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Jyotihshastra: Astral and Mathematical Literature c6: Chapter IV. Divination

Jyotiḥśāstra: Astral and Mathematical Literature c6

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English

Contents

Chapter IV. Divination

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Omens (*adbhuta*, *utpāta*, *nimitta*) have probably always been regarded by Indians, as by others, as a means of knowing the future. There are, for instance, various references in the Ṛgveda (II 42–43 and X 165) and in the Atharvaveda (VI 27–29 and VII 64) to an ominous bird (*śakuna*). But the earliest attempts¹ to list and classify omens and to provide their ritual countermeasures (*śānti*) occur in the Kauśikasūtra² (XIII = kaṇḍikās 93–136) of the Atharvaveda and the common source³ of the Adbhutabrāhmaṇa, which is adhyāya VI or V of the Ṣaḍvimśabrāhmaṇa,⁴ the Āśvalāyanagṛhyapariśiṣṭa⁵ (IV 11–22), and the Adbhutaśānti⁶ of the Atharvavedapariśiṣṭa. The omens in this latter source were associated with the seven deities Indra, Varuṇa, Yama, Agni, Vaiśravaṇa, Viṣṇu, and Vāyu, and involve phenomena occurring on the earth, in the atmosphere, and in the heavens. One cannot but be struck by the similarity of these omens with their *śānti* rituals to the Babylonian omens with their *namburbi* rituals, though no exact parallels exist since the Indian omens are without apodoses. It is possible, however, though not demonstrable, that the original of these three Sanskrit texts was at least in part dependent on a Mesopotamian prototype that reached India slightly before or after the Achaemenid occupation of Gandhāra in the sixth century B.C.⁷

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¹ A. WEBER, "Zwei vedische Texte über Omina und Portenta," AAWB, Phil.-hist. Kl. (1858), 313–413.

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² Edited by M. BLOOMFIELD, "The Kauçika-sūtra of the Atharva-veda," JAOS 14 (1890), i–lxviii and 1–416.

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³ N. TSUJI, "On the Formation of the Adbhuta-Brāhmaṇa," ABORI 48–49 (1968), 173–178; at the end of this article Tsuji gives a list of passages on omens in the Gṛhyasūtras and Smṛtisūtras.

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⁴ Edited with the Vedārthaprakāśa of Sāyaṇa by B. RAMACHANDRA SHARMA, KSVS 9, Tirupati 1967; English translation by W. B. BOLLÉE, Thesis Utrecht 1956.

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⁵ Edited as ASS 105, Poona 1937.

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⁶ Pariśiṣṭa LXVII in G. M. BOLLING and J. VON NEGELEIN, The Pariśiṣṭas of the Atharvaveda, 2 vols., Leipzig 1909–1910; see also D. J. KOHLBRUGGE, Atharvaveda-Pariśiṣṭa über Omina, Thesis Utrecht 1938.

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⁷ D. PINGREE, "Mesopotamian Astronomy and Astral Omens in Other Civilizations," Rencontre Assyriologique.

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Much clearer is the transmission of Mesopotamian omen texts—both protases and apodoses—to India in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C., for the contemporary Sanskrit and Prakrit literature is replete with references to and examples of such omens.⁸ They are related mainly to two cuneiform series: Šumma ālu,⁹ which deals with terrestrial omens affecting individuals, and Enūma Anu Enlil,¹⁰ which deals with atmospheric and celestial omens affecting countries or their rulers. The Buddha was represented in the Dīghanikāya (I 1, 24) as condemning the Brāhmaṇas who earn their living from the useless knowledge of omens, but, in a later Buddhist story, the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna,¹¹ written probably in the first century A.D., the display by an outcaste of a knowledge of astral omens similar to those of Enūma Anu Enlil and of the mathematical astronomy adapted from Babylonia by Lagadha is used to establish the outcaste's equality with a Brāhmaṇa. The earliest version of this avadāna includes sections on the characteristics of the native born when the Moon is in each nakṣatra (61–62); the character and/or fate of an individual or people if a city is entered when the Moon is in each nakṣatra (pp. 62–67; in verse); a list of the countries and regions of India dominated by each nakṣatra (pp. 67–68); the affect on the country if the first rainfall in the last month of grīṣma (summer) occurs as the Moon is in each nakṣatra (pp. 68–79); what a lunar eclipse in each nakṣatra portends (pp. 79–81);

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actions to be accomplished when the Moon is in each nakṣatra (pp. 81–98; in verse); a similar description of actions to be undertaken when the Moon is in one of seven categories of nakṣatras¹² (pp. 98–99; mixed prose and verse); prognostications from the nakṣatra occupied by the Moon on the occasion of an earthquake and from other phenomena associated with earthquakes (pp. 108–123; in verse); the course of a disease that begins when the Moon is in each nakṣatra (pp. 123–128; in verse); in how long a period of time a prisoner will be released if he is bound when the Moon is in each nakṣatra (pp. 128–129); and the fate of a woman depending on the part of her body that bears a tilaka (pp. 129–132; in verse). All of this material was translated into Chinese by Chu Lüh-yen and Che K'ien in the Kingdom of Wu in about 250, and most of it by Dharmarakṣa at Lo-yan in about 300.¹³ Before the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna had been translated into Tibetan by Ajitaśrībhadra and Śākyaprabha in about 864 there had been added to it a second chapter on the native born as the Moon is in each nakṣatra (nakṣatrajanmaguṇa) (pp. 132–135; in verse). At an even later date the Sanskrit text was expanded by the addition of a number of chapters on omens, most of which are in verse. Their subjects include utpātas—primarily celestial or atmospheric phenomena affecting or associated with the Sun or the Moon in specific nakṣatras and/or months or pakṣas (pp. 136–147);

