Varahamihira: the Brihat Jataka, the Brihat Samhita and the Panchasiddhantika · Chapter 15 of 22 · Part Two · The Brihat Jataka

#Lost horoscopes, the drekkanas, and the conclusion

Brihat Jataka, chapters XXVI–XXVIII

#Chapter XXVI: lost horoscopes

Many people in Varahamihira's time did not know their exact birth time — or even their birth year. Chapter XXVI, Nashta Jataka, gives methods to reconstruct a lost birth chart from the chart of the moment a person asks the question (the prashna lagna).

When a person is ignorant of the time of his conception or birth, the time of birth shall, when duly questioned about, be determined from the prashna lagna (XXVI.1).

The methods, in outline:

• The half of the year: if the first half of the rising sign is on the horizon at the question, the birth was in the Sun's northern course; if the second half, the southern (XXVI.1).
• Jupiter's sign at birth: the rising sign itself, or its 5th or 9th, according to the rising drekkana; the year then follows from Jupiter's twelve-year cycle and the person's apparent age (XXVI.2).
• The season: from the planet in or ruling the rising drekkana, with pairs of "alternative" planets to resolve conflicts (XXVI.2–3).
• The tithi: the degrees the Sun has travelled in its sign (XXVI.4); day or night from whether the question's rising sign is a day or night sign (XXVI.4).
• The month, the Moon's sign and the rising sign at birth from the navamsas and signs of the question chart (XXVI.5–7).
• Arithmetic methods (XXVI.8–14): multiply the longitude of the ascendant (or of the strongest planet) by the length of the shadow of a twelve-inch gnomon at the moment, or by multipliers for each rising sign — 10 for Taurus and Leo, 8 for Gemini and Scorpio, 7 for Aries and Libra, 5 for Virgo and Capricorn, and so on — add or subtract fixed numbers, and divide to get the year, season, month, tithi, nakshatra, hour, rising sign and navamsa.
• The nakshatra from a name: twice the number of syllables (matras) in the person's name, plus the length of the shadow, divided by 27; the remainder gives the birth nakshatra (XXVI.15).

These methods are ingenious, and they show how much the old astrologers relied on the moment of the question — the basis of prashna (horary) astrology. They cannot, of course, actually recover a forgotten birth time; Aiyar's notes show that even the commentators disagreed about how to apply them.

#Chapter XXVII: the thirty-six drekkanas

Chapter XXVII describes a figure for each of the 36 drekkanas (thirds of the signs). For example:

The 1st drekkana of Aries is a man with a white cloth tied round his loins, black, facing a person as if able to protect him, of fearful appearance and of red eyes, and holding an axe in his hand (XXVII.1).

The 2nd drekkana of Aries is a woman with a horse's face, "according to Yavanacharya" (XXVII.2); the 3rd a man learned in the arts, holding a staff, in red, angry (XXVII.3); the 1st of Taurus a woman with cropped, curling hair; the 2nd a man skilled in farming and cattle; the 3rd a man with an elephant's body (XXVII.4–6); and so on through all 36.

These figures have a remarkable history. The 36 "decans" — star groups rising in turn through the night, each ruling ten days of the year — were Egyptian, thousands of years old. In Hellenistic astrology they became the 36 ten-degree divisions of the zodiac, each with a pictured figure. Through the Greek texts (Varahamihira names Yavanacharya, "the Greek teacher") the figures reached India, where they survive in this chapter. They were used to describe the appearance of a thief, a questioner or a newborn, and in prashna.

#Chapter XXVIII: the conclusion

The last chapter gives:

• the list of contents of the Brihat Jataka (XXVIII.1–3) — which, as Aiyar notes, does not include chapters XVI and XVII (later additions);
• the contents of his other works: on travel (Yatra), with its eighteen subjects — questions, the strength of tithis and nakshatras, weekdays, muhurtas, the Moon's strength, the ascendant, omens, dreams, ritual baths, worship of the planets and journeys — and on marriage, and his astronomy in the Panchasiddhantika; "thus the three branches of the Jyotisha shastra — astronomy, horoscopy and samhita — have been treated of by me for the benefit of intelligent students" (XXVIII.4–6);
• his request for correction: "These brief works have been written by me on a full study and examination of the elaborate works of the ancient writers. If any important points be found omitted, I crave the forbearance of the learned critics" (XXVIII.7); and if anything has been lost in copying or teaching, "the learned will kindly supply the omission, setting aside all feelings of jealousy" (XXVIII.8);
• his life: the son of Adityadasa, blessed by the Sun at Kapittha, living at Ujjain in Avanti (XXVIII.9);
• and his thanks: "to the Sun, to Vasishtha and to Adityadasa", with "salutation to the ancient writers of horoscopy" (XXVIII.10).

#Summary

• Chapter XXVI reconstructs a lost birth chart from the question chart: the half-year, Jupiter's sign, season, tithi, month, Moon, ascendant; arithmetic rules with a gnomon's shadow and sign multipliers; the nakshatra from the syllables of a name.
• Chapter XXVII describes figures for the 36 drekkanas, descended from the Egyptian decans through Greek astrology.
• Chapter XXVIII lists the contents of his works, asks the learned to correct him without jealousy, and tells us who he was.

#Exercises

1. What does Varahamihira use to reconstruct a lost horoscope?
2. How is the birth nakshatra found from a name (XXVI.15)?
3. Where do the 36 drekkana figures come from?
4. What does Varahamihira ask of his readers at the end of the book?

Answers: 1. The chart of the moment of the question (the prashna lagna), with arithmetic rules. 2. Twice the number of syllables of the name, plus the gnomon's shadow, divided by 27; the remainder. 3. From the Egyptian decans, through Hellenistic astrology ("Yavanacharya"). 4. To forgive omissions, and to supply what is missing and correct errors, setting aside jealousy (XXVIII.7–8).