ISTITUTO ITALIA 0

PER VAFRICA E VORIENTE

SERIE ORIENTALE ROMA

FONDATA DA GIUSEPPE TUCCI

DIREITA DA

GHERARDO GNOLI

Vol. LXXVIII

ROMA
Is. I. A. 0.
1997
 -A ;1j_j

l35j~
SERIE ORIE TALE ROMA
LXXVIII

DAVID PINGREE

FROM ASTRAL OMENS TO ASTROLOGY

FROM B,ABYLON TO BIKANER

RO A
I TIT O ITALIANO PER L 'AFRICA E L'ORIENTE

1997
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 CO TENTS

Abbreviations ... .. ..... ... ....... , ........... ............... ... .... ............. .. ............... .. .. ."... . 7
Introduction ........... ........ ....... .... .........~ ........... ......... .................. ..... .... .... ... 9

Chapter 1. Me opotamian Celestial Omens .. ........ ....... ..... .... .... ... .... .... . 11
Chapter 2. The Origins of Greek Astrolog .......... ....... ......... ...... .......... ..21
Chapter 3. Babylonian Omens and Greek Astrolog in India .... ..... .. .... 31
Chapter 4 . The Recovery of Sasanian Astrology ........................... ........ 39
Chapter 5. Kanaka: an lndian (?)Astrologer at Hiirun al-Rashid Court 51
Chapter 6. Arabic Astrolog in B zantium .. ..... ........... ............ ....... ... .. .. 63
Chapter 7. Tajika: Persian A trolog in Sanskrit ... ...... .................... ..... 79
Chapter 8. Astronom at the Court of Aniipasif!Iha ........... ..... ......... .... .. 91

Indices .. ................ ... ... ........................................... ....... .... ........... ... ... ... 105
 ABBREVIATIONS

ABCD: F. Rochberg-Halton Aspects of Babylonian Celestial Divination,

Horn 1988.
ABOR/: Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.
ACT: 0. Neugebauer, Astronomical Cuneiform Texts, 3 vols., London
1955.
AfK: Archiv fii,· K,eilschriftforschung.
AfO: Archi, fiir Orieniforschung.
Bl: Bibliotheca lndi a.
BO: Bibliotheca Orientalis.
BPO: E. Reiner & D .. Pingree Bqb Ionian Planetary Omens 2 fascs.,
Malibu 1975-1981.
BSOAS: Bulletin of the School of Orienwl and African Studies ..
CCAG: Catalogus Codicum Astrologorum Graecorum 12 ols. in 20 parts,
BruxeHes 1898-1953 ..
1

CESS: D. Pingree Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit Series A,

vol . 1-5 Philadelphia 19 70,- 1994.
1

Cl/: Corpus lnscriptiomtm /ndicarurn.

CP: Classical Philolog .
DOP: Dumbarton Oaks Papers..

7
DSB : Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 16 vol ., ew York, l 970-1980.
E/r: Encyclopaedia Iranica.
EW: East and West.
GAS: F. Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums .
GMS: Grazer Morgenlandische Studien.
GOS: Gaekwad Oriental Series.
HAMA : 0 . Neugebauer, History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy 3
vols., New York 1975.
HOS: Harvard Oriental Series .
JAOS: Journal of the American Oriental Society .
JCS : Journal of Cuneiform Studies.
JEOL: Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap.
IHA : Journal for the History of Astronomy.
JHAS: Journal for the History of Arabic Science.
JNES : Journal of Near Eastern Studies.
JWCI: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes .
OLZ: Orientalische Literaturzeitung.
RA: Revue d''Assyriologie.
RSO : Rivista degli studi orientali.
SAA: State Archives of Assyria.
SHMS: Studies in History of Medicine and Science .
SJS : Singhi Jain Series.
SOAW: Sitzungsberichte der 6sterreichische Akademie der Wis enschaften.
ZA : Zeitschriftfur Assyriologie.
ZDMG: Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft.
ZGA -IW: Zeitschrift fur Geschichte der arabisch-islamischen Wissen-
schaften.
ZPE: Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik.

8
 INTRODUCTION

Thi coHection of e ay i intended to explore the development of cele -

tial omen in Mesopotamia their relation hip to the a trology developed in
the Hellenistic period by the Greeks, and the spread of astrology to the East
and its amplification there. In the e tudie I ha e attempted to illu trate the
incredible facility with which the e cience , which serve as an example for
other ystem of knowledge, were tran mitted from one culture to another,
and to indicate a few way in which the recipient cultures changed the re-
ceived theorie . I have and w iH write more extensi el elsewhere about the
technical tran formations that accompanied the transmissions ..
For thi book i not a technical hi tory of the origins and internal devel-
opment of a trology but a imp le narrative ba ed on all of the known origi-
nal source , of a number of case of transmi· ion. The fir t and last chapters
deal with the tran mi ion of knowledge wiihin the cultures of Me opo-
tamia and lndia re pectively~ the · econd with the creation of a trology, in
part from material tran mitted from Mesopotamia in the Greek East~ the
third with the tran mis ion of astrolog to India from Greece; the fourth
with the evidence for the tran mi ion of a trology to Sasanian Iran from
Greece and India~ the fifth with an Indian astrologer erving some of the
early cAbba id caJiphs· the ixth with the tran mw ion of Arabic astrology
to Byzantium; and the eventh with the tran mission of Arabic/Persian as-
trology to India. The e idenoe that each of the e tran mi . ion wa an his-
torical reality re ts on three foundation : the direct tatements by the recipi-
ents concerning the ource of their knowledue, the u e of tran literated
technical term and the improbabilit that oomple theorie which as I
hope aU my reader . will agree are invalid as explanation of the world would

9
be constructed independently in different culture . The arne general con-
siderations provide the evidence for similar transmi ion of a tronom .
I have deliberately avoided any departure from the writing in cribed on
clay tablets in Sumerian and Ak.kadian or written on parchment paper, and
other materials in Greek, Latin, San krit, Pahlavi, and Arabic· except for
cautious interpretations of the historical significance of the internal and ex-
ternal features of these texts and the manuscript that pre erve them there i
nothing in this book beyond the facts that must be the basi for under tand-
ing the processes I have chosen to investigate. I hope that the re ult i a firm
foundation for future scholarship in the history of cele tial divination and of
astrology in the East.

* * *

These eight essays are based on a series of lectures that I gave in Rome,
Bologna, and Venice in June 1995. I am most grateful to my generou ho t
at the Unjversities of those three cities and at IsMEO who made every effort
to make my visit to their institutions enjoyable and rewarding. I am particu-
larly indebted to Antonio Panaino, who organized with incredible efficiency
my entire program, and to Gherardo Gnoli, who has graciou ly accepted
this book for publication in the 'Serie Orientale Roma'. Finally I thank my
wife, Isabelle, who typed the manuscript with her usual uncommon accu-
racy. To her I dedicate this book.

Providence, RI.
29 November 1995

10
 CHAPTER 1
MESOPOTAMIA CELESTIAL OMENS

The reading of cele tial omen was a relati el. late development within
the Me opotamian cience of omen 1 , following after extispicy,
oneiromanc , teratology and phy iognom and more or le s contempora-
neou with animal and plant omen . ormall the god communicated with
the king through exti picy, in which in re ponse to a question, Samas, the
Sun god conveyed the god repl b contorting the liver and other internal
organs of a heep2 • By cele tial omen the gods without being asked any
question, voluntaril communicated to the king their intentions by altering
the normal appearance and behaviour of the tar and planets, which serve
as the phy ical manife tation of the di ine pm ers in the world of men. The
description of the ominou phenomena form the protasis of an omen, the
associated phenomena affecting the king hi court and his country con ti-
tute the apodo i . The u efulne of the e divine warnings lay in the fact
that propitiation ritual called namburbis could assuage the anger of the
god and ameliorate the ituation of the king.
From the la t half of the 2nd millennium B.C., the principle collection of
celestial omen in Ak.k:adian was the eries of probably more than eventy

1
On the type of omens typically used in the early 2nd millennium see, e.g., J .M. Durand,
Archives episrolaires de Mari Ell, Pari 19 8.
2
On Me opotamian exti picy ee al o I. Starr, The Rituals of the Diviner, Malibu 1983,
and U. Jeyes, Old Babylonian E~rispicy, l tanbul 19 9.

11
Tablets entitled Enii.maAmt EnliP, though there exists abundant e idence of
non-canonical omens either cited as such in the Letter~ and Report of the
celestial diviners, alluded to in texts uch a the Diviner's Manua/ 6 or pre-
served on tablets specifically designated as extra-canonical abii)1. The ear-
lier history of celestial omens in Mesopotamia is hard to delineate. There
probably were such omens being observed in late Sumerian time in the
late 3rd millennium B.C. , though no Sumerian tablet with uch content
are as yet available. However, the technjcal term in the prota e of the
Akkadian omens are normally written with Sumerian logogram ·· and ome
of the lunar eclipse omens refer in their apodo e to hi torical e ent from
the late Dynastic Period, in particular concerning the dynasty of Akkad and
the Ur III dynasty which the descriptions oflunar eclip e allow u to date at
least tentatively in the time between 2300 and 2050 B.C. . There i no hard
evidence, however, that a system of interpreting uch omen exj ted at thi
early period.
From the Old Babylonian Period itself- that is, rough] , the fi t half of
the 2nd millennium - we have a small number of urviving tablet . The
oldest fragment deals with the appearance of the ky and the Moon on cer-
tain numbered day in a lunar month9 • An Akkadian text found at Emar in

3
Ch. Virolleaud, L'AstrologieChaldeenne ,3vols.,in 14fa c. Pari 1905-1912.Thi i
being replaced by a new edition , of which there have appeared: F. Rochberg-Halton. A:rpecrs
of Babylonian Celestial Divination: The Lunar Eclipse Tablets of Eniima Anu E11lil AfO
Beiheft, 22, Hom 1988 (Tablets LS-22); W.H. van Soldt, Solar Omens of Eni,ma Am, En/ii:
Tablets 23 (24) -29 (30), Istanbul 1995; and E. Reiner & D. Pingree, Babylonian Pfanetar)'
Omens, fasc. J, Malibu 1975 (Tablet 63), fasc . 2, Malibu 1981 (Tablets 50-51; ee a] o W.
Horowitz, 'A Join to Enuma Anu Enlil 50 ', JCS 46, 1994, pp. 127-29), and f c. 3, (Tablets
59 (?)-62(?)) . See also-F.N.H. Al-Rawi & A.R. George, Enuma Anu Enlil XIV and Other
Early Astronomical Tables' , AfO, 38/39, 1991-1992, pp. 52-73 and, for a preliminary Ii t of
copies of Tablets I to 50, E.F. Weidner, ' Die a trologi che Serie Enuma Anu Enlil ·, AfO 14,
1941-1944,pp. 172-95 and 308-18; 17, 1954-1956, pp. 71-89; and 22, 1968-1969, pp. 65-75·
and U. Koch-Westenholz, Mesopotamian Astrology, Copenhagen 1995.
4
S. Parpola, Letters from Assyrian Scholars to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal,
2 vols., Neukirchen-Vluyn 1970-1983; the first volume, containing lex and rran lation ,
has been replaced by Id., Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars, SAA, 8, Hel inki
1993; see, for instance, Letter 101.
5
H. Hunger, Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings, SAA, IO Helsinki 1992; ee, for
instance, Report 147.
6
A. Leo Oppenheim, 'A Babylonian Diviners Manual',] ES, 33, 1974, pp. 197-220.
7
F. Rochberg-Halton, 'The A sumed 29th Abii Tablet of Em1ma Anu Enlil', in Lan-
guage, Literature , and History, ed. F. Rochberg-Halton, ew Haven L987, pp. 327-50; Id.,
'Canonicity in Cuneiform Texts' ,JCS, 36, 1984, 127-44.
8 P.J. Huber, ' Dating by Lunar Eclipse Omina' , From Ancient Omens to Starisrical Me-

chanics, Copenhagen 1987, pp. 3-13, and the literature citated therein.
9 To . Bauer, 'Eine Sammlung von Himmel vorzeichen ', ZA, 43, 1936 pp. 308-14, report-

ing on a text originally published by V. Sileico in Russian in 1927.

12
Syria, of which a Hittite er ion ha al o been found, i concerned with the
appearance of the horn of the ere cent Moon 10 .. There are four Old
Babylonian tablet concerning lunar eclip e 11 • And lunar eclipse omen texts
in Akkadian ha e al o been found at EmarL and at Mari 13 also in Syria.
Beyond thi we are left with conjecture , uch as that a group of the Venus
omens is sub tantially con tituted of Old Bab ionian omen , or with such
fact a that the ob ervation of the heliacal ri ing and setting of Venus in
Tablet 63 were made during the reion of Ammi. aduqa 14 who most likely
reigned from 1702 to 1681 B.C. 1 , though we are not at all certain that they
were original} regarded a ominou .
From the third quarter of the 2nd millennium we have a greater variety of
omen , but not a ignifi antl greater number of text and those that we do
have come mo tly from marginal localitie . From the lunar omen not in-
volving eclip e there urvi e onJ an Elamite tran lation found at Susa 16 .
There exi t more tablets relating to lunar ecbp e 1 • In Akkadian is written a
Middle A yrian tablet found at the abii Temple in ine eh, though per-
haps it had been brought there from A ur during the reign of Tiglathpileser
I1 8; thi tablet i related to part of the urvi ing Old Babylonian tablets that
I have mentioned and of Tablet 15 of Enuma Anu En/ii the first in that
series to deal with lunar eclip e . Al o from A ur are three fragment , one
of Tablet 15 and two of Tablet 20 19 • A Middle Bab Ionian text from Nippur
remains unpubli hed 20 . A tablet ontaining a er ion of Tablet 22 wa found
at Su a 21 and another at Qatna in S ria 2 . A group of lunar (including lunar

10 H.G . Gi.iterbock. 'Bilingual Omens from Bogasko A Scientific Humanist: Studies in

Memor) ofAbraham achs Philadelphia 198 , pp.16l -73; Giiterbo krefer to several other
Hittite texts on lunar omen . See al o E.F. Weidner,. ' A trologi che Tex.te aus Boghazkoi ',
Afl{, 1, 1923 pp. 1- , and .K. We tenholz, 'Me opotamian Astrology at Hattusas ', in Die
Rolle der Astronomie in den Kulmren Mesoporamiens, ed. H.D. Galter, GMS 3, Graz 1993,
pp. 231 -46.
11
To be publi hed by F. Rochberg; ee ABCD, pp. 19-22 and cf. the Old Babylonian
orthography pre erved in Tablet 2.
12
ABCD , p. 32 .
13
Durand, op. cit. pp. 504-6.
14
Besides BPO 1 eeC.B .F. Walker,' ore on the enu Tablet of Ammi. aduqa' , JCS ,
36, 1984, pp. 64-66.
15
P.J. Huber et al. Astro11omical Daring of Babylon I and Ur l/1 , Malibu 1982.
16
V. Scheil Dech.iffrementd'un document anz.anite relatif aux presage ', RA , 14, 1917,
pp. 29-59.
17
ABCD pp. 27 -79· cf. al. opp. 3- .
18
ABCD, pp. 70-74 (Source B).
19 ABCD pp. 217-19 (Sourc Y and Z).
20
ABCD, p. 25.
21
V. Schei!,' n fragment u ie n du livreEnumaAnu (ilu) Elli/, RA, 14 1917 pp. 139-
42· ee al o ABCD p. 271.
22
J. Bottero, Autre te ·tes de Qatna RA- 44 1950, pp. 105 -1 22 e p. pp. 105-12 and
IL 7; ee al o ABCD pp. 271-72.
13
eclipse) and solar omen tablets, with some references to planet and con tel-
lations, was discovered at Emar in Syria23 • Also from Syria from Alalakh,
are two pieces, one connected with the Old Babylonian and Hittite tradi-
tions, the other with either Tablets 17-18 or 22 24 • The Hittite tradition i
represented by two pieces in Akkadian, of which one contain Section II of
Tablet 1925 , and several Hittite adaptations of Akkadian material26 • Al o from
Boghazkoi comes a collection of solar omens including olar eclipses writ-
ten in Akkadian2 7 • It is claimed also that a text written in Ugaritic from the
Late Bronze Age ID (c. 1350 to 1175 B.C.) mentions a olar eclipse which
has been variously dated to 3 May 1375 B.C. 2 and to 5 March 1222 B.C. 29 •
a necessary word of caution about any such interpretation of tbj opaque
text has been issued by Walker3°. In any case, the solar eclip e it elf, if such
it was, was not interpreted as an omen, but the phenomenon apparently pro-
voked an interrogation of the gods through an extispicy. However a few
fragments of celestial omens, mostly lunar, have been found at Ugarit31 •
Finally, from this period we have two fragments of tablets in Akkadian con-
taining 'meteorological' omens; one, concerning earthquakes, was found at
Nuzi 32 , and the other, on thunder-storms, at Nippur3 3 .
Now we must turn to the question of the construction of a canonical e-
ries out of this and other material. The series bears the title of the fir t three
words in its introduction - or at least the introduction to the fir t ection,
that on the Moon, called Sin by modem scholars - Enuma Anu Enlil. Thi

23
D. Arnaud, Recherches au pays d' Astata-Textes sumeriens et accadiens. £mar Vl 4
Pari 1987, pp. 251-82 (nos. 650-65).
24 P.J. Wiseman, The Alalakh Tablets, London 1953, pp. 114-15 and plate Lil-Lill; ee

also ABCD, pp. 32-33.

25
ABCD, p. 168.
26
ABCD, pp. 33-34.
27
M. Leibovici, ' Un texte astrologique akkadien de Boghazkoi ,RA, 50, 19 56, pp. 11-2 1.
28
F.R. Stephenson & J.F. Sawyer, ' Literary and Astronomical Evidence for a Total Eclip e
of the Sun Observed in Ancient Ugarit on 3 May 1375 B.C. ' , BSOAS,. 33 , 1970, pp. 467-&9~
see also F.R. Stephenson, 'The Earliest Known Record of a Solar Eclip e' ature, 22 ,
1970, pp. 651-52.
29
T. de Jong & W.H. van Soldt, 'Redating an Early Solar Eclip e Record (KTU l. 78 ',
JEOL, 30, 1987-1988, pp. 65-77; see also W.H. van Soldt &T. de Jong, ' The Earliest Known
Solar Eclipse Record Redated ', Nature , 338, 1989, pp. 238-40, and W.C. Seitter & H.W.
Duerbeck in M. Dietrich & 0 . Loretz, Mantik in Ugarit, Mun ter 1990, pp. 2 1- 6.
30
C.B.F. Walker, ' Eclipse Seen at Ancient Ugarit ', Nature, 338, 1989, pp. 204-5.
31
Dietrich & Loretz, op. cit. , pp. 165-95.
32 E.R. Lacheman, ' An Omen Text from Nuzi ', RA , 34, 1937 pp. 1-8.
33
A. Ungnad, ' Ein meteorologischer Bericht aus der Ka itenzeit ' , OLZ., 15, 1912, pp.
446-49.

14
introduction appear in Sumerian and Akkadian; there is al o a Hittite trans-
lation that must date from before 1300 B .C. 34 .. Perhaps e en earlier is a copy
from Emar35 , though it appears at the end of a tablet on lunar eclipses rather
than as the introduction to a erie . The occurrence of the introduction, then,
does not necessarily indicate that a eri.es had been formed, nor does it in-
form us of its contents if it had indeed been formed.
A letter written by the priest of Assur Akkullanu, to Assurbanipal in 657
B.C. quotes from a met,e orogical omen included in a Report sent by Ea-
musallim to Marduk.-nadim-alJlJe, the king of Babylonia from 1099 to 1082
B.C.36 . This shows that inc. 1100 B..C. the Babylonian king employed ob-
servers who reported to him on cele tial phenomena, and that an archive of
their reports wa available in inev,e h in the 7th century B.C. Unfortunately,
in W,e idner's attempt to identify tablet from the library of Marduk-nadim-
alJ.IJe 's A ssyrian oontemporary T iglathpileser I (1114 to 1076 B.C.}, found
at A sur37 , on]y one tablet i though doubtfully, identified as containing
celestial omens 3 .• But there are many tablets found at Assur containing ce-
le tial omens, including the Middle Assyrian copies of Tablets 15 and 20
that we have already referred to. Al o from Assur comes a fragment of a
catalogue of Enuma ArlU En/it 9• thi broken fragmem lists only Tablets num-
bered 39 to 60, of which Tablet 39 and 40 belong to the section on
meteorogical omens (Adad), while Tablets 46 and following seen to belong
to the section on con tellation and planetary omens (Btar). The numbers of
the Tablet given in this catalogue do not correspond to the numbers that
can be assigned to Tablets with the same incipits found at Nineveh. We do
not know as yet what more substanti e differenoes may have existed be-
tween the celestial omens at A ur, tho eat inev,e h and those at Babylon.
The great mass of tablets containing celestial omens, whether canonical
or not, comes from A urbanipal s library at ineveh. One of the most im-
portant persons instrumental in building up this collection was the priest
Nabu-zuqup-kenu of KalalJ (Nimrud), who copied the series under Sargon
ll (721 to 705 B.C.) and Sennacherib (704 to 681 B.C.) often from tablets
that had originated in Babylon or Borsippa40•. It was probably this same scribe
who copied Enuma Ariu Enlil' at Kalal] onto sixteen waxed ivory tablets for
Sargon II's palace at Khorsabad between 712 and 705 B.C. 41 . We are also
34
KUB XXXIV 12· see Westenholz, op. cir. p. 236.
35
Arnaud, op. it.. p. _63 Emar 1652,. 80'-83').
36
S. Pa.rpola, SAA, 8, pp. 16-78 (no. WO).
37
E. Weidner ' Die Bibl iothek Tiglatpilesers I AfO. 16 195--1953, pp. 197-215.
3
Ibid ., p. 200 (VAT 947 ,.
39
E. Weidner i:nAfO, 14 1941-1944 pp. l 4- 6 and Tafel m ,(VAT 9438 + 10324).
40
/bi.d., pp. 176-77.
41
D.J. Wiseman 'A rian Writing B ards I raq, 17 1955, pp. 3-1 3. ; ee also H. Hun-
ger, ' eues o n abfr-zuqup-kena', ZA 6_, 19 72 pp. 99-10 I.
1

15
fortunate to have fragments of three acce ion li t to A urbanipal li-
brary42. From these records we learn of 107 tablet and 6 board containing
parts of Enii.ma Anu Enlil being accessioned at the Ulbrary at ine eh a a
re ult primarily of the confiscation of private librarie in Bab lonia that
took place in 647 B.C. , the year following A urbanipal conque t of
Babylon. This emphasizes the fact that the copie of cele tial omen found
at Nineveh do not represent a uniform tradition but were colJected from
many part of Me opotamia.
Toe same can be seen from the Reports and Letters ent to E arhaddon
(680 to 669 B.C.) and As urbanipal (668 to 627 B.C. from college of ten
celestial observors each located at such citie a ArbeHa A ur Babylon
Borsippa, Cutha, Dilbat, and Uruk as wen a of cour e, from ine eh it-
self43. Since these ob ervor con tantly quote from non-canonical collec-
tions of celestial omens, copies of the e text were pread all o er Me opo-
tamia - and the authorities in Nineveh undoubtedly had their own copie in
which they could check the accuracy of the citation . One of the e ob ervor
Sumaya (perhaps he who is referred to as the on of abu-zeru-le vir in two
Letters44 though another Sumaya was the on of [Kabt]iya45 ),. wrote eight
Reports to As urbanipal46, in the la t of which he refer to hi di cu ion
with the king at Ur concerning the writing-board and tablet of Enuma Anu
Enlil and.refer to himself a the 'scribe of Eniima Anu En/ii . Thi appear
to be the fir t occurrence of the title which wa later to be utilized by the
scribes of the Diaries and of the a tronomjcal table in Bab lon and Uruk47 .•

42 S. Parpola, 'Assyrian Library Record ',JNES, 42, 19 3, pp. 1-27.

43 A.L. Oppenheim, ' Divination and Celestial Ob ervation in the Last A rian Empire ,
Centaurus, 14, 1969, pp. 97-135.
44
SAA, 8, pp. 203 (no. 257) and 228 (no 29 l).
45 SAA, 8, p. 308 (no 37 l ). One of the e Sumayas may have been the rituali t who wa

criticized by Nabu-nadin-sumi for ha tening from Kalab to u urp the function of the writer.
SAA , 8 , p. 214 (no. 273).
46 SAA, 10, pp. 102-4 (nos. 175-180) and 274 (nos. 49 -499).
47
In the Diaries themselves, in so far as they have yet been publi hed (A. Sach & H.
Hunger, Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts from Babylon, ol . l-2, Wien 19 -1989)
the few instances in which the cribe's name is recorded (373 B.C . in vol. l, p. 115· 362 B.C.
in vol. 1, p. 139; 325 B.C. (?) in vol. 1, p . 203; 322 B.C. in ol. l , p. 229; and 2 2 B.C. (?) in
ol. l , p. 309) the title is not used. But a number of document dated between 127 and 116
B.C. refer to several 'scribes of Enuma Anu En/ii' who were employed by the Esagila or
Temple of Marduk in Babylon to make ob ervation , pre umably for the Diaries (R.J . an
der Spek 'The Babylonian Temple during the Macedonian and Parthian Domination , BO
42, 1985, pp. 542-62, esp. pp. 548-54, which impro e the tran lation and interpretation
offered by G.J.P. McEwan Priest and Temple in Hellenistic Bab Ionia, Wie baden 1981
pp.17-2 1).0neofthefamilie towhichsomeofthe eastronomer belonged was.de cend.e d
from a certain Musezib; thi family was al o involved in copying Diaries that for 22 B .C.
and, probably tho e for 362 and 325 B.C.) and astronomical table at Bab Jon (ACT, ol. 1
pp. 15-16 and J.P. Britton & C.B.F. Walker, 'A 4th Century Bab Ionian Model for enu :

16
 A we tum, then, to on ider the cele tial phenomena that are found in
the canonical Tablet of Em,ma Anu En/ii and ome of the non-canonical
tablet a well. the o erwh Iming majorit , of, hich are known to u through
tablet from A urbanipal library, we mu t keep in mind the fact that man ·
of the e prota e go back to earlier time , and that the 7th-centur collection
at ine eh repre en tradition fi;om all o er e opotamia and be ond (e.g.
from Elam). We are not ret well enough informed to di tribute the e omen
chronologicaJl and patially in a definitive manner; o, ha ing entered this
caveat I will de rib the phenomena briefl a they are.
The ection on the oon, called in modern time Sin, deal with the ap-
pearance of the Moon and of uie k at the time of the luminary' appear-
ance at the end of the month, at its appearance as ew Moon ( with , pecial
attention paid to it horn ) at Full Moon, and at it ri ing in general; with
halo large and maH urrounding the Moon, and ometime enclo ing a
con tellation or a planet well: and ith lunar eclip e . The variables con-
nected with the interpretation of lunar e lip e in lude : the month and day
of the month in which it c ur ; whether it occur at the expected time' or
not; the watch of the night in whi hit o cur · the duration of the eclip e· it
magnitude; the dire tion in v hich the ob curatmon mo e · the color of the
eclip ed Moon- the direction in \ hich the wind i blowing; the concurrent
occurrence of cloud • rain, thunder and lightning or earthquake and
mud lide · and the i ibilit of nearb planet and con tellation during the
eclip e. Between the fir t et of Tablets and tho e devoted to lunar eclip e
i Tablet 14 on which are recorded table for determining the duration of
vi ibility of the Moon on each of the 30 nigh . of an equinoctial month
according to the tradition of ippur and of Bab Ion; the length of the day
and of the ni oht on lhe fifteenth and thirtieth ,, chthemeron of each month;
and the period of i ibilit., of the Moon on the first da and the period till
ri ing on the fifteenth da of e ery month .. Thi . i tlle only tablet in Eniima
Anu Enlil that deal e ·clu ivd , \J ith mathematical a tronomy.
In the ection on olar omen Sam ) the ominou phenomena include
the appearance of the Sun at the unri e following the ighting of the ere -
cent Moon in ea h month of the ear· halo urrounding the Sun- parhelia
(and paraselene · the p ition and colo of cloud formation at unri e,
and the orange glow abo e the horizon hortl before un et" the isibility
of planet and con tie llation with the Sun~and olar ecilip e .