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birth-marks (pinya?) resulting from the nakṣatra occupied by the Moon at the time of the native's birth (pp. 147–151); boils or pimples (piṭaka) as omens (pp. 151–154); two chapters on oneiromancy (pp. 154–164); astral and atmospheric omens in each month (pp. 164–166; in prose); omens from the wagtail (khañjarīṭaka) (pp. 166–167); from the howling of the jackal (śivāruta) (pp. 167–171; in prose); palmistry (pāṇilekhā) (pp. 172–175); omens from the cawing of crows (vāyasaruta) (pp. 175–180); omens from the shape and appearance of a house (dvāralakṣaṇa) (pp. 180–182); determining the thought of the client from his touching by chance one of twelve circles drawn by the astrologer (pp. 183–187); the qualities of a maiden having various physical features (kanyālakṣaṇa) (pp. 187–191); garments as the Moon is in each nakṣatra (p. 192); the omens used for agriculture (pp. 193–197); supernatural beings (pp. 197–200; very corrupt); omens from smoke (dhūmika) (p. 201); and actions to be undertaken on each tithi of a pakṣa (tithikarma) (pp. 201–203). Thus, to the original contents of the omen sections of the text, which depend almost exclusively on the nakṣatra occupied by the Moon, have been appended the most heterogeneous material relating to dreams, physiognomy, the cries of animals and birds, and so on. All of these forms of omens, of course, occur in other texts.

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⁸ Many references to omens and their śāntis in the literature of this and later periods are collected by P. V. KANE, History of Dharmaśāstra, vol. 5, pt. 2, Poona 1962, pp. 719–814.

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⁹ The most recent treatment is the thesis by S. M. MOREN, The Omen Series Šumma Alu: A Preliminary Investigation, University of Pennsylvania 1978.

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¹⁰ E. F. WEIDNER, “Die astrologische Serie Enūma Anu Enlil,” AfO 14 (1941/44), 172–195 and 308–318; 17 (1954/56), 71–89; and 22 (1968/69), 65–75. See also the new edition of the stellar omens being prepared by E. REINER and D. PINGREE, Babylonian Planetary Omens, of which two fascicles have appeared (Malibu 1975 and 1981).

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¹¹ Edited by S. MUKHOPADHYAYA, Santiniketan 1954.

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¹² As it stands the text discusses only the categories dhruva (fixed), kṣipra (swift), and dāruṇa (sharp); the rest can be supplied from such texts as the Parāśaratantra (see D. PINGREE in Viator 7 (1976), 175).

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¹³ The translation into Chinese made by An Shi-kāo in about 150 contains only a brief summary of the story without the elaborate astronomical and omen sections.

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The earliest extant such text is the first version of the Gargasamhitā,¹⁴ a work probably written in the first century B.C. or A.D. and taking the form of a dialogue between Krauṣṭuki (Ṛṣiputra) and Garga. This vast, unpublished text originally contained some sixty-two aṅgas. The first three utilize the Moon and the nakṣatras, and are related to the omens of the original Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna; karmaguṇa (on actions undertaken at specified times), candramāna, and nakṣatrakendrabha. The next nine (aṅgas 4–12) deal with the motion of celestial bodies—the Moon's node (Rāhu), Jupiter, Venus, comets (Ketu), Saturn, Mars, Mercury, the Sun, and Canopus (Agastya). There follow four (aṅgas 13–16) on the circles (cakra) of intermediate directions (antara), deer (mṛga), dogs (śvā), and winds (vāta). Then come three (aṅgas 17–19) sciences (vidyā)—of houses (vāstu), of limbs (aṅga), and of crows (vāyasa)—and three (aṅgas 20–22) conjunctions of the Moon with the nakṣatras Svāti, Āṣāḍha, and Rohiṇī. Aṅga 23 lists the countries dominated by each nakṣatra, and aṅga 24 gives prognostications involving rainfall. The following seven (aṅgas 25–31) are devoted to the planets—the things they influence (kośa), their conjunctions (samāgama), their amrādakṣiṇya (is this abhrādarśana, “obscuration by clouds”?), their conflicts (yuddha), their configurations beginning with the “triangle” yoga (śṛṅgāṭaka), their “traditions” (purāṇa), and the ripening (pāka) of their effects. Then come three (aṅgas 32–34) on military omens; they are expeditions (yātrā), fire omens (agni), and the array of the army (senāvyūha). The next two (aṅgas 35 and 36) are entitled “variegation of the peacock” (mayūracitra) and “lotus of the world” (bhuvanapuṣkara). There follow two (aṅgas 37 and 38) on rituals: the offering of oblations (balyupahāra) and the performance of śānti rites. Aṅga 39 is a collection of various omens (utpāta) portending disaster to countries; and aṅga 40 is entitled “the treasure on the scales” (tulākośa). Aṅga 41 is the well known historical prophecy, the Yugapurāṇa.¹⁵ In aṅga 42 are collected omens based on the cries (ruta) of various birds and animals: crows (vāyasa), woodpeckers (śatapattra), bluejays (cāṣa), cranes (sārasa), pesamas or pesamās (?), cows (śakkarikā), peacocks (mayūra), visphoṭis (?), ciriṇī-crows, skylarks (bhāradvāja), doves (kapotī), cuckoos (kokila), vultures (śakuni), owls (ulūka), piṅgalā-owls, peahens (nartakā), sundarikās (?), partridges (tittiri), cats (biḍāla), hares (śaśaka), asses (gardabha), vixens (lomaśā), bulls (vṛṣabha), lopā-birds, and spotted antelopes (pṛṣata). There follows a section (aṅga 43) on tears in garments. The next (aṅga 44) is entitled “the tradition (purāṇa) of Bṛhaspati (or of Jupiter).” Aṅga 45 presents omens involving “Indra’s banner” (indradhvaja). The next five (aṅgas 46–50) employ as omens the characteristics of several kinds of animals—rams, tortoises, women, elephants, and cows. Aṅga 51 is entitled “the appearance (saṃsthāna) of Venus.” There follows a section (aṅga 52) on the “pregnancy” (garbha) of the clouds before the beginning of the rainy season, and then comes one (aṅga 53) on water divining (dakārgala). The next group of five chapters (aṅgas 54–58) deals with “atmospheric” phenomena: violent storms (nirghāta), earthquakes (bhūmikampa), halos (pariveṣa) around the Sun and the Moon, meteors (ulkā), and halos again. Aṅga 59 is on the nature of the seasons (ṛtusvabhāva), but the next (aṅga 60) is devoted to omens occurring at dawn or evening (sandhyā). Aṅga 61 is a second chapter on meteors. And finally, aṅga 62 describes the nakṣatra melothesia of the celestial puruṣa. A mayūracitraka on various utpātas is appended to the text.

