[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Science, technology and education](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science) › [Jyotihshastra: Astral and Mathematical Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981) › c9 # Jyotihshastra: Astral and Mathematical Literature c9: Chapter VII. Interrogations Jyotiḥśāstra: Astral and Mathematical Literature c9 - **Language:** English ### Chapter VII. Interrogations ### [c9.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.2) In catarchic astrology the \*jyotiṣī\* determines for his client the moment (\*muhūrta\*) at which it is most propitious for him to undertake a specific act; in interrogations (\*praśna\*) he responds to a query about some aspect of the client's life on the basis of the horoscope of the moment of the query. Obviously, there is considerable overlapping of topics and methods between these two branches of astrology. \*Praśna\* is also related to omens since the latter are of two kinds: spontaneous and induced. The second variety, in which the diviner requests that the gods send him an omen, has clear similarities to \*praśna\*. Even the ceremonies of ritual purification and supplication used for induced omens (see, e.g., BS 24 and 43) are reflected in \*praśna\* texts (e.g., PJ 3–4). But in general the techniques of \*praśna\* are derived from \*jātaka\*. ### [c9.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.3) And it is in a \*jātaka\* treatise, Sphujidhvaja's YJ, that \*praśna\* was introduced to India from the Hellenistic world. Sphujidhvaja begins (YJ 52, 1–5) with rules for reconstructing the lost horoscope of the nativity of the client from the horoscope of the time of his query; this topic, entitled \*naṣṭajātaka\*, was normally dealt with in later \*jātaka\* texts. Thereafter he discusses methods of determining the subject of the querist's question before he puts it (YJ 52, 7–10, and 53–62); in part he uses the pharmacological categories of \*āyurveda\* (YJ 62) associated with celestial bodies. The following \*adhyāya\* (YJ 63) answers the question of whether what the querist is thinking of will in fact occur; and then there come discussions of lost or stolen objects (YJ 64), of sickness and death (YJ 65), of the sex of unborn or unseen children (YJ 66), of dinner (YJ 69–70). The final two \*adhyāyas\* in this section (YJ 71–72) give elaborate rules for reconstructing names from astrological phenomena. ### [c9.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.4) Only parts of this treatment of \*praśna\* are found in the \*Ṣaṭpañcāśikā\*¹ composed by Varāhamihira’s son, Pṛthuyaśas,² in the second half of the sixth century. He is interested in travel, warfare, profit and loss, sickness and death, marriage, and pregnancy. The most important commentaries on these fifty-six verses were composed by Bhaṭṭotpala in Kāśmīra in about 970, by Parameśvara in Kerala in the early fifteenth century, and by Dāmodara Rāṇabha³ at Kāśī in about 1680 (Prakāśikā). Similar in content and in brevity are Bādarāyaṇa’s⁴ Praśnavidyā⁵ in seventy-six verses, on which Bhaṭṭotpala wrote a commentary in about 970, and Bhaṭṭotpala’s own Praśnajñāna or Āryāsaptati⁶ in seventy verses, on which commentaries were composed by Rāmakṛṣṇa at Amarāvatī and by Śrīdatta. ### [c9.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.5) ¹ Published with NANDAKUMĀRA'S Bengālī translation, Calcutta 1824; with Bhaṭṭotpala's \*ṭīkā\*, \[Calcutta 1834?\] and \[Calcutta ?\] 1834; with BADRĪLĀLA'S Hindī \*ṭīkā\*, Benares 1847; with Bhaṭṭotpala's \*ṭīkā\*, Benares \[ca. 1851\], and Bombay 1858, 1864, and 1866; with BADRĪLĀLA'S Hindī \*ṭīkā\*, \[Agra\] 1868 and 1871; Bangalore 1872; with Bhaṭṭotpala's \*ṭīkā\* \[NP\] 1873 with BADRĪLĀLA'S Hindī \*ṭīkā\*, Lahore 1874 and Meerut 1874; with Bhaṭṭotpala's \*ṭīkā\*, Bombay 1875; with BADRĪNĀTHA'S Hindī \*ṭīkā\*, Lucknow 1876; with Bhaṭṭotpala's \*ṭīkā\*, Calcutta 1876; with Kṛṣṇa's \*ṭīkā\*, Bahrampore 1877; with Bhaṭṭotpala's \*ṭīkā\*, Bombay 1881; with the English translation of N. C. IYER, \[Madras ?\] 1887; with VERAGAMA PUÑCHI-BAṆḌĀRA'S Siṃhala \*ṭīkā\*, \[Colombo\] 1888; with Bhaṭṭotpala's \*ṭīkā\*, Bombay 1888 and Dharvad 1895; with BADRĪNĀTHA'S Hindī \*ṭīkā\*, Lucknow 1901; with N. P. NĀKHARE'S ### [c9.