B.M. 552', Cenra11rus 4. 1991 pp. 97-11 . p. pp. 110-1 ). [n none of their colophons
i any of th numerou membe of thi family entitled ' ribe of Eniima Anu Enli/' but tv o
other crire. of tr nomi aJ te ts from Bab Ion (one dared IO B.C.) as e eral from ruk
are call db thi titl ACT \IOI. I pp. 1 -l - . The re i aJ of the title then cannot at pre ent
be confirmed for pre- eleu id periods, thouoh it might oo bac· to Muvezib, who certainly
lived ome time before 2_ B.C.
4
ABCD, pp. 6-6 .
17
 The next section (Adad), which refers to ' meteorologicaJ phenomena in
the protases, is based on the time, frequency or duration, direction, and mag-
nitude of thunder, lightning, rain, rainbows, and earthquake .
And the finaJ section (!star) utilizes phenomena in olving con teUation
and planets. For the constellations the omen are concerned with the time
of their heliacal rising or settings in term of the cal:endar, whi.c h i clearly
assumed to be intercalated so that the months vary at mo t by one, and phe-
nomena of faintness, brightness , scintillation, color apparent motion and
mirages caused by the distortion of a star's light as it pa . e through the
earth's atmosphere. For the planets49 the phenomena can be divided into
those that occur near the horizon and those that occur anywhere in the sky.
The former include the planets ' heliacal ri ing and setting where the vari-
ants are: the time (including the question of whether or not it ( thee pected
time), the position of the rising or setting point on the horizon (that i , which
of the three 'paths' it is in), the duration of the period of vi ibility or invi -
ibility, and the stars or other planets it is near at first or la t isibility. Also
the horizon phenomena include whether the planet appear or di appear
above the same point on the horizon on successive nights, and the optical
illusions occasioned by the passing of the planet's light through the earth
atmosphere. Phenomena that occur anywhere in the sky are conjunction
with constellations or other planets, distortion due to cloud or haze, and
especially for Jupiter and Mars, retrogressions from one con tellation to
another. The Istar section also includes omens involving meteor and com-
ets, as well as ones in which constellations 'approach' each other· the Neo-
Assyrian commentators interpreted the moving constellations in the e last
omens to be planets, but it seems possible that instead they were u ed as a
celestial clock in much the same way as the decans were in ancient Egypt
The importance of these celestial omens in Mesopotamian royal courts
from the last few centuries of the 2nd millennium B.C. till the Achaemenid
period depended on their being regarded as the principle means for the god
to signal their intentions to the king. Therefore, throughout this long period
the kings (and probably their enemies) employed numerous ob ervor to
watch the heavens for the divine messages. In performing trus duty star-
gazers in Mesopotamia acquired an intimate knowledge of the varying ap-
pearances of the celestial bodies and of the motions of the Sun, the Moon,
and the other planets. This familiarity led them to recognize the periodicity
of certain celestial phenomena, and to devise increasingly ophi ticated math-
ematical models permitting them to predict recurrences of those phenom-
ena, at least approximately. This inaugurated the process that eventually led

49
For Venus see D. Pingree, 'Venus Phenomena in Eniima Am, Enlil, GMS 3, Graz
1993, p. 259-73.

18

_.
to the development of mathematical astronomy.
Although we know · irtualJy nothing about Me opotamian celestial omens
in the Achaemenid period beyond an Egyptian adaptation of solar and lunar
eclip e omen and probabl , lunar omen 50 and Sanskrit versifications of
Indian adaptation of omen from all ections of Em7ma Anu En/ii (and
Summa alu) 51 the tradition certainly continued into the Seleucid and Parthian
periods when , as we ha e een astronomer at the both Babylon and Uruk
often bore the title ' cribe of £mi.ma Anu Enlil and when many copies of
Tablets from that serie e pecially commented ones were made52 and a
catalogue wa compiled in Uruk: . It was probably during this late period
that cele tial omen oft pe belonging to Enllma Anu Enlil were translated
into Greek 54 ; the earlie t fragments associated with the name Petosiris or
simply ascribed to the · ancient Egyptians , seem to ha e been composed in
the middle of the 2nd century B.C.55 • Through the Sanskrit and Greek adap-
tation of the e omen they pread in space to China and to Western Europe
and in time, through Lati n Byzantine Greek, Hebrew, Syriac Arabic, Per-
sian, Sanskrit, Chine e, and other languages through the medieval period to
modern time .
But the diviner of the Late Babylonian period also began to devi e new
way to apply cele tial omen way that would appeal to all members of
ociety rather than just to the king in whose interest Eniima Anu Enlil was
compiled but who, no longer being the product of Mesopotamian culture.
but Macedonian or Parthian in ader were not as enthusiastic to employ the
diviners as had been the eo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian kings or even
their Achaemenid ucce or . Bit of uch anempts at modernization have
been published; I mention a examples a text on making an economic fore-

50
R.A . Parker A Vie ,ma Dem01ic Pap wu 011 Eclipse-and Lunar-Omina, Providence
1959.
51
D. Pingree ' enu Omen in India and Bab Ion ·, Language, Literature and History,
New Ha en 1987, pp. 293- 15; Id. , ' Bab Ionian Planetary Theory in San bit Omen Texts ',
From Ancient Omens ro Srarisri al Mechanics Copenhagen 1987, pp. 91-99· Id. ' Me opota-
mian Omen in Sanskrit '. La cir rtla1ion des biens des personnes et de idees dans le Proche-
Orient ancien, Pari 1992, pp. 375-79.
52
See, e.g., S. Langdon, ' Mi cellanea A riaca IV .. An Omen Tablet' Babyloniaca, 7,
1913-1923, pp. 230-36; and the tablets from Uruk:publi hed b F. Thureau-Dangin, Tablettes
d'Uruk , Paris 1922 plate XXX-XXXVJ (no . 16-1 · b H. Hunger Spii.tbab lon.ische Texte
aus Uruk, Berlin 1976 pp. 9.,_95 (no . 90-92 · and byE. on Weiher Uruk. Spiitbabylonische
Texte aus dem Pla,1quadrar . 1 , Mainz 1993 , pp. LOO-IO- (no . 16~62).
53
E.F. Weidner,A/0 14 1941 -1944 pp. I 6- 7.
54
Some triking parallel , ere as embled b C. Bezold & F. Boll, Reflexe astrologischer
Keilinschriften bei griechischen Schriftsrellem SHAl PhiL-hi t. Kl. , Heidelberg l9 l l , Abh.
7· many more could be adduced.
55
D. Pingree in DSB ol. lO e York l974 pp. 547-49.

19
cast for the year on the basi of the po ition of the planet at wt beginning 6
several on predictions of and from the weather5 7 and other a ociating vari-
ous terrestrial object with the zodiacal ign and indicating ariou under-
takings appropriate to the astral conditions5 • The other inno ation v a the
application in the late 5th century B.C. of cele tial omen to personal. nati itie
to produce a class of texts (wrongly entitled horo cope ince the latter
term refers to the ascendant and imp lie the computation of the cu p of the
twelve astrological places which play no role in the e cuneiform texts . They
remain omens applied to individuals, but partake of some of the characteri -
tics of astrology.

56
Hunger, op. cit., pp. 95-99 (no. 93); this tablet was copied by a well-known cribe of
Uruk, lqISa, in about 320 B.C.
57
Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., plats. XXXVIl-XL (nos. l 9-20); see H. Hunger A trologische
Wettervorhersagen ', ZA, 66, 1976, pp. 234-60.
58
E.F. Weidner, Gestirn-Darstellungen auf babylonischen Tontafeln SOAW phil.-hist.
Kl. 254, Wien 1967, Abh. 2.

20
 CHAPTER 2
THE ORIGINS OF GREEK ASTROLOGY

The science of astrology ' wa de eloped in, most probably, the late 2nd
or early 1 t oentury B .C. 2 as a mean to predict from horoscopic themata
draw up for the moment of an indi idual's birth (or conception), the fate of
that native. Thi form of astrology called genethliaJogy is rooted in Aristo-
telian physics and Hellenistic astronomy, but also borrowed much from
Mesopotamia and some elements from Egypt as well as developing many
theories of its own3. The adaptation of this £onn of astrology to detennine
the best time for initiating actions is termed catarcruc astrology. These are
the two main forms of astrology known in the West; interrogational astrol-
ogy was developed in India in the 2nd and 3rd oenturies. A.D. on the basis of
Greek catarchic astrology4 and historical astrology in Sasanian Iran in per-
hap the 5th or '6th century A.O. on the basis of continuous forms of Greek
genethlialogy . AU of the e types of astrology depend on the notion that the

1
See D. Pingree, 'A trology ' in Dictionnry of the Hi'st.ory of Ideas, vol. l , New York
1968, pp.1 18-2,6.
2
A.A. Long, ' A tirology: ~guments Pro and Contra ' in Sciellce a,zd Speculation, Paris
1982, pp. 165-92.
3
The two most significant treatments of Greek astrnlog are A. Bouche-Leclercq,
L'astmlogie grecque, Pari l 99 repr. Bruxelles 1963 now very O)UCh out of date, and W. &
H.G. Gundel, Astrologumena Wiesbaden 1966 v hich uffers se erel y from innumerable
inaccuracies in dating and attribution and from a lack of a, areness of the rele ant material in
Sanskrit and Arabic. Of fundamental! importance for the manu cripts of Greek astrology is
the Caw.logus Codicwn Asrrofo orum G.raecorum L vol . in 20 fascs., Bruxelles 1898-
1953.
4
See Chapter 3 befow.
5 See Chapter 4 below.

21
planets, in their eternal rotations about the earth, tran mil motion change)
to the four elements and to the assemblages of elements anjmate and inani-
mate, in the sublunar world. This theory i completely different from that of
celestial omens, in wh ich the gods, who e phy ical manife tacion are the
constellations and planets, end me age concerning their intention re-
garding kings and countries by means of cele tial phenomena. That the e
divine intentions con be altered by the u e of propitiatory ritual namburbis
in Mesopotamia6, §antis in lndia7) emphasize the fundamemal conceptual
difference between omens and astrology.
But astrology does have a Mesopotamian background. The olde t form
of this pre-astrology is a 13th century B.C. Hittite tablet ba ed on a tran la-
tion from an Old Babylonian Akkadian text in which a brief prediction i
made for a person depending on the month in which he wa born ; thi .frag-
ment is a part of the we ll-known series entitled lqqur ipus9. But the do e t
Babylonian parallels to Greek astrology are the o-called 'horo cope ' , which
record planetary positions and other data at the time of a native ' birth and
sometimes, computed conception 10 , and the texts which inform the diviner
about the interpretation of these omens 11 • These proto-horoscopes them elve
6
E. Ebeling, 'Beitrage zur Kenntnis des Beschworung erie amburbi ', RA, 4 1954,
pp. 1-1 5; 76-85; 130-41; and 178-91; 49, 1955. pp. 32-41; 137-48; and 178-92; and 50, I956,
pp. 22-33; and 86-94; R . Caplice, 'Namburbi Texts in the Briti h Mu eum ' Oriemaiia NS ,
34, I 965 , pp. 105-3 I ; 36, 1967, pp. 1-38 and 273-98; 39, 1970, pp. ll 1-51 · and 40 1971 pp.
133-83; Id.,' An Apotropaion against Fungus', INES, 33, 1974 pp. 345-49; Id., The Akkadia11
Namburbi Texts: an Introdu ction , Los Angeles 1974; and S. Parpola, Letrers from As yrian
Scholars to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal. Parr II , eukirchen-Vluyn 19 3, pp.
xxii-xxxiv.
7
The earliest sanli-rituals in India date from the middle of the last millennium B.C.; ee
D. Pingree,Jyoti~sastra, Wiesbaden 198 l, p. 67.
8
B. Meissner, ' Ueber Genelhlialogie bei den Babyloniem ', Klio, 19, 1925, pp. 432-34
esp. p. 434.
9
K.K. Riemschneider, Baby lonische Geburtsomina in hethitischer Uberse rzung,
Wiesbaden 1970, p. 44, n. 39; the lqqur ipus text is R. Labat, Un calendrier babylonien des
travaux des sign.es et des mois, Paris 1965, pp. 132-35 (§ 64).
10 A. Sachs, 'Babylonian Hora copes' , JCS, 6, 1952, pp. 49-75, on pp. 54-63 publi hed

six ' horoscopes ' databl.e 29 April. 410 B.C. (mentions computed date of conception; brief
prediction); 4 (?) April 263 B.C. (with predictions)· 15 December 258 B.C. (computed. date
of conception; no prediction); 3 June 235 B.C. (w ith prediction ); 3 July 230 B.C. (no predic-
tions, but only four lines preserved); and l March 142 B.C. no prediction preserved); and F.
Rochberg-Halton, ' Babylonian Horoscopes and their Source ' Orientalia, S, 5 , 1989 pp.
102-23, on pp. 1 l 1-19 publishe three more datable 13 January 410 B.C. (no prediction ); 4
February 202 B.C. (no predictions); and 3 September 76 B.C. (no predictions). At the time of
writing this anicle Rochberg includes thirty-two relevant text datable between 410 and 69
B.C. in her forthcoming edition.
1.1 TCL VI 14 was transcribed and translated in Sachs, op. cir., pp. 66-75; for TCL VI 13
see F. Rochberg-Halton, 'TCL 6 13: Mixed Traditions in Late Babylonian Astrology', ZA
77, 1987, pp. 207-28. There exist a number of other uch texts; see, fore ample the excerpts

22
generally give little infonnation beyond the date of birth, sometimes the
date of conception , data concerning the Moon at the syzygies of the current
month (pre umabl to be utilized in computing the date of conception) and
the zodiacal sign ( ometime with degrees) in which the planets were posi-
tioned~ occasionaH it i al o noted whether a planet was visible or not. The
treati es on interpretation are difficult to interpret because of their use of a
technical vocabulary that i not et under tood: the rallu in which a planet
may tand and the DUR and mibru to which it may stand. Other, more
obvious phenomena are a birth (when the Moon. or the Sun?) is in a place
(dodecatemorio11? ) of each zodiacal ign . when each planet has come forth
(risen), when one planet has oome forth while another has set, when each
planet has ri en or et heliacall when various fixed stars have come forth,
and when one of the luminar•e i eclip ed.
One of the prediction in the principle manual of instruction, preserved in
TCL VI 14: 'The plaoe of Cancer: death in the ocean 1- probably provided
the background for Chry ippu argument concerning the analysis of the
conditional: 'If someone is born when Canict.tla (Sirius) is rising, he will not
die in the ocean 13 • Thi correlation if correct hows that the Babylonian
science of birth omens was known in the Greek world by the late 3rd cen-
tury B.C. Other Stoic of the econd century B.C.. such as Diogenes of
Babylon and Panaetiu of Rhode are said by Cicero 14 to have accepted in
part or totally to have rejected the birth omens of the Chaldaeans; although
Cicero, perhap following Panaetius eems to have Hellenized this 'astrol-
ogy somewhat there is nothing in its bask procedures that cannot be paral-
leled in the cuneiform texts and nothing also that must be interpreted as
referring to HeUenistic genethlialogy. ordo Cioero 15 and Augustine 16 clearly
connect Posidonius with any specific doctrine of genethlialogy.
But Babylonjan birth omen were probably known in Greek long before
these Stoic philosopher debated about its validity. Eudoxus, according to
Cicero 17 thought that one hould not at aU believe ' the Chaldaeans in their
prediction and noting down of anyone's life from the day of birth'; this
could be a Peference to the proto-boro copes or w the nativity hemerologies;

published by Rochberg-Halton ' Bab Ionian Horoscope and their Sources ', cit., pp. 109-lO,
and orne among no . 158 - 1630 in A.J. Sach Lare Babyionia,i Asrro11omical and Related
Texts, Providence 1955,. pp,. 256--68.
12
Sachs, 'Babylonian Horo cope · , cit. , pp. 66 and 68.
13
Cicero De Jato 6 12, ed. R. GionlU1i Leipzig 1975 p. 155 ..
14 Cicero De dfrinatione II 4 ' 87) - 47 (97), ed. R. Giomini, Leipzig 1975, pp. 119-23.
15
Cicero, De faro, 3, 5-6, ed. Giomini, pp. 151-52_
16
Augu tinus, .De civirate Dei , _ and 5 ed..E. Hoffmann, 2 ols., Wien 1899- l 900, vol.
i, pp. 211-13 and 217.
17
Cicero, De d1'\,irwtio11e [l 4_ ( 7) ect, pp. 11 -19.

23
and Proclus 18 cites Theophrastus as prai ing the theory of the Chalda an in
his clay whlch ' predicts the lives and death of indi . idual . Howe er one
wishes to interpret these fragments attributed to Eudoxu and Theophra tu
the passage in Vitruvius 19 that attributes to Bero u who wrote in about
290-280 B.C.) the successful teaching of genethljalogy in whrch the zodia-
cal signs and the planets are indicator of the nati e fate can onl be refer-
ring to the ' proto-horoscopes', though Pliny 20 goe too far in claiming that
the Athenians set up a statue of Bero u with a gilded tongue becau e of hi
' divine' predictions .. The one astrological method ascribed t.o Bero u in-
volves the use of the rising-times of Babylonian Sy tern A to determine the
maximum life of a native to be 116 (= 40 + 40 + 36) years21, but thi meth-
odology is totally foreign to everything that we yet know about Bab Ionian
nativity omens; and so the two fragments seem to ha e been incl uded cor-
rectly by Jacoby among those of pseudo-Bero us 22 . The ame two fragment
inform us that Epigenes claimed that the maximum human life- pan is less
than 112 years; this implies the use of the rising-time computed for AJex-
andria by Hypsicles in the second half of the second century B.C. according
to System A also (38;20 + 38;20 + 35 = 111 ;40). I would uggest then that
both pseudo-Berosus and Epigenes should be dated toward the end of the
2nd century or in the 1st century B.C.
Vitruvius in the passage cited above states that there was afterward
(Berosus ') student, Anti pater, and again Achinopolus, who left the reason
behind genethlialogy explained not from the nativity but from the
conception'. As we ha.ve seen, this is in full agreement with Mesopotamian
practice. We know nothing more of these two followers of Berosus, but
later on in the 3rd century we are informed of a Chaldaean baru named
Su dines who performed an extispicy of sorts for AttaJu I of Pergamon before
his victorious battle with the Gauls in about 235 B.C. 23 • Strabo include him
along with Cidenas and Naburianus among the noteworthy µafu)µanKol of
Babylon 24 ; and Sudines is quoted for the 'astrological ' theory that Venus i
the destroyer of women in the summary of a commentary, probably by

18Proclus, In Platonis Timaeum IV (285F), ed. E. Diehl, vol. 3, Leipzig 1906, p. 15 I.

19
Vitruvius, De architectura IX 6, 2, ed. V. Roe, Leipzig 1899, pp. 229-30.
20 Pliny, Natura/is historia VII 37 (123), ed. C. Mayhoff oL 2 Leipzig 1909, p. 42.
21 Pliny, Natura/is historia VTI 49 (1 60), ed. Mayhoff, vol. 2, p. 55, and Cen orinu , De

die natali 17, 4, ed. N. Sallmann, Leipzig 1983, p. 33. For System A ee HAMA vol. l, pp.
368-69, and vol. 2, pp. 715-21.
22 F. Jacoby, Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, 3C, Leiden W958, p. 39'7 (F22a

and b).
23
Polyaenus, Strategemata [V 20, ed. I. Melber, Leipzig I 887, p. 2] 9; cf. Frontinu ,
Strategemata I 11 , 15, ed. R.L Ireland, Leipzig 1990, p. 27 who name the king Eumene ,
presumably intending Eumenes 11, Attalus' son.
24
Strabo, Geographica XVl I, 6, ed. A. Meinecke, vol. 3., Leipzig 1904, p. 1030.

24
Po idoniu , on Plato Timaeus 25 • Thu there exi t ufficient indications that
at lea t in the 3rd century B.C. in A ia Minor and probabl already in the
4th century in Athen omething was known about Mesopotamian binh
omen · and that the philo ophical i ue the rai e concerning fate were
debated among Stoic in the late 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C. Al o in the 2nd
centur - in about it middle - a ppear a few indication of Greek
elaborations on Me opotamian astral di ination. ' Hipparchu and the an-
cient (a trologer ) of the Egyptian are aid by Hephaestio of Thebes to
have de cribed a y tern in \ hich different countries are under the influence
of part of the constellation fom1ing the twel e zodiacal signs-6. This idea
may have been ugge ted b the Bab Ionian y tern of a . ociating months
with countrie . Firmicu Maternu inform u that Fronto followed the
antiscia of Hipparchu , which related the degree in the ecliptic from Cancer
l O to Saginariu 29° to tho e from Capricorn I O to Gemini 29° 27; there is
nothing that we know like thi in Babylonian astral omens. Neugebauer
suggests that Hipparchu u e of the term antiscia may have been in
connection with the arztis, ion referred to in treati e on the sun dial and may
have had nothing to do with 'a trology
Contemporary with Hipparchu was a work on celestial omens closely
related to tho e of Eniima Am:t En/ii but pre ented under the fictitious author-
ship of Petosiri · 9 • Thi treati e evidently included a section on computing
the date of the nati e conception ° which eem to be an elaboration of the
Babylonian method ba ed on the po ition of the Moon. Attributed to this

25
F. La erre, •Abrege inedit du comrnentaire de Po idonio au Timee de Platon (PGen
inv. 203 ', Proragora , A11tifonte, Posidollio, Aristotele, Firenze 1986, pp. 71-127; see also
W. Hiibner 'Zum Planetenfragment de Sudine Pap. Gen in . 203)' ZPE, 73 1988, pp.
33-42; Id. Nachtrag zurn Planetenfragmentdes Sudines. P. Gen. inv. 203', ibid. pp. 109-10.
26
Hephae tio, Aporele matica I 1 7 (Arie . and l6_ (Sagia.arius), ed. D. Pingree Leipzig
1973, pp. 4 and 22; · ee al o I I ,.;.7 (Tauru , 46 (Gemini) 85 (Leo), 104 (Virgo), 143
(Scorpiu ), 182 (Capricorn 201 (Aquarius , and 220 Pi ce ) ed. Pingree, pp. 6-7, 8-9, 13,
15, 19 24-25 27, and 29 though ome of th e may deri. e from the similar s rem ascribed
to Odap u ; • ee Hephaestio, 1 I 65 Cano r 123 (Libra 163 (Sagittariu ) and 221 (Pisces),
ed. Pingree, pp. IO- I I 17 22, and 29.
27
Finnicu Matemu , Marhesis II pra.ef., 2. ed. W. Kroll & F. Skutsch vol. I, Leipzig
1897, p. 40.
28 HAMA, ol. l, p. 331.
29
D. Pingre , ' P eud -Pelo iri in DSB , vol. LO, · \ York 1974 pp. 547-49. Mosl of
the fragment ere assembled, though ithout av arene of their di parate sources, by E.
Rie s, ' echep on.i et Peto iridi fraomenta magica ', Pliilolo us Suppl. 6 1892 pp. 327-
94.
30
See Porphyniu lntroducrio, , - , ed. E. Boer & S. Weinstock CCAG, V 4, Bruxelles
1940, pp. 185-_2 at p. _[O· Hephae tio II l , 9, ed. Pmgre.e, p . 8 , and ill lO, 5 ed. Pingree,
p. 266- and cf. Proclu f,z Platoni Rempublicam, ed. W. Kroll ol. 2 Leipzig 1901 , p. 59.

25
collection by Riess 31 is a chapter ofHephae tio of Thebe 'Apore/esmatica 32 ,
which was written in the early ~th century A.D. e en thou oh Hephae tio
only mentions as hi source 'the ancient Egyptian wi e men . The chapter
makes annual predictions from the position of the pl.anet at the heliacal
rising of Sothis (Sirius). In this chapter is a paragraph33 in which the di tance
of the planets from the earth are taken into con ideration , with the farther
planet transmitting its effect to the nearer until the Moon tran mit them all
to the earth, as well as each planet ' s own changing di tance from lhe earth
due to its traveling on an eccentric or an epic cle or both and the five tar-
planets' stationary points. This reflects a stage in the de elopment of Greek
mathematical astronomy that certainly doe not antedate the 2nd century
B.C., though that does not prove either that thj paragraph wa an original
part of the work of the 'ancient Egyptians' relied upon b Hephae tio or that
that work was identical with the omen book of p eudo-Peto iri .
In any case, by the l st century B.C. 'horoscope begin to appear in Greek,
and to be mentioned in Latin literature. The earlie t datable example i for a
nativity on 21(?) January 72 B.C., that would have been computed many
years later34; the next is that on the relief of a lion, repre enting the constel-
lation Leo, carved for Antiochus I of Commagene at imrud Dagh; on the
lion are depicted the nineteen stars of the con tellation Leo the Moon Jupi-
ter (near the head), Mercury (in the center), and Mar . (near the tail).
Neugebauer and Van Hoesen35 have dated thi 'horn cope 6 or 7 July 62
B.C. and have argued that it refers to the recognition by the Romans of
Antioch us' rule over Commagene. It is not, then a birth horo cope or
even a Mesopotamian nativity omen, but rather an application of the idea of
celestial omens of this form (i.e., the pre ence of planets in a zodiacal ign)
to a political event.
However, sometime in the late 2nd or early 1st century B.C. omeone,
perhaps in Egypt, invented genethlialogical a trology which a ume an
Aristotelian universe in which the earth at the center, con i ting of the four
sublunar elements, is surrounded by the eternally circling phere of the
seven planets in the so-called Hellenistic order (Moon, Mercury Venu ,
Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn). This author al o assumed the ability to compute
the longitudes of the planets and the rising-point of the ecliptic for any given

31 As fragment 12 on pp. 351-55.

32 Hephaestio, Apotelesmatica l 23 , ed. Pingree. pp. 66-73.
33 Ibid. I 23 , 8-11, ed. Pingree, pp. 67-68.
34 0 . Neugebauer & H.B. Van Hoe en, Greek Horo copes Philadelphia 1959, pp. 76-78.
35
Ibid., pp. 14-16.

