Research notes · Jyotisha classics · 9,942 words

#Varahamihira Corpus and Early Greco-Indian Horoscopy: Primary-Source Notes for Chart Logic and Educational Content

How these notes were made. The scanned full texts on the Internet Archive were downloaded and read directly. The Brihat Jataka was read chapter by chapter, all 28 chapters, in the N. Chidambaram Aiyar 1905 English translation, and checked against the 1885 first edition and the 1912 Vijnanananda translation. Selected chapters of the Brihat Samhita (Chidambaram Iyer 1884) were read, as was the Introduction to the Panchasiddhantika (Thibaut and Dvivedi 1889). References use this form:

• BJ chapter.stanza, for example BJ I.13. "p." means the printed page number of the 1905 edition, as it appears in the OCR.
• BS (standard chapter number). Iyer splits the Brihat Samhita into a Part I (ch. 1–47) and a Part II whose numbering restarts. He gives the continuous number in brackets, for example "XXII (69)".
• PS chapter.stanza for the Panchasiddhantika.

Quotations are kept under 15 words, and everything else is paraphrased.

Short citations used below:

• BJ1905: The Brihat Jataka, tr. N. Chidambaram Aiyar, 2nd ed., Madras 1905 (archive.org: brihatjataka00varaiala); full text at djvu.txt
• BJ1885: The Brihat Jataka of Varaha Mihira, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer, Foster Press, Madras 1885 (brihatjatakavar00iyergoog)
• BJ1912: Brihajjatakam, tr. Swami Vijnanananda (Hari Prasanna Chatterjee), Panini Office, Allahabad 1912; 1979 Oriental Books reprint scan (BrihatJatakaOfVarahamihiraBySwamiVijnananda)
• BS1884: The Brihat Samhita of Varaha Mihira, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer, South Indian Press, Madura 1884 (bihatsahitvarah00iyergoog)
• PS1889: The Panchasiddhantika, ed./tr. G. Thibaut & Sudhakara Dvivedi, E. J. Lazarus & Co., Benares 1889 (dli.csl.6388)
• DSB: David Pingree, "Varahamihira", Dictionary of Scientific Biography (St Andrews copy of encyclopedia.com text)
• Mak2013: Bill M. Mak, "The Date and Nature of Sphujidhvaja's Yavanajataka Reconsidered…", History of Science in South Asia 1 (2013)
• Cornell: Cornell University Library, "Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States" (as of 1 Jan 2026)

#Q1. What are the core building blocks Varahamihira defines (signs, planets, houses, vargas, aspects, strengths), and what are their exact attributes?

#Takeaway

Chapters I and II of the Brihat Jataka are a compact, almost fully tabular definitional layer. They cover:

• the 12 signs, with body parts, shapes, lords, sex, mobility, direction, colour, day/night strength and rising mode;
• six vargas (rasi, hora, drekkana, navamsa, dvadasamsa, trimsamsa);
• exaltation and debilitation degrees, moolatrikona signs, house names and significations;
• planetary colour, deity, direction, sex, element, caste, guna, humour, tissue, metal, taste, season and period;
• graded aspects, natural and temporal friendship with a 5-level combination, and five kinds of strength.

Almost all of this can go straight into a database. A few attributes that modern products assume are not in the text: sign "elements", moolatrikona degree ranges, and Rahu/Ketu dignities and aspects.

#Cited Findings

#A. Signs (rasi): BJ I.4–I.20

• Each sign is 30°, i.e. 9 nakshatra-quarters. The zodiac begins at the first point of Aries, which is also the start of Asvini. Signs map to Kalapurusha body parts (head, face, breast, heart, belly, navel, abdomen, genitals, thighs, knees, ankles, feet) — BJ1905, I.4, pp. 2–4
• Rasi, kshetra, griha, riksha, bha and bhavana are synonyms for "sign". Greek-derived sign names are listed (Kriya, Tavuri, Jituma, Kulira, Leya, Pathona, Juka, Kaurpi, Taukshika, Akokera, Hridroga, Antyabha). The translator notes most of them are evidently Greek — BJ1905, I.8, p. 8
• Sign shapes (I.5): Pisces is two fish head-to-tail. Aquarius is a man with a pot. Gemini is a couple, he with a club and she with a lyre. Sagittarius is a man who is a horse below. Capricorn is a crocodile with a deer's face. Libra is a man with scales. Virgo is a maiden in a boat holding grain and a lamp. The rest are the named animals — BJ1905, I.5, p. 4

Sources for the table: BJ1905, I.4–I.20, pp. 2–15. "Mana" is the measure used to judge long, middle and short body parts in V.23 — BJ1905, V.23 note, p. 52

• Odd signs are male and malefic; even signs are female and benefic — BJ1905, I.11 note (a)

• Footed classes (translator's note to I.17):

  • biped: Gemini, Libra, Virgo, first half of Sagittarius, Aquarius;
  • aquatic: Cancer, latter half of Capricorn, Pisces;
  • centiped: Scorpio;
  • quadruped: Aries, Taurus, Leo, second half of Sagittarius, first half of Capricorn.

  Kendra strength: bipeds are strong in the 1st house, aquatic signs in the 4th, the centiped in the 7th, quadrupeds in the 10th. Bipeds are strong by day, quadrupeds at night, the centiped at twilight — BJ1905, I.17, I.19, pp. 13–14

• Riksha-sandhi (gandanta) points are the last navamsas of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces — BJ1905, I.7

• Sign "elements" (fire/earth/air/water) are not assigned in BJ I. Triplicities get directions (East/South/West/North), not elements. Elements are assigned only to planets (II.6) — BJ1905, I.11, II.6

• Places associated with signs (used for birthplace, theft and place of death). Examples: Aries goes with sheep-folds, mines and fire-places; Libra with markets and roads; Pisces with temples and holy waters — BJ1905, V.13 note, pp. 43–44; place of death per sign: BJ1905, XXV.12 note

#B. Vargas (divisions): BJ I.6–I.9, I.11–I.12, I.14

• Shadvarga. Rasi 30°; hora 15°; drekkana 10°; navamsa 3°20′; dvadasamsa 2°30′; trimsamsa (1° units in unequal blocks). A planet is "in its varga" when it holds its own kshetra, hora, drekkana, navamsa, dvadasamsa or trimsamsa — BJ1905, I.6 note, I.9, pp. 5–8

• Navamsa start. Fire signs start from Aries, earth signs from Capricorn, air signs from Libra, water signs from Cancer. A navamsa equals one nakshatra-pada (108 in all). Navamsa and dvadasamsa lords are the lords of the corresponding signs — BJ1905, I.6 + note, pp. 5–6

• Dvadasamsa starts from the sign itself — BJ1905, I.6 note

• Hora. In odd signs the first half is the Sun's and the second the Moon's; in even signs the reverse. Drekkana lords are the lords of the sign itself, the 5th and the 9th (Varahamihira's and Satya's rule) — BJ1905, I.11, pp. 9–10

• Trimsamsa. Odd signs: Mars 5°, Saturn 5°, Jupiter 8°, Mercury 7°, Venus 5°. Even signs reverse this: Venus 5, Mercury 7, Jupiter 8, Saturn 5, Mars 5. No Sun or Moon trimsamsas. It is used chiefly for women's horoscopy (ch. XXIV) — BJ1905, I.7 + note, pp. 7–8

• Vargottama is the 1st navamsa of movable signs, the 5th of fixed signs and the 9th of dual signs, i.e. the navamsa of the same name. It is favourable — BJ1905, I.14, p. 11

• Translator-added material (not in the text): saptamsa, dasamsa, shodasamsa and shashtyamsa (the 60 named shashtyamsas), plus the varga-count dignity ladder:

  • 2 vargas = Parijatamsa, 3 = Uttamamsa, 4 = Gopuramsa, 5 = Simhasanamsa, 6 = Paravatamsa;
  • 7–8 = Devalokamsa, 9 = Airavatamsa, 10 = Vaiseshikamsa.