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¹⁴ CESS A 2, 116a–117b; A 3, 29b; and A 4. I am also deeply indebted to JOHN MITCHINER for his full account of the contents of the Gargasamhitā and of some of its imitators.

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¹⁵ See K. P. JAYASWAL, “Historical Data in the Garga-Saṃhitā and the Brahmin Empire,” JBORS 14 (1928), 397–421, and “The Paris Manuscript of the Garga Saṃhitā,” JBORS 15 (1929), 129–133; K. H. DHRUVA, “Historical Contents of the Yugapurāṇa,” JBORS 16 (1930), 18–66; D. R. MANKAD, “A Critically Edited Text of the Yuga-Purāṇa,” JUPHS 20 (1947), 32–64, reprinted Vallabhvidyanagar 1951; A. K. NARAIN, The Indo-Greeks, Oxford 1957, pp. 174–179; and D. C. SIRCAR, “The Account of the Yavanas in the Yuga-Purāṇa,” JRAS (1963), 7–20; “The Yavanas and Mathurā,” JAIH 6 (1972–73), 168–173; and “Problems of the Yugapurāṇa,” in his Studies in the Yugapurāṇa and Other Texts, Delhi 1974, pp. 1–16. A new edition by J. MITCHINER should appear shortly.

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This vast panoply of omens, a very large number of which can be paralleled in cuneiform texts, has been extraordinarily influential on Indian life and literature. Parts have been used by the authors of the Mahābhārata and of some of the purāṇas; and omens in general have become as important an aspect of life in India as they were in Mesopotamia. The technical texts on divination (usually entitled saṃhitā) are to a large extent dependent on the Gargasamhitā; of these the most important is the Bṛhatsaṃhitā of Varāhamihira, which will be described below. It was also used with other texts by the composer of several of the Pariśiṣṭas of the Atharvaveda; these are: L on lunar omens (candraprātipadika; cf. GS 2–3), LI on planetary conflicts (grahayuddha; cf. GS 28), LII on planetary conjunctions (grahasaṅgraha; cf. GS 26), LIII on the motion of the Moon's node (rāhucāra; cf. GS 4), LIV on the motion of comets (ketucāra; ascribed to Bhārgava, but cf. GS 7), LV on seasonal comets (ṛtuketulakṣaṇa), LVI on the distribution of the countries on the back of the “tortoise” earth among the nakṣatras (kūrmavibhāga; cf. GS 23), LVII on the “circles” among the nakṣatras of Agni, Vāyu, Varuṇa, and Mahendra (maṇḍalāni), LVIII on the “burning of the directions” (digdāha), LVIIIb on meteors and falling stars (ulkā; cf. GS 57 and 61), LIX on lightning (vidyut), LX on violent storms (nirghāta; cf. GS 54), LXI on omens occurring at dawn or evening (sandhyā; cf. GS 60), LXII on earthquakes (bhūmikampa; cf. GS 55), LXIII on halos (pariveṣa; cf. GS 56 and 58), LXIV on utpātas (cf. GS 39), LXV on sudden rainstorms (sadyovṛṣṭi), and LXVIII on oneiromancy (svapna).

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There are several other works entitled Gargasamhitā, but of these only one—the second GS¹⁶—deals with omens. It belongs to a class of saṃhitās attributed to ṛṣis that lie intermediate between omen texts and texts on muhūrtaśāstra. They will be described in a later section.

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¹⁶ CESS A 2, 117b–118a.

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Several of the works associated with Garga contain sections on meteorological predictions, and particularly on the prediction of the rains. A separate work on that subject attributed to Garga, the Meghamālā,¹⁷ has also been preserved. The phenomena utilized include winds, clouds, mock Suns (pratisūrya), halos, violent storms, and eclipses. Another Meghamālā is ascribed to Śiva. To Garga is also attributed a work on a form of divination also known in Mesopotamia, that from falling lizards. It bears several titles, all variations on Pallisaraṭapatanavidhāna.¹⁸ Similar texts are ascribed to other ṛṣis such as Śaunaka.

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¹⁷ CESS A 2, 120a.

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¹⁸ CESS A 2, 120b; A 3, 30a; and A 4.

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In the early fourth century Garga was named as an authority on omens along with Parāśara¹⁹ by Mīnarāja in his Vṛddhayavanajātaka (67, 5). This Parāśara is undoubtedly the one cited by Varāhamihira concerning the motion of Mercury (BS 7, 8); as an authority on comets along with Garga, Asita,²⁰ and Devala²¹ (BS 11, 1); concerning planetary conflicts (BS 17, 3); as an authority, together with Garga, Kāśyapa,²² and Vajra, on the "pregnancy" of clouds (BS 21, 2); as agreeing with Garga and Vasiṣṭha on the extent of the area on which a predicted rain will fall (BS 23, 4); as one of the experts, along with Bṛhaspati,²³ Garga, Kāśyapa, and Maya²⁴ on the Moon's conjunction with Rohiṇī (BS 24, 2); and as addressing his discussion of the characteristics of cows to Bṛhadratha (BS 60, 1). The work of Parāśara on omens is probably the lost prose and verse Parāśaratantra cited frequently by Bhaṭṭotpala in his commentary on the BS. The omen section of Mīnarāja's VYJ comprises adhyāyas 64–71, which are respectively on signs of death, on counter-omens to evil portents, on oneiromancy, on various omens, on the cawing of crows, on the cuckoo laying eggs (*śyāmāceṣṭita*), on the activities of dogs (*śvāceṣṭita*), and on the activities of cows (*goceṣṭita*). Other early authorities on omens mentioned by Varāhamihira, and therefore antedating the middle of the sixth century, include²⁵ Atri²⁶ on *utpātas*, which was used by Garga (BS 45, 1); Ṛṣabha,²⁷ who summarized the views of Śakra (Indra²⁸), Śukra (Bhṛgu), Vāgīśa (Bṛhaspati), Kapiṣṭhala,²⁹ Garutmān,³⁰ Bhāguri,³¹ and Devala on *śakuna* (BS 85, 1); the Mahārājādhirāja of Avanti, Dravyavardhana,³² who was an authority on *śakuna* (BS 85, 43); Bādarāyaṇa³³ on the ripening of grain (BS 39, 1); Bhṛgu³⁴ on *śakuna* (BS 85, 43); Manu³⁵ on water divining (BS 53, 99); and Sārasvata, also on water-divining (BS 53, 99).