26
time, and to di ide the ecliptic into the t\ elve a trological place . To each
of these twel e place he a igned an pect of the native' life (life wealth,
sibling , parents, children ickne marriage. death tra els, occupation,
gain and los · the first eight are omerjme treated a a et). Furthermore,
each of the planets and each of the zodiacal ign was endowed with certain
characteri tics and influence o er particular component of man and of the
sublunar world in general · and the planets were endowed with rulership
o er the zcxliacal ign and their parts (the decan or thirds, the dodecatemoria
or twelfth , and the term and the influenced each other and the astrologi-
cal places by mean of either conjunction with them or aspect (sextile to
60°, quartile to 90° trine to 120° and oppo ition to 180°). While many
further particulars were added to thi collection of indicators, and ome modi-
fication were made, thi i the basic et of a wnption that astrologers rely
upon.
Some elements in addition to the central idea of predicting the life of a
native from cele tial phenomena came to the Greeks from Mesopotamia36•
The ign in which the planets ha e their exaltation according to the Greeks
were Arie for the Sun Tauru. for the Moon Cancer for Jupiter, Virgo for
Mercury, Libra for Saturn Capricorn for Mar and Pi ces for Venus; the
ame region of the ecliptic contain the a "ar ni~irti or ecret places of the
planet in cuneiform eel tial omen texts beginning in about 700 B.C. Pre-
sumably the di tribution i based on the easons: Venus, the Sun, and the
Moon, a common Babylonian triad . we as ociated with spring; they are op-
posite to Mercury and to Saturn (the Lauer being known as 'the Star of the
Sun') which are a ociated ith autumn; and the benefic Jupiter in summer
faces the malefic Mars in inter> . A ju t indicated the Babylonians con-
sidered ome planets to be benefic and others malefic3 • the Greeks followed
them in this, making Jupiter and Venu benefic and Saturn and Mars
malefic . From the Babylonian point of view thi djvision i in accordance
with the deitie who e manifestation the e planets are considered to be; for
Jupiter is Marduk and Venu I""'tar. both normally benign gods, while Saturn
is Ningirsu, the god of wind torms . and Mars i Nergal the god of the un-
derworld. The Me opotamian name as that of Mercury s god Nabu, were
recognized by Philip of Opu in the Epinomis to be the origin of the Greek

36
F. Rochberg-Halton ' Element of the Bab Ionian Contribution to Hellenistic Astrol-
ogy ', JAOS , 10 , 19 . pp. 5 l -62 .
37
H. Hunger & D. Pingree, M l.APJ . · 11 Astronn mical Compendium in Cuneiform ,
AJO, Beiheft 24 Hom 1989, pp. 146-47.
3
F. Rochberg-Halton, ' Benefi and Mal ft Plane in Bab lonian A tro logy' , in A
Scinetifi Humanist. Smdies in M mo ry of Abraham Sachs , Philadelphia l 9 8, pp. 323-28.

27
names of the planets 39 • In the Sin section of Enunza Amt Enlii, in Tablet 2
lunar eclipse are associated with the four geograph.i al direction ac ord-
ing to four sets of three months each spaced a are the zodia al ign in the
four triplicitie of the Greeks, which are the group Arie Leo, and Sagitta-
rius (associated by the Greeks with fire), Tauru Virgo and Capricorn a -
sociated with earth), Gemini, Libra, and Aquariu (a ociated with air), and
Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces (a ociated with water . The triplicitie , in fact
are explicitly attributed to the Chaldaeans by Geminu in hi lntrodu tion to
(astronomical) phenomena, who also associate them with the four cardinal
directions4 l . The zodiacal signs them elves, of cour e where de eloped as a
convenient measuring device for the longitude of the planet by the
Babylonians in the late 5th century B.C., and are perhaps referred to already
by Plato42 , though named and described fir t by Eudoxu '13 • ln later cunei-
form texts appears the mini-zodiac in which each zodiacal ign i divided
into twelve equal parts of 2- 1/2° each, and each of the e ub- ection i
called by the name of one of the twelve signs44 • These are the dodecatemoria
used by Greek astrologers, especially in order to modify the influence of the
Moon by associating it with another zodiacal sign in addition to the one it
happens to occupy. Also in the Seleucid and Parthian period in tablet
found at Uruk, there occur elements of Greek genethlialogy uch as the
aspects of a native's life influenced by the individual zodiacal ign the
masculinization and feminization of the planets, and the planetary melothesia,
and some traces of catarchic astrology dependent on the zodiacal ign occu-
pied by the Moon 45 • In some cases it is clear that the Chaldaean . have adopted
this material from the Greeks since the texts have uch clear trace a calling
the first sign the Ram instead of the Hired Man as wa universally done in
previous cuneiform texts; but in other cases it is not yet clear whether the e
late Babylonian texts or their Greek counterparts are the original . The gen-
eral outline of the relationships between Mesopotamian cele: tia1 omen . and
Hellenistic astrology are quite clear; but many questions about the details

39Epinomis 986e-987d in L. Taran, Academica: Plato. Philip of Opu , and the Pseudo-
Platonic Epinomis, Philadelphia 1975, pp. 196-97.
40
ABCD, pp. 323 (text f., rev. 3-4) and 27.
41
Geminus, lntroductio II 7-11 with II 4, ed. C. Manitiu , Leipzig I 98, pp. 20 and 22.
42
Plato, Phaedrus 246e-247c, ed. I. Burnet, Platonis opera, vol. 2, Oxford 1901.
43
There are frequent refences to Eudoxu ' de criptions of the con tellati.o n with re pect
to zodiacal signs in the fragments of his Phaenomena and Enoprron; see F. Lasserre, Die
Fragmente des Eudoxos von Knidos, Berlin 1966, pp. 38-67, e: p. fragment 9 (p. 41) from
Hipparchus, and the fragments mentioned by Las erre in connection with ic.
44
0. Neugebauer & A. Sachs, ' The "Dodecatemoria" in Bab Ionian A trology , AfO, 16
1952-1953,pp.65-66.
45
E. Reiner, Astral Magic in Babylonia,. Philadelphia 1995 IJP· 108-[2.

28
remam unan ered becau e of the lo of o much of the rele ant Greek
material of the la t four centurie B.C. and the cantine of the cuneiform
text from the ame period. But we can et hope that ne\ d i coverie an10ng
the papyri and the ta blet v ill offer the olution to the remaining problems
without po ing too man ne\ one .

29
 3
CHAPTER
BABYL0NIA 1

OME S AND GREEK ASTROLOGY

I INDIA I

The influence of Bab Ionian astronomy on Indian thought i already per-

ceptible in Sanskrit texts of the first half of the last millennium B.C. 1; and so
the earhe t omen t,ext: in India - lw,.ujikiis 93-136 of the Kausikasutra2 of
the Athan m eda and the common ou.rce of the Adbhutabrahma~1a4 (which
is adhya a VJ or V of the Sac}, i1?1iabnihma~za , rv l 1-2.- of the Asvalayana-
grh aparisi~fa, and theAdblmtascmn of the Athan a1 ed41parisi~fas-may
well al o ha e been rnfluenced by Babylonian omens. In both sources the
emphasis i upon the siirlli (pacification) ritual by which the anger of the
god who • ent the omen i appea ed· the e are clearly parallel to the

1 D.
Pingree, 'M L.APIN and \fe:di . ·. tron m •' DUMi -E -D B-BA-A. Studies in Honor
o/Ake W. Sjoberg, Philad lphfat 19 9 pp. 49 -45. ·
2
M. Bloomfield The Kau ika.- utra of the Alharva- eda' JAGS, L4, 1890, pp. i-lxviii
and 1-415. e p. pp. 247- 9; reprinted Delhi 19'72. Fora general a ountof celestial omens in.
lndia ee D. Pingree, Jyoti~1·as1ra, Wi. baden 19 1. pp. 167- 0.
3 • T uji ' On the Formation of the Adbhuta-Brahm~a· ABORI 48-49 1968, pp. 173-
78.
4
~a(jviJ?isabral11na.!1,a itfl eid<J.rrhapmhi.sika of Siiya~w ed. B.R. Sharma, Tirupati 1967,
pp. 195-2_5 (adh a)'a 6 tran fated b •_..B. Bollee, . aq,,iqi.fo-Briihma,:ia, Utrecht 1956 pp.
104-12 (ad'1yiiyo .
5
Asvalayanagrh •apar.i-'i. !a I I l-22 in A ·ata 'anagrhya fitra. ed. G. Gokhale, Poona
1

1.978, pp. 192-95.

6
Pari 'UaLXVIlinTJteP;a ri \ !a ofrli Arhancn·eda ed.G .M. BoUing&J. onNegelein,
vot I, 2 part Leipzig 1909-1.'9 LO, pt. 2, pp. 2-37.

31
Babylonian namburbis. In the econd ource the omen nt b r a u. th
god of the wind, include the hape of animal een in the l ud . rain
dust or blood and palace in the air7, tho e ent b oma includ the fall in_
of meteor , the glowing of the quarter and comet , and tho e em b i. QU
include halo about the Sun and the Moon 9 • 11 of the e men ar farn'li r
from the prota e of En ii.ma Anu En/ii a are man , of the other. terre trial
omens in thi ource from the prota e of the Bab Ioni an men erie umma
aiu!O.
The date of the two ource mentioned abo e remain uncertain though
they must have been compo ed in about th middle of the la t miHennium
B.C., either hortly before or short ly after the Achaem nid o cupation of
Gandhara, which must have occurred before Dar·u c u ed th Behi tun
in cription to be inci ed in about 520 B.C. In the earl · 4th century B .C.,
since hi nirvar;a seems to have occurred in about 350 B.C. 1 t , th Buddha i
alleged to have delivered a sermon the Brahmajala utta that i in luded in
the D'fghanikaya 12 ; in tltis sermon he ca tigate the immoral a ti itie en-
gaged in by some Srama:i:ia and Brahma:i:ia i:n rerurn for food 1 • ome of
these activities involve various form of acrifice and thee p lling of de-
mon and other undesirable being ; but a large number ar concerned with
various forms of divination. Almost every t pe of omen mentioned by the
Buddha i found in both the earlier cuneiform literature and in the later San-
krit text ; and the terre trial omens are enumerated in an order - hou e ,
ghosts, snake , poisons, scorpion , mice ulture , crow and quadruped -
that corre ponds almost completely with the order of the Tablet of umma
alu 14 • The Buddha also lists in his sermon a number of ele tial and atmo -
pheric omen : lunar eclip es olar eclip e , ob ervation of the tars nakharta
= nak~atra, probably including the planet here the Moon and the Sun

7
Adbhutabriihma,:ia 8, ed. pp. 212- I 4; Asvalayanag,:hyaparisiHa IV 17. ed. p. 19 ; and
Athan,avedaparisiHa LXVII 7, 1-5, ed. p. 434.
AdbhutabriihmmJa 9, ed. pp. 215-16; and Asvalaya,wg,:hyapari'( ra r 19 ed. p. 194:
omitted in Atharvavedapari.si~[a LXVII.
9
Adbhutabrahmarya 10, ed. pp. 217-2 1; Asvaliiyanagrhyaparisiffa I 21, ed. p. l 4: and
Atharvavedaparisi~!O LXVIl 6, I-7, ed. p. 434.
10
There is an incomplete edition by F. otscher, Hau -und Stadt Omi11a. oJ ., Rome
1928-1930; a useful urvey i provided by S. Moren in her 1978 Ph.D the i ubmiued to the
Un iver ity of Penn ylvania, The Omen Series "Summa all/': A Preliminary l m·e 1igarion.
11
H. Bechert, 'The Date of the Buddha Recon idered IT, W, 19 2. pp. 29-36.
12
Dighanikiiya j 1, 1-3, 74, ed. T.W. Rh Da id & J .E. urpenter. ol. I, L ndon 1 90.
pp. 1-46.
13 Dighanikaya i I, 21-27, ed. pp. 9-12.
14
D. Pingree, 'Mesopotamian Omens in San krit' La cirrnlalion des biens, des personne
et des idees dans le Proche-Orienr ancien, Pari 1992, pp. 375-79.

32
going on and off their path probabl th e familiar from Enunw Anu Enlil
the Path of Enhl. Anu, and Ea).. the tar · going on their path , the falling of
meteor and hooting ta . the ·burning of the direction (i.e. a glow on
the horizon). eanhquake , thunder. and the ri ing , the etting , the bright-
ne , and the dimn of the oon, the Sun and the tar . Clearl the Buddha
(or at lea t the author. v ho mu t be earl . of the Brahmajalasurta) wa very
familiar, ith the content of both Summa iifo and Eniima Anu Enlil. Though
much work need to be don ~n omparing the pecific omen in the Sanskrit
tradition- e peciaU , tho e in rhe ,er unpubli hed earlie t Gargasa1?1hita 15 ,
which wa \ ritten ~n about 100 A.D. - \) ~th the cuneiform text which are
also 10 a large e tent unpubli hed, it i dear that in the 5th and early 4th
centur B .C. much of the Me opotamian omen literature perhaps from
Aramaic ver ion . wa tran lated into an Inditan language, and that the e
tran lation thou1!h undoubted] con iderabl altered to fit with Indian
<.-

intellectual t:raditio and ith the Indian ociety which the diviner had to
erve, form the ba i of the ri h San krit and Prakrit hterature on terre trial
and cele tial men . The thu parallel the contemporary Babylonian
influence on earl Indian mathematical a tronom 16 .
Thu the Babylonian a tral ien es in a form that the had reached in
the Achaemenjd period before the remarkabk de elopment in a tronomy,
or the le remarkabWe one in omen . of the Seleucid period became the
foundation of Indian ;)ori~1 ',a rra. With the inten ification of direct trade
by ea bet\ een Eg pt and lnd•a in the late 1 t century B .C. under the aus-
pice of the Roman Empire. and thee tabh Junent of Greek colonie in In-
dia the po ~bilit of a dwect tran mi ion of both Hellenistic astrology and
a tronom emerged· and it t' clear from the Indian le t of the 3rd through
the 6th centurie A.D. that man Greek text in both ciences were rendered
into San krit. For the influence o Greek tronom 17 we rely primarily on
the Paitiirnalwsiddhiinta of the\ i_ ~wdharmottarapurii.,.7a 1 , written inc. 425;

15
For thi ersion of the Gar asa,r1hifii ee D. Pingree, Census of rhe Exact Sciences in
anskrit, Serie A. o . I- - Philadelphia 1970-1 994, A l 16a-l I 7b· A 3, 29b· A 4 78a·
and A , 7 b. S e al o D. Pingree. ' enu Omen in lnclia and Babylon ', Language, Litera-
wre, and Hi rory, L ew Haven 19 . pp. 29 -"L .
16
D. Pingree. ·Toe fe opotamian Origin of Early Indian Mathematical A tronom ' ,
)HA 4,197 pp. ]- I ; Id. ·Bab:Ionian Planetary Theory in San krit Omen Text' , From
Anci Ill Omens to tori tical 1ecl1a1,ic . Copenhag n 19 7, pp. 91-99.
17
D. Pingrre , 'The Rec very f Early Greek tronomy from India· , IHA 7,. 1976, pp.
109-2"; [d_ 'Hi tory f fathemati _al tron m , in India . D B . ol. I 5, pp. 533-633.
1
CE S. A 4. p. 25 a; D. Pingree. ·Toe Pu.rii.Qas and Jyotil)'astra: tronomy JAGS,
110, 19 0 pp . 274- 0: and D. Pingree • P. Morri e ' On the Identification of the Yogaufras
of the Indian alqmra '. JHA. 20. 19 9. pp. 99-H9.

33
the Aryabha(iya of Aryabhata 19, written inc. 500; and the Paiicasiddhiintika
of Varahamihira20 , written inc. 550. For the origin of jiitaka or genethliaJogy
in Greek astrology 21 , on the other hand, we rely primarily on the Yavanajataka
of Sphujidhvaja22 , written in 269/270; the Vrddhaym anajiitaka of Minaraja23 ,
written inc. 300-325; and the Brhajjiitaka of Varahamihira-4, written in c ..
550, with the commentary on it, Jagaccandrika, compo ed by BhanotpaJa25
in C. 970.
Sphujidhvaja's Yavanajiitaka is a versification of a San krit translatfon
of a Greek astrological treatise; the Greek original wa written in Egypt
probably in Alexandria, toward the beginnjng of the 2nd century A.D. and
was turned into Sanskrit by someone bearing the title Ya anesvara Lord of
theGreeks',in 149/150. Themostlikelylocaleforthi tran lationi Ujjayin1
under the rule of the Mahiik$atrapa, Rudradaman I, a prominent member of
a Saka dynasty in whose kingdom Greek influence was extremely trong.
This conjecture is strengthened by the fact that it wa Rudradaman who
initiated the use of a mathematically determined caJendar which was made
possible by the Greco-Babylonian astronomy taught in the Ya vanajataka 26 •
The facts that Sphujidhvaja is also a raja (presumably a Yavanaraja) 27 and
that Minaraja is a Yavanadhiraja 28 indicate that they came from the ame
social milieu, that of the kingdom of the Western K~atrapas , as had
Yavanesvara; the title was also borne, in the form Yoraji, by the ruler of
Saiijayapura (Safijan?) in about 330.
The prime indisputable evidence that the Ya vanajiitaka is indeed influ-
enced by Greek astrology is the presence in it of a large number of technical
terms that are simply transliterations of their Greek equivalent ..
anapharii (X 1, 4, and 13-17) = ava¢op<i (when the Moon ha passed a
planet; usually called chr6ppOLa.).

19
CESS, A I, pp. 50b-54a; A 2, p. 15b; A 3, p. 16a; A 4 p. 27b, and A 5, pp. I 6a- I 7a; ee
also D. Pingree, 'Aryabhata, the Paitamahasiddhanta, and Greek A rronorny ' , SHMS , S,
12, ]993, pp.69-79.
2
°
21
CESS, A 5, pp. 563a-564b.
Pingree, JyotilJsasrra, cit. , pp. 81-100.
22
Sphujidhvaja will be included in CESS, A 6; fornow see D . Pingree, The Yarnnajataka
of Sphujidhvaja , HOS , 48 , 2 vols. , Cambridge Mas . 1978.
23 CESS, A 4, pp. 427a-429b, and A 5, pp. 31 Oa-3 IOb. 1 refer 10 the edition by D. Pingree,

The Vrddhaya vanajataka of M'inariija , GOS, 162-163, Baroda 1976.

24
CESS, A 5, pp. 573a-587b. I refer to the edition with the [ika of Bhaqotpala by Go inda
Devasthali, Mumbai San:i. 1983 = A.O. 1926.
25
CESS, A 4, pp. 272a-275a; and A 5, pp. 246b-247a.
26
In adhyiiya LXXIX; see D. Pingree, ·A ote on the Calendars U ed in Early Indian
Inscriptions ', JAOS , 102, 1982, pp. 355-359.
27
Yavanajiitaka LXXlX 62, ed. vol. 1, p. 506.
28 Vrddhayavanajiitaka LXVII 1, ed. vol. 2, p. 374.

34
 iipoklima (l 53 and 94 = ci OKALµa cadent: the third, sixth, ninth, and
twelfth place ).
daurudhu m (X 1 5 and I -27) = oopu<f>opla (when the Moon is between
two planets).
drekaf_la (I 34 and 39· III; XXIlI 6-9· XXVII 2 and 5-8; and XXIX) =
8EKav6s' third of a zodiacal ign; or Decan).
hipaka (148) = im6ynov the fourth place .
hora (I 31 34 39 and 48· II- XX ID· and LXXVI 49-50) = wpa (ascend-
ent; half of a zodiacal irn; or Hora).
jiimitra (149) = 8L<iµE pas- the e enth place).
kemadruma (X 2 and 6 = 1KEvo8poµia (when there is no planet before or
behind the Moon).
kendra (I 53) =Kmpov (cwdine: the first, fourth eventh, and tenth places).
lipta (LXXIX 2 ) and liptaka (l 38 and 43) = A.E rrT6v (minute of arc).
me(1yai a (I 50) = µ11 LCILOS" (lunar).
me~urwia (I 49 = µEcroupciVT')µa midhea en).
paf_laphara , I 53) = inava<popa. ( uccedent: the second, fifth eighth, and
eleventh place ).
sunaphii (X 1 3, and 8- 12 = cruva<M (v hen the Moon approaches a planet).
triko~w (l 5 l) = Tpl ,•wvov (trine· the fifth place. The ninth place is called
'tritriko,:z.a ).
vasi (XI I 3 and 6-7 = cpd<JLS'
ri ing .
When we examine the doctrines of the Ya anajataka and compare them
with those of the urvi ing Greek and Latin texts we find that the former
are indeed deri ed from the latter both in terms of the predicters and of the
prediction though the lndian ha e modified both in many instances to
make them fit into their o n trad itions . Titi is not the place to discuss these
dependencies and di ergences in detail· that has been done elsewhere-9 , where
I also demonstrated that the f m anajatako. i the basi of almost all of the
Indian tradition of astrology. At this point I would only draw the reader's
attention to a fact that nicel illuminates the way in which Indian culture
influenced the Greek material that it ab orbed. The manuscript translated by
Yavanesvara was adorned ith picture of the Horas and Decans based on
a Greek interpretation of Egyptian originals· the e pictures, which are de-
scribed in Sanskrit in adh a a II and III of the Ymanajataka , were under-
stood as repre entation of Si a and ParvaH 30 •
After hi co erage of genethlialogy in adhy{1 as I to LI Sphujidhvaja has

29
Pingree The Yava11ajiitaka, it. ol. 2 pp. 195-4 15.
30
D. Pingree, The Indian Iconography of the Decan and Horas ', JWCl, 26, 1963, pp.
223-54.

35
added a ection on interrogation (pra.foa 'asrra 3 ' in adhyaya LII to LXX:ll.
Thi branch of astrology was an Indi an in ention. dra ing upon b thjiitaka ,
for the subjects of the query , and Greek catarchic a trolog , for th an er·
if not devised by Sphujidhvaja himself, he mll t ha e been able to d ri e it
from ome Indian astrologer writing in the centur before he ompo ed the
Yavanajiitaka. The difference between catarchic and interrogational a tr l-
ogy is that with the former the a trologer determine a propitiou time for
his client to begin doing omething, while with the lati r he an v er a p -
cific question from the horo cope of the moment at which the que tion wa
a ked. Interrogations, as will be made clear in chapter 4 and 6, ere an
important contribution by Indians to later a trologie ; o al o wa militar
astrology, (ya.tn:i.32 ), which i based on a combination of omen with atarchic
a trology. Sphujidhvaja inaugurate the long Indian tradition of the mi ed
form of thi type of astrology in adhya a LXXIII to LXXVI, whil he
deals with catarchic astrology it elf (muhurtasiistra 33 ) brief! in adh)a a
LXXVII-LXXVIII.
MTnaraja, wbo copies or repeat many of Sphujidh aja' v
mo t of the Vrddhayavanajataka to genethlialog (adhyiiya 1-LXIII), but
appends eight chapters on omen at the end. Much of what he ha added to
the genethlialogy of the Yavanajiitaka eem to have been deri ed from th
lost work of Satya, who appears to have been able to draw upon a cond
translations of a Greek a trological work a well a upon Ya ane' ara
clearly Satya must be dated to the 3rd century. The main inno ation made
by Minaraja in the field of genethJjalogy were the de elopment of a pecia.l
field of women's horo copy (strijiitaka) in adh)ii)as LVIII-LXll and the
theory of the rays (rasml) of the planet e pounded in adh ii)a L VI; the e
rays are a mea ure of the di tance of each planet from it exaltation and
therefore only express in a new way an old idea.
Varahamihira, while normally following Sphujidh aja or Satya in hi
Brha}jataka (he refer to Satya by name in Il 15· Il 9, lO and l · XII 2·
XX 20; and XX] 3, but never by name to Sphujidh aja de pite hj ecboi ng
of Sphujidhvaja' word from time to time) depend on man other author-
itie a well. He cite at various point the opinion of JI a' arman II 9

31
See Pingree, lyoti~siistra, cit., pp. 110-14.
32
Ibid ., pp. 107-8.
3
Ibid., pp. 101-7.
34 See The Yavanajiitaka, cit., ol. 2, pp. 198, 207, 209,210, 224, 236, _40. 241 246. 273.

275,293,331 333,339,348, and 354. For Sarya ' u e of Ya ane' ara ee ibid., vol. , pp.
299 and 337-38.
35 CESS, A 3, p. 70a.

36
 II 7), Para 'ara3 ( II_ . Bhadatta 3 (VII 11 )
39
Maya ( II l) i. 1:mgupta I1 and I" . Saktipurva41 (VIl l ) and
Siddha ena II 7 . all of \Vh m eem to have \\'linen in the 4th or 5th cen-
tur . It i apparently Tn araja , horn he refer to as Yavanfil) in XII 142 , but
hi other referenc to the a anas are irher to the lo t rran lation u ed by
Sat a (XXI 3~ 3) or t another l t tran lati n fr m the Greek ( ill 9 44 and XI
1). And in II l he refe epararel) to Ya ana4 - and to MaIJittha 46 , whose
name repre en the Greek ~1m,i6wv, alleged author of a Greek a trological
poem in i book . though mo t of the fragmen of hi lo t San krit treati e
are high\ Indiani zed. Bhan rpala~7 arefull di tingui he th is Yavana,
who e, ork he ha nor een but\ horn , becau e of hi agreement with Satya,
he a ume to be ide nti al with a ane ' ara, from Sphujidhvaja. One or the
other or both of t h lo t tran lat ion m a ha e been known to
Go inda vamin , wh in the earl 9th cenrury, a able to quote verses
from Ya anac.arya, Ya an '. ara. and Cirantana a ana 49 , as well as from
MaJJittha and Sphujidhvaja.
V arahan1ihira · acquaintan ith Greek ource other than that u ed by
Sphujidh aja i furth r pr ved by hi u e in the Brhajjaraka of Sanskrit
tran literation of G reek te hnical tem1 other than tho e found in the
Yavanajataka. The are:
tikokera (I ) = 1y6KEpws apri om).
tira (II 2· 14; I I · XXlII 14.; and XXVI 9) = PTlS' (Mar ).
a phujir II ; XXI 1-,: and 'VI 9 · = 4>po8tlll (Venus) .
ittha I 8; perhap arahan1ihira wmte ,-ktha = ·1xeus- (Pi ce ).
karki l I · V 20· XI 9: and XXIII 9 = KapK(vQS' (Cancer).
ko~,a ( 2 = Kp6v (Saturn .
kaurp a I = L'Kopmos- S orpiu .
kri a (I 8· III 3· 21 · XJ 10; XVIl l; XVIII I; and XXVI 9) = KpL6S'
(Arie ).

"J6 CES 3, p. 12 1 .
37
CESS 4, p. 199a.
38
A cording to BhanorpaJa on Brhajjatako Il 11 Bhadatta i identical with Satya.
39
CE S, 4 p. 3 b.
40 CESS, A -, p. 704a.
41
Saktipurva i id nti aJ with Parasara a ording rn Ba!1otpala on Brhajjiitaka VII9.
42
Pin gree, The Yavam1ja,aka. cir., o1. . pp. 0- I.
43 Ibid.. ol. 2. pp. _9_.9 .
44
Ibid., vol. 2 p. 4 .
45
Ibid. ol. - , p.
46
CES , A 4, p. 4 b.
47
Pingree, op. cit., vol. - pp. 7-" .
4
CE S,A2,p. l44a;A4, p. 6b:andA - , p. lOla.
49 C£S, A - p. - · b.

37
 jituma (I 8 and XXVI 9) = t.L8vµm (Gemini)
juka (I 8; XIX 2; and XXV 8) = Zuy6v (Libra).
tavuri (I 8) = Taupos (Tauru ).
tauk~ika (I 8) = To~OTIJS' (Sagittariu ).
dyii.na (I 16; XXIII 3 and 13; XXIV 8 and 9) = 8uvov (de cendent .
pathona (I 8 and xxm 1) = Tiap8EVOS (Virgo) .
Leya (I 8) = AEwv (Leo) .
h,:droga (I 8) = 'Y8pox6os- (Aquariu ).
hemna (II 2) = 'Epµf]S' (Mercury) .
heli (ll 2) = "H}._LOS' (Sun).
[n conclusion we must note that VarahamihiLra . a a Maga Brahmru:ia wa
subject not only to Greek influence but to Iranian. Thi become apparent
not in his a trology (for the Iranian astrology of the 6th century wa haped
by Indian and Greek, as wiH be shown in the next chapter but in hi a tro-
nomical Paficasiddhantika, wherein hi Ii t of the deitie a ociated with
the thirty day of each Persian month is de eloped from an Iranian Ii t 50 .