  This sits in Aiyar's notes at the end of ch. VII. It is later Parasari material and should be labelled as such in the product — BJ1905, notes after VII.14, pp. 78–80

#C. Dignities: BJ I.13–I.14

Source: BJ1905, I.13–I.14, pp. 10–12. The text says depression is the 7th sign at the same degree. The text gives no moolatrikona degree ranges.

• Own signs: Mars rules Aries and Scorpio, Venus Taurus and Libra, Mercury Gemini and Virgo, Moon Cancer, Sun Leo, Jupiter Sagittarius and Pisces, Saturn Capricorn and Aquarius — BJ1905, I.6 note, pp. 6–7
• Rahu and Ketu are named only as nodes (II.3). The text gives them a direction (Rahu SW in II.5) but no sign rulership, exaltation or aspect — BJ1905, II.3, II.5

#D. Planets: BJ II.1–II.14

Source: BJ1905, II.1–II.14, pp. 16–20. Note on the season column: II.12 assigns seasons through the planet in the ascendant or its drekkana rising. That mapping is reused for lost-horoscope month finding in XXVI.2 — BJ1905, XXVI.2 note

• Further planetary descriptors (II.8–II.12) can serve as text strings: physique and humour (vata/pitta/kapha), household place (temple, well, fire-place, playground, store-room, bedroom, rubbish heap) and garments — BJ1905, II.8–II.12, pp. 17–19

• Benefic/malefic status (II.5):

  • malefic: the waning Moon, Sun, Mars, Saturn, and Mercury when joined with malefics;
  • benefic: Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury when joined with benefics. The translator's note adds the waxing Moon to the benefics.

  — BJ1905, II.5 + note (d)

• Humour table for planets (used in death, XXV.1 note): Sun bile; Moon wind+phlegm; Mars bile; Mercury all three; Jupiter phlegm; Venus wind+phlegm; Saturn wind — BJ1905, XXV.1 note

#E. Houses (bhava) from the ascendant: BJ I.15–I.19

• Primary significations, houses 1–12: body; family/wealth; brothers; relations/home; sons; enemies; wife; death; virtue/father; work/avocation; gain; loss. The translator's note expands these into fuller lists, e.g. 2nd = wealth, eyes, speech; 9th = father, medicine — BJ1905, I.15 + note, pp. 12–13

• Technical names (I.16): kalpa, sva, vikrama, griha, pratibha, kshata, manmatha, randhra, guru, mana, bhava, vyaya. The 4th and 8th are chaturasra, the 7th dyuna/jamitra, the 10th ajna/meshurana/karma, the 4th hibuka/sukha, the 9th tritrikona, the 3rd duschikya — BJ1905, I.16–I.19. Aiyar's text prints "4th and 5th houses" as chaturasra at I.16, but standard usage is 4th and 8th. Possible OCR or translation slip — verify against BJ1912.

• House groupings:

  • kendras (1, 4, 7, 10), also called kantaka or chatushtaya;
  • panaphara (2, 5, 8, 11);
  • apoklima (3, 6, 9, 12), "Greek terms" per the translator;
  • upachaya (3, 6, 10, 11).

  — BJ1905, I.15, I.17–I.18

• The ascendant is strong when its lord, Jupiter or Mercury occupies or aspects it. Kendras are naturally strongest, then panaphara, then apoklima — BJ1905, I.19 + note (a)

• Vesi is the 2nd sign from the Sun — BJ1905, I.20

#F. Aspects (drishti): BJ II.13

• Every planet aspects with graded strength:
  • 3rd and 10th: ¼;
  • 5th and 9th: ½;
  • 4th and 8th: ¾;
  • 7th: full.
• Special full aspects: Saturn on the 3rd and 10th, Jupiter on the 5th and 9th, Mars on the 4th and 8th.
• The translator explains that aspects fall on house mid-points (the arc ±15°) — BJ1905, II.13 + note, pp. 19–20
• No aspects are defined for Rahu or Ketu — BJ1905, II.13

#G. Friendship: BJ II.15–II.18

• Satya's rule (the one Varahamihira adopts). A planet's friends are the lords of the 2nd, 12th, 5th, 9th, 8th and 4th from its moolatrikona, plus the lord of its exaltation sign. The lords of the remaining signs are enemies. A planet appearing in both lists is neutral — BJ1905, II.15 + note, pp. 20–22

• Resulting natural relations (II.16–17; Aiyar's Table E):

  • Sun: friends Moon, Mars, Jupiter; enemies Venus, Saturn; neutral Mercury.
  • Moon: friends Sun, Mercury; no enemies; the rest neutral.
  • Mars: friends Sun, Moon, Jupiter; enemy Mercury; neutral Venus, Saturn.
  • Mercury: friends Sun, Venus; enemy Moon; neutral Mars, Jupiter, Saturn.
  • Jupiter: friends Sun, Moon, Mars; enemies Mercury, Venus; neutral Saturn.
  • Venus: friends Mercury, Saturn; enemies Sun, Moon; neutral Mars, Jupiter.
  • Saturn: friends Mercury, Venus; enemies Sun, Moon, Mars; neutral Jupiter.

  — BJ1905, II.16–17 and Appendix Table E

• The older "according to some" list at II.15 differs. For example, it makes Jupiter the Sun's only friend. A product should store both, labelled — BJ1905, II.15

• Temporal friendship. Planets in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th from a planet are its temporary friends; the rest are enemies. Combined five-fold relation:

  • friend + friend = great friend (adhimitra);
  • enemy + enemy = great enemy (adhisatru);
  • neutral + friend = friend;
  • neutral + enemy = enemy;
  • friend + enemy = neutral.

  — BJ1905, II.18 + note, p. 23

#H. Strengths (bala): BJ II.19–II.21, VIII.2 note

• Sthana bala: in exaltation, a friendly sign, moolatrikona, own navamsa or own sign — BJ1905, II.19

• Dig bala:

  • Mercury and Jupiter in the 1st (East);
  • Sun and Mars in the 10th (South);
  • Saturn in the 7th (West);
  • Moon and Venus in the 4th (North).

  A commentators' variant uses the directional triplicities instead — BJ1905, II.19 + note (f)

• Cheshta bala. Sun and Moon have it in the six signs from Capricorn (uttarayana). The other planets have it when retrograde, conjoined with the Moon, at greatest brilliancy, or as the northern (victorious) planet in planetary war. The translator's note gives Mercury at about 29° and Venus at about 47° elongation, the outer planets at opposition — BJ1905, II.20 + note

• Kala bala.

  • Moon, Mars and Saturn are strong at night; Sun, Jupiter and Venus by day; Mercury always.
  • Malefics are strong in the dark fortnight, benefics in the bright one.
  • Each planet is strong in its own year, month, day and hour.