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¹⁹ CESS A 4.

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²⁰ CESS A 1, 47b.

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²¹ CESS A 4.

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²² CESS A 2, 30b, and A 4. I regret that no copy of his Kāśyapasaṃhitā is available to me.

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²³ CESS A 4.

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²⁴ CESS A 4.

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²⁵ P. V. KANE, "Varāhamihira and Utpala: their Works and Predecessors," JBBRAS, NS 24–25 (1948–49), 1–31.

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²⁶ CESS A 1, 39b–40a.

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²⁷ CESS A 1, 59a.

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²⁸ CESS A 1, 55a.

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²⁹ CESS A 2, 19b.

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³⁰ CESS A 2, 115b.

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³¹ CESS A 4.

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³² CESS A 3, 123b.

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³³ CESS A 4.

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³⁴ CESS A 4.

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³⁵ CESS A 4.

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The Bṛhatsaṃhitā³⁶ itself is the classical work on *saṃhitā*. It is divided in different editions into 106 or 107 *adhyāyas*,³⁷ which cover most of the topics of the GS.³⁸ The remaining topics include: the moral, physical, and intellectual attributes of an astrologer (BS 2; cf. YJ 51, 12–20); the motion of Ursa Maior (Saptarṣis) (BS 13); the characteristics of the years belonging to each of the planets (BS 19; see YJ 78, 11–17); on sudden rainstorms (BS 28); on flowers and creepers (BS 29); on the “burning of the directions” (BS 31; see Pariśiṣṭa LVIII); on rainbows (*indrāyudha*; BS 35); on the Gandharva cities formed by clouds (BS 36); on mock Suns (BS 37); on the ripening of grain (BS 39); on the objects associated with each zodiacal sign (BS 40; see YJ 4); on the fluctuation of prices (*arghakāṇḍa*; BS 41); on the lustration of arms (*nīrājana*; BS 43); on wagtails (BS 44; see Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna, pp. 166–167); on the Puṣya ablution (BS 47); on honorary turbans (*paṭṭa*; BS 48); on swords (*khaḍga*; BS 49); on boils or pimples (BS 51; see Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna, pp. 151–154); on arbori-

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³⁶ Edited by H. KERN as BI 48, Calcutta 1865; published with a Marāṭhī translation, Ratnāgiri 1873; edited with his own Hindī ṭīkā by B. PRABHU, Benares 1880; edited by JĪVĀNANDA VIDYĀSĀGARA, Calcutta 1880; edited by PAÑCĀNANA TARKARATNA, Calcutta 1882; edited with his own Hindī translation by DURGĀ-

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³⁷ Utpala’s version, to which I here refer, omits the other editions’ *adhyāya* 38 (*rajolakṣaṇa*; on haze); it is also omitted from Varāhamihira’s own list of *adhyāyas* (BS 106, 5).

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PRASĀDA, Lucknow 1884; published with a Bengālī translation in Aruṇodaya 1 (1890), no. 4; edited with Utpala’s *vivṛti* by SUDHĀKARA DVIVEDIN as VSS 10, 2 vols., Benares 1895–1897, reprinted by A. TRIPĀṬHĪ as SBG 97, 2 vols., Vārāṇasī 1968; edited with his own Hindi translation by BALADEVAPRASĀDA MIŚRA, Bombay 1897, reprinted Bombay 1918, Bombay 1952, and Bombay 1955; edited with the Bengālī translation of DHĪRĀNANDA KĀVYANIDHI by PAÑCĀNANA TARKARATNA, 2nd ed., Calcutta 1910; edited with an English translation by V. SUBRAHMANYA SASTRI and M. R. BHAT, 2 vols., Bangalore 1947; and edited with his own Hindi *ṭīkā* by ACYUTĀNANDA JHĀ as VSG 41, Vārāṇasī 1959. The beginning of an edition with a Kannaḍa translation appeared in Ātmānanda (1910), pts. 1–4. Adhyāya 53, on water divination, was edited with a Marāṭhī translation by V. N. GORE, Bombay 1911. There are English translations by H. KERN, “The Bṛhat-Saṃhitā; or, Complete System of Natural Astrology of Varāhamihira. Translated from Sanskrit into English,” JRAS (1870), 430–479; (1871), 45–90 and 231–288; (1873), 36–91 and 279–338; and (1875), 81–134, reprinted in his Verspreide Geschriften, 16 vols., ’s-Gravenhage 1913–1929, vol. 1, pp. 169–319, and vol. 2, pp. 1–154; and by N. CHIDAMBARAM IYER, 3 vols., Madura 1884–1885.