50 Thi topic will be discussed in a fonhcoming paper by A. Panaino.

38
 CHAPTER 4
THE RECOVERY OF S S IAN ASTROLOGY

Virtuall th entire · rpu of trol gi al te that once existed in PahlavI

ha long inc di app ared'; of that hi h remain the chief pa age i that
on the horo cop of the world :a c i eha,z) in the 9th century Bundahishn 2 •
Thi i , in fact a the nati it , of Ga ,o mart the Indian horo cope of a
mahapuru. a with the n plane in the zodiacal ign of their exalta-
tion without an peci.fication of their degree within tho e igns, and with-
out actualll · mentionino ercury po ition in Virgo which i a tronomi-
cally irnpo ible . The horo cope of the rnahapuru. a fir t appears in the
San krit Yavanajataka omp db Sphujidh aja in 269/270 A.0. 4 • How-
e er the Pahla i adapter of thi horn ope ha made ome additions, of
which the main one i that the ending and de cending node of the Moon,
which are ref rred to as the Head and Tail of the Dragon Gocihr (the Indian
Rahu and Ketu are pla ed in Gemini and agittariu re pectively· the e
exaltation of the node do not occur either in Cla ical Greek or in Indian

1
There i a brief re,rie, of the Pahla I material b , C J , Brunner, · A tronomy and A trol-
oay in the anian P riod' , Efr _ pp. 862a- 6 b; ee ai o D. Pingree ·Masha' aliah: Some
asanian and yria c urce , E ay on Islam ic Philosoph_ and Science Alban 1975, pp.
5-14.
2
D. 1 • Ma kenzi , 'Zoro trian trolog in the 81mdahis11' BSOAS, 27 1964 pp. 511-
29. Important thi arti le w in i rim . it n no to be thorough! re i ed.
3 [n ome ve ion f th:i mahiipufi$a h ro ope i.t i al o rated that the Moon is full,
which again i tronomi all r im ible in e it i on] one zodiacal ign from the Sun.
4
Yava11ajiitaka VIII · and lX _ in D . Pinl!ree Tlze avmwjiiwka of Sphujidvhaja HOS,
48, 2 ol ., Cambrid e ,1 . 197 .

39
astrology, but represent a Sasanian innovation ba ed on the Indian ' inclu-
sion of the two nodes among the planets, which then number nine; thi s in-
clusion occurred only in the late 4th or 5th century, after MTnaraja wrote hi
Vrddhayavanajiitaka between 300 and 325 5 . This indicate that the Pahla I
original of this horoscope of Gayomart doe not go back earlier than c. 500
and was probably proposed during the reign of Khu ro Anu hirwan,. who
ruled from 531 till 578.
Other Indian element in this horoscope of a mahiipuru.Ja include the
references to the nak~atra Azarag, corre ponding to the San krit A' le . a:6;
and the bonds that connect the five star-planet to the Sun remind one of the
chords of wind that bind them to their fighroccas (corresponding to the Sun)
in Indian astronomy7, though the lengths of the bonds for Venu and Mer-
cury - 2831 = 47; 11 ° and 1850, for which read 1350 = 22;30° re pec-
tively- are Venus' maximum equation of the anomaly according to the
Sasanian Zik-i Shahriyariin of Khusro Anu hirwan and the radiu of Mer-
cury's epicycle according to Ptolemy 9 • Thus, the idea advanced by Cumont
that the Greek version of this horoscope, which cans it Chaldaean, repre-
sents some Babylonian prototype 10 (which is in fact totally inconceivable
since the Babylonians did not cast horo cope ), is ab urd; rather the Greek
is a most interesting Byzantine version of an Arabic description of the Zoro-
astrian horoscope of the world. That Arabic original in fact , is preserved in,
inter a/ia, the eighth book of <An ibn Abi al-Rijal Kitiib al-biiri ( (Book of
the Skilled) 11 , where it is attributed to the Kitiib al-biz[daj of Vettius Valens
as commented upon by Buzurjmihr.
The other references to astrology in PahlavI literature assure us that that
science was widely practiced in Sasanian Iran; and those examples I have
been able to examine indicate that among the types of astrology then in u e
was that of interrogations 12 , an Indian invention based on Greek catarchic
astrology but differing from it in the way described in chapter 3.

5
D. Pingree, Jyoril_zsastra, Wiesbaden 1981 , p. 83 .
6
D.N. Mackenzie, BSOAS, 27, 1964, p. 514 n. 2.
7
D. Pingree, ' Astronomy and Astrology in lndia and Iran ' , Isis, 54,_1963, pp. 229-46,
esp. 242.
8
See, e..g., E.S. Kennedy & D. Pingree, The Astrological History of Mashii'alliih, Cam-
bridge, Mass. 1971, p. 82.
9' ~uVTa~LS µaOl)µaTLKTJ IX 9.
10 In CCAG, 5, 2, p. 131; the 0EµDrns <iaTpovoµ u<ljs T{ xvns Ka Ta TOVS' XaX.6ofous
&x;a was edited by I. Bidez, CCAG, 5, 2, pp .. l30-37.
11
Kitab al-biiri' VIlI 35, cited by C.A. NaJ lino, ' Tracee di opere greche giunte agli Arabi
per trafi.la pehlevica', A Volume of Oriental Studies Presented to Professor E.G . Bror ne
Cambridge 1922, pp. 345-63, esp. 353. The same horo cope i referred to by f:lamza al-
I~fahani (I 5) and pseudo-Hermes; see Pingree, ' Masha.' alliih' , cit., p. 12 n. 6.
12
A. Panaino, 'The Two Astrological Reports of the Kiirnamag i Ardafir i Pabagiin (III,
4-7~IV, 6-7)', Die Sprache 36, 1994, pp. 181-98.

40
 But for the mo t part e rel on Arabic tran lation of and references to
the Pahla i te t for our recon tru tion. The e tran lation from Pahlavi
were virtuaH the earLie t ientifi te ts in Arabic 13 · and earl cAbbasid
a trology like its astron m 1~, wa largel Sa anian and Greek in origin,
with Indian material entering in through i being intermingled with the Greek
and Iranian element in S anian trolog , while most of the practicing
astrologer of the late eighth and earl · ninth centurie were lran ians. I need
only name awbakht \. ho came to al-Man. iir court as a Zoroastrian claim-
ing de cent from Gev but \ ho then onverted to I lam 15 • Ma ha>allah ibn
Athari, a Per ian Je\ from B~ra 16 ; and ' Umar ibn al-Farrukhan from
Tabari tan 17 all three of whom were pre ent at the casting of the catarchic
horoscope of Baghdad for 30 Jul 76_ 1 • to them may be added al-FaC,l ibn
Sahl from Sarakh 19 Sahl ibn Bi hr, a Jew who worked in Khurasan20 Abu
Ma' shar ofBalkh 1 and bu Yu uf Ya<qub ibn ' Ali al-Qa.ran'i22 , to restrict
our elve to only the more important authorities who were Persians and
who relied dire tl y or indirectly, on Pahla i ources.
A number of genuine translation of Pahlavi books have survived, though
there al o are e eral Arabic te t that fal ely claim to be such translations.
The most noreworthy of the latter group entitled Kitiib care/. mifia~1 asrar al-
nujum (Book of the Latitud of the Ke of the Seo~ets of the Stars), is attrib-
uted to Henne and i aid in the unique manuscript in the Ambrosiana23 ,

13
D. Pingree, • trolog · Hl Tire Cambridg,e Histm of Arabic Literature: Religion,
Learnin and Scien e in 1he'Abbas;d Perwd Cambride:e 1990, pp. 290-300, esp. pp. 292-95.
14
D. Pingree ·Toe Greek Influence on Early l lamic Mathematical Astronomy ', IAOS,
93 , 1973 pp. 32-43.
15
F. Sezgin, Ge chi hie de arabiscl,en S hrifrrwns, ol. VIl Leiden 1979 pp. 100-1; for
hi claim to ancient Ka}ranian anc try ee D. Pingree, Elr 1, pp. 369a-369b.
16
E.S. Kenned & D. Pingree, op. cit.~ D. Pingree, DSB , ol. 9 , ew York 1974, pp. 159-
62; GAS, VII pp. 102- · D. Pingree ·Classical and Byzantine A trology in Sasanian Persia',
DOP, 4 , 1989 pp. __7_39 and Id. 'Masha,allah: Greek Pahla i , Arabic and Latin Astrol-
ogy ', to appear.
17
D. Pingree DSB , ol. 1 ew York 1976,. pp. - 8-39; GAS, VU, pp. 111-13; and D.
Pingree, 'The Liber niversu of < lnar Ibn al-Farrukhan al-Taban ,JHAS, 1, 1977, pp. 8-
12.
1
D. Pingree 'The Fragmen of the V orks of al-FazarI , J ES, 29, 1970, pp. 103-23,
esp. p. 104.
19
GAS VTI, pp. U 5- I6.
20
GAS VII pp. 12:5-2 .
21
R. Lema , Abz"i Ma 'shar and Larin Aris tot lia.n i min the Twelfth Century, Beirut 1962;
D. Pingree, Th e Thou ands ofAb1, Ma ' har, London 1968 and DSB vol. l, New York 1970,
pp. 32-39: and GAS. Vll, pp. l39-5l.
22
GAS VII pp.. 13' -9· and D. Pingree & W. Madelu.og. 'Political Horoscopes Relating to
Late Ninth Century cAlids , J ES 36, 1977, pp. 247-T .
23
M .342 (C86 describedb •E. GriffmiinRSO 7, 1916-1918,pp. ll0-27,ff. lb-lOOa;
see GAS VII pp. 53-4.

41
whose copying was finished on Friday 7 Rabi' al-aw al in 107 l A.H. or 12
ovember 1660, to have been tran lated in Dhu al-qa'da in 125 A.H . r
between 26 August and 24 September in 742. The text i a confu ed treati e
on historical and political a trology based on permutation of the id a of the
revolutions of the world-year (sinf a/-'iilam) a form of astrology that we
shall see to have been invented and popular in Sa anian Iran. Bau ani'
notion that thi text quotes from Abu a' har Kitab a~kiim ta~uiwf/ al-
maw ii!Td, composed in about 850, i unfounded 24 ., though he i certainl
right to deny that the pseudo-Hermetic work wa tran lated in 125 .H. Of
the dozen or o horn copes that it contain , none ield a ati factory date
between 600 B.C. and 1600 A.D. except for one who e date i incontro ert-
ibly 24 March 142825 • This p eudo-Hennetic text i then, tripl bogu · it i
neither by it alleged author, nor wa it tran lated in 742 nor, indeed \ a it
a translation at all. It shows ign of being an Arabic forgery of the 15th or
16th century.
The arne manuscript contains a fragmen t of a book on a familiar form of
Sa anian hi torical astrology ba ed on conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter.
This work26 is attributed to Jama b, and is claimed to have been tran. lated
from PahlavI by Mu}):ammad .ibn AbI Bakr al-Fari T who i probabl y the
Mu];Iammad al-Fari I who wrote in Arabic in the Yemen the al-Zij al-Mu1affar1

24
A. Bau ani, 'II Kitab < Art/. Mifta}:,. an- ujum attribuito a Henne : prima traduzione
araba di un te to astrologico?', Atti de/la Accademia fazionale dei Li11cei, erie ottava,
Memorie , Cl. Sci. mor., star. efil., 27, 1983, pp. 3- 141 e p. pp. 9 and 126. Bau ani doe
not realize that the D e revolutionibus nativitatum publi hed at Basel in I559 i definitely a
translation from the Greek ver ion of Abu Ma' har' Kiuib ta}:,.iiwil sini al-mawii/,d edi ted b
D. Pingree, Leipzig 1968; nor that the style of the Kitiib (anj miftaf:1 al-nujiim i totally fo r-
eign co that of Abu Ma'shar.
25
Bau ani 's attempt (op . cit., pp. 85-89) to di cu the date of ome of the horo copes i
quite u eless. The horoscopeof24 March 1428 i found on f. 62a; see Bau ani,op. cir. p. 129.
Planets Ambro iana m . Computation
Saturn Sagittariu Sagittariu _J O retr.
Jupiter Aquaria Aquariu 20°
Mars Arie Arie 70
Sun Aries Ari 130
Venu Aries
Mercury Pi ce
0
Moon Cancer Cancer l
A cending node Arie Arie 23°
The po ition of the planets are taken from B. Tuckerman, Planetary, Ltmar, and Solar
Positions A .D. 2 to A.D. 1649, Philadelphia 1964· the po ition of the a cending node from
P.V. Neugebauer, Sterntafeln van 4000 vor Chr. bis w Geg,e m art , Leipzig 1912 pp. 6 -76.
26
On ff. 101b-l 17b. GAS, VII, p. 88.

42
in 1262 27 • There i hrtle rea on toe 'pe t either of the e , ork to yield an
purel Sa anian material, thou ....h a i the a e \ ith mo t Arabic astrology,
some of their onten pre umabl I go ba o uch a ource.
The a.me i true of three t , pre rved in Pari Arabe 2487, which was
copied in Egypt in 149...:'. The fi t of the i a Kfuib a riir kaliim Hurmus
al-mr,thallath bi-al-~1171<.ma Book of the ecrets of the Words of H ermes who
i Tripled in \ i dom 19 • The preface e hoe bu J\,f a' bar in di cu ing the
fu t and the e ond H rm 30 - mt i the e and, a Chaldaean who i al -
leged to have wrinen th Kiriib a riir kaliim Hunn us - and then proceed to
give without proper id ntJifi ation, tll Bundahislm' horo cope of Gay6mart,
except that Me ury i entered twi e in i e altamion Virgo 15°, and near
the Sun at Arie 29° . and that the Lot of Fortune and the Lot of the Strange
join the nine plane . The te r break ff after ewght page in the midst of a
general di cu ion of njun tion of tum and Jupiter, another f<?rm of
astrolog · in ented in S anian Iran.
The next b k in thi manu ript i a K iuib ft a~1kiim al-qiranat (Book
Concerning the Jud me11t of the Co11ju11ctio11s) rud to ba e been written
by Jama b the Wi e· 1 and to ha e been tran ribed in l 18 l from a mysteri-
ou rnanu ript brought to th \! eU-guard d citadel of al-Imam al-Na~'ir,
Caliph from l l O till J2_ . The work i a f: cimating a trological world
hi tory based on th th o of oajun tion . of Saturn and Jupiter according
to which a onjun tion at the b ginning of Arie \ hich occurs at interval
of about 10 0 ,e ars, indi. ate proplle · tran fe of onjunction from tri-
phcity to tripli it , hi h oc ur about every 240 or 260 ear ., indicate
change . ind nastie · and indi ~dual onjun tion hich are , eparated by
twenty ear incti ate more hort-term hi torical e ent 3- . P eudo-Jarna b
begiru; with Zaradu ht, \ horn he pla e 1300 ye-ars after the Flood (that is,
in about 2 00 B.C. and ontinue to about_ 00 A.O .. In thi highly imagi-
nati e 1text the planet like Indian devara ha e many hand each holding
an attribut,e of the planetary d ity.

27
D. Pingree Tile stronom.ical Uor ' ofG,· ory C11io11iades, vol. L 2 part , Am ter-
dam 19 5 part W pp. -16.
28 E. Blochet, Ernd ur le gn ti i me mu ulman , RSO ..: 190 /1909 pp. 7 l 7-56; 3,
!9l0, pp. 177- ff'; 4 191 U19 L pp. 47- 9 and pp. _67- 00~ and 6 1914/ l9l5 pp. 5-67,
e p. 4, 191 1/1912. pp. 2 __ on ram- b), pp._ 7-91 (on Zaradu ht), and pp. _91-95 (on
Henne .
29 Ff. 32 - . G , L p. -.
30
Pingree, The Tlro 11sands cit. pp. I -1 .
31
Ff. 9- . . G , , p. .
32
ee e.g., D. Pingree, 'Hi I ri aJ Haro pes ,J O 1962, pp. 487-502.

43
 The final item in the Paris manu cript i a Kitab al-qiriiniir (Book of Con-
junctions) ascribed to Zaradu ht the Wi e Ma ter of the Ki tab a/-Majii ' ;
thi Ki tab al-qiraniit, it is claimed, was tran cribed in 676 A .H. or 1277/
1278 A.D. , but was compl.e ted in Amid on 20 Ramac;lan 544 A.H. or 2 1
January 1150 during the sixth conjunction of the fiery triplicify which oc-
curred in 540 A.H. which began in 1457 Alexander or 1145 A.O. It author
was Yahya ibn Mubammad al-I:Jalabi. This astrological history di cu e
the horoscope of the time of the Sun ' entry into Arie for every year in
which there occurred a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter between thi date
1145, and 1032 A .H. or 1624 A.D.
Clearly the mo t that these texts can tell U- about their PahlavI anteced-
ents is that Sasanian astrologer were famous as practitioner of the art of
using the celestial science to reconstruct the political and religious history
of the world through the theory of conj unction and to make general annual
predictions on the basis of the horoscopes of the revolution of the years and
the prorogations of the fardars, intiha )s, and qismas. lndeed chapter 14 of
the Mandaean Book of the Zodiac 34 , which , like much of that curiou work,
is based on a Sasanian original, contains annual prediction based oa the
progress of the intihir through the twelve zodiacal ign .. Moreover Ibn
Khaldiln 35 associates historical astrology with Buzurjmihr and Khu ro
Anushirwan and with an authority bearing the Iranian name Hurmuzdafrid
who predicted the duration of the Sasanfan dyna ty; and the early ' Abbasid
astrologers of Iranian background whom I mentioned before who are the
first whose books on this type of astrology are pre erved already in the time
of al-Mahdi and Hamn al-Rashid were using a fully developed theory in
which the conjunctions are linked to Iranianmillennarianism and to the Indian
theory of the Grand Conjunction at Aries 0° at the beginning of the Kaliyuga
(in the Arabic texts equated with the Flood), the Grand Conjunction that
also was basic to the computation of the mean longitude of the planet in
the Indian astronomical systems that the Sasanians had based their own
astronomy on. Moreover, in several of the early treati es on conjunction as-
trology ancient Iranian figures like Hiishank, Tahmurath Jam hid and, of
course, Zaradusht play prominent roles.
To Zaradusht is ascribed the oldest surviving genuine Arabic tran lation
of a Pahlavi astrological work that we possess. Thi is the Ki tab al-mawiil'fd36
which is the last of the five such books which were, according to the intro-
ductory remarks of the Ki tab al-mawalfd, translated from Pahlavi into Ara-

33
Ff. 56-105v. GAS, VIl, p. 86.
34
E.S. Drawer, The Book of the Zodiac, London 1949, pp. 110-9.
35
F . Rosenthal, /bn Khaldun . The Muqaddimah , 3 vol ., London 1958, vol. 2, pp. 215-16.
36 An edition is in preparation. See for now GAS, VII, pp. 85-6 and Pingree, Clas ical and

Byzantine Astrology', cit., pp. 234-35.

44
bic fo r Sunbadh, I pahbadh fro m 747 tiH 754 and another I pahbadh named
Ma.ho a the on of ahanahTdh. b Sa'Td ibn Khura ankhurrah. The other
four book ofZaradu ht de crwbed b Sa'Id are a Kirab hay 'at a/-fa/ak (Book
of the Configurarion of rhe phere[ } · a Kitiib ~uwar daraj al-falak a /-
thalathma ~a \1 a al- irra. n (B·o ok of the Ima es of the 360 Degrees of the
Sphere) of · hi h a ummary exi t in the Kitiib al-jamfC al-shahf (Book of
the R o)al Compiler of Abroad al -SijzT · a Kitiib al-qirciniit w a al-duwal
11 a al-mulk l1 a al-muhik wa al-anbiya ) (Book of Conjunctions and of Dyn-
asrie and of Dominion and of Kin and of Prophets) . The fir t of these
appear to be on astronom and the econd on the a trology of µ ovoµmptm
and magic w ith it hould be compared the lo t book on the images of the
decan attributed to Tfn.kali1 hand al o tran lated into Arabic from PahlavI) 3 ,
the third remain ob cure, , h.ile the fourth i on hi torical a trology, which
we ha e een to ha e been an invention of the Sa anian astrologer . The
rehabilit of Sa'Id de ription ho e er i called into doubt by hi full
title for the fifth b ok, the one that we tilJ ha e: Kitiib al-mawiifid wa al-
a/am "a ra yrr qi mat al-dun a wa ta~awil sini
kusufiit wa ta~1iitt ii in, al- <
al-mawa'1d 11 a al-nwsii )il (Book of ati1 ities and Eclipses and Re , olutions
of the Year of the World a,ul P rom arion of the Division (qisma) of the
World and Revolution of th Year of ath itie and' lntermgations). Only
the phra e Book of ari iti,e and to a minor extent) Re , olutions of the
Years of Nati itie de cribe the te t \ e ha e· mo t of the rest belongs to a
book on hl torical a trolog and perhap the phra es are displaced in the
manu cript from Sa'Id description of the lo t fourth book" the la t item in
the title, Irzterrogations ought to ha e been in a eparate book of it own.
Sa'Id confe e that he did not tran late the original work of Zaradusht on
nativitie but a tran lation of thi into 'e , er Per ian' that had been made
by Mahankard in apparentl , 637 the ear in which Ctesiphon was cap-
tured b the Arab . Tm ame ahankard al-mufa~~ar was present in No-
vember of 629 when a on as born to AdhTn whose nativity indicated the
pa ing of the reign of Arda hrr ill· that monarch was indeed dethroned on
27 April 630. But a re i ion of the te t had been made in the time of Khusro
Anii hirwan as i indicated b two horo cope that can be dated 1 August
487 and 6 October 549 re pecti ely. Finall , there i al o the horoscope of
omeone born at ij_arran on 9 April 232 who i probably the author of the
Greek original that \ ould ha e been tran lated into Pahlavi probably in the
later 3rd century. Since Zaradu h t i portrayed a ha ing been born in
Adharbayjan but as ha ing tudied a trolog and magic at Barran under a
master apparentl nan1ed Aeliu the Wi e the name in Arabic i without

37
Pingree. Th Thou and , ir. p. - .
3
allino, op . cit., pp. 6-6_.

45
points, but could be read Iliyus), the authors of that Greek original may ha e
been this astrologer of }iarran named Aeliu . Howe er lbn Khaldun 9 pre-
serves a story connecting Hiyiis (Ulyiis) with Khu ro AbarwTz.
The Greek original of the Kitiib al-mawiilid pre ented an astrological.
theory similar to that expounded in the a trologicaI poem compo ed by
Dorotheus of Sidon in about 75 A.D. 40 and in the 'Av0o"oy(m written by
Vettius Valens about a century late:r4' ; both of the e work , a we shall ee
soon, were independently translated into Pahlavi. From the Pahlavi vers ion
of Dorotheus one of the Sasanian redactor of rhe Kitiib al-mawa!Id prob-
ably in the 6th century, has inserted into it a reference to Dorotheu as the
King of Egypt; other added material include a chapter attributed to Hermes
on the use of certain fixed stars in genethbalogy42 , the exaltations of the
Head and Tail of the Dragon, and a few elements of Indian a trology. And
of course, there are many technical term transliterated from Pahlav'i into
Arabic, including the names of sixteen fixed stars; and for the fir t astro-
logical treatise in Arabic, a surprising number of technical t,e rm in that
language that have no precise Greek counterpart but which became tand-
ard among later Muslim astrologers. These are pre umably simply Arabic
versions of Pahlavi words that represent some of the development intro-
duced by Sasanian astrologers into genethlialogy.
But the principle work in Pahlavi on genethlialogy and catarchic astrol-
ogy of which we have detailed knowledge con i ts of the five books of
Dorotheus of Sidon. While we have quite exten ive fragments of an Arabic
translation of this that was made by Masha)allah in the 770' " , the most
complete Arabic version is that made by <Umar ibn al-Farrukhan aI-Tabari
in about 800. 'Umar' s version is not a complete translation of the Pahlavi
for fragments of Masha)allah's correspond to citation by Hephaestio of
Thebes of Dorotheus' views that are omitted by ' Umar; and it repre ent a
contaminated version, contaminated, most noticeably, by two horo copes
introduced into the text by Sasanian redactors; one, that al o was a part of
Mash~f allah 's text, was cast for 20 October 281, the other for 26 February
381. The other added material includes references to Herme Valens and
Qifrinus al-Sadwali, and a few Indian concepts, a usual. But as i the ca e

39
Rosenthal, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 216.
40
Dorothei Sidonii Carmen astrologicum , ed. D. Pingree Leipzig 1976.
41
Vetti Valentis Antiocheni Anthologiarum libri novem , ed. D. Pingree, Leipzig 1986.
42
P. Kunitzsch, 'The Chapter on the Fixed Star in Zaradu ht Kitiib al-mawalid', ZGA-
IW, 8, 1993, pp. 241-49.
43
Leiden Or. 891 , ff. I b-6a, contain Masha' allah ' tran latioo of the Pahlavi text corre-
sponding to II 14, 1 - II 16, l8 of <Umar' . See further Pingree, Clas icaJ and Byzantine
Astrology ', cit. , and Id., ' Masha'allah ', cit.

46
with the Kiuib al-,nm,·iilid. I.he ub tance of Dorotheu four books on
genethlialogy in their Pahla I ve ion remain o erv helmingly Greek in
character.
The arne i true of the I t k, that n catarcruc a trolog . But already
Masha' allah repeat the e same ca.t archic ubjects and astrological techniques
tran fonn,ed imto mterroga.ti n · fore 'ample, chapters in Dorotheus on choos-
ing the time to launch a hip or to buy land become in Ma ha?allah chapters
an wering the que tion of whether or not omeone v,rill do these things. The
tran ·formation of Greek at.a.rem, into interro 0 ational a trology took place
in India, as interrogation appear aJlread in the Yara11ajiitaka composed in
Sanskrit by Sphujii dhvaja as ,,, . not din chapter 3;. and both PahlavI stories
and the inclu ion of mnterrogation in sacid ibn Khurasankhurrah s descrip-
tion of Zaradu ht book n the tral cience .demonstrate that the Sasanian
I

astrologers were familuar \, ith thi branch of the cience. I suspect, there-
fore that Masha'aUah' tran £.nna:tion ,f Dorothean KCITapxal. into Epwn'p-ns
reflect a prooe that had al.read run i course in Sasanian times.
Masha?allah dte in hi Kitiib al-mawiilrd.af-kabir, which is preserved in
its Latin tran lation onJ , the liber de ,i,ativita#bus44 and in his four books
on genethlialogy entitled in rlleir Latin tran fation made by Hugo of Sanctalla
in the l [40 the liber Ari tot iii d ,du e11tis quinquaointa qui,zque Jndorum
voluminibi, u11ii er alium qu.e rionum ram gene,ialium quam circularium
summam ontinerlS4 , , evera]J other aut:horitie ho e, orlc.s he read in Pahlavi
and tran lated at least in part into Arabic. The first of these is Vettius Valens
of Antioch, who compo ed hi · v6oAoy ' m . , . e ha · e mentioned in about
175 A.O. The A1ulwlo jes . ere tran lated into Pahla I ,as we know from
the bibliographie of Ibn al- ad"im and Ibn aID -Qif1:I under the title Bizidaj46
(from the Pahla i · iiida . meanin.0 Clwiee), a name under which Valens'
work is e eraJ tim --· cited b asha)aHfilr and we ha e seen that refer-
ence to Valen were in ertie d into the PahlavT er ion of Dorotheus .. There
are numerou citation in later Arabic astmloger from a now lost Arabic
translation of the Pahla ii ersion of alern ·· the e ha e not et been col-
lect.ed and compared ith the rather imperfect( pre. enred Greek text of the
' v0o).o-yim. That t k ,. ill be made more d iffi ult by the fact that as we are
directly informed b [bn al- adim and lbn aJ-Qifr.i and as is implied by
Ma ha'allah in ilie Uber ri rorili . the "L,da a commented on and
revi sed - much as had been Dorotheu and Zara.du ht at the same time -
by Buzurjmihr. in the 6th century if it i correct that he , as a contemporary

44
An editlion ,of !hi \. rk I. g lb r with mu h el b 1- ha'aJlah in Arabic and in Greek
and Latin tranlation i . beine repared..
45
An edition of chi te I b C. Bumen , D. Pingree will be publi hed hortl .
46
a[lwno op., ir.. pp. 1--- 6.