  — BJ1905, II.21

• Naisargika (natural) strength, ascending: Saturn < Mars < Mercury < Jupiter < Venus < Moon < Sun — BJ1905, II.21 + note (b)

• Translator's note (VIII.2): five strength types (sthana, dig, cheshta, kala, drik). Ties are broken by naisargika strength — BJ1905, VIII.2 note (a), p. 87

• Effect scaling by dignity (XX.11). Good results come to pass in proportion:

  • exaltation full;
  • moolatrikona ¾;
  • own sign ½;
  • friend's sign ¼;
  • enemy's sign less than ¼;
  • debilitated or combust: none.

  Evil results are scaled in reverse — BJ1905, XX.11 + note, pp. 193–194

• Combustion orbs (translator's note, for the astangata reduction):

  • Mars 17°;
  • Mercury 14° (12° when retrograde);
  • Jupiter 11°;
  • Venus 10° (the retrograde value is illegible in the OCR);
  • Saturn 15°;
  • Moon 12°.

  — BJ1905, VII.2 note (f), p. 63

• Timing within a sign (XXII.6). Sun and Mars act on entering a sign; Jupiter and Venus mid-sign; Saturn and the Moon before leaving; Mercury throughout. Dasha timing (XXII.5): the dasha lord in a back-rising sign gives results at the end of the period, in a head-rising sign at the start, in Pisces in the middle — BJ1905, XXII.5–6, p. 201

#I. Drekkana forms: BJ XXVII

• All 36 drekkanas are given iconographic descriptions with implied classes: human, armed (ayudha), quadruped, bird (pakshi), serpent (sarpa/vyala), fettered (nigala), fire-bearing. Examples:

  • Aries 1 is a dark, red-eyed man with an axe (lord Mars);
  • Libra 1 is a man with a balance (lord Venus);
  • Capricorn 1 is a hairy, boar-bodied man in fetters (lord Saturn);
  • Pisces 3 is a naked man coiled by a snake at a pit's edge (lord Mars).

  — BJ1905, XXVII.1–36, pp. 236–245

• Class membership lists used elsewhere (sources: BJ1905, XXI.6 notes; XXIII.16 notes; XXV.13 notes):

  • Sarpa/vyala: Cancer 2, Scorpio 1, Pisces 3 at XXI.6. XXV.13 has Cancer 1–2, Scorpio 1–2, Pisces 3, and XXIII.16 Bhujaga has Cancer 1, Scorpio 1–2, Pisces 3. These lists are internally inconsistent across notes.
  • Ayudha: Aries 1 and 3, Gemini 2, Leo 1, Libra 2, Aquarius 1.
  • Chatushpada: Aries 2, Taurus 2–3, Cancer 1, Libra 3, Scorpio 3, Sagittarius 1.
  • Pakshi: Aries 2, Gemini 2, Leo 1, Libra 2.
  • Nigala: Capricorn 1.
  • Fiery = drekkana of a malefic; watery = drekkana of a benefic.

#Inferences

• Chapters I–II can be represented almost completely as static lookup tables: sign attributes, planet attributes, varga rules, dignities, friendship matrices, aspect weights and strength conditions. The deterministic varga mappings are formulae (navamsa start by triplicity; hora; drekkana = 1/5/9; trimsamsa blocks).
• The exaltation, moolatrikona and aspect data match what modern Vedic software uses. The differences are the absence of node rulerships and aspects and of moolatrikona degree spans. Any "element per sign" feature should be presented as a later convention, not as Varahamihira's.
• The ½/¾-style aspect weights and the XX.11 dignity scaling (100/75/50/25/<25/0%) give a textually grounded way to build graded "strength" scores. A product does not need to invent arbitrary weights.

#Gaps

• Nakshatra lists in Aiyar's I.4 note (yogataras with Western star identifications) are the translator's additions, not Varahamihira's.
• Stanza I.16's "4th and 5th" chaturasra wording should be checked against the Sanskrit.
• The Brihat Samhita's own nakshatra deities table (BS 98) was only partially captured, because the OCR breaks the table.

#Q2. Which yogas and longevity/dasha methods are described, and what are their formation rules?

#Takeaway

The Brihat Jataka defines:

• 32 Nabhasa yogas in four classes;
• lunar yogas (Sunapha, Anapha, Durudhura, Kemadruma, Adhi), with combinatorial counts;
• 32 + 44 Raja-yoga patterns plus explicit sample charts;
• two-planet conjunctions, ascetic (pravrajya) yogas, malefic yogas, balarishta yogas and their cancellations;
• three longevity systems: Pindayu, Amsayu (Satya's, which he prefers) and Naisargika;
• a strength-ordered kendra/panaphara/apoklima dasha system with fractional antardashas;
• a full Ashtakavarga bindu table (totals 48/49/39/54/56/52/39 = 337).

The Vimshottari (nakshatra) dasha appears only in the translator's notes, not in Varahamihira's text.

#Cited Findings

#A. Longevity (ayurdaya): BJ VII

• Pindayu, the method of Maya, Yavana, Manittha and Parasara. Maximum years at deep exaltation: Sun 19, Moon 25, Mars 15, Mercury 12, Jupiter 15, Venus 21, Saturn 20. Half at deep debilitation, proportional in between (neecharddhaharana). Aiyar's worked example: the Sun at Sagittarius 21° gives 13y 5m 29d — BJ1905, VII.1–2 + notes, pp. 61–63

• Lagna years. Either one year per navamsa risen in the ascendant sign, or (per "some") one year per sign from Aries — BJ1905, VII.2 + notes (b)–(d)

• Reductions (haranas):

  • in an enemy sign: lose ⅓ (satrukshetra), except Mars, or a retrograde planet — reading dispute below;
  • combust: lose ½ (astangata), except Venus and Saturn;
  • chakrapata: malefics in the 12th, 11th, 10th, 9th, 8th or 7th lose all, ½, ⅓, ¼, ⅕ or ⅙ respectively; benefics lose half those amounts; if several planets share a house, apply it only to the strongest;
  • krurodaya: a malefic in the ascendant reduces the total by total × (navamsas from Aries to the rising point)/108, halved if a benefic aspects it.
  • Garga's rule: if several reductions apply (other than chakrapata), apply only the largest.

  — BJ1905, VII.2–4 + notes, pp. 62–65; VII.11 note

• Maximum lifespans: human and elephant 120 years 5 days; horse 32; ass and camel 25; buffalo and ox 24; dog 12; goat 16. To get an animal's lifespan, scale the human calculation by max/120y5d — BJ1905, VII.5 + note

• The maximum-life chart (VII.6): last navamsa of Pisces rising, Mercury 25′ into Taurus, all other planets exalted. The worked total comes to exactly 120y 5d — BJ1905, VII.6 + note, pp. 65–68

• Jeevasarma gives every planet 1/7 of 120y5d (17.14484 years) — BJ1905, VII.9

• Amsayu (Satya). A planet's years equal the navamsas it has traversed, mod 12. Computation: longitude in arc-minutes ÷ 200 = navamsas, then remainder after ÷12. Aiyar's example: the Sun at 115°13′ gives 10y 6m 23d 24gh. Rules:

  • triple the years if the planet is exalted or retrograde;
  • double them in vargottama, own navamsa, own sign or own drekkana;
  • apply only the single largest multiplier;
  • krurodaya does not apply.