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| BS | GS | BS | GS | BS | GS | BS | GS |
| 3 | 11 | 16 | 25 | 33 | 57, 61 | 69 | 48 |
| 4 | 2 | 17 | 28 | 34 | 56, 58 | 70 | 43 |
| 5 | 4 | 18 | 26 | 38 | 54 | 86 | 13 |
| 6 | 9 | 20 | 29 | 42 | 45 | 87 | 42 |
| 7 | 10 | 21–22 | 52 | 45 | 39 | 88 | 15 |
| 8 | 5 | 23 | 24 | 46 | 35 | 94 | 19 |
| 9 | 6 | 24 | 22 | 50 | 18 | 96 | 31(?) |
| 10 | 8 | 25 | 20 | 52 | 17 | 97–99 | 1 |
| 11 | 7 | 26 | 21 | 53 | 53 | 104 | 62 |
| 12 | 12 | 27 | 16 | 60 | 50 | | |
| 14 | 23 | 30 | 60 | 63 | 47 | | |
| 15 | 3(?) | 32 | 55 | 66 | 49 | | |

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culture (vṛkṣāyurveda; BS 54); on temples (prasāda; BS 55); on adamantine glue (vajralepa; BS 56); on images (pratimā; BS 57); on entering the forest to find the appropriate trees for making images (BS 58); on installing the images (BS 59); on dogs (BS 61; see VYJ 70); on cocks (kukkuṭa; BS 62); on goats (chāga; BS 64); on horses (aśva; BS 65); on men (puruṣa; BS 67); on the five mahāpuruṣas (BS 68); on fly-whisks (cāmara; BS 71); on umbrellas (chatra; BS 72); in praise of women (strīpraśamsā; BS 73); on causing affection (saubhāgyakaraṇa; BS 74); on aphrodisiacs (kāndarpika; BS 75); on perfumes (gandhayukti; BS 76); on the union of women and men (BS 77); on beds and seats (śayyāsana; BS 78); the examination of jewels³⁹ (ratnaparīkṣā; BS 79); on pearls (muktā; BS 80); on rubies (padmarāga; BS 81); on emeralds (marakata; BS 82); on lamps (dīpa; BS 83); on sticks for cleaning the teeth (dantakāṣṭha; BS 84); animal and bird omens (śakuna; BS 85); on the howling of the jackal (BS 89; see Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna, pp. 167–171); on the activities of animals (mṛgaceṣṭita; BS 90); on the movements of cows (BS 91; see VYJ 71); on the movements of horses (aśveṅgita; BS 92); on the activities of elephants (BS 93); further animal and bird omens (BS 95); on natives born when the Moon is in each nakṣatra (BS 100; see Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna, pp. 61–62 and 132–135); the correspondence of zodiacal signs to nakṣatras (BS 101); on the horoscope of the wedding⁴⁰ (vivāhapaṭala; BS 102); on the planets' transits of the astrological places in the base-nativities (grahagocara, a topic appropriate to genethlialogy rather than divination; BS 103; see YJ 43). The wealth of information on the material, social, and religious life of India both in Varāhamihira's own time and in earlier periods (the latter can be assessed only by comparing the BS with the GS and their Babylonian sources) contained in the BS is obviously enormous.⁴¹

c6.50

³⁹ Adhyāyas 79–82 are edited with a French translation by L. FINOT, Les lapidaires indiens, Paris 1896, pp. 59–75.

c6.51

⁴⁰ Utpala claims that this adhyāya is based on the work of an otherwise unknown Vindhyavāsin. See below for Varāhamihira's independent treatise entitled Vivāhapaṭala.

c6.52

⁴¹ Not entirely satisfactory is A. M. SHASTRI, India as Seen in the Bṛhatsaṃhitā of Varāhamihira, Delhi—Patna—Varanasi 1969.

c6.53

The popularity of the BS was great, though the vastness of the text precluded much commentarial work. The chief effort in that direction that we possess is the extremely valuable vivṛti completed by Bhaṭṭotpala in Kāśmīra in 967; based on Bhaṭṭotpala's work is the Utpalaparimala composed by Bhāskarārya Yogin⁴² at Śrīraṅga on the Kāverī in 1235. The BS with Bhaṭṭotpala's vivṛti was read by al-Bīrūnī in the Panjāb in preparation for writing his India in 1030/1031. It was translated into Persian by ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Dihlawī⁴³ for Fīrūz Shāh Tughlūq in about 1375; adhyāyas 66 and 68 were translated into Tamil anonymously;⁴⁴ and there seems to exist a paraphrase in Siṃhalese.⁴⁵ Varāhamihira himself wrote an abridgement, the Samāsasaṃhitā,⁴⁶ of which only quotations, notably in Bhaṭṭotpala's vivṛti on the BS, now survive.

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⁴² CESS A 4.

c6.55

⁴³ CESS A 2, 13a—13b.

c6.56

⁴⁴ Edited by T. N. SUBRAMANIAM, Sāmudrikā lakṣaṇa, Madras GOS 126, Madras 1959, pp. 109–126.

c6.57

⁴⁵ H. M. GUNASEKERA, Catalogue of Páli, Siṃhalese, and Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Colombo Museum Library, Colombo 1901, p. 34.

c6.58

⁴⁶ A. M. SHASTRI, "Contribution towards the Reconstruction of the Samāsa-Samhitā of Varāhamihira," Bhāratīya Vidyā 23 (1963), 22–39.

c6.59

Probably not far in time from Varāhamihira an unnamed Jaina composed an immense work in Prakrit on omens entitled Aṅgavijjā,⁴⁷ which classifies every perceptible object in the world as a ominous entity. It remains an inadequately explored treasure of the material aspects of Indian culture. Another Jaina, claiming to be Bhadrabāhu,⁴⁸ the last śrutakevalin, composed on mainly celestial omens a Bhadrabāhusaṃhitā or Nimitta⁴⁹ in the period between the BS, on which much of the work is based,⁵⁰ and Bhaṭṭotpala, who cites BBS 15, 92–95, on BS 9, 37. The subjects not directly corresponding to Varāhamihira's that Bhadrabāhu takes up are lightning (BBS 5; cf. Pariśiṣṭa LIX); clouds (BBS 6 and 8; cf. second GS 14); military expeditions (BSS 13; cf. GS 32); planetary omens (BBS 25); and oneiromancy (BBS 26; cf. VYJ 66). A third Jaina text (though some manuscripts make it Śaiva) written in this period is by Garga,⁵¹ who is usually identified with the guru named by Siddharṣi in 905; this is variously titled Pāśakevali,⁵² Marutajñānapraśna, etc. It is an elaborate treatise on divination by means of dice, giving the interpretation of each of the combinations of three of the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4, in all possible orders.

