Jyotihshastra: Astral and Mathematical Literature c8.26

c8.26

At sometime before about 1365 someone wrote a Nāradasaṃhitā¹⁷ ascribed to the sage Nārada;¹⁸ for it is extensively quoted by Viṣṇuśarman in his Muhūrtadīpikā.¹⁹ The NS, as do several other muhūrta saṃhitās (cf. GS 4–11) ascribed to ṛṣis, begins with planetary omens (2; grahacāra) similar to those in conventional omen saṃhitās; and appends to the usual muhūrta material (adhyāyas 3–31) other omen chapters: e.g., sadyovṛṣṭi (32; cf. BS 28), kūrma-vibhāga (33; cf. GS 23), utpāta (34; cf. GS 39), and various topics (35; cf. GS 55–58; BS 31, 35–37). Viṣṇuśarman also knew a Vasiṣṭhasaṃhitā; however, is different from the Vasiṣṭhasaṃhitā²⁰ that is current now. This latter text, however, is at least as old as the fifteenth century; the earliest dated manuscript was copied in 1443, and the earliest quotations are by Śivarāja in his JN.²¹ The contents of the VSA are very similar to those of the NS, save that much of the omen material in NS 32–37 is omitted. Another mixed text of this nature is the second GS already referred to in the chapter on omen literature.