Jyotihshastra: Astral and Mathematical Literature c6.20

c6.20

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).