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⁴⁷ Edited by MUNI PUṆYAVIJAYA as PTSS 1, Banaras 1957.

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⁴⁸ CESS A 4.

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⁴⁹ Edited by A. S. GOPĀṆĪ as SJS 26, Bombay 1949, and with a Hindi translation by N. SHASTRY as JMJSG 25, Kāśī 1959. The additional material in the latter edition is not justified by BBS 1, 15–17.

c6.63

⁵⁰ GOPĀṆĪ, prastāvanā pp. 6–19, has demonstrated the following relationships between the BBS and the BS.

c6.64

⁵¹ CESS A 2, 122b–126a; A 3, 30b–31a; and A 4.

c6.65

⁵² Edited by A. WEBER, "Über ein indisches Würfel-Orakel," MPAWB (1859), 158–180; see also his Indische Streifen, vol. 1, Berlin 1868, pp. 274–307; published at Kāśī in 1884; published with a Telugu translation, Madras 1890; edited by A. F. R. HOERNLE, The Bower Manuscript, Calcutta 1893, pp. 203–221; and edited by J. E. SCHRÖTER, Borna 1900.

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| BBS | BS | BBS | BS |
| 2–3 (meteors) | 33 | 16 (Saturn's motions) | 10 |
| 4 (halos) | 34 | 17 (Jupiter's motions) | 8 |
| 7 (dawn and twilight omens) | 30 | 18 (Mercury's motions) | 7 |
| 9 (winds) | 27 | 19 (Mars' motions) | 6 |
| 10 (rains) | 23 | 20 (Rāhu's motions) | 5 |
| 11 (Gandharva cities) | 36 | 21 (comets) | 11 |
| 12 (pregnancy of clouds) | 22 | 22 (Sun's motions) | 3 |
| 14 (utpātas) | 45, 46 | 23 (Moon's motions) | 4 |
| 15 (Venus' motions) | 9 | 24 (planetary conflicts) | 17 |

c6.67

Though Bhaṭṭotpala quotes from both Nārada (on BS 11, 5) and Vasiṣṭha (on BS 5, 3; 32, 2; and 57, 8) in his *vivṛti* on the BS, none of these citations occurs in the currently available Nāradasaṃhitā and Vasiṣṭhasaṃhitā; the relation of his citations of verses of Bṛhaspatisaṃhitā⁵³ to the extant Bṛhaspatisaṃhitā cannot as yet be determined. Other authorities on omens whom Bhaṭṭotpala was able to quote in 967 include Nandin,⁵⁴ Bhānubhaṭṭa,⁵⁵ and Śālihotra, as well as the authority, Samudra, after whom the science of physiognomy was later named *sāmudrika* (on BS 67 and 69).

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⁵³ CESS A 4.

c6.69

⁵⁴ CESS A 3, 131b.

c6.70

⁵⁵ CESS A 4.

c6.71

Al-Bīrūnī, in his India (14), lists the names of seven authors of *saṃhitās*: Māṇḍavya,⁵⁶ Parāśara, Garga, Brahman,⁵⁷ Balabhadra, Divyatattva,⁵⁸ and Varāhamihira. Of these authors, Balabhadra and Divyatattva are not known from Sanskrit sources to have composed *saṃhitās*, though there is an Adbhutataraṅgiṇī on omens by a Balabhadra.⁵⁹

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⁵⁶ CESS A 4.

c6.73

⁵⁷ CESS A 4.

c6.74

⁵⁸ CESS A 3, 112a.

c6.75

⁵⁹ CESS A 4.

c6.76

Vasantarāja composed his *Śakunārṇava*⁶⁰ at or near Vārāṇasī in the 1090's since he dedicated it to the Gāhaḍavāla Candradeva (ca. 1089–1103). In a verse toward the beginning (1, 27) he names as his predecessors Atri, Garga, Guru (Bṛhaspati), Śukra (Bhṛgu), Vasiṣṭha, Vyāsa, Kautsa (perhaps Aṅgiras⁶¹), Bhṛgu, and Gautama.⁶² Its twenty *vargas* give omens from the cries and movements of birds and animals. A *ṭīkā* was written by Bhānucandra Gaṇi⁶³ of the Tāpāgaccha in about 1559 in the empire of Akbar (1556–1605); it was edited by Bhānucandra's pupil, Siddhicandra.

c6.77

⁶⁰ Edited with the *ṭīkā* of Bhānucandra by Śrīdhara Jaṭāśaṅkara, Bombay 1883; see also E. Hultzsch, Prolegomena zu des Vasantarāja Śākuna nebst Textproben, Leipzig 1879.

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⁶¹ CESS A 1, 35a.

c6.79

⁶² CESS A 2, 145b.

c6.80

⁶³ CESS A 4.

c6.81

In about 1160 Durlabharāja,⁶⁴ a scion of the Prāgvāṭa family of Gujarāt who was made a *mahattara* by the Caulukya Kumārapāla (ca. 1143–1152), began a *Sāmudrikatilaka*⁶⁵ that was finished by his son, Jagaddeva.⁶⁶ This is the earliest complete Sanskrit text on physiognomy and palmistry that we possess, though we have seen that the subject was earlier treated in the Śārdūlakarṇavadāna (pp. 129–132, 147–154, 172–175, and 187–191), the GS (18 and 48), the BS (50, 51, 67, and 69), and other texts. Durlabharāja adds (in 1, 9) to the authors whose names we have already encountered Lakṣaka and Sumanta, of whom nothing further is known, and the famous Paramāra Bhojarāja of Dhārā, whose work on sāmudrika has not survived.

c6.82

⁶⁴ CESS A 3, 116b–117a, and A 4.

c6.83

⁶⁵ Edited with a Hindi translation by Rādhākṛṣṇa Miśra, Bombay 1956.

