” work from its name, but Varāhamihira and Bhaṭotpala have not referred to it. It cannot be said, therefore,, with any certainty that the work belongs to a date earlier than the two authors. It is reported that the birth horoscope of any person can be found in it. If it be a fact, it must be a collection of 74649600 horoscopes, representing all signs on the ascendant and all possible positions of planets in the twelve houses. Assuming that 10 verses have been devoted to the reading of each horoscope, it must contain at least 75 crores of verses. Some horoscopes purporting to be extracted from Bhrgu Samhitā are available, from which it appears that there are different horoscopes for different degrees of each ascending sign. If such delineations have been given, the number of horoscopes would far exceed the above number. The author has himself seen a printed copy of a part of Bhr̥gu Saṃhitā in the possession of a Marwari gentleman of Poona. It contained about 200 horoscopes, with nearly 70 verses assigned to each horoscope and the total number of verses is 14000. The work abounds in solecisms of all sorts and the ascending signs in it are not arranged in any order. In the Government Library at Jammu, in Kashmir, there is a work named Bhr̥gu Saṃhitā. The Library has a printed Catalogue of books which shows that the ascending signs in the work are arranged in order, and the total number of verses appears to be about 160000. If 70 verses are allotted to each horoscope as above, the work must be containing about 2300 horoscopes. Those who possess some parts of Bhr̥gu Saṃhitā may, on certain occasion, be playing a hoax on the consultant by palming off on him a new horoscope in the name of Bhr̥gu Saṃhitā. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that there does exist a work known as Bhr̥gu Saṃhitā. The author has seen some horoscopes delineated from it and he is of opinion that such delineations are in a large measure correct.