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.6) The amount of detail in praśna texts, though not their scope, was enlarged in the Vidvajjanavallabha⁷ written by (or for) the Paramāra Bhojarāja of Dhārā in the first half of the eleventh century. This poem contains 180 verses divided into eighteen adhyāyas; nine verses are taken from Bādarāyaṇa.⁸ At about the same time, if the ascription to Śrīpati of Rohiṇikhaṇḍa is valid (the work is also, more obviously falsely, associated with Varāhamihira in 15, 43), there was composed a Daivajñavallabha⁹ in 250 verses divided into fifteen adhyāyas, of which the last is almost entirely derived from Varāhamihira’s yātrā works.¹⁰ ### [c9.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.7) ⁹ Published with Nārāyaṇa’s Hindī ṭīkā, Bombay 1937. ¹⁰ 1—2 = YY 4, 1—2; 3—10 = TY 7, 1—8; 12—21 = BY 9, 8—17; 23 = BY 9, 18; 24 = BY 2, 13; 25 = ṬY 1, 7; 26—27 = BY 8, 13—14; 28 = BY 8, 19; 29 = ṬY 5, 5; and 30—31 = BY 9, 3—4. ¹¹ Edited with Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa’s ṭīkā by RASIKAMOHANA CAṬṬOPĀDHYĀYA, Calcutta 1884; with D. D. N. SILVA’S Siṃhala translation, \[Colombo\] 1888; with a ṭīkā, Bombay 1888; with BACCŪ ŚARMAN JHĀ’S Sanskrit and Hindī ṭīkās, Bombay 1914, reprinted Bombay 1953; and with ŚUKADEVA CATURVEDIN’S Hindī bhāṣya, Delhi 1976. ¹² CESS A 4. ### [c9.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.8) The only rival to Pṛthuyaśas’ Ṣatpañcāśikā for popularity among praśna treatises is the Bhuvanadīpaka¹¹ that Padmaprabha Sūri,¹² a member of the ### [c9.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.9) MARĀṬHĪ ṭīkā, Belgaum 1911; with Bhaṭṭotpala’s ṭīkā and A. M. VĀGHOLĪKAR’S Marāṭhī translation, Bombay 1911; with Bhaṭṭotpala’s ṭīkā and SĪTĀRĀMA JHĀ’S Hindī ṭīkā, Benares 1924; with V. SUBRAHMANYA SASTRI’S English translation, Bangalore 1941, 2nd ed. Bangalore 1966; and with Bhaṭṭotpala’s ṭīkā and DĪNĀ-NĀTHA JHĀ’S ṭīkā as HSS 149, Benares 1947. ² CESS A 4. ³ CESS A 3, 101a—102a, and A 4. ⁴ CESS A 4. ⁵ Edited with Bhaṭṭotpala’s ṭīkā by J. S. PADE, Baroda 1972. ⁶ Published with Mukundarāma’s ṭīkā, 2nd ed., Bombay 1930; with the English translation of V. SUBRAHMANYA SASTRI and M. R. BHAT, Bangalore 1949, 2nd ed. Bangalore 1971; and with VĀSUDEVA GUPTA’S Hindī ṭīkā, Kāśī 1957. ⁷ Edited by D. PINGREE, Baroda 1970. ⁸ These are: ### [c9.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.10) | VV | PV | VV | PV | | 3, 7 | 42 | 14, 5—6 | 40—41 | | 10, 6 | 30 | 17, 16—21 | 24—28 | ### [c9.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.11) Nāgapuriya Tapā Gaccha of Jainas, wrote in 1164. It gives the elements of astrology (1–42); lists the queries to be judged from each astrological place (42–54), and discusses, in addition to more common topics, prices (127–137), sailing (138–144), and sex (163–164). There are several commentaries; the most notable is that written by the Jaina Siṃhatilaka Sūri at Vijāpura in 1269. Contemporary with Padmaprabha was another Jaina, Naracandropādhyāya of the Kāśahrada Gaccha who composed the Beḍāvṛtti on his own Janmasamudra in Gujarāt in 1167. A decade later, in 1177, he wrote a Praśnaśata with accompanying avacūrṇi; he also is the author of the succinct Jñānacaturviṃśikā.¹³ A few years after this Caṇḍeśvara, who is probably identical with the scholar who commented on the SS in Mithilā in about 1185, produced an enormous Praśnavidyā in thirty-five or forty adhyāyas. Unfortunately I have as yet had access only to incomplete manuscripts of this work,¹⁴ but from these the extreme importance of this treatise for a history of praśna in India is evident. ### [c9.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.12) ¹³ Edited A. ŚARMAN, Hyderabad 1956. ### [c9.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.13) ¹⁴ 1835 and 1881 in the University of Pennsylvania. ### [c9.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.14) Hemaprabha Sūri, the pupil of Devendra Sūri, is generally alleged to have written the Trailokyaprakāśa¹⁵ in 1248; in any case, the earliest dated manuscript was copied in 1457. This invaluable treatise is a Sanskrit version of an Arabic (or Persian) work on interrogations (it is filled with tājika technical terms not recognized as such by the editor) arranged in the standard fashion of Arabic astrology—a fashion going back to Theophilus of Edessa—that is, by the queries appropriate to each astrological place. ### [c9.