c6.84

⁶⁶ CESS A 3, 54b–55a, and A 4.

c6.85

Durlabharāja’s son, Jagaddeva, besides completing his father’s Sāmudrikatilaka, wrote an important treatise on oneiromancy, the Svapnacintāmaṇi,⁶⁷ in about 1175. Again, though this is the earliest independent treatise on svapna that we possess, the interpretation of dreams goes back in Sanskrit literature to the Ṛgveda,⁶⁸ and had been treated systematically since at least the time of Minarāja (VYJ 66).⁶⁹ Aside from some oneiromancies preserved in various purāṇas—e.g., Matsyapurāṇa 241 and Brahmavaivartapurāṇa, Kṛṣṇajanmakhaṇḍa 77 and 82—the most common Sanskrit text on the interpretation of dreams is the Svapnādhyāya attributed to Bṛhaspati.⁷⁰

c6.86

⁶⁷ Published with a Marāṭhī translation, Bombay 1848; edited with a Marāṭhī ṭīkā by J. H. AṬHALYE, Ratnāgiri 1873; edited with a Telugu version by ŚEṢĀCALA ŚĀSTRI, Madras 1911; and edited with a German translation by J. VON NEGELEIN, Giessen 1912.

c6.87

⁶⁸ See, for example, the references given by TSUJI in ABORI 48–49 (1968), 177 fn. 5, and in VON NEGELEIN’S edition of Jagaddeva, p. 378.

c6.88

⁶⁹ Predictions of the substance of dreams on the basis of the zodiacal signs and planets are given by Sphujidhvaja (YJ 69–70). For other early oneiromancies see Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna, pp. 154–164; Pariśiṣṭa LXVIII; and BBS 26. See also R. G. HARSHE, “Two Illustrated Manuscripts on Dreams,” Bhāratīya Vidyā 9 (1948), 246–268.

c6.89

⁷⁰ CESS A 4.

c6.90

Contemporary by Durlabharāja and Jagaddeva was Narapati,⁷¹ who completed his Narapatijayacaryā or Svarodaya⁷² at Aṇahilanagara in Saurāṣṭra in 1177. This work describes various arrangements (cakras) of letters associated with time divisions and astrological entities, magical pictures of animals and objects (also called cakras), and arrangements of nakṣatras, months, and numbers relative to the directions (bhūmis), all of which promote the military victory of their user. Narapati names as his sources (1, 4–10) seven yāmalas (of Brahma, Viṣṇu, Rudra, Ādi, Skanda, Kūrma, and Devī), the Yuddhajayārṇava, the Svarabhairava, the Raṇahvayatantra, the Jayapaddhati, and various other tantric texts. The NJ was commented on by Narahari⁷³ during the reign of Bhairavendra, who ruled Mithilā from ca. 1480 till ca. 1515 (Vyākhyāplava), and by Harivamśa Pāṭhaka in ca. 1500 (Jayalakṣmī); the latter was revised by Harivamśa’s son, Mahādeva,⁷⁴ in 1520. Based on the NJ is the Balatantramahārṇava of Ādityadeva,⁷⁵ on which a ṭīkā in Telugu was written by Daivajñadāsa,⁷⁶ and the Sāroddhāra composed by Śraddhā Ṛṣi in about 1837.

c6.91

⁷¹ CESS A 3, 137a–142a, and A 4.

c6.92

⁷² Published with the Jayalakṣmī of Harivamśa, Benares 1882; at Lucknow in 1896; at Meraṭha in [1900]; at Meerut in 1902; with the Jayalakṣmī of Harivamśa, Bombay 1906, reprinted Bombay 1934 and Bombay 1955; at Meerut in 1920; and edited with his own ṭīkā by G. PĀṬHAKA as KSṢ 205, Vārāṇasī 1971. The Ahibala-cakra section was edited with a Hindī ṭīkā by V. DVIVEDIN as VSG 19, Banārasa 1955.

c6.93

⁷³ CESS A 3, 143a–143b, and A 4.

c6.94

⁷⁴ CESS A 4.

c6.95

⁷⁵ CESS A 1, 48a, and A 3, 15a–15b.

c6.96

⁷⁶ CESS A 3, 123a.

c6.97

Contemporaneously with the three authors from Saurāṣṭra the Mahārājādhirāja of Bengal from ca. 1159 till 1178, Ballālasena,⁷⁷ began his Adbhutasāgara⁷⁸ in 1168; it was completed by his son and successor, Lakṣmaṇasena, who ruled Bengal from ca. 1178 till 1200. It deals with most of the celestial, atmospheric, and terrestrial omens in a comprehensive fashion, and is the next most popular text in this field after the BS. A similar text, which is probably at least in part dependent on Ballālasena’s, is the Adbhutadarpaṇa of Mādhava.⁷⁹

c6.98

⁷⁷ CESS A 4.

c6.99

⁷⁸ Edited by MURALĪDHARA ŚARMAN, Benares 1905.

c6.100

⁷⁹ CESS A 4.

c6.101

Treatments of omens in the thirteenth century were rare except among the Jainas of Gujarāt and Rājasthān. There are scattered references in the Trailokyaprakāśa written by Hemaprabha Sūri probably in 1248, a work which will be discussed more fully below. And in 1281 Māṇikya Sūri⁸⁰ composed a Śakunasāroddhāra. A Hindu, Lāvaṇyaśarman, was the author of a Śakunapradīpa;⁸¹ he himself copied a manuscript of it at Vijāpura in 1344.⁸² In some manuscripts of the gigantic Jyotirnibandha composed by Śivarāja between ca. 1475 and 1500 there is inserted a cārādhyāya;⁸³ this is based almost entirely on Varāhamihira’s BS (3–13, 17–18, and 20) with a few quotations from the saṃhitās of Kāśyapa, Nārada, and Vasiṣṭha.

c6.102

⁸⁰ CESS A 4.

c6.103

⁸¹ Edited by P. SIṂHA as RPG 89, Jodhpur 1968.

c6.104

⁸² LDI 7516 (8990).