47
of Anu hirwan. Buzurjmihr s revision of alen . according to Ibn Hibinta 47 ,
a Chri tian a trologer of Baghdad writing in about 950. \ a al o entitled
Bizidaj, but included the sayings of the \ i e men. not ju t of Valen : and
~a)id al-Andalu I 48 , writing in 1068 de cribe Valen · Bi=idaj being con-
cerned with nativities and their revolution , and a ha ing an introduction to
the e topics. Thi general outline perfectl fi Masha'allah · Liber Arisrorili .
though that text wa expanded by the indu ion of material that could not
have been in Buzurjmihr' original mainl drawn from the 8 T)aaupot of the
early 7th century Greek a trologer, Rhetoriu of Egypt. It i not urpri ing.
then that the Liber Aristotilis cite Zarmiharu - that i , Buzurjmihr a
transliterated into Latin by Hugo - a (Ma ha'allah' ) ource for hi
genethlialogy and a one who commend the ubject of the revolution of
the year of nativitie , which is treated in detail in the la t book of the Liber
Aristotilis. It would appear that Ma ha>allah' work, which a e for ome
fragment of the Arabic original pre erved b Sahl ibn Bi hr, urvi e onl
in its 12th century Latin tran lation wa to a ub tantial e tent ba ed on
Buzurjmihr's 6th century revi ion of the Pahlavi er ion of Valen ' An-
thologies. There are, as is the ca e with Valen , numerou citation from
Buzurjmihr in the Arabic a trological literature which need to be collected
and compared with Hugo's Latin.
Since the lat parts of Buzurjmihr' and of Masha'allah' work were
both de criptions of the continuou horo cop made popular in Sa anian
Iran by Dorotheu and Yalens, there i rea on to belie e that the later of the
two texts (Masha'allah' ) i dependent in part here on the older (Buzurjmihr'
a had been the case in the purely genethlialogical part. But thi ection of
Ma ha'allah' work has been hown by Charle Burnetr 9 to ha e been largely
derived from the Kitab al-mawalid of an ob cure fellow bearing a clearly
PahlavT name, Zadanfarrukh al-Andarzaghar (in Pahla T, handar:::. ar mean
'the advi or'). We do not know when al -Andarzaohar Ji ed, whether b fore
or after Buzurjmihr, though if our hypothe i that Ma ha>allah ' Liber
Aristotilis i ba ed on Buzurjmihr Wi:idag i correct, then it hould be
concluded that the latter incorporated Handarzgar text into hi own pre-
. umably becau e the subject is only incomplete! add.re ed b alen in
50
the Anthologies .

41
The Complete Book on Astrology by /bn Hibinta. ed. F. Sezgin , _ vol .. Frankfu11 am
Main 1987, vol. I, p. 262 = vol. 2, p. 30.
4
Tabaqitt al-umam, ed. B. Bo, Beirut 1985, p. 69 .
49
C. Burnett & A. al-Hamdi, 'Zadanfarrukh al- ndanaghar on Anni e ary Horo cope ·.
ZGA-!W, 7, l 991-1992, pp. 294-398.
50
Andarzaghar' admiration for Valen ' Bi::.idaj i recorded b . a'id in Tabaqii1 al-umam.
cir., p. 110.

48
 There urvi e in Arabi vet another treati e attributed to alen , the
Ki1ab al-a nir r Book of er r ' 1• Thi deal \vith a ombination of catarchic
a nd inrerrrnrnti nal a trol g whi h in many pla e remind one of
D or theu · k n a - a 'O L. and in it int [Ti ,g ation and in it co erage
of que tion on ming p hti al au h rity refl I anian int r t . How-
e er. I am n t et enain ab ut either the date of thi little treati e or the
po ibility of it beinc a tran lation r m Pahlavi.
The va 1 Arabi mp ndia u ha ' mar ibn al-Farrukhan ' Kiriib al-
ma ii )il, Sahl ibn Bi hr· Ki, -b al-mu ,·ii/id. bu a< har· many work ,
Abu al-' Anba al- . a mari" :- Kirab al-u)il. and al-Q . ranr Kirab al-rnasiFi I
ha e et to be fuUy exploited i r their man le timonia to Sa anian a trol-
og . But alread , it i a olutely lear th t the Greek ba e for g nethlialog
in pre-l lami Iran \\ er th , ork of D orotheu , alen . and Henne , and
the Greek text that be ame the Kiriib al-mawiilid of Zaradu ht. while the
catar hie a LI l -Y ame primarilv fr m D r theu . and econdaril from
Valen ; from the an kric tradition ame al o ome catarchic a trology, e -
peciall the military a tr lo::,) of rhe B,:hadyan-a of arahamihira which
appear in thew r · \\ ritt n in Gre k at Ba::,h ad in the 770' b Theophilu
of Ede a5· • buc al th tran f nnalion of a tar hi into interrogational a -
trolog . Hi t ri al and li!i al a tr l ::,) ombined the Indian theor of the
yu a of the planet in whi h inte .., r numbe of njun tion occur, the
Zoroastrian theory f mill nnia, and the Greek method of interpreting the
re oluti n f year- . ub titutiin.., •e of th \ orld for ear of nati ities,
the ir di i ion of live ·nt ri d f e , in Pahlavifardiir and their em-
plo ment of th Oq>ETT)S or pr r ::,atorr, in PaMa i apparentl called the hiliig54
which be ame in hi t ri I h r py the rabi qi rna . Thi hi torical
horo copy, with it p liti al variant, w the mo t influential inno ation
attributable t Pahlavi a tr, lo,..,e , th uch the c mribured much el e, e -
pecial I in terr gati c Arabi LI loQ and i1 neighbor and dependent
in e rem Europe and in B zamium.
If , e no, I ok at the Iranian · own hi t ri al tradition we find that the
recon trnction that , · have ffi red - initial tran iation from Greek and
San krit in the arty anian p ri d v ith ma i e revi ion of the text
under Khu ro niL hir\\'an in the th ntury - i nfinned. That tradition

man1) _9_0, . lb-: a; n f. -L D rot.heu ited. GA . VII pp.

e culrure in co111a110 11ef mm ,do omico

49
is pres_erved inter alia, in a pa age in the fourth book of the Denkarr that
appear to go back to the time of Anii hir an ··, and in a ection of the Ki tab
al-Nahma{an written by one of Ha.run al-Ra hid a trologer . the origi-
nally Zoroa trian Abu Sahl ibn awbakht and pre erved in Ton al- ad1m
Kittib al-fihrist56 • These two agree that a ma ive program oftran lation into
Pahlavi of book gathered from India and the Roman Empire a initiated
by the first two Sasanian king , Arda hlr I and Shapur I. and that the
tran lation were revised under Anu hirwan. Ibn a\ bakht name ome of
the books o tran lated; they are the work of Herme Dorotheu , Qidru
Ptolemy, and Farrnasb the Indian. Qidru ma be the Qqrinu al-SadwalI
whose chapter on iatromathematics is incorporated into < mar' tran lation
of Dorotheus; Ptolemy probably refer to the Pahla T er ion of hi Syn-
taxis mathematice and Hand) Tables· and Fa.nna b may be a corrupti, n of a
Sanskrit name such a Parame/vara. All we are mi ing in Ibn awbakht'
li t i a reference to V etti u Valen .

55
R.C. Zaehner ,Zurvan: A Zoroastrian Dilemma Oxford 1955, pp. 7-9, quoted in Pingree,
The Thousands , cit., pp. 7-9.
56
Ki tab al-fihrist li'l-Nadim, edited by M. al-Ba\rT al-Maz.andarani, 3rd ed., Beyrut 1988,
pp. 299-300; there is an abbreviated tran lat ion in Pingree, op. cit., pp. 9-10.

50
 5
CHAPTER
KA K I DI ASTROLOGER AT
H L-R SHlD S CO RT

Kanaka the lndian 1 ankah aJ-Hind1 in Arabi bear a name that be-
came a fa orite ,mb l u ed y intelle tuaJ of the I larnjc tradition to indi-
cate the partial dep nden e of ome of th ir ien e upon San krit ource .
Thu in pain. , here rh tory narrat d hortl , before 920 b Ibn al-Adarn1
in hi a_m al- <iqd on emin~ an Indian emb from Sind bearing the
San krit foreruilll r of al-Zij al- indhind to al-Man. fir ' court at Baghdad in
773 wa well kno n1 , braham ibn Ezra mth e ond quarter of the 12th
century identified the urmam d lnd ian a ronomer who explained that San-
krit Maha iddluinta co al-FazarI and acqub ibn Tariq with Kankah al-
HindI . Similar! , a onfu ion bet\~'een Kankah and another Indian cientist
named Mankah al -HindT. , ho i alle 0 ed t ha e tran lated a medical trea-
ti e b Shanaq that mu t repre nt Cru:i.ak ra though one expect Caraka)
from San krit into bi durin 0 the reign of Haran al-Ra hid. led Ibn abI

1
D. Pingree, D B. l. . e,\ rk 19 . pp. 2 --4· and G S. VII pp. 9- -96.
2
Sa' id al-Andalu LT, baq-r al-umam. edited b , 1:1 - B , Beirut 19 . pp. 130- 2; thi
p ge i a1 o quoled b) I n al-Qifti. Ji rikl1 al-(iukamii ,. edited b J. Lippert Leipzig
190 pp. 70-71. There i la1i n f th togeth • in F.l. Haddad, E .. . Kennedy & D.
Pingree. The Book of 1h R ons b h;n.d tronomi al Table Delmar 19 l pp. 222-23.
3
D. Pingree. ·Toe Frngrnen the\; · fYa qub ibn Tanq·,1 E , 27. 196 pp. 97-
125. e p. pp. lOl-- (frng. Z - and pp. -9 : al o Abraham ibn Ezra, £1 libro de Los
fu11dame1110 d la Tabla a tronomi dited by J. . ill allicro a, Madrid-Barce-
lona 1947, p. 9 __

51
U~aybr<a to attribute medical treati e to the former. Further, th unkno n
compiler of the Ghayat al-~wkim who wa working in pain in the middle
of the 11th century, describe an amulet allegedly in ented by an Indian
king, whom he identifie with Kankah al-Hindi · thi king. he continue .
built the city of Memphis in Egypt and perfom1ed man miraculou feat ,
uch as di covering amicable number , con tructing magical healing im-
age , and making an eternally fuH drinking-bo I in the time of A le ander
the Great; the hero of these legends in the Ghaya uddenl y i tran formed
into one 'Azim al-Hindi:, and Kankah i reiie ed of re pon ibilit for a mi-
raculou statue of the Buddha and other trange device . The legend that
Kankah wa a ruler, however, continue in a Latin tran lation, the Liber
universus of an Arabic text which wa written b c mar ibn al-Farrukhan
al-TabarI in about 8006; we shall return to thi text later. The Latin tran Iator
wa Abraham ibn Ezra's contemporar , John of Se ille, wh call the ub-
ject of thi paper Kankaraf Indu , pre umabl repre enting a corruption of
the Arabic Kankah rabb al-Hind. Moreo er. included in a collection of
Spani h text on astrology and a tral magic put together. in part from the
Chaya, at the court of Alfon o el Sabio in the earl 1250" i a brief treati e
on magic involving the lunar mansion that i aid to ha been compo ed
by Kancaf el Yndio for his pupil Sirez de Babilonia7 • And final! , mor
than three centuries earlier, Jabir in his Kitab a/-mujarradat (Book of Puririe )
includes Kankah in a list of ancient philo opher · the other whom he name
are Herme the Greatest, Pythagora Democritu , Katrami ha' lluli
Socrates, and Aristotle.
While it i ea y to di card all of the e fanta ie , and al o the mi take that
ome modem hi torian of I lamic phi1o oph and cience ha e made a a
re ult of ome of them (especially Abraham in Ezra' a ociation of Kankah
with al-Zij al-Sindhind), that rejection doe not ol e the problem of who
Kankah actually wa . We can be fairly certain that Ibn ab1 a bI' a wa
9
exaggerating when he wrote that : Kankah kiHful among the an rent

4
Ibn abi U~ayb1'a, (Uyiin a/-a11ba )fl rabaqat al-a[ibbtF vol ., Beirut 1956-1 7, ol. 3,
p. 49; cf. pp. 5 L-2 for Mankah .
5 Pse11do-Magritf. Das Ziel des Weisen, edited by H. Riller. Leipzig 19" . pp. 27 -79 for

Kankah· see pp. 279-80 for <Azim.

6
D. Pingree, 'The Liber Universu of <umar Ibn aJ-Farrukhan al-TabarT, /HA . I, 1977.
pp. 8-12, e p. p. 11.
7
Edited by A.M. Vaccaro, 'Kancaf el Yndio uHe emouo man ioni lunari ·, 1111ali de/la
F acoltd di Magisrero dell' Universita di Palermo, Pal.ermo 1959 (not een). Concerning the
Alfon ine manu cript ee D.. Pingree, ' Between the Ghiiya and Picarrix I: The Spanish er-
ion ', JWCI , 44, 1981 , pp. 27-56.
P. Krau , Jiibir fbn ljayyiin, voll. 2, Le Caire 1942, p. 59 note 1.
9 (UyLin a/-anba 1, cit., vol. 3, p. 49.

52
 cienti t of India and w tJ1 1rreat t of th m. He in e tigated the art of
medicine. th p , er of drue . the narnre of begotten creature , and the prop-
ertie of thin,__ found in nature). He ,v tJ1e mo t learned of men in co -
mology. in the rder f the phere . and in the motion of the tar ' . In sup-
port of thi h 'P r l Ibn abi . a rbT'a uote a , ell-kno n ninth century
a tro1oger: · bu a' har J 'far ibn fol)ammad ibn 'U mar al-BalkhI ay in
hi Kitah al-11lt":1f Book of 1he Th ou and ) that K ankah wa the foremo tin
the cience f the tar am ng aJJ the i nti t of India in the pa t'. The
ame prai e of , ankah i foun in . a' id al-Andalu :r Tabaqiit al-umam 10 .
But Abu 'a' har \ uld hav made thi tatement in the conte t of the fan-
ta t i hi tory f ien th t he ela1 rated in th Kitab al-uluf, which we
mu t now re apitulat a it will Tplain man of the Kankah torie we have
air ad related 11 •
Abu a' har n i e flhree f unde of ien e named Hermes, under-
tandi.ng the epithet T wµiyL T - - PElS µ{ytOToL. The fir t wa Hu hank.
the grand on of Gayoman and id mi al\\ ith Khanukh (Enoch), who is IdrT .
Hu hank tudied tr n m) and medi · ne. and built the p ran1id and citie
in pper Eg rpt, and in ri d in hi r gl rph the cience he knew on the
wall of a temple at khmTm PanopoLi in rder to pre er e them from the
coming Flood that h predi ted from th horo ope of the re olution of the
olar ear in, hi h urr d a njun ti no arum and Jupiter in Scorpio,
indicating the Fl ct be au e , ith ·t the conjun tion hift d from the tri-
plicit of the a·r t th tripli it , of~ ater· th date of the re olution of thi
year wa 11 Fe ruary 1 B.C. There are four triplicitie . each formed of
three zodiacal ign eparated from a h other b · three intervening ign :
Arie , Le and a ittariu n titut the tripli it , f fire: Tauru , Virgo
and Capri rn t11m f eanh: Gemini, Libra and quariu that of air and
Cancer Scorpi , and Pi e that of, ater.
Hu hank, the ft , H rm . , , u ded b , T ahmurath in 3331 8.C.· in
the fir t ear of hi r im, the .,- ian Budh- af i.e ., the Bodhi attva) fled
from Bab lon t lndi and e ta Ii h d th re the Indian permutation of the
fir t Herme a tronomi al th ry , hi h w ba ed on a :i,uga of 360,000
year , wherea th lndian h ahiiyu a of 4, 20 000 year (=
12 of He nne · yu a or a Kalp of 4,.., _ : Tahrnurath later tor d a
manu ript omainin.c- an a um f chi first Henne · a tronom in the
SarawTya, a buildin that he n tru ted at J .y in I. fahan . When this build-
in g wa e c vated in early cA - id time . th manu ript wa alleged]
di co e rect, and i tron m , be arne the ·en e taught b bu Mac har in
the K irab al-uh7f.

10
Tabaqar al-umam. ci, .. pp. - .
11 bu Ma' har· hi tory f ien e i n tru t din D. Pingree. The Thousand of bi"i
Ma < har, Lond n 1 , pp. I_ -19 .

53
 After the Flood occurred in 3102 B.C. howe er during the reign of
Jamshid, as Abu Ma'shar's story continue there wa a econd Henne who
lived in Babylon and restored the cience . of medicine, philo oph and
numerology; he was the teacher of Pythagoras from whom the Greek math-
ematical sciences and some of their philo ophy de cend , The third Hermes
was an Egyptian, the Hermes of the Corpus Hermeticum and the alchemical
tradition and the teacher of A clepius; it i he who became the prophet of
the Sabians of Harran.
It was, of course, according to Abu Ma' har Budha af Indian er ion
of the first Hermes' yuga-system of astronomy (and a trology) that Kanaka
was allegedly heir to, and which was represented in the early 'Abbasid pe-
riod by, primarily, al-Zij al-Sindhind (from the Brahmasphufas1ddhiinta of
Brahmagupta), as well as by the Zij al-Arkand (from the Khwu/akhad aka
also of Brahmagupta), and the Zij al-Arjabhar (from the Aryabhafiya of
Aryabhata)' 2•
Most of the legends concerning Kankah, then can be explained a confu-
sions between Kankah and the several manife tation of Henne in thi con-
voluted story by Abu Macshar and, of course, confu ion between the role
given to him by Abu Ma' shar in the remote origination of al-Zij al-Sindhind
and the more sober story preserved by Jbn al-Adami concerning the Indian
delegation from Sind to the court of al-Man$iir.
Having disposed of the fabulous account , we can turn to the more reli-
able facts that we know about Kanaka. The name i neither Arabic nor Per-
sian, but does occur in India; kanaka means ' gold in San krit and was also
of
the name of a group people who ljved in We tern India in Gujarat outh-
em Rajasthan, and Sind, in association with the Sakas (or Scythians) and
other Mleccha groups. They were located in that region by V arahamihlra in
the middle of the 6th century 13; and indeed a place named Kar:taka, a viUage
in Sindhuvi~aya (the province of Sind), i mentioned in a Traikutaka in-
scription dated in either493/4 or494/5 14 • Writing hjs Siiriivaliin Vyaghratap
in Bengal in about 800, Kalyfu)avannan 15 refers to a Kanakacarya - the
teacher of the Kanakas- as an authority on, i omjanma. or the horo cope

12
For these three works see al-Hashimi, The Book of the R easons, it., pp. 216-25; pp.
207-H ; and pp. 206-7.
13
Varahamihira, Brhatsamhita XIV 21 ed. S. Dvivedin, 2 vol ., Benares 1895-1 97: this
was translated into A~bic
14
by al-Biruni, Fi talJ-qiq mn Ii >
J-Hind, Hyerdabad 1958, p. 195.
V.V. Mirashi, inscriptions of the KalacJwri-Chedi Era Clf IV, 2 ol . Ootacamund
1955, vol. 1, pp. 29-32 (see line 2 of the text on p. 31 ).
15
Kalyiil).avarman (CESS, A 2, pp. 26a-29a~A 3, p. 19a~ A 4, pp. 47a-47b; and AS pp.
29b-30a), Siiriivati LlII l , ed. V. Subrahmanya Sastrin, Mumbayi 1928. For thi Kanaka ee
CESS, A 2, pp. l 9a-19b.

54
of the nati itie of animal arid plant ; ince our Kanaka was, as we shall
ee in Baghdad at the rune time a Kal ai:iavarman wa writing in Bengal ,
it i unlikel I that the latter,. reforring to the former~ but there were per-
hap two Kanaka astrologer from We tern India of whom one wrote on
astrolog in San krit bile the other ought hi fortune in the <Abbasidcourt.
The Sakad ipika , of whom th.e Kanakas · eem to have been a sub-group,
are till noted in India as astrologers toda ,.
The great Arabic bibliographer Ibn al- adim knew of several works by
the latter Kankah 16 : a Kitiib a riiral-mawalid (Book ofthe Secret ofNativities),
of whjch a fragment of e en pages eem to be pre erved in a manuscript at
Corum in Turkey it i entided M in kalam Kankah al-Hindi al-mawaiid);
~d three other book ba ed on astrological techniques that were developed
m Iran under t11e Sasaruan : a Kiriib al-namiidiir ft a/-a cmiir (Book of the
Namii.diir C on erning ( rlze L en g th s of) Lives ), where namiidtir is a Persian
word meaning 'proof' and corre ponds to the Greek yvwµ wv wpoaKornKos-
described by Vettiu alen ho e ' veo>..oyLm were translated into Pahlav1
in the 3rd centur as we a, in Chapter 4· and a large and a small Kitab al-
qiriinat (Book of Conjunction referring to the theories of historical
horn copy in ented in Sasanian Iran and characterized by the periodic con-
junctions of Saturn and Jupiter to which we have already referred). Aside
from po ibly the Book of the Secrets of ati ities, which I have not seen,
everything that we can di co · er concerning the doctrines propounded by
Kanaka the Indian links him intellectually to Sasanian Iran, and not to India;
he was, indeed only one of many practitioners of Sasanian astrology in
Arabic in earl <Abbasid time . Unfortunatdy, we do not know whether he
learned thi a trolog hile he wa in India from, perhaps the Maga
Brahman.as or the Sakad Ipikas or whether he picked it up in <Iraq from his
colleagues at tlle ' Abbasid court:· t:he latter eem the more likely since, as
we hall ee, he utilized a eries of horo cope of moments significant for
the hi tory of I lam that had been cast by omeone at the court of Harlin al-
Rashid, who followed the chronology of Masha>altah, but used a different
_ij than did that astrologer· of course the caster of those horoscopes could
conceivably be Kanaka him elf.
Indeed al-Riruni in his Al-iithiir al-baqi a 11 states that Kankah the In-
dian, an astrologer of Harlin predicted that the 'Abbasids would be over-
thrown by a man from l~fahan. Kanaka, as we shall see, could legitimately
predict this from the fact that the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in 928,

16
Kir<io al-fil11·i r Ti 'J- amm edited b M .. al-lJa,iri aJ-Mazandarani 3rd ed., Beirut 1988,
p. 330.
11
Chronologie orientalisch r o/ke r vo11 Alberiiili edited b C.E. Sachau, Leipzig 1878,
p. 132.

55
that is, ome 360 years after the conjunction indicating I lam in 57 l and
some I 80 years after the conjunction indicating the ' bba id in 7 9. oc-
curred in Sagittarius, which point to I. fahan 1 • Ma h~Fallah. clear! writing
before the acce sion of al-Ma)mun in 813 had predicted from the aturn -
Jupiter conjunction of 809, which al o occurred in Sagittariu and whi h
marked a sruft from the watery to the fier · tripli it , that the Arab wou ld be
overthrown by their ubjects i.n the Ea t particular} tho e of I. fahan and
that the ruler hip would be tran ferred from th Ba.nu ' bba to another
family in the 6th (later 4th) year of the conjunction that i , in 15 corre ted
by Ibn Hibinta to 813) 19 • I a ume that if Kankah al o made u ha predi -
tion under Harlin al-Rashid, he may well have agreed with Ma ha)allah that
what was most important a trologically wa the hift from one tripl icit to
another in 809, so that that conjunction would have indicated th end of the
' Abba id dyna ty; but, in his urviving Kitab al-qir{uuit al-kabir, which wa
produced in its final forrn during the reign of al-Ma>mun. K nk h pr dieted
the dynasty succeeding the cAbbasid from the horo cope of the re olution
of 928, but without mentioning I. fahan at all.
The almo t unique manuscript of thi work of Kankah a fragment i
preserved in the E at collection in Istanbul i the third pan of Saib l 99 in
Ankara, of which the first part i Shadhan Mudhiikariit Ab1 Ma < har and
the econd al-Baq:anI' Kitab ft dalti )il al-qirdndt l1 a al-ku iifaPo. ln thi
manu cript the title ofKankah work i : Kitab Kankah al-Hindifi al-a~kiim
<aid al-ad" iir wa al-farddrat wa al-qiraniitfi al-intiqa/ al-mi/al wa al-du1,1 al
(The Book of Kanaka the Indian on Jud ments According to the Cy !es and
the Fardar and the Conjunctions Concernin Chan e of Religion and
Dynasties) . This manu cript i complete from the beginning of Kankah'
treati e on f. 43 till it end on f. 76 except that one leaf containing three
horoscope (those of the revolution of the ear 705 714 and 717) ha
been lo t after f. 72; but, becau e of the peculi.ar wa in which he de igned
his book, mo t of what Kankah had to a about the e horn cope can be
recovered from el ewhere in his work. But before analyzing that text we
should note that at the beginning thi work i called al-kabir, which ju ti fie
our identifying it with the Great Book ofConjunctions mentioned by Ibn al-
Nadim and that at the beginning it i al o tated that Kankah wr te it for hi
son, who is named Ra'ya , or Rayba or Ranba , a trange and une -
plained name under which he i everaJ time addre . ed by the author but

1
E.S. Kennedy & D. Pingree, The Astrologi al History of Mo ha )alliih, Cambridge.
Mas . 1971, pp. 66-68 (f. 224 v. 3 - f. 225 v. 19), and pp. 122--5 . For Kankah ' di u sion of
this horo cope see note 42.
19
Ibid. , pp. 55-59 (f. 217v. IO- f. 219. 19) and pp. 112-15.
20 The Mudhiikarar on ff. I a - 26b the Kirab ft dala'il al-qiriintir on ff. 27a - 42b, and

Kankah 's work on ff. 43a-76a.