  Varahamihira calls Amsayu the best method — BJ1905, VII.9–13 + notes, pp. 70–73

• Which method to use (translator, citing Manittha/Saravali). Use Amsayu if the lagna lord is strongest, Pindayu if the Sun is, Naisargika if the Moon is — BJ1905, VII.13 note

• Naisargika (natural) dashas: Moon 1, Mars 2, Mercury 9, Venus 20, Jupiter 18, Sun 20, Saturn 50 years, in that order (total 120) — BJ1905, VIII.9 + note, p. 89

• Amitayu (VII.14). Cancer rising with Jupiter and the Moon in it, Mercury and Venus in kendras, the other planets in the 3rd, 6th and 11th. Ordinary longevity rules do not apply to this chart. The translator lists 27 further "centuries-long" yogas (sages living 1,000s of years). These are clearly interpretive or legendary — BJ1905, VII.14 + notes, pp. 73–78

• Translator's taxonomy, citing "Parasara's Hora Sastra": 32 ayurdaya processes grouped as Pinda 12, Naisargika 4, Rasmi 4, Amsa 4, Ashtakavarga 4, Vishaya 2, Nakshatra 2. Rasmi years Sun→Saturn: 16, 20, 9, 8, 9, 25, 26 — BJ1905, notes at end of ch. IX, pp. 109–111

#B. Balarishta (infant death): BJ VI

• Death soon after birth when any of these hold:

  • birth at twilight in a lunar hora with malefics in sign-ends;
  • the Moon plus three malefics, one in each kendra;
  • Cancer or Scorpio rising with malefics in the eastern half and benefics in the western half;
  • malefics in the 12th and 2nd, or the 6th and 8th;
  • the Moon in the 6th or 8th aspected by a malefic.

  Timing variant: if only benefics aspect, death at 8 years; if mixed, at 4 years — BJ1905, VI.1–6, pp. 54–57

• Rule VI.10: Saturn, Sun, Moon and Mars in the 12th, 9th, 1st and 8th respectively give early death unless a strong Jupiter aspects all four. The note says Jupiter must then be in the 5th — BJ1905, VI.10 + note

• Timing rule (VI.12): death occurs within a year, when the transiting Moon reaches the killer's sign, its own natal sign or the lagna while aspected by strong malefics — BJ1905, VI.12

• Utpala's 16 counteracting yogas (arishta-bhanga), from the translator's notes. Examples: a strong Jupiter in the lagna; a strong lagna lord aspected by benefics in kendras; a full Moon between benefics; Rahu in the 3rd, 6th or 11th aspected by benefics; all planets in head-rising signs — BJ1905, notes after VI.12, pp. 59–60

#C. Dashas: BJ VIII

• Order. First comes the dasha of whichever is strongest of lagna, Sun or Moon. Then come planets in kendras from it, then panaphara, then apoklima, each group ordered by strength. Ties go to the longer period, then to the planet that rises first after conjunction. Period lengths are those computed in ch. VII, i.e. the Pinda or Amsa years — BJ1905, VIII.1–2 + notes, pp. 86–87

• Antardashas are given as weights relative to the dasha lord's own share:

  • planet conjoined with the lord: ½;
  • planet in the 5th or 9th: ⅓;
  • planet in the 7th: ⅐;
  • planet in the 4th or 8th: ¼.

  Bring the fractions to a common denominator and divide the dasha in proportion. Worked example: 12:6:4:3 out of 25 — BJ1905, VIII.3–4 + notes, pp. 87–88

• Dasha quality labels:

  • sampurna: strong planet at deep exaltation;
  • purna: exalted;
  • rikta: weak planet at deep debilitation;
  • anishta: debilitated in an enemy navamsa;
  • avarohini: descending from exaltation, which is evil;
  • madhyama: descending but in a friendly or exalted navamsa;
  • arohini: ascending, which is good;
  • adhama: ascending in an enemy or debilitated navamsa;
  • misraphala: mixed.

  Lagna-dasha quality depends on the rising drekkana and the sign's mobility, e.g. a movable sign with drekkana 1 gives uttama — BJ1905, VIII.5–8 + notes

• Dasha results by planet (VIII.12–18) and good or bad periods by the transiting Moon relative to the dasha lord (VIII.10–11) are interpretive — BJ1905, VIII.10–18

• Vimshottari is in the translator's note only (N.B. after VIII.23):

  • Aiyar remarks that Indian astrologers of his day hardly use Varahamihira's dasha scheme and instead use nakshatra (udu) dashas.
  • He gives the Vimshottari sequence and years: Sun 6, Moon 10, Mars 7, Rahu 18, Jupiter 16, Saturn 19, Mercury 17, Ketu 7, Venus 20; the nakshatra-to-lord triads; the balance-at-birth method; and antardasha proportions.
  • Vijnanananda's 1912 notes likewise add Vimshottari, Ashtottari (said to prevail in Bengal) and Tri(m)shottari.

  — BJ1905, notes after VIII.23, pp. 94–96; BJ1912, notes to ch. VIII, p. ~142

#D. Ashtakavarga: BJ IX

Benefic places (bindus) are counted from each of 8 reference points (seven planets + Lagna):

Source: BJ1905, IX.1–7, pp. 97–99. Column totals were summed by me from the stanzas. They match the translator's figures 48, 49, 39, 54, 56, 52, 39, which sum to 337 — BJ1905, notes to IX, p. 107

• Rule IX.8. A transiting planet gives good results through a sign that has more benefic than malefic points, especially when that sign is an upachaya, own sign, friend's sign or exaltation; bad results in the reverse case — BJ1905, IX.8

• Translator's extensions (not in the stanzas):

  • trikona-sodhana and ekadhipatya-sodhana reduction rules, with a worked Mars example;
  • rasi and graha gunakara multipliers. Rasi: Aries 7, Taurus 10, Gemini 8, Cancer 4, Leo 10, Virgo 5, Libra 7, Scorpio 8, Sagittarius 9, Capricorn 5, Aquarius 11, Pisces 12. Graha: Sun 5, Moon 5, Mars 8, Mercury 5, Jupiter 10, Venus 7, Saturn 5. OCR shows Aries "1", corrected to 7 from XXVI.9, which gives Aries/Libra = 7;
  • sarvashtakavarga thresholds: more than 30 good, 25–30 middling, under 25 bad;
  • the 10th/11th/12th comparison rule.

  — BJ1905, notes to IX, pp. 101–113

#E. Raja yogas: BJ XI

• Yavana view: three or more planets exalted gives kingship, and if they are malefics the person becomes a cruel king. Jeevasarma: if malefics, no kingship. Varahamihira (Swalpa Jataka, per the note): 3+ exalted or moolatrikona planets make a king if born to a royal family; 5+ make a king from any family — BJ1905, XI.1 + note, XI.13

• 32 combinatorial raja yogas (XI.2):

  • 16 from Mars, Saturn, Sun and Jupiter, with all four or any three exalted and one of them in the lagna;
  • 16 more from any two or one of them exalted, one in the lagna, with the Moon in Cancer.

