Varahamihira: the Brihat Jataka, the Brihat Samhita and the Panchasiddhantika · Chapter 1 of 22 · Part One · The man

#Varahamihira and his works

#In his own words

At the end of his book of horoscopy, Varahamihira tells us who he was:

Varahamihira, the son of the Brahmin Adityadasa from whom he received his education, obtained the boon of knowledge from the Sun in the village of Kapittha, spent his days in the court of Ujjaini in the province of Avanti, and has written this neat work on horoscopy after a careful examination of the works of the ancient sages on the subject (Brihat Jataka XXVIII.9).

So: his father Adityadasa was also his teacher; he received his learning, he says, by the grace of the Sun at a village called Kapittha; and he lived and worked at Ujjain, in the region of Avanti in central India — the great centre of Indian astronomy. He closes with thanks "to the Sun, to Vasishtha, and to Adityadasa", and a salutation "to the ancient writers of horoscopy" (XXVIII.10).

His astronomical work is set to the year 427 of the Shaka era, 505 CE, and he lived in the 6th century.

#His works

Varahamihira wrote on all three branches of Jyotisha — astronomy, horoscopy and the samhita — and says so himself (Brihat Jataka XXVIII.4–6):

This book covers the three great works: the Brihat Jataka (Part Two), the Brihat Samhita (Part Three) and the Panchasiddhantika (Part Four).

#The translations used here

• Brihat Jataka: the English translation of N. Chidambaram Aiyar (Madras, 1905), with his notes. Verse references are chapter and verse: "Brihat Jataka XI.13".
• Brihat Samhita: the English translation by N. Chidambaram Iyer (Madura, 1884). References use the continuous chapter numbers (1–106), which Iyer prints alongside his own: "Brihat Samhita 69.1".
• Panchasiddhantika: the edition and translation of G. Thibaut and Sudhakara Dvivedi (1889).

All three are long out of copyright. Short quotations are given in quotation marks; everything else is paraphrased in plain English.

#Why Varahamihira matters

Varahamihira is the single most important author of classical Jyotisha. Almost every later book of horoscopy builds on the Brihat Jataka, and the Brihat Samhita is one of the richest sources for the life and knowledge of ancient India.

But he matters as much for how he wrote as for what he wrote:

• He reports. He gives the views of his predecessors by name — Garga, Parashara, Satyacharya, Jeevasarma, Manittha, Maya, the Yavanas (Greeks) — and says where they disagree.
• He judges. He says which view he prefers, and why.
• He tests. He rejects the myth that a demon causes eclipses, with arguments (Brihat Samhita 5), and says of one traditional yoga that it is astronomically impossible (Brihat Jataka XII.6).
• He admits doubt. He asks the learned to correct his errors and omissions "setting aside all feelings of jealousy" (Brihat Jataka XXVIII.8).
• He writes clearly. He calls his Brihat Jataka "a small boat" for those who have struggled "to cross the vast ocean of horoscopy" (Brihat Jataka I.2).

This book follows his order and his voice. Where his rules are harsh in the manner of his time — about death, illness, women, caste — it says so and treats them as history.

#Summary

• Varahamihira, son and pupil of Adityadasa, lived at Ujjain in Avanti in the 6th century CE (Brihat Jataka XXVIII.9); his astronomy is set to 505 CE.
• He wrote on all three branches: the Panchasiddhantika (astronomy), the Brihat Jataka (horoscopy) and the Brihat Samhita (samhita).
• This book uses Chidambaram Aiyar's (1905) and Iyer's (1884) translations and Thibaut and Dvivedi's (1889) edition.
• His method — report, judge, test, admit doubt, write clearly — is as valuable as his rules.

#Exercises

1. Where did Varahamihira live and work, and who was his teacher?
2. Name his three great works and their branches.
3. Give two examples of Varahamihira testing or rejecting a traditional view.
4. What does he call his Brihat Jataka, and why?

Answers: 1. At Ujjain in Avanti; his father Adityadasa. 2. Panchasiddhantika (astronomy), Brihat Jataka (horoscopy), Brihat Samhita (samhita). 3. He rejects the demon theory of eclipses (Brihat Samhita 5); he calls the Vajra yoga impossible (Brihat Jataka XII.6). 4. "A small boat" to help those who have struggled to cross the vast ocean of horoscopy (I.2).