56
ne r, in thi manu ript. with the dia riti al mark ential for it correct
reading.
Kankah ha di mded hi b k into t o part , the fir t of which de cribe
the theory f hi t ri al a tr log in an e tremel I onfu ed manner mi ing
in a number o 'ample b th hi tori al and fi titiou ith a di organized
j umbl of techniqu ~1 • \ hile the e ond de cribe . in three eparate re iew
of irtually the ame equen of horn ope , the a trological rea on for
the date of Lh · death f the e rly Caliph :?..: the fir t time he tops hi re-
iew in 7 6. the , ar of th d ath of ,rn - al -MahdI and of the acce ion of
Hartin al-R hid wh m , ankah knO\ rre tl to be fated to die in 809·
the econd time h end \J ith 09, th ar of th · death of al-R a hid and of
the a ce . ion f al-Amin. \ horn h orrectl , kno to be fated to die in
ar f the death of a1 -Ami:n and
'mun. , h m h in orrectl predi t to be de tined to
rule the theoreti al max imum twme po iMe in the th n current qua11er of the
360- ear c cl . that i r, en -three · rear .. Thi al1o u to date the final
version of the Great Book of C onjuncrion t the reign of al-Ma'miln but
lea e u ·n doubt t wh ther thi a third re n ion followi ng two
made during the reign of al- a)mun · two immediate predece ors to which
Kankah imp! ta ked on addition without re i ing what he had already
written or , h ther ome other n w in omprehen ible line of rea oning or
hi torical circum tance led to the pre nt hap of thi econd portion of
the book. Before briefl turning from it to th on ideration of the fir t part
I hould inform you that in ea h of the three or more di cu ion of the
horo cope of the r volution f the ear of the ac e ion of each Caliph
one or eral n , a trologi al omputation f the date of hi death are
exhibited, and that no mputation i e er rep ated . Thi care to av oid rep-
etition of the computation whil re on idering the ame horo cope guar-
antee the uni of the author hjp · fa work that otherwi e one might regard
as a conflation of imi1ar material from different ource .
At the beginnin 0 of the fi t tion Kankah promi e to tell hi on about
oele tial omen uch lunar eclip e , fire een in the k and meteor .;
and indeed, later in thi ction he announ e that the e are to be explained
by the astrological theorie of the cle and the conjunction , and o are as
much under the control of the plane, a are terre trial phenomena. Thi
eem to contradict the long itation from Kankah that i . pre erved by Ibn
Hibinta in hi al-Kitab al-mu lmf ft a~1kam a/-1111ji1.nr4, in which Kankah

21 Ff. 4 a--7a.
22 Ff.. 7a-76a.
23
Ff. 43a and 47a.
2
~ Al-Mug/111ifi a~zkiim al-uuj um. edited by F. ez in, _ ol . Frankfurt am Main 1987
vol. I, pp. 60-62 =vol. - , pp. I -W.

57
 describes the prediction to be made a comets appear in the ea t or in the
we t while the Sun is in each of the twelve ign of the zodiac, though uch
theoretical contradiction occur among an
who attempt imultaneou l to
predict from omens and from astrology.
The basic astrological theory utilized by Kankah a I have pre iou I
indicated, is that developed in Sasanian Iran for recon tructing pa t political
and religious history and for predicting that of the future. The form of thi
hi torical a trology employed in the Great Book of Conjun tions depend
on cycles of 360 years (called by Abu Ma'shar Miohty Fardiirs )25 each ruled
by a planet and a zodiacal sign; Kankah s chronology both in the Great
Book of Conjunctions and in the Liber unh ersus agree with Ma ha'allah
in beginning with the fardiir of Saturn and Cancer which commenced in
3381 B .C. Within this system of fardars rotate through the ecliptic a qi ma
at the rate of 1° in every solar year, and an intihiF which move one zodiacal
ign every year. Thefardiirs are divided into four unequal quarter ba ed on
the four season of a solar year; they are arranged o a to imply that the
olar apogee is at 20° of Gemini its po ition according to Aryabhata'
ardharatrika system. Beside thi y tern of cycles run the erie of con-
junctions of Saturn and Jupiter within the triplicitie , and their transfer from
one triplicity to another, to provide a millennial tructure punctuated b four
transfers, within each of which are twelve or thirteen 20-year period be-
tween consecutive conjunctions. Abu Ma'shar in the Mudluikariit of hi
pupil Shadhan, refers to Kankah al-HindI a an expert in thi type of a trol-
ogy26. But Kankah, in applying this theory to the determination of the length
of the reigns of the Caliphs, mixe with it variou element of Greek a trol-
ogy to as ist in arriving at the answer in a variety of way . Some of the e,
like the planets' exaltations and their term according to Dorotheu had
long been a part of Sa anian astrology, though, beside technical term like
fardar, I have noted only one Pahlavi phra e-al-jaw"i rast, which is PahJavI
goy rast, the " traight ball", a translation of the Greek crcpa'Cpa opefi or right
ascension; other Hellenistic idea , like the great middling, and mall year
of the planets, came directly from the Greek-writing Syrian Theophilu of
Edessa through Masha'allah to Kankah· he use nothing of Indian origin
except for Aryabhata' longitude of the solar apogee which wa also used
in the Zij al-Shah that had been translated from Pahla I into Arabic by al-
TamimI. In hi cience, then, Kankah i not distingui hable from his coo-
temporaries of Iranian education such a were awbakht and ' Umar 'bn al-
Farrukhan at-TabarI.

25
Pingree, op. cil., pp. 60-70.
26
Section 8 in my unpubli hed , tentative edition.

58
 In fact, there i abundant evidence that man o the e earl I lamic as-
trologer copied th ir S anian prede or in \. ri6 ng astrological histo-
rie . For now I hall ju t m ntion St pham.1 the Philo opher, who tudied
Sa anian astrolog · under the rrian Theoph.ilu of Ede a at Baghdad and
then went to Con tantinople \ here he wrote in Greek in about 775 an astro-
logical hi tory of th Caliph , the '.A. TTOTE EcrµaTLKT) npayµa TEla which is
based on the horn cope of 1 eptember 6_ l, the beginning of the Byzantine
year in which the Hijra urred, the fictitiou date of hi being asked about
the future f Mul). mmad · n v. religion- ~ Ma ha)allah ibn AtharI ,
Theophilu · colleague,. and a Per ian Jew, who rote a Kitab ft qi)iim al-
khulafii ) wa marnfat qiyam kull malik Book 011 the Accession of the Ca-
liphs and Kn 0\-1.•/ed 0 e of the cce sion of Each Kin ) after the death ofHariin
al-Ra h-d in 9, and a Kitiib ft al-qirimiit H-'G al-adyan wa al-mi/al (Book
Con cernin the Conjun tio11 and Reli ion and Faiths) at about the same
time 29 • and Kankah' ntemp rary, ut)an1.m ad ibn Mu a al-KhwarizmI,
who not onl re i ed al-Zij al-Si11dhi11d but al o computed horoscope il-
lu trati e of the hi to f I lam: ome of the e horoscope ca t by al-
KhwarizmT are quoted b al- a'qubi in hi Hi rory 0.
Kankah intere t in the anian dyna, fy, \ hich i pre umably to be
regarded a reflec ina hi training in thi type of a trology, i manifest at
variou point in the fir t e tion of the Great Book of Conjunctions. At one
place he gi the horo c of the re olution of the year in which will
occur a conjunction of atum and Jupiter in Virgo ' 1• thi horo cope can be
dated 22 March 21 hi h i a l o p rhap b · chance, ver close to if not
identical with the rear in whi h Arda her, the on of Pabhagh, began to gain
control of ome of the itie of F- 3- . tuall the Mighty Fardiir of the
Sun and Tauru that ontrolled th d na t of the Sa anian did not begin
until 2203 , when the qisma ,. as at rie 0°; and Kank.ah' taternent that the
qi ma wa at Pi ce 1 ° at the time of the pre iou conjunction indicate
that he mi took the ear f that conjun tion to be the equivalent of 208
in tead of the 213 that the planetary po itlon indicate. Since he tates fur-
ther that the fu t king of the d 1na t wa ro ned twelve ear after the

27
D. Pingree, ·ct i al and Byzanrin trolog in S anian Per ia', DOP, 43 , 1989,
pp. 227-39,esp. pp. 2~ -~9.
28
Translated in Kenned & Pine;ree, op. ci1., pp. 1-9-43.
29
Ibid., pp. 1-L-.
30
Ta 'r1kh al-Ya'qubf. _ vol .. B inn I 60. ol. - , pp. 7- (birth of the Prophet) and 245
(murder of al-Hu a rn ibn c T) . Al- Yacqub[ al o quot boro cope for the day of acce ion
of mo t of the Caliph . but doe not name their author.
31
Ff. -oa--o .
32
A. Chri ten en. L'lran 011 le anide , Copenhagu -Pari 1936, p. 1.
33
Pingree Th e Thou and , cir.. p. 69.

59
conjunction when the qisma conjoined with the Sun at 0° of Arie Kankah
dated the coronation of Ardasher in 220 it elf wherea the erie of horo-
scopes of the revolutions of the years in whi h the Sa anian king were
crowned that is pre erved by At:imad ibn Mu}Jammad al-SijzI, who copied
them in the latter half of the tenth century into hi Kitiib al-qiriiniit wa ta~iiw1!
sinf al-ca.Jam (Book of Conjunction and R ei olutions of Years of the World)
dates that event in 222 34, while modern hi tori an prefer 224 35 . Kankah doe
agree with al-Sijzi's source in a igning twenty-one king to the Sa anian
dynasty 36 • However, al-Sijzi' ource note a period of fou r ear between
the death of Ki sra (that is Khu ro II Abharvez) in 62 and the acce ion of
Yazdijird ill, which it dates in 633 rather than 632 . Kankah mention , to fill
the gap of four years in al-SijzI' source, that toward the end of the Sa an ian
dynasty a woman ruled 37 ; this is a refere nce to Khu ro daughter Boran
who wa crowned at Cte iphon in 630 or 631 38 . Kankah al o mention that
Shiruya (that i , Kava.ct II Sheroe) the on of Khu ro was murdered when
the qisma reached the bod y of Venu in Tauru in the thi rd conjunction 9 ·
this refer to the year 63040 when the qisma wa in Tauru 20° a longitude
reached by Venus on 7 May in that year. Finally Kankah inform u that
Yazdij ird ill was killed in the 83rd year oftheFardarofVenu and Gemi ni
which was 652 4 1• This first section of the Great Book of Conjunctions end
with the horoscope of the revolution of the year of the conjunction of Saturn
and Jupiter in Sagittarius in 928, which indicated the fall of the <Abba id 42 •
The second section of the book di cu ses the variou mode of predicting
the length of the reigns of the Caliph from the horo cope of the revo lu-
tions of the year in which their acce sions or in which conjunction of Saturn
and Jupiter occurred. Kankah discus e or refer to 34 horo cope · au but
the last two - those for 809 and 813 - are identicaJ with horo cope for
the history of the early Caliphate preserved by al-SijzI which he clearly
copied from a different source than that from which came hi Sa anian ii r4 3•
Al-SijzI' s series of 35 horoscope was compiled during the Caliphate of
Hariin al-Ra hid 's successor, al-Amin, ince the com pi kr knew the .length

34
! bid., p. 85.
35
Christensen, op. cit., p. 83.
36
Kankah on f . 50v, al-Sij zi in Pingree, op. cit. , p. 83.
37
F. 50v.
3
Chri ten en, op . cit., p. 492.
39
F . 56.
4
41
°Chri ten en, op. cit ., p. 489 .
F. 50v.
42
Ff. 56-56v.
43
Pingree, op . cir., pp. 93-114.

60
of Haran reign. Of th ., - h r cope Kankah omit three44 : those for the
conjunction of 5 0 and 6 0 to the latter of hich hm: ever he refer in the
fir t ection whe11 · peaking of the murder of Shfa.6e), and that of 684, the
year in which Marwan ibn al-fiakam became CaJiph. The horo cope given ·
in al -SijzI' our e and b Kankah agree, \ hen the latter gi e the degrees
and mjnute of a planet' longitude within a ign either perfectl or with a
variant that i ea il pl ined a common mi reading of abjiid n um bers.
Moreover, th c mparabl horo ope gi en b Ma ha>allah, Sahl ibn Bi hr,

44
I h t here the horo ope di u -ed. in Kankah ' three erie - and by al-Sijzi ' o urce.
Year Kankah I Kankah _ Kankah 3 al-S ijzt
571 f . -9\1 ( ee f. -o) I
590 2
6LO f. -9v. ( e f. -6) 3
622 f. 60 4
630 ee f. 6 5
632 f. 60 f. 71 6
634 f. 60 . ee f. - f. 71 v. 7
644 f. 61 ( ee f. - f. 66 . f. 7lv .
650 f. 6 1 9
656 f.61. ( e f. ·- V. f. 66 . f. 72 10
660 f. 61 f. 72 11
661 f. 61 f. 67 12
669 f. 62 13
6 0 f. 62 f. 6 f. 72 . 14
683 f. 62 f. 6 V. f. 72 15
684 16
690 f. 6_ . 17
692 f. 62 . ( ee f. f.. 67v. f . 72 . 18
705 f. 6 f. 6 V. 19
?LO f. 6 \I. 20
714 f. 6 \I. f. 6 V. 21
717 f. 64 e f. ) f. 67 . 22
719 f. 64 ee f. ) f. 67 . f. 7 23
723 f. 64v. ( ee f. - ) f. 7 24
729 f. 6- 25
742 f. 65 . f. 6 f. 73 26
744 f. 6- f. 6 f. 73v. 27
747 f. 66 . 2
749 f. 66 f. 6 v. ( ee f. 70 .) _9
750 f. 66 f . 74 30
754 f. 69 ( ee f. f. 69 f. 74 31
769
''· f. 69v. 32
775 f. 69v. ( ee f. f. 74v. 33
785 f. 5 f. 0 f_ 74 . 34
7 6 (f. 5 f. 0 f. 75 35
809 f. 0. f. 75
8 13 f. 75

61
and other do not agree in such details. Clear) ai-SijzI and Kankah dre
upon the same ource, which, unfortunately, we cannot identif . But again
thi demonstrate that Kankah is practicing a trolog entirely ithin the
tradition familiar to the 'Abba id court, with no recour e to an Indian theo-
rie or techniques that were not already commonplace in Arabic a tronomy
and astrology by the end of the 8th century.
We conclude, then, that, while Kanaka ma well ha e come to Baghdad
from Sind, there i nothing to connect him with the emba of 773 that
brought al-Zij al-Sindhind to al-Man. ur court; in fact, we know that the
horo copes he discu ed were not computed b that :ij ince the longitude
of the planets given in them differ from tho e in Sahl ibn Bi hr' Kitlib
ta~awfl sinf al- ca/am computed for 656, 692 and 719 according to the am-
putation of the Sindhind' 45 . Nor wa he the ma ter of a tronom imagined
by Abu Ma'shar, nor the doctor, philosopher alchemi t, magician and King
of Egypt that he was described a being a a re ult of being confu ed with
the three Hermes of the Kitab al-uliif He wa a quite ordinary a trologer
trying to please his Caliphal patrons. Still I hope that you may be per uaded
that the a trology of hi s Great Book of Conjunctions i not without it inter-
e ting aspect . And his pre ence in Baghdad with a trologer from S ria,
Alexandria, Iran, l;'abaristan, and Khura an, as well as Arabia. confirm the
cosmopolitan character of that great city in the earl decade of it exi t-
ence.

45
Vat . arabo 955 ff. 170, 173, and 173v.

62
 6 CHAPTER
ARABIC ASTROLOGY I BYZANTIUM

A ha been indi ated in the t\: o preceding chapter Arabic a trology

wa fom1ed in the ec nd half of the th entury out of element derived
directl from Greek ource , e pe iaUy through the S rian avant Theophilus
of Ede a who rved the first c bba id and died in 785 a the astrological
military ad i or of th Caliph al- ahdI, and indirect] from Greek author
uch a Dorotheu of Sid n and ettiu alen of Antioch who e works had
been tran lated into Pahla I in the 3rd century and developed in new ways
by S anian trologer . The Pahla i text that informed mo t of the early
' Abba id a trolog r - awbakht al-1:}.akirn from Iran, bis son
Khur hadhrnah kno\: n a Abu Sahl , M- ha)allah ibn AtharI a Per ian Jew
from Ba. ra 'Umar ibn 11-Farrukhan from Tabari tan and a]-Fac;ll ibn Sahl
from Sarakh - wer rooted not , nl , in tran lation from the Greek but as
well in ome from an krit. From th Indian the Sa anian derived the
branch of astrolog Imo n a int rrogation ({pwrficrELs) in which the as-
trologer an er hi h nt' querie on the ha i of the horo cope of the
moment that the que ti n \ a po ed~ thi i an Indian de elopment from the
Greek catarchi a trolog KaTapxal in which the a trologer choo es the
time for hi lient to undertake ome nterpri e b finding a horo cope that
will promote it u . Both interrogational and catarchic a trology were
popular among Pe ian and Arab and the latter tran mined their ver ions
of the e astrological te hnique to the B zantine through a erie of tran -
lation . The a anian a1 o re ei ed from the Indian tradition the technique
of militar a trolo~ ,, and the de eloped from Greek method of continu-
ou horo op , p iall tho e e ·pounded b Dorotheu a more elaborate
y tern of e aminin0 ru anniver ary hor ope of the native a well as

63
the horoscopes of every month and day of their Jive and of computing the
planetary period into which each nati e' 1ife a di ided along v ith their
sub-periods and ub-sub-period . Finally, combining the Dorothean idea of
anniver ary horoscope with the lndian theorie of va t ) uga containing
integer number of rotation of the pl anet the Sa anian irr ented hi tori -
cal a trology which foretell the fate of nation , prophet . d na tie , and
individual king from the horoscopes of the conjunction of Saturn and Ju-
piter, which recur within each of the four triplicitie twel e or thirteen time
before their tran fer to the next triplicity after 240 or _60 ear . o that the
return to their initial triphcity after a period of time ery clo · to a millen-
nium· and from the horoscope of the re olution of the world- ears, that i ,
of the solar year beginning with the Sun entry into Arie . All f the e
form of a trology were a iduou ly practiced at the ' Abba id court at al-
Ha himiyah and, after its founding in 762, at Baghdad, where Theophilu of
Edessa was employed in the Caliph ' ervice. It i the Greek work of
Theophilu and of his student, Stephanu the Philo opher perhap origi-
nally from Alexandria like his homonymou predece or who flouri hed
under Heracliu , which fir t introduced interrogationaL militar , and politi-
cal astrology to Byzantium in about 775 A.O. hen Stephanu mo ed to
Con tantinople from Baghdad, apparentl bringing with him, among other
manu cripts, tho e of Theophilu ' work 1. In or hortl after 775 he wrote
hi hi tory of the Caliph from Mubammad to al-MahdT the 'AnoTEAEaµanKll
TTpayµaTELa, which is ba ed on an interpretation of the horn cope of 1 Sep-
tember 621, the beginning of the Byzantine year in which oc urred the Hijra
of the Prophet2 • There also survives in a 14th centur B zantine compilation
to which we will tum later a brief piece b Stephanu on the political ig-
nificance of the great, middling, and minor conjunction of Saturn and Jupi-
ter3. Military a trology of the type taught b Theophilu fir t i recorded a
having been employed in Byzantium by Pancratiu , the imperial a trologer,
at the Bulgar iege of Marcellae in the ummer of 792.t.
Among the manu cript brought to Byzantium by Stephanu wa prob-
ably the forebear of the common ance tor of Laurefllianu _ 34 , and of a
substantial part (ff. 1-160) of Vindobonensi philosophicus raecu 115 6 .

1
D. Pingree. 'Cla ical and Byzantine A trology in as anian Persia·, DOP. 43. L9 9,
pp. 227-39,esp. p~ 236-9.
2
H. U ener, De Stephano Alexandrina, Bonn 1 0, pp. 17-32.
3 D. Pingree 'Hi torical Horoscope ', JAOS. 82, 1962, pp. 4 7-502, e p. pp. 501--.
4
Theophanis Chronographia, edited by C. de Boor, ol. l, Leipzig I 3, pp. 467-6 : ·ee
Pingree, 'Classical and Byzantine A trology' , cit., p. 239.
5 CCAG, 1, pp. 60-72.
6
CCAG, 6, pp. L6-28.

64
The Laurentian manu cript \ as opied in about 1000· the late t datable item
in it i a li t of astrolabe tar who e oordinate are given for 908 7 • The
Vienne e manu cript \ opied in the early 13th centur before a econd
cribe wrote a note in it mentioning the date l_ l · the late t datable element
found in th part of the ienne e manu ript that can be a ociated with the
Laurenrianu. i a c mputation of the date in the Eg 1ptian Alexandrian, and
Roman calendar of th helia al ri ing of Siriu at the beginning of the reign
of Romano in 919 . The dir t ance tor of the two urviving manuscripts,
therefore \ a pied t ward the middle of the 10th century· it antecedent
wa perhap in the hand of meone in the circle of Leo the Philosopher if
not of Leo him el , for the Laurentian contain cholia attributed to Leo 10,
and another note refe to thee ·pul ion of Patriarch Photiu (thi probably
refers to hi final il in 6 11 hile the Vienne e manu cript contains a
computation made for the beginning of the reign of the Emperor Theophilus
in 829 12• Together the t\ o manu cript contain most of the four works of
Theophilu of Ede a, on atarchic - interrogational 13 , general'+ military 15 ,
and hi torical-political 16 trol g ; and the hort piece on astrology by Leo
include two on political astrolog that eem to be in pired b Theophilus 17 .
The fir t influ of Arabi astrolog into B zantium then, wa not due to
tran lation but eem to ha e been due to a unique event, the coming of
Stephanu to Con tantinople in about 775; and no further influx of Arabic
a trolog an be hown to h ve oc urred during the 9th and 10th centuries.
Howe er it i to b noted that election from Abu Ma'sbar's catarchic and
interrogational a trolog are al.read in erted into that part of the Vienna
manu ript that i lo el , related to the Laurentianus 1 , while the last seven
folia of the codex contain a ollection of e cerpts from Arabic work in-
cluding one from Karr' 011s- 19 CAbd al-' ziz al-QabI. I- 0 , an astrologer at the

7
F. 143v. Thi eern 10 be iden1i al with the tar-li t u d by the mak r of the unique
Byzantine trolabe. no, at Bre ia.
F. 143 . edited by W. Kr U in CC G 6, pp. 79- 0 .
9
D. Pingrne, D B, ol. , ew York l 97 . pp. 190-92.
1
° F. 8 ., edi1ed b F. Cumont in CCAG . L p. I 9.
ll F. . edited b . Olivieri in CCAG. 1. p. 140.
12
See note .
13
L(au re11tiam, ) ff.6 - I v.and] 0 .-V(in.dobonensis)ff. 3 .-107andl09v.-117.Lff.
7lv.-73 ontain an in n pure! on interrogations from an Arabic ource)" thi i omitted in V.
14
L ff. 95 - 103 and 1- -1-6: \'ff. 17 --4, -t. .-73, and 1 2-l 2v.
15
L ff. 169 .-l70v .: f. I 0.
16
L ff. 58v. -61 (perhap ext nding co f. 6 ).
17
Edited b , F. Cumont in CAG 4 , pp. 9 __ 9 .
1
Ff. U -1 19· f. f. I 0.
19
F. 21 .
20
GAS VTI, pp. 170- 1.

65
which itself was copied by several scribe in the 14th century. Thi manu-
script contains a fragment of Simeon Seth 42 , who wrote in the 11th century,
horoscopes datable to 9 April 1106 and 1 June 1007 43 and an excerpt from
the astrological poem, Elaayw'Yll aOTpovoµi.as-, compo ed b John Camaterus44
under Manuel I Comnenus, who was Emperor from 1143 tiU 1180. The
Vaticanus is divided into three books: the fir t concerning mo tly a tronomy
is on ff. I4-66v., the second on interrogation on ff. 67-158v. and the third
about catarchic astrology on ff. l 65- l 93v. Preceding the fir t book are the
horoscopes of the coronations of the Comnenan Emperor Manuel I on 31
March 1143 and of his grandfather, Alex.iu I on 1 April 1081 45 and the
autobiographical defense of astrology as a Christian cience penned by
Stephanus the Philosopher shortly after his arrival in Con tantinople in about
775 46 •
The first book contains of normal Greek astrotog onl ome excerpts
from Hephaestio of Thebes 47 , Rhetorius of Egypt4 , and Theophilus of
Edessa49 , all texts probably brought to Byzantium by Stephanus. Besides
these authors there are a Greek translation of an Arabic treati eon the use of
the astrolabe 50 ; an excerpt on interrogations translated from the Arabic ver-
sion of the Pahlavi text ofVettius Valens5 1; translations from Masha)allah's
treatise on interrogations in the recension of Rash1q52 • a chapter from the
Greek translation of Ab.mad ibn Yusuf's Kitiib al-thamara 53 or Kapnos- 54 ,
known in its Latin version as the Centiloquium, and attributed falsely, al-
ready by AJ;tmad, to Ptolemy (the Byzantines had a complete text of the

42
F. 32, edited by D. Pingree, 'The Indian and Pseudo-Indian Pa sage in Greek and
Latin Astronomical and Astrological Texts', Viator 7, 1976, pp. 141-95, e p. pp. 177 and
192.
43
Ff. 115-l lSv. ; see Pingree, Haephestionis, cit., vol. 2, pp. XXI-XXIl.
44
Ff. 23-24.
45
Ff. 6v.-7; see D. Pingree, ' Gregory Chioniades and Palaeologan A tronomy ' DOP 18,
1964, pp. 135-60, esp . pp. 138-39 note 29.
46
Ff. 8-9v., edited by F. Cumont in CCAG , 2, pp. 18 1-86.
47
Ff. 56-57v., edited by Pingree, op. cit., vol. 2, pp. 47-52.
48
Ff. 28-30v.; ff. 28-28v. edited by F. Boll, Sphaera Leipzig 1903, pp. 4 1-52 296, and
57-58, and in part by W. Hilbner, Grade und Gradbezirke der Tierkreis_eichen , 2 vol . Stutt-
gart and Leipzig 1995, vol. 1, pp. 108-25.
49
Ff. 45v., 47-8, and 50v.-51.
5
°
51
Ff. 15v.-23.
Ff. 64v. and 45.
52 Ff. 48-50 and 51; see D. Pingree, ' Masha>allah: Gree k, Pahlavi , Arabic and Latin A -

trology ' , to appear. Ff. 48-48v. edited by Pingree, ' The Indian ,. cit., pp. 15 1 and 181-3.
53
GAS, VII, p. 157.
54
F. 52, edited by E . Boer, C/audii Pto/emaei Opera m 2, Leipz..ig 196 1, pp. 55-56 (apho-
rism 81).