  — BJ1905, XI.2 + note

• 44 more (XI.3). Lagna or Moon vargottama and aspected by any 4, 5 or 6 of the non-lunar planets: C(6,4) + C(6,5) + C(6,6) = 22, times 2 = 44. Mandavya multiplies by 12 signs to get 528 — BJ1905, XI.3 + note

• XI.4–11 give explicit sample charts (e.g. Saturn in Aquarius, Sun in Aries, Moon in Taurus, Mercury in Gemini, Jupiter in Leo, Mars in Scorpio, with lagna Aquarius, Aries or Taurus). The translator counts 96 raja yogas in total. XI.14–18 are "king if royal-born, else rich" charts. XI.19: kingship comes in the dasha of the planet in the 10th or lagna, or of the strongest planet — BJ1905, XI.4–19, pp. 118–124

#F. Nabhasa yogas: BJ XII

• The numbers are encoded as a riddle: 9×3, 10×3, 8×4. This decodes as 20 akriti, 7 sankhya, 3 asraya and 2 dala yogas, 32 in all. The Yavanas counted 1,800. Utpala derives the 1,800 as 12 lagnas × (23 akriti + 127 sankhya), the 127 coming from binomial combinations — BJ1905, XII.1 + notes, pp. 127–128, 139–140

• Asraya (Satya): all planets in movable signs = Rajju; in fixed signs = Musala; in dual signs = Nala. Dala (Parasara): benefics in kendras = Srik (Mala); malefics in kendras = Sarpa — BJ1905, XII.2

• Akriti (all seven planets):

  • Gada: two adjacent kendras;
  • Sakata: 1st and 7th;
  • Vihaga: 4th and 10th;
  • Sringataka: 1st, 5th, 9th;
  • Hala: the other trikonas (2-6-10, 3-7-11, 4-8-12);
  • Vajra: benefics in the 1st and 7th, malefics in the 4th and 10th;
  • Yava: the reverse of Vajra;
  • Kamala: all four kendras;
  • Vapi: all four panapharas or all four apoklimas;
  • Yupa, Ishu, Sakti, Danda: four consecutive houses starting at the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th respectively;
  • Nau, Kuta, Chhatra, Chapa: seven consecutive houses starting at the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th;
  • Ardhachandra: seven houses starting at a panaphara or apoklima;
  • Samudra: six alternate houses from the 2nd;
  • Chakra: six alternate houses from the 1st.

  — BJ1905, XII.4–9 + table, pp. 128–141

• Sankhya (number of occupied signs): 7 = Vallaki (Vina); 6 = Damini; 5 = Pasa; 4 = Kedara; 3 = Sula; 2 = Yuga; 1 = Gola.

• Precedence: sankhya and asraya yogas give way to akriti yogas when both apply.

• Timing: Nabhasa effects operate throughout life — BJ1905, XII.10, XII.12, XII.19 + notes

#G. Lunar and solar yogas: BJ XIII

• The Moon in a kendra, panaphara or apoklima from the Sun gives little, middling or much wealth and skill respectively — BJ1905, XIII.1 + note

• Adhi yoga: benefics in the 6th, 7th and 8th from the Moon. Srutakirti counts 7 sub-varieties (any non-empty subset) — BJ1905, XIII.2 + notes

• Sunapha / Anapha / Durudhura / Kemadruma.

  • Rule: planets other than the Sun (and Moon) in the 2nd, 12th, or both from the Moon give Sunapha, Anapha and Durudhura respectively; none gives Kemadruma.
  • Counts: 31 Sunapha, 31 Anapha, 180 Durudhura. The derivation is in the notes: 2⁵−1 = 31, and Durudhura = 75 + 70 + 30 + 5.
  • Yoga-planet results for Mars through Saturn are given in XIII.7–8.

  — BJ1905, XIII.3–8 + notes, pp. 143–147

• Upachaya wealth yoga (XIII.9). All three benefics in upachayas from the lagna make one very rich; from the Moon, moderately rich. Two give moderate wealth, one gives little. It overrides Kemadruma and other bad yogas — BJ1905, XIII.9 + notes

#H. Other yoga families

• Two-planet conjunctions (21 pairs), with an instruction to split larger conjunctions into pairs. Aiyar appends Jataka Parijata lists for 3–6 planet groups; these are not Varahamihira — BJ1905, XIV.1–5 + notes, pp. 149–161
• Pravrajya (ascetic): four or more strong planets in one sign. The strongest planet sets the sect: Mars Sakya; Mercury Ajivika; Jupiter Bhikshu; Moon Vriddhasravaka; Venus Charaka; Saturn Nirgrantha; Sun Vanyasana. If that planet is combust or defeated in planetary war, the person lapses or merely aspires. XV.3 adds a Saturn-aspect rule — BJ1905, XV.1–4 + notes, pp. 162–164
• Karaka (mutually helping) planets. Planets in own, exaltation or moolatrikona signs that are in kendras are karakas to one another; a planet in the 10th from another is its special karaka — BJ1905, XXII.1–4, pp. 200–201
• Pancha Mahapurusha (from the Brihat Samhita, not the BJ). Mars through Saturn, strong and in own sign, exaltation "or" kendra, give Ruchaka (Mars), Bhadra (Mercury), Hamsa (Jupiter), Malavya (Venus) and Sasa (Saturn). If the Sun or Moon is not strong, the person is a sankirna ("mixed") type — BS1884, ch. XXII (69).1–6, pp. ~116–117
• Malefic yogas (ch. XXIII: spouse, children, disease, blindness, imprisonment) and death yogas (ch. XXV) are rule-shaped placement conditions with interpretive outcomes. Example: the 8th house unoccupied but aspected by a strong planet means death from that planet's humour; an occupant of the 8th sets the cause (Sun fire, Moon water, Mars weapons, Mercury fever, Jupiter unknown disease, Venus thirst, Saturn hunger); the 8th's mobility sets the place (movable foreign, fixed home, dual on the road) — BJ1905, XXV.1, pp. ~216–217

#Inferences

• Formation rules for Nabhasa, Sunapha/Anapha/Durudhura/Kemadruma, Adhi, raja-yoga counts, pravrajya and karaka yogas are fully specified. They can be implemented as predicates over sign and house occupancy, and the text's own combinatorics give test counts (31/31/180; 32 + 44; 127 sankhya variants).
• A product claiming to follow Varahamihira should implement his kendra-strength dasha and Pinda/Amsa longevity. Vimshottari, which modern software assumes, should be labelled as post-Varahamihira practice. Aiyar himself documented its separate use in 1905.

#Gaps

• Laghu Jataka formation rules could not be compared. No public-domain English Laghu Jataka scan was found on IA; only Sanskrit and Hindi editions turned up (e.g. a sanskritdocuments.org e-text of a 1983 Krishnadas Academy edition uploaded as laghujAtaka, whose IA date "1850" is wrong).
• The Brihat Samhita's full chapter on the five great men gives measurements (e.g. Hamsa 96 angulas). Only the first eight stanzas were read.

#Q3. Which parts are algorithmic (deterministic rules) and which are interpretive?

#Takeaway

Roughly the first third of the Brihat Jataka (chs. I–II, VII–IX, XII–XIII and parts of XI and XXVI) is algorithmic. Its definitions, arithmetic and pattern predicates have unambiguous inputs and outputs. The rest (chs. III–VI, X, XIV–XXV, XXVII) pairs deterministic triggers with interpretive outcome text (character, fortune, death cause). Varahamihira also gives meta-rules for resolving conflicts, which are themselves codable.