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.15) ¹⁵ Edited with a Hindi version by R. S. SHARMA, New Delhi 1967. ### [c9.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.16) At sometime before 1569 (if that date for the copying of a manuscript of the work is correct; the next was copied in 1647) someone published a Lokamanoramā¹⁶ in twenty-two verses under the name of Garga;¹⁷ this gives a computation that determines substances in the three categories of animal, vegetable, and mineral, and some of their attributes. ### [c9.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.17) ¹⁶ Published with a ṭīkā, Benares 1899; with BACCŪ ŚARMAN JHĀ’S Hindi ṭīkā, Bombay 1909, reprinted Bombay 1938; and with V. TIMMAṆA ŚĀSTRI’S Telugu translation, Bellari 1917. ### [c9.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.18) ¹⁷ CESS A 2, 120b–122b; A 3, 30a–30b; and A 4. ### [c9.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.19) In the early sixteenth century—he was a leader of the Gosvāmins (of the followers of Caitanya?), and the earliest dated manuscript of his work was copied in 1543—Nārāyaṇadāsa Siddha¹⁸ composed the Praśnavaiṣṇava or Praśnārṇavaplava¹⁹ in which again elements of tājika (i.e., Arabic-Persian) interrogational astrology enter into praśna. Also in the early sixteenth century Kāśīnātha²⁰ composed his Praśnapradīpa;²¹ the earliest dated manuscript was copied in 1556. And perhaps from the same period is the Praśnamāṇikyamālā of Paramānanda Śarman;²² one manuscript is said to have been copied in 1560, but the author is also said to have flourished at the court of Balavantasimha, the Mahārāja of Kāśī in about 1748. ### [c9.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.20) ¹⁸ CESS A 3, 168b–171a, and A 4. ### [c9.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.21) ¹⁹ Published Kāśī 1869; edited by NĀRĀYAṆA ŚĀSTRIN as CSS 2, Kāśī 1896; with BUDHAVASATI RĀMA’S Hindi ṭīkā, Bombay 1912; and with G. Ś. DEŚIMGAKARA’S Marāṭhi translation, Belgaum 1925. ### [c9.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.22) ²⁰ CESS A 2, 35b–36b; A 3, 19b; and A 4. ### [c9.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.23) ²¹ Published Vārāṇasī 1866. ### [c9.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.24) ²² CESS A 4. ### [c9.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.25) But we return to a secure chronology and to the renewed influence to \*tājika\* science with the Praśnatantra²³ written by that Nīlakaṇṭha who composed the Tājikanīlakaṇṭhī in 1587. In the course of this treatise he quotes many verses from earlier works, making it a sort of \*nibandha\*; his favorite authorities besides the Tājikas, are Pṛthuyaśas and Padmaprabha Sūri. ### [c9.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.26) ²³ Often published with the Tājikanīlakaṇṭhī. It was also translated into English by G. SRI RAMA MURTHI, Hindu Horary Astrology, Tekkali 1960, and by B. V. RAMAN, Bangalore 1970. ### [c9.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.27) In the seventeenth century \*praśna\* was the subject of a number of treatises, many of which cannot be securely dated. Among these are to be included the Praśnajñāna of Brahmārka,²⁴ of which the earliest dated manuscript was copied in 1622, and the Jñānamañjarī of Ṛṣiśarman,²⁵ of which the earliest dated manuscript was copied in 1646. Probably to be included in this group is the Praśnatattva²⁶ of Cakrapāṇi,²⁷ whose floruit lies between 1514, the year in which Vibhākara composed his Praśnakaumudī which Cakrapāṇi cites (10, 18), and 1800, the year in which the earliest dated manuscript of the Praśnatattva was copied. Other texts on \*praśna\* written in the seventeenth century include: the Praśnabhairava²⁸ composed by Gaṅgādhara, the author also of works on \*jātaka\*, \*koṣṭhaka\*, \*muhūrta\*, and \*tājika\*, at Kāśī in 1629; the Praśnapradīpa written by Mahādeva, the author of the Muhūrtadīpaka, in Kaccha in 1647; the Praśnamārga²⁹ composed by Nātha,³⁰ a member of the Panakkāṭṭu³¹ family of Iṭakkāṭ in Kerala, in 1650 (the author wrote his own \*ṭīkā\* on this, the Durgamārthaprakāśinī); and the Praśnaśiromaṇi³² composed by that Rudramaṇi Tripāṭhin who wrote the Ramalenduprakāśa in 1682. ### [c9.