c6.105

⁸³ Pp. 4–24 of the ASS edition.

c6.106

Slightly before Śivarāja, in about 1450, Rāmacandra wrote at Naimiṣa in Uttarapradeśa a Samarasāra⁸⁴ similar in intent and contents to Narapati’s NJ. There are commentaries composed by Rāmacandra himself together with his brother, Bharata⁸⁵ (Saralā), by Dāmodara⁸⁶ (Saṅketamañjarī), and by Dīkṣita Sāṃvatsara.⁸⁷ Other works on svaraśāstra include the Yuddhajayotsava of Gaṅgārāma⁸⁸ and the Pavanavijaya or Svarodaya attributed to Śiva. Other cakras are used in interpreting nativities by Prajāpatidāsa,⁸⁹ who wrote his Pañcasvarānirṇaya or Granthasaṅgraha⁹⁰ before 1625 (the earliest manuscript was copied in 1631). There are commentaries by Prajāpatidāsa himself as well as by Appaya Dīkṣita⁹¹ and Gauḍa Bhaṭṭācārya.⁹² To Mahādeva⁹³ is ascribed a Pañcapakṣiśakuna⁹⁴ employing the five European vowels for divination; the oldest dated manuscript containing this work was copied in 1750. A related text is the Tattvārthacintāmaṇi⁹⁵ composed together with a vṛtti by Bālakṛṣṇa Vedavṛkṣa⁹⁶ at Kāśī in the 1820's.

c6.107

⁸⁴ Published with his own and Bharata’s ṭīkā, Benares 1876; edited with the ṭīkā of HANŪMAT ŚARMAN, Bombay 1911, reprinted Bombay 1952; and edited with the Hindī version of VĀSUDEVA GUPTA by SĪTĀRĀMA ŚARMAN, Vārāṇasi [ND].

c6.108

⁸⁵ CESS A 4.

c6.109

⁸⁶ CESS A 3, 99a–99b.

c6.110

⁸⁷ CESS A 3, 112b.

c6.111

⁸⁸ CESS A 2, 86a–86b, and A 3, 26b.

c6.112

⁸⁹ CESS A 4.

c6.113

⁹⁰ Edited with the commentaries of Kṛṣṇadatta Jhā and Govindaśarman by R. P. ŚUKLA, 2nd ed., Benares 1941.

c6.114

⁹¹ CESS A 1, 44a.

c6.115

⁹² CESS A 2, 145a.

c6.116

⁹³ CESS A 4.

c6.117

⁹⁴ Published with the ṭīkā of Vāmadeva, Calcutta 1842.

c6.118

⁹⁵ I have used University of Pennsylvania 652.

c6.119

⁹⁶ CESS A 4.

c6.120

But a more important author on omens had flourished a century and a half earlier. The Jaina scholar Meghavijaya⁹⁷ wrote a Varṣaprabodha⁹⁸ similar to the Meghamālās of Garga and Śiva in 1675 and a Hasta-sañjīvana⁹⁹ on palmistry in 1680; in this same year he completed a commentary on the latter work. There are, of course, numerous other anonymous works on omens or works attributed to authors of whom nothing is known extant in Sanskrit and vernacular manuscripts. Nothing further can be said of them in the absence of editions and of critical historical studies.

c6.121

⁹⁷ CESS A 4.

c6.122

⁹⁸ Published with the Hindi translation of JVĀLĀPRASĀDA MIŚRA, Bombay 1903; and edited with his own Hindi ṭīkā by BHAGAVĀNADĀSA JAINA, Bikānera 1926. A translation by P. S. SHAH was published at Ahmedabad in 1939.

c6.123

⁹⁹ Published as MJG 4, Poona 1925; edited with his own ṭīkā and Gujarātī translation by PRATĀPA MUNI as MJG 8, Indora 1930; and edited with Meghavijaya's own ṭīkā on the first two adhikāras and a Hindi ṭīkā by GAṆEŚADATTA PĀTHAKA, Kāśī 1935.

c6.124

However, one important method of divination that we cannot fail to mention is geomancy (ramala, from the Arabic raml), which seems to have been introduced into Sanskrit from Persian sources in the early Mughal period. The principal texts on the subject are the Ramalavaicitrya or Ramalabhāskara¹⁰⁰ of Rāma based on the teachings of the Yavanas (Muslims) (the oldest dated manuscript was copied in 1657); the Ramalenduprakāśa composed by Rudramaṇi Tripāṭhin in 1682; the Ramalarahasya¹⁰¹ written by Bhayabhañjana Śarman¹⁰² in about 1700; the Ramalotkarṣa or Ramalacintāmaṇi of Cintāmaṇi¹⁰³ (the earliest dated manuscript was copied in 1709); the Ramalasāra composed by Śrīpati at Gokula (the oldest dated manuscript was copied in 1718); and the Ramalanavaratna¹⁰⁴ composed by Paramasukha¹⁰⁵ at Kāśī in 1811. Finally, the court astrologer of Ranbir Singh, the Mahārāja of Jammu and Kashmir, Viśveśvara (who was still living in 1927), translated a Persian work on scapulomancy into Sanskrit for his royal patron under the title Skandhāsthipraśna.¹⁰⁶

c6.125

¹⁰⁰ Published Bombay 1915.

c6.126

¹⁰¹ Published Bombay 1906.

c6.127

¹⁰² CESS A 4.

c6.128

¹⁰³ CESS A 3, 47b—49a, and A 4.

c6.129

¹⁰⁴ Published Kāśī 1869; Bombay 1882; with a Marāṭhī translation, 2nd ed., Beḷagāmva 1905; with the Hindi ṭīkā of MAHĪDHARA ŚARMAN, Bombay 1918; and with the Hindi ṭīkā of ACYUTĀNANDA JHĀ as HSS 245, Banārasa 1954.

c6.130

¹⁰⁵ CESS A 4.

c6.131

¹⁰⁶ R. KAK and H. SHASTRI, A Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts, Poona 1927, p. 15.

Linked texts (30)