#Cited Findings

• Pure computation:

  • varga mapping (I.6–7, I.11);
  • aspect weights (II.13);
  • 5-fold friendship (II.15–18);
  • Pindayu, Amsayu and Naisargika with haranas (VII);
  • dasha ordering and antardasha fractions (VIII.1–4);
  • ashtakavarga bindus (IX).

  — BJ1905, chs. I, II, VII–IX

• Lost-horoscope (nashta jataka) algorithms. These are deterministic but rest on arbitrary arithmetic. Steps:

  • Ayana from which half of the query ascendant is rising.
  • Birth-sign of Jupiter from the rising drekkana: 1st = same sign, 2nd = 5th sign, 3rd = 9th sign.
  • Season from the planet in or ruling the rising drekkana, swapping in an "alternative" planet if it conflicts with the ayana.
  • Month from which half of the drekkana is rising, and date by proportion: 10′ of the rising half-drekkana = 1 day.
  • Tithi = degrees the Sun has traversed in its sign.
  • Nakshatra by multiplying the ascendant longitude by rasi/graha gunakaras (Taurus/Leo 10, Gemini/Scorpio 8, Aries/Libra 7, Virgo/Capricorn 5, others by sign number; Jupiter 10, Mars 8, Venus 7, others 5), then ×7 ±9 mod 27.
  • Also name-syllable (matra) and direction-number methods.

  — BJ1905, XXVI.1–17 + notes, pp. 224–235

• Horary and divinatory "omen-assisted" fallbacks. Where the computation is ambiguous, XXVI.5–6 tell the astrologer to use the body part the querent touches, or creatures seen or heard at query time. The translator's note frames this as help from an intelligent being. The product should flag these as non-algorithmic — BJ1905, XXVI.5–6 + notes

• Conception timing (IV.21). Birth is predicted from the Moon's dvadasamsa at conception: count from the sign after the dvadasamsa's sign as many signs as the dvadasamsas traversed. Day or night birth comes from the rising navamsa. Example: Moon in the 8th dvadasamsa of Aquarius → birth when the Moon is in Taurus — BJ1905, IV.21 + note, pp. 38–39

• Pregnancy month lords: Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Sun, Moon, Saturn, Mercury, then the lagna lord, Moon and Sun for months 1–10. Yavanesvara swaps months 1–2. An afflicted month-lord indicates miscarriage in that month — BJ1905, IV.16 + note, p. 35

• Meta-rules usable as an engine's conflict-resolution layer:

  • XVII.13: sign-based results need the Moon, its sign and that sign's lord all strong; two strong gives partial effect, one gives less, none means the effects fail.
  • VIII.23: if yogas give contradictory results for the same planet and matter, neither occurs; conflicting results on different planets each occur in their own dashas.
  • XX.11: dignity scaling (see Q1.H).
  • XII.10/12: akriti yogas take precedence over sankhya and asraya.

  — BJ1905, XVII.13 + note; VIII.23; XX.11; XII.10–12

• Interpretive catalogues:

  • Moon in 27 nakshatras (XVI) and 12 signs (XVII);
  • planets in signs (XVIII), lagna-sign character and death causes (XVIII);
  • Moon aspected by each planet in each sign and navamsa (XIX, an 84-cell result grid);
  • planets in the 12 houses (XX);
  • trimsamsa results for women (XXIV);
  • after-life origin and destination from drekkana lords (XXV.14–15).

  — BJ1905, XVI–XXV

• Avocation (X). Wealth source comes from the planet in the 10th from Lagna or Moon (Sun father, Moon mother, Mars enemy, Mercury friend, Jupiter brother, Venus wife, Saturn servant). Profession comes from the navamsa-lord of the 10th lords from Lagna, Moon and Sun, e.g. Mercury → writer or accountant. This is a deterministic chain with interpretive leaves — BJ1905, X.1–4 + notes, pp. 113–116

• Brihat Samhita transit (gochara) rules. Good transits counted from the natal Moon sign:

  • Sun in the 3rd, 6th, 10th;
  • Moon in the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 10th;
  • Jupiter in the 2nd, 5th, 7th, 9th;
  • Mars and Saturn in the 3rd, 6th;
  • Mercury in the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th;
  • Venus is explicitly bad in the 7th, 6th and 10th. Iyer's rendering of the summary stanza does not list Venus's good houses;
  • every planet good in the 11th.

  House-by-house transit results follow in verse — BS1884, ch. LVII (104).4–17, pp. ~234–237

• Brihat Samhita muhurta tables are fully tabular:

  • tithi lords (Brahma … Visvedevas) and tithi classes: Nanda 1/6/11, Bhadra 2/7/12, Jaya (Vijaya) 3/8/13, Rikta 4/9/14, Purna 5/10/15;
  • karana lords;
  • marriage nakshatras (Rohini, the three Uttaras, Revati, Mrigasira, Mula, Anuradha, Magha, Hasta, Svati) and marriage lagna rules (Virgo, Libra or Gemini rising; avoid Vyatipata/Vaidhriti yogas, Vishti karana, Rikta tithis and malefic weekdays);
  • star counts per nakshatra (3, 3, 6, 5, 3, 1, …).

  — BS1884, chs. LI (98)–LIII (100)

#Inferences

• An engine can treat chs. I–II as schema, VII–IX and XXVI as calculators, XI–XV and XXII–XXV as yoga detectors, and XVI–XXI as content libraries keyed on (planet, sign/house/navamsa, aspecting planet).
• The text's own "strength gating" (XVII.13, XX.11) is the authentic mechanism for deciding when interpretive text applies. That is preferable to showing every matching paragraph.
• Fixed-sign birthplace, lamp, midwife, bed-position and conception rules (IV–V) are deterministic but culturally specific and unverifiable. They are better suited to "historical curiosities" educational content than to predictions.

#Gaps

• The gochara vedha (obstruction) rules usually attributed to Varahamihira were not found in Iyer's rendering of BS 104; a keyword search found no "vedha". They may exist in the Sanskrit or in Kern's translation and need checking.
• The 84-cell Moon-aspect grid (XIX) was read but not tabulated here.

#Q4. Where do translators and commentators disagree or flag textual corruption?

#Takeaway

Disagreement is pervasive but well documented. Varahamihira himself records rival doctrines (Garga, Satya, Yavanas, Jeevasarma, Manittha, Badarayana, Srutakirti) and openly criticises some earlier yogas as astronomically impossible. Bhattotpala, as relayed by Aiyar, brands certain stanzas as interpolations. Aiyar adds a large amount of later (Parasari, Saravali, Jataka Parijata) material in notes that a casual reader could mistake for the text. Thibaut describes the Panchasiddhantika text as badly corrupt.