68
Kaprr6s- and about half of Alµnad' commentary on it)~ and tables of coordi-
nates of fixed tars for 1156 and l l6C-, in connection with which are named
the table of EKEµ (al-Zij al-fJakim, of lbn Yunis), of Kouauip (Kushyar ibn
Labban) and 'one sought b us and brought by u from Egypt' where the
' us ' appear to refer to Simeon Seth.
The second book on interrogations contain two compilations in which
the question are arranged under the twel e astrological places. The first of
these 56 i ba ed on Ma ha' allah 5 Abu Mac har5 , Hephaestio 59 , Rhetorius 60 ,
and Theophilus61 • In the margin are e cerpts from these authorities and
from Dorotheus of Sidon tran lated from Arabic 62 , the Indians 63 ,
Tlop(o(6µxop 64 the lndian (that i , Buzurjmihr65), Lax>-. 6 ui.os Tou TTECYp 66
(Sahl ibn Bishr67 , a follower of Masha>allah), KlvTlls- 68 (that is, al-Kindi 69 ),
Shadhan 's Mudluikarat of hi teacher, Abu Ma' shar70 , and 'H>-.11vwv the Jew 71
who is otherwi e unknown. After the econd compilation72 come selections
from the Kitab al-ahkiim ca/ii al-ni~bat aljalaki a (Book of Judgments in
Accordance with the Celestial Connection and the Kitab al-masa )il (Book
of Interro gations) of Sahl ibn Bi hrr . in the margin are citations from
Mashifall ah s student, Abu 'AH al-Khayyat 4 (known in Greek as 'A}..dµ 6

55
Ff. 30 .-33; ee P. Kurutz h, ' Die arabi che Herkunft van zwei Stemverzeichnissen in
cod. Vat. gr. 1056 , ZDMG, 120, 1970, pp. 281-87.
56
Ff. 67-118.
57
E.g., ff. 68v.-70 74-74 . 97 , and 106.
58
Ff. 67 70v.-71 75 80v.-8l. 89v.-90,95 ., 106, 107-108, and IIOv.-111.
59
Ff. 7Sv.-80v. 8lv.-85 ., L12 ., and l 16-116 .· edited by Pingree, Hephaestionis, cit.,
vol. 2, pp. 53-80.
60
Ff. 7lv. edited b Pingree, Dormhei, cir. , p. 24~ and ff. 87v.-89.
61
Ff.. 90, 94, 97 , 104, and 109.
62
1n the margins of ff. 73 ., 74 87 96 and 101.
63
ln the margin of ff. 72 .; and 97 ., edited b Pingree, The Indian', cit., p. 190.
64 In the margin of ff. 8 l .-82 edited b Pingree ibid. p. 187.
65
GAS, VD, p. 80.
66 In the margin off. 72 .
67
GAS, VII, pp. 125-8.
68 In the margin of ff. 76 . and 110 .· cf. f. 158 . On f. 111 v. is a chapter from Ki.VTT)S' in

the main text

69
GAS, VII, pp. 130-4.
70
In the margin offf. 71 . 72 75 . , and 11 l.
7l In the margin off. 86.
72
Ff. 120-136.
73
Ff. 144-150 edited b , J. Heeg in CCAG, 5, 3, pp. 98-1 lO; ff. 148-150 edited together
with the Arabic original and its Latin translation b V. Stegemann, Dorotheos , on Sidon und
das sogena,mte /11.Iroductorium des Sahl ibn Bisr, Prag 1942, pp. 35-58. Part of this text,
found on ff. 316-317 of Marcianu raecus 324 i edited by A. Olivieri in CCAG, 2, pp.
136-38.
74
GAS, VIl, pp. 120-2L

69
Ul OS' 'Pci.rrTou or simply as 6 'PciTTTTJS', the weaver, a translation of al-
To u
khayya[75), "Eµ~pE 76 (that is, al-clmranI 77 ) , Abu Macshar7 , and an unidenti-
fied MofryVT)s 79 • Finally, book two concludes with a KplaLs- 80 in which it is
imagined that Valens is asked about the Prophet Mut:iammad by the Sasanian
king; unfortunately for the authenticity of this story, the po itions assigned
to the planets in Valens' judgment indicate a date of7 November 939st. The
text continues with quotations on interrogations alleged to come from
Pythagoras, Dorotheus, Valens, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Greeks
the Persians, and the Indians, as well as Mugnes and Abu Ma'shar. This
whole KplaLs- seems to have been translated from an Arabic text which as
yet has not been identified.
Book three is essentially book three of epitome II of Hephaestio ' s
'ArroTEAE<JµanKci. 82 , on catarcbic astrology, with excerpts from the transla-
tion ofDorotheus back into Greek from the Arabic83 , and from al-Khayyat 4,
Sahl ibn Bishr8 5 , al-KindI86 , Abu Macshar87, al-<ImranI 8 , and the pseudo-
Ptolemaic Ka.prr6s- 89 in the margins. Following book three in the Vaticanus
are excerpts from Book I of Abu Ma<shar' s MooTTJpw; all of Book II of that
work (chapters 1-97 of this book are an abbreviated translation of the Kitiib
al-mudhakariit Ab'i Ma cshar (Book ofSayings ofAbu Ma cshar) by Shadhan),
and selections from Book ill, which is a much shortened version of Abu
Ma<shar's Kitiib al madkhal al-kab"ir (Great Book of/ntroduction) 90 • Finally,
there comes a series of excerpts taken primarily from a prose paraphrase of
Doroth.eus, astrological poem, and the bibliographical portion of the intro-
duction to a book on genethlialogy by Masha)allah which survives in its
entirely only in a Latin translation made in about 1140 by Hugh of Sanctalla,

75In the margin off. 147v., edited by J. Heeg in CCAG , 5, 3, p. 107.

76
In the margin off. l44v. , edited by A. Olivieri in CCAG, 2, p. 136.
77
GAS, VII, p. 166.
78 In the margin off. 144v., edited by A. Olivieri in CCAG, 2, p. 137.
79
In the margin off. 144, edited by A. Olivieri in CCAG, 2, p. 136.
8
°Ff. 15lv.-l55, edited by J. Heeg in CCAG , 5, 3, pp. l 10-24.
81 Pingree, 'The Horoscope ', cit., p. 314.
82
Ff. 165-175v. and 177-182, edited by Pingree, Hephaestionis, cit., vol. 2, pp. 81-125,
and vol. I , Leipzig 1973, pp. 331-33.
83
In the margins of ff. l 70v., 171 , l 72v., and 173.
84 fn the margin off. 171 , edited by J. Heeg in CCAG , 5, 3, p. 127.
85 In the margin off. 173.
86 In the margin of f. 171 v.
87 In the margins of ff. 166, 166v., l 70v. , 171 (edited by J. Heeg in CCAG, 5, 3, p. 127),

171v., 172,173, 174v., l77v. , 180v.,and 184v.

88 In the margin of f. l 72.
89 In the margin off. 175, edited by Boer, op. cit. , p. 41 (aphorism 21).
90
Ff. 193-234.

70
and called by him the Uber Aristotilis de ducentis quinquaginta quinque
Jndorum voluminibu uni\ ersalium questionum tam genetialium quam
circularium summam continens91 • Note that the presence of the same texts,
often in the ame recen ion , link the compendium in Parisinus graecus
2506 with that in aticanus oraecus 1056. Together, since both compendia
go back to the Comnenan period, they allow us to date to the 11th century -
probably around the year 1000 - extensi e Greek translations of works on
geneth1ialogical , catarchic, and interrogational astrology by Masha?allah,
'Umar ibn al-Farrukhan, AbH ' Alf al-Kha at, Sahl ibn Bishr, al-KindI, Abu
Ma'shar Shadhan Al:)mad ibn Yusuf ibn al-Qaya, and cAII ibn AJ)mad al-
'ImranI, who i the late t author involved in thi massive transmission; he
died at Maw~j l in 955.. We ha e a.1ready seen that a fragment of a Greek
translation from al-'Imran.I' . younger contemporary, al-QabI~I, is found in
the part of the earl · 13th century indobonensis phil. gr. l 15 that is not
parallel to Lauremianus 28, 34.
The tran lations of thi fir t period are characterized by attempts to find
Greek words corre ponding to lhe Arabic technical terms; if possible the
Greek terms are tho e emplo ed in the late antique astrological treatises. As
an illustration of thi' we can con ider a list given by Sahl ibn Bishr of four-
teen Arabic term f:or the condition of the planet 92 , a list similar to that of
Sanskrit terms found in tajika text . that are discussed in the next chapter.
E;\EK1TE X. transliterates al-iqbii.l defined as occurring when a planet is in a
cardine or a succedent· the Greek states that the planet must be in a
XPT)µananKoS Torros- which Rhetoriu defines as the cardines, the succedents
of both the midheaven and the hypogee and the cadent of the midbeaven
(thus places l , 4, 5, 7, 9 10 and 11 in place of 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, and 11).
The translation i clo e, but not preci e.
0-.ETrrcip transliteraLes al-idbiir, defined as occurring when a planet is in a
cadent; the Greek states iliat a planet must be in an cixp11µaTLCJTLKC>S Tarras,
which according to Rhetoriu are the cadents of the ascendent, the hypogee,
and the descendent, along with the succedents of both the ascendent and the
descendent.
EA.EA.TECTWI. transliterat.e al-ittiJtil, defined as occuning when a faster planet
approaches one that is slower the Greek employs the term cruva¢i), while
Rhetorius define the term K6>J...11aLS' in the same way as Sahl defines ittiJiil~
and Rhetorius defines ,cruvmp11 as a K6AAT)O'LS' such that the two planets will be
in conjunction within the 12 chthememn.

91 Ff. 239v.-242 edited b D. Pingree in the edition b C. Burnett & D . Pingree of Hugo's
Liber Arisrotilis, to appear..
92
Edited by Sfiegemann, op. cir. , pp. 35-56.

71
 EAEVaEpEcp transliterates al-inJiriif, defined as occurring when a faster planet
leaves behind one that is slower; the Greek uses the Classical crn6ppOLa.
xa'A.EACTEllP transliterates khalii) al-sayr, defined as occuning when the Moon
is neither in conjunction nor in aspect with another planet; the Greek trans-
lates this with the Classical equivalent, KEvo8poµta.
EA.(3ax<Jll transliterates al-wa}J,shi, defined as occurring when the Moon is
not only in khaliF al-sayr, but also is not in itti~cil; the Greek translates this
as frripu.D8YJS' KEvo8poµta, in which the word frripLC.68T)S' translates al-wafJ,shi
which means 'wild'.
t'A.vciKA transliterates al-naql, defined as occurring when a faster planet
leaves behind one that is slower and conjoins with a third, thus ' transfer-
ring' the light. This condition is not defined in earlier Greek astrology; so
the translator simply renders al-naql as µnaKoµL8-ft, its lexicographical equiva-
lent.
EAT(Eµ stands for jam cal-nur, the gathering of light that occurs when a
planet is aspected by two other planets; since this is not a condition recog-
nized in Classical astrology, the Byzantine translator simply renders the
Arabic term by the Greek avvayw'Yll.
pen t'A.voup transliterates radd al-niir, returning the light, defined as oc-
curring when one planet applies to another which is retrograde or under the
Sun's rays; again, in the lack of an older term, the Greek translates radd as
O.TTOUTpocp-ft.
E,\µEvEy transliterates al-man\ with y standing for cayn perhaps misread
as a ghayn; this condition, prohibition, is defined as occurring when a third
planet interferes in the conjunction of two other planets; again, the Greek
translates, with the term tµ1ro8Laµ6S'.
TEcpy EATETTT11P transliterates daj al-tadbir, 'the pushing of control'; this
is defined as occurring when one planet, emerging from its own house or
exaltation, conjoins with another planet and hands over its control. The Greek
translates this concept as ii 1rapa6oaLs- TllS' KV~EpVT)GEWS-.
TE<py EAKou~E transliterates daj al-quwwa, 'the pushing of power', de-
fined as occurring when one planet conjoins with another which is in its
own house or exaltation and hands over its power. The Byzantine translator
renders this as ii 1rapci8oaLs TT)S' 8vvciµEWS'.
EAKoD~E transliterates al-quwwa 'power', of which Sahl enumerates 11
varieties; the Greek translates it as ii 8uvaµLS' .
EX.86ycp transliterates al-cj,u J, 'weakness', of which Sahl knows 10 varie-
ties; the Greek has i) a.a8lvELa.
The fact that the Byzantine translator could find Classical equivalents for
only five of these 14 Arabic technical terms (and two of the five are inexact)
illustrates the extent to which Arabic astrology, despite its Hellenistic roots,
had diverged from what was familiar to the Byzantines. But that this trans-

72
lator or group of tran la tor eriou I , earched for the correct Classical term
can be een from hi . of their tran lation of al-Zij al-Sindhind as ALwvw
Kav6vw . Sindhind in fact repre ent . San krit siddhdnta, but since the astro-
nomical ystem of the siddhiintas wa ba ed on a Ka/pa of 4,320 ,000,000
year , a popular rendition of Sindhind among Arab astronomers was 'eter-
nity '93. Clearly thi i the meaning under tood b the Byzantine translator,
who also recalled that in the ninth book of hi S) nta.xis mathematike-94 Ptolemy
speaks, di paragingl of the imilarl named lwvLoL Kav6vcs-, and/or that
the AlwvL oL Kav6vEs are al o mentioned b Vettiu Valens in book six of his
Anthologies9 - . This ery learned tran lation of al-ZfJ al-Sindhind as Atwvw
Kav6vta occurs in the B zantine te t of Abu Ma' har' Kitab af;.kam taf;.aw'il
al-mav.aiid96 and in that of Shadhan Mudhiikariit97 , proving that these two
were tran lated in the ame chool, perhap b the ame translator Uust these
two works were tran lated from Greek into Latin by Stephanus of Messina);
other lingui tic imilaritie among all the e tran lations that I have so far
mentioned how they all ha e the ame origin.
Only with Arabic word deri ed from Pahla i, which seem not to have
been included in whatever lexicographical aide were available to them, did
these Byzantine tran lator of the early 11th century have to resort to simple
transliteration. Some e ample are the following:
&:pTTE(uv9 occurs once in the en e of &Kavos- . The Arabic text read darijan,
a transliteration of the hypothetical Pahla ii darigan 99 , which is derived from
the San krit er ion drekii,.ia of &Kavas- . The Byzantine translator read the
two dots under )d as one thereb converting it into a ba; so that his reading,
darbajan, became &pTTE(ov.
(aµoKTap 100 stand for the Arabic jarbakhtar with the bii misread as a
mim;jarbakhtar i from the Pahla I jar-bakhtar meaning 'the distributor of
time'.
vouTTcixpaT and it e era] ariants 101 tran literate the Arabic nawbahra,

93 Al-dahr al-dtihir ee Jbn al-Adami quoted in F.I. Haddad, E.S. Kennedy & D. Pingree,
The Book of the Reasons b hind Asrronomi al Tables, Delmar 198 l, p. 223.
94 LUVTaELS µa8JiµanlCTl [X 2 edited b J.L. Heiberg, 2 ol . Leipzig 1898-1903 vol. 2,

p. 211.
95 'Av8o>-.o-ylm VI 2 2, edited b D. Pini?:ree Leipzig 1986 p. 232.
96 Pingree, Albuma:saris cit .. p.. l l.
97
[n ection IO of the Arabic original ection of the Greek tran lation.
98 Pingree, op. cit., p. 2 9.
99
Another Pahla I equivalent i dahig directl from the Greek &rnv6s; see A. Panaino,
' The Decan in Iranian A trology EW, 37 I9 7, pp. l l-37.
too Pingree, op. cit. pp. 126 and 1 9 .
wi Ibid., pp. J 70 179 1 0, and 2 ~ voumixpa.TES · p. 238 (voumixpans ); p. 239
(vouncixparns')" and p. 2 (voVTTEUXf>ES'}; and Pingree, The Indian ', cit. p. 181 (vouncixpaT),
182 (voumipx). and I 3 (vovnouxpa).

73
which corresponds to Pahlavi no bahr 102 ; the Pahlavi is a translation of the
Sanskrit navaf[Lsa, meaning a ninth part of a zodiacal sign.
aaAxo8a.11s- (aaAxa86.T1s-) 103 transliterates the Arabic salkhudah, which stands
for the Pahlavi sal-xwaday, 'the lord of the year'. Had he known the mean-
ing, the Byzantine translator would have used the Classical xpovoKpchwp .
cpapTap 104 represents the Arabic fardiir, a correct transliteration of the
Pahlavi tenn that is, apparently, derived from the synonymous Greek TTEpi.ooos-.
Another translator or group of translators was active in the 13th century;
the translations produced at this time are less grammatically and technically
correct than the earlier translations, and in particular are characterized by
the use of Tat-{iA, a simple transliteration of the Arabic daffl, meaning 'indi-
cator', whereas this word was represented by CJT)µELwTLKoS' in the earlier group.
These new translations first appear in the manuscripts copied by John
Abramius, a magician and astrologer active in the 1360's and 1370's 105 to
whose school were due revisions of many of Ptolemy's works, including the
pseudonymous Kaprr6s- 106 , as well as Epitome IV of Hephaestio 107, Epitome
Ila of Rhetorius 108 , and an Epitome of Theophilus; these are preserved in
Laurentiani graeci 28, 13 109 ; 28, 14 11 0 ; and 28, 16 111 , while 28, 14 also has
chapters from the older translations of Sahl ibn Bishr 112 , al-Kindi 113 , Abu
Ma'shar 11 4, and al-clmra.nI 115 •
In about 1380 another important manuscript, Marcianus graecus 324t 16 ,
was copied, in part from Vaticanus graecus l 056, within the School of John
Abramius. This codex contains many of the epitomes found in the three
Laurentiani, but they are followed by a vast Byzantine compilation of Greek
and originally Arabic material falsely ascribed to an imaginary 'AxµciTT)s- 6

t02A. Panaino, ' Considerazioni sul lessico astronomico-astrologico medio-persiano' ,

Lingue e culture in comauo net mondo antico e alto-medievale, Brescia 1993, pp. 417-33,
esp. p. 427.
103
Pingree; Albumasaris, cit., pp. I and 35.
104 Ibid., pp. l5 , 30, and 34. This text also preserves the related words q>apTapi), q>apTapta,
cpaprnptKWS, cpapTapt TllS, and <j,apTap6s.
105
D. Pingree, ' The Astrological School of John Abramius' ,DOP, 25, l971, pp. 191-215.
106
Classy in Boer' s edition; see Boer, op. cit., pp. XXXI-XXXII.
107
Edited by Pingree, Hephaestionis, cit. , vol. 2, pp. 135-350.
108
D. Pingree, 'Antiochus and Rhetorius' , CP, 72, 1977, pp. 203-23, esp. 208-9.
109
CCAG, J, pp. 6-20.
11
° CCAG, I, pp. 20-37.
Ill CCAG, 1, pp. 38-60.
112
Ff. 303-303v.
11 3 F. 303.
114
Ff. 233-233v.
115 F. 303.

74
TTEpCITJS' and di ided into four book - the fir t 11 on fundamentals and on
historical a trolog hich draw upon new tran lations from Y a.Qya ibn
AbI Man~fir and Abi1 Mac har 119 a well a pre iou ly unrecorded mate-
11

rial from Stephanu the Philo opher 120 · the econdu on interrogations, largely
borrowed from a econd tran lation of Ma ha'allah book on that subject 122
and arranged in accordance ith the t,-vel e astrological place , supplemented
by, among many other narnele authoritie , the till unidentified AlI ibn
Isl).aq 123 • the third 12.i on genethlialog · and the fourth 125 on catarchic astrol-
ogy. The occurrence of transliterations of the Per ian name of the planets 126
may indicate that t lea t one te t in that language had been turned into
Greek. The fact that both book 2 u and book 4 12 contain the elaborate horo-
scope of Eleutheriu Zebelenu , ho was born on 10 November 1343 129 ,
sugge t that he wa the ompiler of p eudo-A]].mad.
He also eem to be identical with the Eleutherius of Elis 130 , a student of
John Abramiu who copied An lieus graecus 29 1 1 at Mitylene (his copy-
ing of the fir t 152 /o/ios was completed on 24 July 1388) and Taurinensis
C. V!I J0 1L al oat tvtit lene in 138'9. The Angelicus contains a revision of
the three book of Abu Mac har MooTi)pw 1~ much of whi.ch we saw also
to be found in Vari anus graecu 1056" a lengthy compendium of Classical
Greek and tran lated Arabic material mixed togethe·r and attributed to
Palchus 134 , whom we hall di cu more full in a moment; a disorderl y

116
CCAG, 2, pp. 4-16.
117 Ff. 202-257 .
11
F. 2 12v.
119
Ff. 226-22 , edited b A. Olivieri in CCAG _ pp. l _3-30· and ff. 23 1 v.-232.
°
12
121
FL 23 l-23 1v. , edited b Pingree, I:listorical Horo copes', cit. , pp. 50 l-2.
Ff. 258-272· much of thi book i no, lo tin the Marcianu , but can be recovered from
later copies, i.e . Vindobo11e11sis plrilosophicus raecus 262, ff. l -46, and Ambrosia nus graecus
C . 37. sup., ff. 53-128 ; ome chapters are al o preserved in Angelicus graecus 29.
122
Pingree Masha,allah' cit. , to appear.
123
Ff. 266v .-267 edited b r • Oli \lier:i in CCAG 2 pp. 131-32. <Ali tells a story about the
three astrologers Abu Ma' har, Muh.ammad ibn Mu a, and <An ibn Ya4ya.
124
Ff. 272v.-277.
125 Ff. 277-29 V.
126
Thi i from chapter 46 of book 2 as found on f. 213 . of Angelicus graecus 29;
Ka>...Ll?,av (Kay an), OupµOU,PT(l)S' Hummzd ' rraxpaµ (Bahram), ME.XPL (Mi hr), NaxEtµ
(Nah.ida), TtpL (Tir) and McitJ, ( rlah).
127
Ff. 267-269, edited b A. Oli ieri in CCAG 2, pp. 132-36.
12s F. 28Jv.
129 p ·
mgree, 'Th e Horo ope , cu.,.
.. p. 3 l 4 .
130
Pingree 'The A trological School ' cit. pp. 202-4.
131
CCAG 5 1 pp. 4-57.
132
CCAG , 4, pp. 5-15.
133
Ff. I 0-91.
134
Ff. 91-152.

75
collection of excerpts from the four books of pseudo-Alµnad the Persian 135 ,
and another disorderly selection of chapters from Theophilus 136 • The alleged
author of the second of these collections, Palchus, has been erroneously
dated to the 5th century, and his attributions of material to such tantalizing
ancient authorities as Antiochus, Demetrius, Dorotheus, Heliodorus, Hermes,
Iulianus, Serapio, and Timaeus Praxidicus have been taken at face value.
However, Palchus is not a Greek name, but a simple transliteration of the
Arabic al-BalkhI said of a man from Balkh; and the 148 chapters in the
collection of pseudo-Palchus include fifteen chapters copied from
Rhetorius 137 , who wrote in the 7th century; thirteen from Theophilus 138 , who
wrote in the 8th; and thirty-four from the collection found in Parisinus
graecus 2506 139 , including some apparently related to the 11th century trans-
lation of Masha)allah. Other material from the Byzantine versions of Arabic
astrological treatises are interpolated into many chapters of this strange col-
lection, whose author seems to be identical with the forger of the 0Eµ0..Lov
of A]:tmad the Persian, that is, Eleutherius Zebelenus of Elis. Much remains
to be done in sorting out the Greek and Arabic components of this still mostly
unpublished compilation.
So far we have met with only a relatively small number of Greek transla-
tions that survive in their entirety; the majority are known only in fragments.
And, while some of the users of these translations can be identified, the
translators themselves remain completely anonymous. Therefore, I close
this survey with two translators who can be both named and dated; curi-
ously, they both worked during the Frankish occupation of Constantinople
in the 13th century. The first of these translators is Alexius of Byzantium,
who turned an Arabic book on celestial omens, presumably one of the Kutub
al-mul~ama of Danjel1 40, into the Greek 'ArroK<IAUlµ"LS' LlaVLT)A Tov rrpo¢fiTou 141 .
In the rrpootµLOv Alexius tells us that, when Mucawiya I, Caliph from 661 till
680, invaded Anatolia during the reign of Constans II, who was Emperor
from 641 till 668, he chanced upon the original Greek book of Daniel in the
environs of Constantinople and had it translated into Arabic; if this story
were true, this would be the earliest Arabic treatise on celestial omens known.
Alexi us continues that he, a 8oD\os- atxµa.:\wTos- or prisoner of war with the

135
Ff. l52v.-208 and 213-66.
136
Ff. 314v.-346v.
137
Chapters 6, 61-63, 75-79, and 81-86.
138
Chapters 3, 43-6, 72, 89, 140, and 142-46.
139
Chapters 2, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 25, 40, 41, 47, 48, 50, 60, 67, 90, 92, 93, 95, 96,
102-10, 120, 126-28, and 130.
140 GAS, VII, pp. 312-17.
141
Edited by P. Boudreaux in CCAG, 8, 3, pp. 171-79.

76
kings of the Arab in 124-. learned Arab~c and translated the Apocalypse
back into Greek. The econd tran lator of thi period whom we know of was
Arseniu the Monk ho tran lated the rrolriµa TI€pcrou <pLAocr6¢ou Tou
Ma(ouvaT11 14- from, he claim , the Per ian language into Greek in 1266 for
Kupta 8E w8wpa. The book that was translated was the Kitab cilm al-ram/,
composed in Arabic by a orth African named Abu 'Abdallah al-ZanatI.
cnm al-ram/ i the cience ,of geomanc · Ar enius represents raml, 'sand ',
with the transliteration pa 6J...tov and paµ rrAwv. The Lady Theodora is pre-
umably Theodora Dukaina the wife of the future Emperor, Michael VIII
Palaeologus.

142
A fuU bibliography i included in P . Kuni tzsch, 'Die • Unwettersteme" und die
" Geomantie ' de Zana.ti\ BZ 60, 1967, pp. 309- 17.

77
 CHAPTER 7
TAJ/KA: PERSIAN ASTROLOGY IN SANSKRIT

The direct source of that branch of Indian astrology which is called in

Sanskrit jtitaka, tha.t i , genethlialog the dence of predicting the course
of a native s life from the horo cope cast :for the moment of his birth, were,
as wa shown in Chapter 3, Greek: principall the translation by Yavanesvara
in Gujarat in 149/150 A.D. of an ead 2nd century Greek work into Sanskrit
prose, that wa turned b Sphujidhvajia into the versified Yavanajtitaka in
269/270 A.D . . and evera] contemporary tran lations of genethlialogical
books by Manetho (San krit Mm:i,ittha by Romak:a or the Roman, and by
others. But, after centuries of development in India, jataka was joined a
millennium after Sphujidh aja wrote by a new form of genethlialogy enti-
tled tiijika 1 • It i ili.i new form it authors, its source its contents, and its
spread over India that I ish to discu in this chapter.
The word Tajilw- it elf i one name by which immigrants from Iran were
known in India. It is a San krit tran literation of the Pahlavi Taz"ig (modem
Persian Tazi), meaning 'Arab · for the Indian it, much as did the terms
Yavana and Turu. ka came to ignify any foreigner from the West without
greater specificity so that: we are uncertain as to whether the texts that were

1
D. PingPee l yotiM<i rra. Wie baden, 19 ] pp. 97 -100.
2
The earbest San k:rit reference to Tajika in Gujarat that I know of is in the Kavi Plate of
Jayabha\a IV , dated A.D. 7 6· ee . . · . Mirashi, Inscriptions of the Kalachuri-Chedi Era,
Cll, 4, 2 vols. Ootacam und [ 9 \IO I. 1, pp. 96-102 [The Taijikas are mentioned in line 6 as
having been defear,e d b Ja abha~ ai Valabhi .

79
translated into Sanskrit to be the basis of this new form of genethlialogy
were originally written in Arabic or in Persian, or included texts written in
both languages. The fact that the numerous technical terms are in Arabic is
not decisive in this question since the Persian texts would also have used
these Arabic technical terms; in a few instances the Sanskrit tran literations
of these technical terms follow Persian pronounciation, but that may simply
reflect the fact that the Indians learned how to read Arabic text from speak-
ers of Persian.
The first two verses of the oldest text on tajika , the Tiijikatantrasara, also
known as the Karmapraka§ikii, the GalJ(lkabhiif GIJG, and the Miinu~yajiitaka,
composed by one SamarasiTl).ha, are:
natvii giraf?1 ga'f}apati,ri grhakarmamukhyaf!I
taf!1 karmasii.k$i1Jam alak$yagu!JGf!I gururrz call
srfkh.indikoktagurutiijikatantradipat
karmaprakasam anudipakam uddhariimi/1 1 II
srigargadimunipra,:iitam akhilarrz satyadibhi~ kirtitarrz
sastrarrzjatakasaram adyayavanair yad romakadyai~ krtamll
tad dhorajaladher udasya parama,rz natvii padabja,rz guror
vakrye bhogarasaditas tanubhrtdf!I nityarri camatkiirikaml/ 2 II
'1. Bowing down to Vik and to GaJJ.apati, to the foremost householder
(Agni), to that witness of acts (Surya), and to the teacher whose qualities
cannot be qualified (Brhaspati), I extract a little lamp throwing light on ac-
tions from the mighty Tajikatantradipa enunciated by Khindika.
2. Raising from the ocean ofhoroscopy the whole science, the essence of
genethlialogy, which had been brought forth by sages such as Garga, praised
by (BrahmaQas) such as Satya, and composed by the ancient Greeks
(Yavanas) and Romans, having bowed down to the most exalted lotus-feet
of (my) teacher, I shall tell that which is ever astonishing for the enjoyment
and savoring of humans'.
From these verses we learn that the Tiijikatantrasiira had two sources:
the Tajikatantradipa of Khindika4, a name which is probably derived from
the Arabic or Persian word Hindi, meaning an Indian, and the jiitaka tradi-
tion of India as represented by Garga5 , Satya6, by the ancient Yavanas 7 (that
is, those such as Yavanesvara 8 , long before the contemporary Yavanas, who
were the Muslims), and by the Romakas 9 , thereby recognizing the foreign

3
CESS, A 6.
4
CESS, A 2, p. 80a.
5
CESS, A 2, pp. l I5b-126a; A 3, pp. 29b-3 la; A 4, pp. 78a-80b; and A 5, pp. 78a-86b.
6
CESS, A 6.
7
CESS, A 5, pp. 325b-330a.
8
CESS, A 5, p. 330b.
9
CESS, A 5, pp. 517a-518a.