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.28) ²⁴ CESS A 4. ### [c9.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.29) ²⁵ CESS A 1, 59a—59b; A 2, 17b; and A 4. ### [c9.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.30) ²⁶ I have used University of Pennsylvania 698. ### [c9.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.31) ²⁷ CESS A 3, 38a—38b. ### [c9.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.32) ²⁸ Published with a Marāṭhī version, Poona 1868, reprinted Poona 1875 and 1881. ### [c9.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.33) ²⁹ Adhyāyas 1—16 (out of 32) edited by PUNNAŚSERI NAMPI NĪLAKAṆṬHA ŚARMAN, Kalpathi-Palghat 1926; and adhyāyas 1—12 published with an English translation and the Hindī \*ṭīkā\* of ŚUKADEVA CATURVEDĪ, Delhi 1978. ### [c9.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.34) ³⁰ CESS A 3, 147a. ### [c9.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.35) ³¹ CESS A 4. ### [c9.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.36) ³² Published with the Hindī \*ṭīkā\* of RĀMADAYĀLU, Bombay 1951, reprinted Bombay 1962. ### [c9.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.37) As in the cases of the other astrological sciences in India, interest in \*praśna\* has continued into modern times. Here it is necessary only to mention the Praśnasāra written by Govinda³³ at Devagiri, probably in the second quarter of the eighteenth century; the Praśnaratna³⁴ composed by Nandarāma Miśra³⁵ at Kāmyakavana in Rājasthān in 1767 (the author completed his ṭippaṇī on this in 1770); the Praśnacaṇḍeśvara³⁶ of Rāmakṛṣṇa; and, finally, the Praśnāyana³⁷ composed by Puruṣottama Mūssatu³⁸ at Siprādeśa in Kerala in 1881 (the author wrote his own vyākhyā on this). ### [c9.38](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.38) ³³ CESS A 2, 141a—141b, and A 4. ### [c9.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.39) ³⁴ Published with SUNDARALĀLA ŚARMAN'S Hindī ṭīkā, Bombay 1923, reprinted Bombay 1953. ### [c9.40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.40) ³⁵ CESS A 3, 128b–130b, and A 4. ### [c9.41](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.41) ³⁶ Published with VIṢṆUDATTA VAIDIKA'S Sanskrit and Hindī ṭīkās, Bombay 1955, reprinted Bombay 1960. ### [c9.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.42) ³⁷ Edited with Puruṣottama's vyākhyā by K. RAGHAVAN PILLAI as TSS 223, Trivandrum 1968. ### [c9.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9.43) ³⁸ CESS A 4. ## Linked texts (13) - [Bṛhatsaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.samhita.rsi.brhatsamhita) — Varāhamihira, Sanskrit - [Praśnamārga](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.kerala.keraliya.prasnamarga) — Nārāyaṇa of Iṭakkāṭ 1649, Sanskrit - [Vṛddhayavanajātaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.hora.yavana.vrddhayavanajataka) — Mīnarāja, Sanskrit - [Ṣaṭpañcāśikā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.hora.satpancasika) — Pṛthuyaśas, Sanskrit - [Tājikanīlakaṇṭhī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.tajika.tajikanilakanthi) — Nīlakaṇṭha Daivajña 1587, Sanskrit - [Praśnasāra (Mādhava Bhaṭṭa)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.prasna.daksina.prasnasara-madhava) — Mādhava Bhaṭṭa 1518, Malayalam - [Praśnatantra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.prasna.prasnatantra) — Nīlakaṇṭha Dīkṣita, Sanskrit - [Trailokyaprakāśa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.tajika.pracina.trailokyaprakasa) — Hemaprabha, Sanskrit - [Bhuvanadīpaka (Tājakācārya)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.prasna.jaina.bhuvanadipaka) — Tājakācārya, Sanskrit - [Praśnacaṇḍeśvara (Rāmakṛṣṇa)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.prasna.prasnacandesvara-ramakrsna) — Rāmakṛṣṇa, Sanskrit - [Muhūrtadīpaka (Mahādeva)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.muhurta.muhurtadipaka-mahadeva) — Mahādeva 1615, Sanskrit - [Praśnajñāna (Brahmārka)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.prasna.prasnajnana) — Brahmārka, Sanskrit - [Jñānacaturviṃśikā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.prasna.jaina.jnanacaturvimsika) — Naracandropādhyāya, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c9) · Pramāṇa