#Cited Findings

• Exaltation degrees. The stanza gives ordinal degrees ("10th, 3rd, 28th, 15th, 5th, 27th, 20th"), identical in 1885 and 1905. Aiyar's own tabulation in the 1905 notes prints Moon "8" (probably an OCR misread of 3) and Mars "29", which is inconsistent with the stanza's "28th". The ordinal-versus-completed-degree ambiguity (28th degree = 27°–28°) must be resolved explicitly in data — BJ1905, I.13 + table, pp. 10–11; BJ1885, I.13

• Hora and drekkana lordship. Garga's school uses lords of the sign and the 11th for horas, and lords of the sign, 12th and 11th for drekkanas. Varahamihira and Satya use Sun/Moon horas and 1/5/9 drekkanas — BJ1905, I.12 + notes

• Upachaya. Garga says the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th stop being upachaya when malefics or enemies occupy or aspect them. Varahamihira, Satya and Yavanesvara disagree — BJ1905, I.15 note (b)

• Friendship. "Some" give a different natural friendship list. Varahamihira restates Satya's rule — BJ1905, II.15–17

• Vajra/Yava impossibility. Varahamihira asks how Mercury and Venus could be in the 4th from the Sun, i.e. he says he is only reporting earlier writers. Aiyar defends the older authorities with an unequal-house (bhava chakra) argument citing Bhaskara II. Utpala grants the objection but cites Garga — BJ1905, XII.6 + long note, pp. 129–132; XI.20 note

• XXI.2. Seven planets cannot all be debilitated at once, since the Sun and Mercury cannot be in Libra and Pisces together. Aiyar notes the author is "simply quoting" earlier writers — BJ1905, XXI.2 note

• Interpolations. Utpala holds VII.7, which criticises Pindayu for never giving under 20 years, and VII.8 are not Varahamihira's. He constructs a counter-example chart yielding 16y 5m — BJ1905, VII.7–8 + notes, pp. 68–70; BJ1912, VII.7 note

• Chapters XVI–XVII. Aiyar states they are not in Varahamihira's own list of chapters and are later additions: XVI from the Brihat Samhita and XVII from the Horasara. The author's list in XXVIII.1–3 enumerates 25 topical chapters — BJ1905, XXVIII.1–3 + footnote, p. 245

• "Vakra" reading. In the enemy-sign reduction exemption, vakra is read as "Mars" by some (supported by Badarayana and Garga) and as "a retrograde planet" by others, which Varahamihira concurs with per the note — BJ1905, VII.2 note (h), p. 64

• Krurodaya. The text supports two meanings: navamsas from Aries to the lagna, or navamsas of the rising sign already risen (Saravali; Utpala concurs) — BJ1905, VII.4 note (d)

• Kemadruma variants:

  • Garga and Parasara cancel it if the Moon is in a kendra or conjoined;
  • Srutakirti uses the 4th and 10th from the Moon;
  • Jeevasarma counts from the Moon's navamsa sign.

  Varahamihira calls these non-authoritative — BJ1905, XIII.3 + notes

• Other noted variants:

  • Trikona vs moolatrikona at IV.17 (Garga);
  • "Jupiter" instead of "Sun" as aspector at IV.10, which the note says is opposed to Saravali;
  • XIII.1 vs Badarayana grading of Adhi yoga;
  • XX.2–3 alternate readings with Satya opposed to Yavana and Suchidhvaja;
  • sign-colour for skin, which Utpala ridicules ("no people of parrot colour");
  • midwife count inside or outside the room.

  — BJ1905, IV.10, IV.17, V.22–23 notes, XIII.2, XX.2–3

• Panchasiddhantika corruption. Thibaut says only two manuscripts (found by Bühler) were available, the text is "corrupt and bare", and no old commentary was found. Dvivedi wrote a new Sanskrit commentary. The edition offers "a first attempt" with emended text beside the manuscript text. Some chapters' siddhanta attribution is uncertain (e.g. ch. II, Vasishtha vs Paulisa) — PS1889, Preface and Introduction pp. i–xiv

• Brihat Samhita, 1884. Iyer believed the Panchasiddhantika was lost, and his footnote reports the Bombay Government's acquisition of two copies. His chapter numbering restarts at Part II, and the running heads are inconsistent. Some chapter headings (e.g. standard chs. 25, 39–40, 68, 70, 93) are absent or unreadable in the OCR — BS1884, Introduction; ch. XVII note; chapter headings

• Mahapurusha wording. Iyer renders the condition as own sign, exaltation "or" kendra. Later practice requires own or exaltation sign and kendra — BS1884, XXII (69).1

#Inferences

• Each disputed rule should be stored with a variant field (source authority: Varahamihira/Satya default; Garga; Yavana; Jeevasarma; Utpala note; translator note), and the UI can surface "schools". This mirrors the text's own practice.
• Educational content can honestly present Varahamihira as a critical compiler. He rejects impossible configurations (XII.6) and mythological eclipse theory (BS 5), which is a strong, citable narrative.

#Gaps

• The Sanskrit text was not collated. The 1905 OCR is clean, but numeric tables (e.g. combustion orbs and the gunakara for Aries) contain OCR errors that need a page-image check.
• The B. Suryanarain Row 1919 translation could not be compared: both IA copies are unreadable OCR (see Q6).

#Q5. What do the Brihat Samhita and Panchasiddhantika add (omens, the five siddhantas, astronomy)?

#Takeaway

The Brihat Samhita is an encyclopedia of mundane astrology and divination. It covers planetary transits and courses, eclipses (explained naturalistically), planetary war (graha-yuddha), comets, rain forecasting, earthquakes, meteors, portents, omens from animals, and muhurta for marriage and travel. It also covers gems, architecture (vastu), iconography and physiognomy, plus gochara and the Mahapurusha yogas.

The Panchasiddhantika summarises five astronomical systems:

• Paitamaha, Vasishtha, Romaka, Paulisa and Saurya;
• ranked Saurya first, then Romaka and Paulisa, with the other two well behind;
• epoch Saka 427 = 505 CE;
• clear Greek fingerprints: the Romaka year equals Hipparchus' tropical year, its cycle is 150 Metonic cycles, and it uses a Yavanapura (Alexandria) meridian.

#Cited Findings

• Pingree's overview. BS and PS were composed together early in Varahamihira's career and the BJ late. In genethlialogy he relied on Sphujidhvaja and Satya ("an Indianized Greek system"), in divination on Garga and Indian adaptations of Mesopotamian omen series. Pingree rates Kern's JRAS translation (1870–75) as the best English Brihat Samhita — DSB

• Precession evidence (BS 3.1–2). Formerly the Sun's southward turn began at mid-Ashlesha and its northward turn at the start of Dhanishtha. Now (Varahamihira's time) it begins at the start of Cancer and Capricorn, verifiable by gnomon or horizon observation — BS1884, ch. III.1–3, pp. 12–13

• Eclipses (BS 5). Varahamihira rejects the Rahu-demon explanation. A lunar eclipse is the Moon entering Earth's shadow; a solar eclipse is the Moon covering the Sun. He calls oil-drop prediction and the five-planet-conjunction theory wrong. Rahu is retained as the name of the node for ritual purposes. Eclipse "lordship" cycles of six months run through Brahma, Moon, Indra, Kubera, Varuna, Agni and Yama, with mundane results — BS1884, ch. V.1–23, pp. 22–25

• Planetary war (BS 17).

  • Four kinds of conjunction: bheda (occultation), ullekha (grazing), amsumardana (rays mixing), apasavya (apart).
  • Planet roles: paura (citizen) = Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn; yayi (invader) = Ketu, Mars, Rahu, Venus; the Moon is akranda; the Sun varies with position.
  • The defeated planet is the southern, dim, small or retrograding one. Equal brilliance makes it a samagama (friendly meeting).

  These same victory rules feed BJ strength (II.20) — BS1884, ch. XVII.1–11, pp. 97–99

• Contents of BS (Iyer numbering, standard number in brackets):

  • Sun through Saturn (3–10), comets (11), Canopus (12), Saptarshi (13), kurma-vibhaga geography (14);
  • nakshatra results (15), planets' countries (16), planetary years (19), rain (21–28);
  • twilight (30), digdaha (31), earthquakes (32), meteors (33), halos (34), rainbow (35), parhelion (37);
  • commodities and prices (41–42), Indra's banner (43), portents (46);
  • house-building (53), groundwater (54), temples and images (56–60), animal features (61–67), Mahapurusha (69), women (70);
  • gems (80–83), omens (86–96), effective periods of omens (97), nakshatra star counts (98), tithis and karanas (99), marriage (100, 103), zodiac division (102), gochara (104), nakshatra-purusha (105).

  — BS1884, chapter headings, passim

• "Effective periods" (BS 97). Omen results arrive after a fortnight for the Sun, a month for the Moon, a year for Jupiter and Saturn, six months for Venus and Rahu, a year after a solar eclipse, 3 months for dark comets and 7 days for white comets — BS1884, ch. L (97).1–3, p. ~327

• Panchasiddhantika structure (Thibaut's attribution):

  • ch. I: introduction, Romaka ahargana, intercalation, lords of the year;
  • II: rough rules, Vasishtha ("concise Vasishtha");
  • III, V, VI: Paulisa (Sun and Moon, lunar eclipses);
  • VII–VIII: solar eclipses per Saurya and Romaka;
  • IX–XI, XVI–XVII: Saurya (Surya Siddhanta) including mean and true planets;
  • XII: Paitamaha;
  • XIII: cosmology (spherical Earth, latitude);
  • XIV: instruments and observation;
  • XV: Jyotishopanishad.

  The work is a karana (handbook) aimed chiefly at solar-eclipse computation — PS1889, Introduction pp. ii–viii

• Ranking and epoch. Varahamihira ranks the Saurya first, the Romaka and Paulisa about equally next, and the other two far inferior. The ahargana epoch is Saka 427 (505 CE), adapted from Lata's epoch per Pingree. The PS ahargana rule uses the Yavanapura meridian, sunset at Yavanapura per Lata, while the other rules use Ujjayini. The longitude difference given fits Yavanapura = Alexandria — PS1889, Introduction; DSB

• Greek parameters.

  • The Romaka's year is "down to seconds" the tropical year of Hipparchus/Ptolemy.
  • Its 2,850-year cycle is 150 × the 19-year Metonic cycle.
  • Its equation-of-centre values closely match Ptolemy's.
  • The old Saurya cycle: 180,000 years with 66,389 intercalary months and 1,045,095 omitted tithis, which gives 1,577,917,800 civil days per mahayuga (28 fewer than the modern Surya Siddhanta) and a sidereal year of 365d 6h 12m 36s, the same as Utpala's Paulisa.

  — PS1889, Introduction pp. ix–xxii

• Dating debate. Kern argued 505 could not be Varahamihira's birth year. Thibaut notes Aryabhata wrote in 499 CE, so a 505 composition quoting him is possible. The traditional death year of 587 is reported but not proved — PS1889, Introduction

• Yoga Yatra. BJ XXVIII lists its topics: prasna, tithi strength, nakshatras, weekdays, muhurta, Moon strength, lagna, planetary propitiation, dreams, baths, travel, omens. Kern's German edition and translation of books 4–6 appears in Indische Studien 14 (1876), and books 1–3 and 7–9 in vols. 10 and 15. The IA scan of S. Dvivedi's 1907 Yoga Yatra has an empty text layer — BJ1905, XXVIII.4–6; Indische Studien 14 (1876), indische-studien-14; DSB; Yoga Yatra ed. S. Dvivedi 1907 (xnmx_…)

• Yavanajataka (summary only; in copyright). Pingree's model: a Greek prose original rendered by Yavanesvara around 149/150 CE and versified by Sphujidhvaja in 269/270 CE. Mak (2013) argues there was only one author (Sphujidhvaja = Yavanesvara), that Pingree's dates rest on his own emendation of the colophon, and he revises the dating, with summaries giving 4th–6th c. CE — Mak2013; Wikipedia summary of the debate

• BJ itself cites Yavana/Yavanesvara/Yavanacharya repeatedly and Sphujidhvaja ("Suchidhwaja") as authorities. Examples: the Yavanas' 1,800 nabhasa yogas; Yavana raja-yoga doctrine; Yavanesvara's pregnancy month-lords; Yavana descriptions of drekkanas — BJ1905, XII.1, XI.1, IV.16 note, XXVII.2, XX.2 note

#Inferences

• BS 3.1–2 is primary evidence that in Varahamihira's era the solstice coincided with the start of sidereal Cancer, i.e. tropical and sidereal zodiacs roughly coincided in the 6th century. That makes it a natural anchor for "why ayanamsha exists" educational content. Aiyar's own 1883 ayanamsha discussion (six almanacs' values for 1 Jan 1883 run from 18°14′ to 22°42′. Aiyar's own estimate is about 20°24′) can illustrate how unsettled ayanamsha was even in the 19th century — BJ1905, Introduction (ayanamsa section, citing his April 1883 Theosophist article)
• For a consumer astrology site, the most product-ready BS material is gochara (104), muhurta (99–100, 103), Mahapurusha (69), graha-yuddha (17) and the omen-timing table (97). Most other chapters suit cultural or historical content.

#Gaps

• Kern's English JRAS translation (PD) was not located as a standalone IA item. JRAS volumes for 1870–75 likely exist on IA but were not searched.
• Neugebauer & Pingree's 1970–71 Panchasiddhantika (in copyright) supersedes Thibaut for technical work. An IA upload exists (pancasiddhantika1_1970) but should not be used for copying.
• The Yavanajataka text itself could not be checked. The IA upload "PingreeYJ" has a garbled OCR layer, Devanagari OCR run on English, and the legitimate scan is lending-library restricted.

#Q6. Which editions are public domain and which are in copyright?

#Takeaway

All 19th-century and pre-1931 editions found are public domain in the US: Chidambaram Iyer's BJ 1885/1905 and BS 1884, Thibaut & Dvivedi's PS 1889, Kern's BS text 1865 and Yoga Yatra in Indische Studien, and Vijnanananda's BJ 1912. The 1946–47 Subrahmanya Sastri & Ramakrishna Bhat translations, Neugebauer & Pingree's PS (1970–71) and Pingree's Yavanajataka (1978) should be treated as in copyright.

#Cited Findings

• US rule. As of 1 January 2026, works published before 1931 are PD in the US. Foreign works published 1931–1977 without US formalities had copyright restored by the URAA if still protected in their home country on 1 January 1996, and run 95 years from publication — Cornell

#Inferences

• A product can safely quote and adapt from Aiyar 1905/1885, Iyer 1884, Thibaut & Dvivedi 1889, Vijnanananda 1912 and Kern. The Aiyar footnotes are also PD, but they mix in later authorities and should be attributed separately.
• Sastri/Bhat, Neugebauer–Pingree and Pingree's Yavanajataka should be used only for paraphrased context and dating. The existence of third-party IA uploads does not change their copyright status.

#Gaps

• V. Subrahmanya Sastri's and M. Ramakrishna Bhat's death dates and the US registration/renewal history were not verified. The "in copyright" call rests on the URAA rule for foreign works, not on title-specific research.
• No PD English translation of the Laghu Jataka or the Yoga Yatra was found on IA. The DSB notes al-Biruni's Arabic translation of the Laghu Jataka and Kern's partial German Yoga Yatra — DSB