80
origin of jiitaka and ju tif ing b , mentioning the precedent his own use of
works by Mleccha . Unfortunatel , the Tajikatantradtpa has not been as yet
discovered among the ten of thousands of Sanskrit manuscripts on
jyotil,1§iistra that have been examined up t.o now o we know the very earli-
est work on tiijika onl · from ome quotations by later nibandhakii.ras (com-
posers of anthologie ). But Samara iJ1lha i correct in stressing that this new
siistra is a conflation of Islamic and Indian tradition ; for tiijika, as we shall
see, has a basic lndian core to whi.ch are added elements derived from the
Arab/Per ian text on which it drew .
Samarasin;tha at the end of the Tiijikarantrasara presents us with some
information concerning him elf and hi family. He was the son of
Kumarasiqtha, the on of Sa.manta the on of Sobhanadeva, the son of
Cai;i:Qasin:iha of the Prag ata lineage one of the major kinship groups or
jndtis in Saura. ira lhe peninsular part of Gujarat. CaJJ:Qasin;iha had been a
saciva or mini ter of a Cauluk a king- the Caulukyas ruled Saura~t:ra from
A .D. 940 tin 1245, when they were ucceeded by the Vaghelas 10 • Since
Samara if(lha great-great-grandfather erved a Caulukya, perhaps about
120 years before Samara lll)!ha compo ed the T iijikatantrasiira, that text can
be dated between about 1060 and 1365 . If Ca:J)c;iasin:tha were identical with
another member of the Prag a~jfiati CaQd.apa also a minister of a Caulukya
monarch 11, probably Bhima I who reigned from about 1094 till 1143, and
the great-great-grandfather of Vastupala and Teja}:lpala, who were ministers
to LavaQaprasada and hi . on, Viradhavala in the first half of the 13th cen-
tury, we could place Samarasiqiba' sjloruit in that half-century. But a single
manuscript, apparentl , the olde t of the Tajikatantl;asara yet identified (it
was copied in 1293 and is now in Ja:mnagar 1-) is said to provide evidence
that Samara iJW)a wrote thi work in 1274. This date remains to be checked;
but, accepting it pro isionaU we can affinn that the translation from the
Arabic or Persian work as ociated with the name Khindika into Sanskrit
occurred in Saur~tra in the early 13th century while the peninsula was still
free of Mu lim rule though of oour e had already a large population of
Muslim merchants, for whom mosques had been built, partly financed by
Caulukyan authoritie , at Stambhatirtha (Cambay), Somanathapanana, and

10
The history ofbot.h dynastie i dealt with in A.K. Majumdar., Chaulukyas of Gujarat,
Bombay 1956..
11
In the genea!og gi ,en b Somesvara in Kirrikaumudf 3 4,. for instance, CaQC,apa is
called mamrima,_ufalamiirrau<ja. Som , ara authored in criptions for Vastupala and Teja!Jpala
between 1232 and 1255· hi Kirtikaumudi was edited b Pul]lyavijaya Suri in SJS, 32, Bom-
bay 196 t, pp. 3-42 .
12
Go~c:laJ (jyo.ri1a 36 in Sri Bhrffanenan Pfrha Gof?u)ala-Saur~(ra. Catalogue & In-
dex of Manuscripts, [Go~(Jala] L960, p. 4" . Thi collection is now in the Medical College at
Jamnagar.

81
elsewhere. Thus, this intellectual transmission occurred in much the same
way and place as had that of Greek astrology and astronomy a thousand
years earlier.
The next extant Sanskrit text on tiijika is the Daivajiia/a,1krti composed
by another member of the Pragvatajfiati, Tejal:isill)ha, in 1336 13• Tejal:isi111ha 's
father, Vikrama, had been a mini ster under the last reasonably succes ful
Vaghela king of Saura~tra, Sarangadeva, who reigned from about 1276 till
1296, so that he, like Samarasirpha, belonged to a politically prominent fami-
ly, though long before Tejal)siqiha wrote, in 1304, a Muslim army under
Ulugh Khan, the general of 'Ala al-Din Khalji, overthrew the last of the
Vaghelas, Kall)a, and converted Gujarat into a province of the Delhi Sultan.
One of the most popular works on tiijika in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and
Madhyapradesa was the Tiijikasiira ofHaribhatia 14, who unfortunately gives
no information at all about himself. He does , however, mention, twice within
the text, the year Saka 1444, which if taken, as normally, to refe r to the Saka
era, would correspond to A.D. 1523. However, there exist two manu scripts
of the Tiijikasara that were copied long before this date, one in 1404 ts and
the second in 1425 16; therefore, one is forced to understand saka in the verse
in which this date is given to refer, as sometimes it does, to the Vikrama era,
so that the Tiijikasdra was written in about 1388 A.D. The place at which
Haribhatta composed it can only be guessed at from the facts that the manu-
script dated 1404, just 16 years after the putative date of composition, was
copied in Navnapura, which is probably Navanagara the present Jamnagar
in northwestern Saura~tra on the Gulf of Kaccha, and that almost all of the
two hundred or so extant manuscripts can be shown to have been copied or
now are kept in libraries located in the three provinces in which it was popu-
lar. If Haribhatta was indeed a resident of Saura$tra, this new science of
tajika was confined for its first century and a half to that peninsula where
Muslims, Hindus, and Jainas shared common interests, both commercial
and, it now appears, intellectual.
Of a somewhat later date probably - the earliest manuscript was copied
in 1475 - is the Var~aphala ascribed to MaJ)ittha 17 • In the earlier astrologi-
cal literature in Sanskrit Mal)_ittha refers to a Yavana, and the name corre-
sponds clearly to the Greek MavE6wv under which name there till exists a

13
CESS, A 3, pp. 89a-89b and A 4 , p. 104a.
14
CESS, A 6.
15
British Library 503 (or 3354c) was copied by Sumatihema Muni, the pupil of PaQc;iita
Sumatisundara Muni, at Navnapura on Tuesday 28 October 1404. C. Bendall , Catalogue of
the Sanskrit Manu scripts in the British Museum , London J 902, p. 209 (the attempt there to
read sarri. 1461 as referring to saka 1461 is not persuas ive as the weekday will not fit).
16
LDI (LDC) 5638 was copied in Saf?l. 1482 = A.D. 1425.
17
CESS, A 4, pp. 343b-344a; and A 5, p. 269b.

82
Greek a trological poem, the 'Arro EAECJµanKa. in ix books. This name was
cho en as his pen-name b the unkno n author of the VarJaphala both be-
cause the conten of that work ere of foreign origin as were those of the
lost treatise b , the earlier Mar:iittha and becau e the name Mal):ittha sounds
very much li.k e one of the Arabic technical term common in tiijika texts,
munthaha (in Arabic u uall called imiha which may be defmed as a point
that mo e at the rate of one zodiacal ign a ear beginning from the as-
cendent at the nati e birth - one of tho e components of continuous
horo copy that appear to ha e been in ented in Sasanian Iran and adopted
in Arabic astrolog in the earl cAbbasid period. The Var$apha/a was far
less popular than the T iijika ara; in fact, I know of only twenty manuscripts.
All of the e came from , and man · are till preserved in Gujarat and Rajasthan,
which i almo t certaint , then, the area in \ hich pseudo-Mar.iittha com-
posed it.
Toward the end of the I 5th century Ke ' ava an extremely influential
astronomer and a trologer from andigrarna (modem Nandod) in Gujarat
near the mouth of the annada Ri er, compo ed an extremely concise (there
are just 27 erses) urnrnary of tajika entitled Var$aphalapaddhatf 1&. This
proved, like mo t of hi man , ork to be rather popular; some eighty-five
manuscript ha e been identified and they are found all over Gujarat,
Raja than Uttaraprade' a, Mad.hyapradesa and Mahar~tra.
ln about 1575 Ke ' a a grand on r irnha, wrote atNandigrama a trea-
tise on prorogation the Hillajad,pikii 19 • The hilliija of the title is the Arabic
hayliij, derived from the Pahlavi hi/ao referring to the Greek dcpinis; the
word hilag wa invented when the astrological poem of Dorotheus of Sidon
was translated into Pahl a T in the middle of the 3rd century A.D. This is not
the first occurrence of thi ord and the theory of the prorogator that ap-
pears in San krit· the theor appears in a fragmentary form, in the
Yavanajataka 20 compo ed b Sphujidh aja in 269/270 to which we have
referred in chapter 3 as one of the primary ources of jii.taka but was there-
after ignored in India. The prorogator under its Arabic name, found its way
to India again in the ource of Samarasiqlha, who uses it properly to help
determine the date of the nati e death.
Meanwhile tiijika had pread outh from andigrama to Parthapura, a
town on the Goda an outhwe t of De agiri · in Parthapura there lived, as a
member of a notable and extremely productive family of jyoti$iS, Surya21•

18
CESS A 2, pp. 7 la-72~ A 4, pp. 65a-65b; and A 5, PP'· 58b-59a.
19
CESS A 3, pp. _03b- 04a· 4 p. L6_b ; and A 5 p. 202b.
20
Yavanaja1aka XXX · ee D. Pingree The Yava11ajiitaka of Sphudjidln aja, HOS , 48, 2
vol . Cambridge, Mas . 197 ot 2, pp. 29-"0.
11
CESS A6.

83
He, in about 1550, wrote a Tajika/alikara; and about fifty years later his
cousin, Gar:iesa, published a widely read Tiijikabhu~a,:za 22 . This southward
spread of tajika was continued by Yadava Suri, who wrote his Tajikayoga -
sudhanidhi at VaI on the Kr~Da River in 161623 •
But by this time the Mughals had established their authority in North
India, and, under Akbar, extended their dominion to the West and the South.
Gujarat had been overwhelmed by Akbar himself in 1572-1573; a revolt in
that province was put down between 1583 and 1592 by 'Abd al-RaJ:iim, who
received as a reward during the course of the campaign the exalted title and
position of Khan-i Khandn. In 1591 the Mughal armies moved against the
Kingdom of Ahmadnagar; this long campaign was led in many of its phases
by the Khan-i Khaniin , who, in fact, won a decisive battle against the army
of Ahmadnagar and its allies at Parthapura itself in 1596, and finally. took
Ahmadnagar in 1600. The Khiin-i Khanan was at this time 44 years old;
and, in addition to his exercise of onerous military and administrative of-
fices, had become an accomplished poet in TurkI, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit,
and several dialects of Hindi, and the patron of numerous literati in all of
these tongues 24 ; unfortunately, we do not know when he became acquainted
with tajika, or when he wrote his celebrated poem on it, the Khefakautuka,
in 124 verses of mixed Sanskrit and Persian 25 • This undoubtedly appealed to
him because, though he was a devout Muslim, he clearly strove for harmony
between Muslims and Hindus and had great respect for Sanskrit learning.
The Khefakautuka was not the only poem he wrote in a mixture of Sanskrit
and Persian; the meter al ways seems to have been Indian.
Another possible bit of evidence for an interest at the Mughal court in
tajika as a link between Muslims and Hindus is in the work of NTlakaQtha,
whose family came from Dharmapura on the GodavarI in Vidarbha. This
astrologer, who apparently served as Akbar's Hindu Jyotisaraja or Royal
Astrologer, was commissioned by another of Akbar's Hindu officials,
Toqaramalla26 , who eventually became vazir (in 1577/78) and diwiin (in
1582/83), to write some sections of the vast Sanskrit encyclopedia that he
patronized and called after himself the Torjarii.nanda, on jyoti~a, dharma ,
iiyurveda, and other topics; this task Nilak:ai:itha performed between 1572
and 158227 • In 1587 he completed the second of the two tantras of his wildly
popular TajikanUaka,:ifht2 8 ; of this work I know of nearly 800 manuscripts

22
CESS, A 2, pp. l07a- I09a; A 3, p. 28b; A 4, pp. 75b-76a; and A 5, pp. 74b-75a.
23
CESS, A 5, pp. 335a-335b.
24 C.R. Naik, cAbdu >r-Ra}:ifm Khan-i-Khiinan and his Literary Circle, Ahmedabad l966.
25 CESS, A 2, pp. 79b-80a; A 3, p. 26a; A 4, pp. 69a-69b; and A 5, p. 63a.
26
CESS , A 3, pp. 77b-78a; A 4, pp. I00b-l02a; and A 5, pp. 123b-124a.
27 CESS, A 3, pp. 177b-180a; A 4, pp. 142b-l43a; and A 5, pp. l86a- 186b.
28
CESS , A 3, pp. l80a-189a; A 4, pp. 143a-144b; and AS, pp. 186b-189b.

84
and dozen of printed edition . The Tcijikan"ilaka~irhi ha pread a knowl-
edge of tcijika throughout all of Bharata ar. a , and made it one of the most
common sy tern of genethliaJogy in u e in the · ub-continent. NilakaJ)tha
states that he wrote the Tajikan"i/aka,.lfhf for a par;.qira named Siva29 , who
was perhap that Si a 30 the on of Rama, who wrote a Jiitakapaddhati-
cintiimalJ,i in 1-9.), apparently at KifI. But Ilakal)tha's initial interest in
tajika may have been kindled by the fact that in the MughaJ court two horo-
scopes were cast fore ery royal nati it one b the Indian method,jataka,
prepared pre umably b Ilakru:itha him elf the other by the Persian method;
the mingling of the two ould be facilitated by the tudy of the previous
mingling of the two a trologie in tiijika.
NI1ak81).!ha ' brother, Rama, had written in 1590 for an official at the
Mughal court named Ramadasa a kara~w or astronomical handbook, the
Ramavinoda •, ho e epoch, as the beginning of the first year of Akbar's
reign 1556 thereby re i ing the Sa anian tradition of each Shah's Zik-i
Shiihriyiiran , and had in 1600 completed the extraordinarily widely circu-
lated Muhurtacintamw1i -· Rama wa also the guru of a Kanyakubja
Brahmar:ia named Balabhadra. Thi j oti~i at the request of Shah Shuja', the
second son of the Emperor Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, the daughter of
AsafKhan oompiled an immense and immensely popular nibandha on tiijika,
the Hayanaratna 3 in 1629 at the royal paJace, presumably in Agra, and
another onjataka the Horiiratna34 in 1654 when Shah Shuja<was serving
as governor of Bengal. Since Shah Shuja<was born in 1616, he was only 13
years old when Balabhadra completed hi commission of compiling the
nibandha on tiijika. One wonders what or who induced the young prince to
undertake thi acti ity· perhaps it was hi grandfather, the vakil, Asaf Khan,
who commissioned ityananda of Dehli to translate Farid al-Din Ibrahim
DihlawI's Zij-/7 Shah Jahiin into Sanskrit as the Siddhantasindhu in 162935
and who patronized the famous Sanskrit poet PaJ)<;litaraja Jagannatha. The
Hayanaratna i pre erved in about 100 manuscripts, almost all of which
emanate from North India o that it did not achieve the virtually pan-Indian
audienoe of the Tiijikm1flaka1Jfhi. Actually, Samarasi.Il)ha' s T iijika.tantrasiira
proved to be more effecti e in sp11eading tajika to the south; a Tiijikasara

29
Tiijikan"ilaka{1!hi saf!!j1ia1anrra, upa a1r1Juira 3, and var~atantra 9, 21 edited by Vasudeva
Gupta, Var.ll)asi 1972, pp. 160 and 249.
3
31
°CESS, A 6.
CESS, A 5, pp. 426b-4_8b.
32
CESS A 5, pp. 428b-447b.
33
CESS, A 4, pp. 234b-2 6a; and A 5, p. 230b.
34
CESS A 4, pp. 236a-237a~and A 5, pp. 230b-23la.
35
CESS, A 3 p. l 73b· and A 5, p. 184a.

85
was composed by Bhugola Venkafesa atTanjore in 162436 , and Venkatesa'
own manuscript copy of Samarasin:iha's work, copied at Mathura, still rests
on the shelves of the Sarasvati Mahal Library along ide four copie of hi
own treatise. From among the numerous other works on riijika I hall men-
tion only that one which alone is known to have been composed by a Bengali;
he was Cirafijiva Bhanacarya, who was born in avadvipa but taught at
Kasi, where he was patronized by Yasavanta SiTIJha, a Gauqa prince.
Cirafijiva based his Tajikaratniikara , composed in about 167537, on Gar:iesa s
TajikabhiiJaf}a and on Nilakal)tha's TiijikanilakaJJ[hi.
Now that we have seen the gradual spread of tajika from Saura~µ-a over
western India between the 13th and 16th centuries, and then, largely through
the interest of members of the Mughal court, over the rest of the subconti-
nent in the 17th and 18th, we must consider what it contributed to the Indian
practice of genethlialogy. The first hurdle that had to be overcome was to
persuade the Indian astrologers, who were primarily Brahma~as that the
use of Yavana (in this case, Arabic) words was permi ible even though
such a practice had been forbidden to BrahmaQas in the dharmasastra. In
the permissive atmosphere of 13th century Saura~tra, where Hindus, Mus-
lims, and Jainas mingled fairly freely under the tolerance of the Caulukyas·,
Samarasin;iha was able to just hint at the solution to this problem by describ-
ing in his opening verses the traditional Indianjatakasastra as the creation
of Indian rJis and Brahmar:ias - he names Garga and Satya as representa-
tives of these two groups - and of the ancient Yavanas (i.e., the Greeks)
and the Romans, so that, by implication, he is justified in using as one of his
sources the Tajikatantradipa of the later Yavana (i.e., Arab or Persian)
Khindika. He strengthens this subtly stated argument by, in fact, making
tajika an amalgam-of traditional Indian and Arab/Persian ideas. Balabhadra
in the 17th century felt the need to offer a far more explicit defense, clearly
because some Brahmar:ias were criticizing those who accepted Islamic sci-
ence; the same opposition to foreign science during the Mughal period is
evident in the Sanskrit adaptations of Muslim Ptolemaic astronomy 38 •
Balabhadra39 summarizes his opponents' argument as being that the study
of tiijikasdstra which is characterized by Persian (Paras[) words and is
authored by a Yavanacarya is to be shunned by Brahmal).as because it is said
in smrti:
na vaded yavanim bhii,Jii'?l prii.f}ai~ kafJf hagatair api

36
CESS, A 5, p. 729a.
37CESS , A 3, p. Slb; A 4, p. 94a; and A 5, p. 11 lb.
38 D. Pingree, ' Indian Reception of Muslim Versions of Ptolemaic Astronomy' , in Tradi-

tion, Transmission, Transformation, ed. F.J. & S.P. Ragep, Leiden 1996, pp. 471-85 .
39 Hiiyanratna, edited Mumbayi San:i. 1961, Saka 1.826 = A.D. 1904, ff. 1-lv.

86
 'One hould not utter a Ya ana word e en b breath that (accidentally)
come from one throat·.
Even if the Per ian words were replaced ib San krit ones, because the
basic text of tiijika i impure the hole sastra i impure and dressing it up
in San krit doe not alt, r the fact that it mo t be a oided. Balabhadra' s coun-
ter-argument i e · entiall the one hinted at b Samarasiqiha· the traditional
list of the eighteen au tho of the af?1hita of)) otihsiistra given by the r~i
Kasyapa ind ude Yavana o that there 1 trong authority for accepting the
teaching of the Yav,an , . Further, he refors to a myth given in aRomakatdjika
- a myth a l o found in the liiiinabhiiskara, and quoted therefrom by
Balabhadra contemporary, it ananda - that a tronomy and astrology
were taught by Brahma to Surya, but then Surya because of a curse, was
incarnated in Rornaka that i in Roma and taught what he had learned
I

from Brahma to a Ya ana. Thereb r wa it explai ned that the Yavana's

tiijikasastra depend in fact on a re elation from Brahma. Balabhadra adds
that in genethhalogy tiijika i preferable to traditionaljataka because its use
of continuou horo copy make po ible more preci ely dated predictions
than are produced b the older method · thi al o i an argument already
advanced by San1ara if\1ha.
As I ha e a[read mentioned tajika i an amalgam of elements from Indian
and Arab/Per ian genethlialog 1 •. From the former come the basic characteri-
zations of the zodiacal ign and the planet and their respective spheres of
influence while for the nece ary a tronomical computations the methods
of Bhaskara Kara~uikwiihala.w are employed. But both Indian and Arab/
Persian planetar · a pects are emplo ed. In the Indian system sextile is to the
third and tenth place rather than to the third and eleventh as in Greek astrol-
ogy , trine is to the fifth and ninth in both quartile is t9 the fourth and eighth
rather than to the fourth and tenlh as in Greek astrology, and opposition is to
the seventh in both. The Arab/Per wan aspect are all identical with those of
the Greeks, and are named in San krit mahottamii (a Sanskrit word clearly
unrelated to the Arabic ta dis) tarab"idika fo r Arabic rarbf' , mahasubhd (ob-
viously unrelated to the Arabic tathtith) and mukabila for Arabic muqiibila,
so that the aspect with new definition are given Sanskrit names and those
that remained the ame are gi en Arabic names. To these is added conjunc-
tion, which i called in San krit mukiiri~ui for Arabic muqiirina. Moreover,
both the tradifionaJ Indian ystiem of dividing the native's life into planetary
periods (da ~as) and uh-periods amardasa . ) and the corresponding Arab/
Persian (originally Greek) method supplemented by the system of anni-
versary horo cope and the horo cope of the months and the days of the
native's life were incorporated into tajika. These last replace the Indian

40
CESS, A 4, pp .... 22a- 26a; and A 5, pp. 261.b-- 63a.

87
a~fakavarga system. Similarly, the traditional jataka ~acj.vargas of the plan-
ets, involving the ucca (exaltation), house (g rha ), term (trif?1SClf!1Sa) , ninth
(nava,rzsa), twelfth (dviidasii'!lsa), and decan (dre~kiif}a ), are rep laced by
the Arab/Persian paficavarg'i- the house, the exaltation (tajika retains the
traditional Indian longitudes of the paramoccas rather than adopting the
slightly differing longitudes given in the Arab/Persian tradition) the terms
(here, as the Arabic terms derived from Dorotheus of Sidon are used, the
technical term employed is hadda corresponding to Arabic ~add), the decan,
and the triplicity, called musallaha from Arabic muthal!atha (pronounced
musa/lasat in Persian). The lords of these triplicities are those given fust by
Dorotheus , which then became standard in Arabic and Persian astrological
texts.
The rest of rajika is almost entirely Arab/Persian in inspiration, though
somewhat modified by the Indian astrologers. Thus , there are sixteen con-
figurations called yogas (quite different from the traditional Indian yogas),
all of which have Arabic names. In the following I give the Sanskrit translit-
erations of those names, the Arabic originals, the definitions of them pro-
vided by Abu Macshar in the 9th century41 , and, where different, those of-
fered by Nilakar;itha in the 16th42 •
ikkavala is iqbiil, when the planets are in cardines and succedents.
induvara is idbiir, when they are in cadents.
itthasala is itti~al, when a faster planet approaches one that is slower.
"isarapha is in~iraf, when a faster planet leaves behind one that is slower.
nakta is a mistake for nakla, which transliterates naql, when a faster planet
leaves behind one that is slower and approaches another that is slower.
yamaya is jami ca, when two or more planets approach another planet;
Nilak:amha defines it as occurring when a slower planet is between two
faster planets.
malJaU is man ca, w~en a slow planet or its aspect is between a faster
planet and the planet that the faster planet is approaching.
kambula is qabul, when a faster planet approaches a slower planet from
the slower planet's house, exaltations, term, triplicity, or decan.
gairikambula is ghayr qabul, when the qabul does not occur.
khallasara is khala > al-sayr, when a faster planet leaves behind a slower
planet and approaches no other planet either bodily or in aspect.
radda is radd, when a faster planet approaches one that is slower that is
either combust under the rays of the Sun or retrograde. NilakaQ!ha says that
this occurs when the planet that is being approached is in the descendent, in

41
Abu Ma'shar, Kitiib al-madkhal a/-~aghir 3, edited by C. Burnett, K. Yamamoto, & M.
Yano, Leiden 1994, pp. 40-51.
42 Tajikanilaka!J{hi, S6lf!'ljiiatantra 2, cit., pp. 64- l I0.

88
its dejection, in an enem · hou e, or depri ed of it rays.
duphiilikutrha i dufiY al-qm1•v. a, but with q1nv1.1 a pronounced with the ta
marbuta, qu'l1 Hat hich may be due to Per ian influence. Abu Ma< har
define it a occurring , hen a fa ter planet hich is in its own house or
exaltation approache one that i lower.
dutthada, ira i a hortening of a tran literation of dufiY al-tadblr, which
occur when the t o planet in ol ed in ini$ii.l are either friendly or hostile.
Nnakar:i~ha a that it o ur hen the t o planets in olved in dufi/ a/-
quwwa are both trnng.
ta1?n ir i tadbir whi h bu Mac har doe not define, bur which in Arabic
astrology refer to dominance in the nativity. Hakar:i!ha defines it as occur-
ring when a strong planet at the end of a zodiacal ign a pects another planet.
kuttha an error for km va. i qu.1.v\' a which term also Abu Ma<shar does
not define, though it refer in Arabi a trolog to the trength of a planet.
NilakaIJ.t:ha a that a planet i trong, hen it i in the ascendent, in a cardine
or near to one aspecting the cendent or in it own hou e, exaltation, decan,
triplicit , or term .
And durapha i a p eudo-San kritization of the transliteration of cju 1,
which again Abii a c har doe not define. ln Arabic a trology <;fu 1 refers to
the weakne . of a planet. LlakaJJ,Jha Ii t twenty different situations that
cause a planet to be , eak.
These yoga , though ometime redefined b Indian astrologers, exem-
plify the extent to hich Arabic technical term were accepted in Sanskrit
work on t<ijika.
To the e yogas are added lots (a lot Greek KAflpos wa translated into
Arabic a salmr in San krit thi be orne sahama) which may be defined as
points on the ecliptic determined b · ta1cing the longitudinal distance be-
tween two planets (for either or both of the planets the cusp of an ast:rologi-
cal place or another lot may be u ed) and counting this longitudinal dis -
tance from a third planet or a cu p or a lot· the point or lot so found is
indicative of a pecified a pect of the native life. Samarasi11.1ha lists 32 of
the e lots, ilak3.1).tha has 50"' v hich are repeated by Balabhadra and in-
creases by an additional _5 44 - thi growth in the number of lots indicates that
new Arab/Per ian ource were con tan.tly being tapped by the Indian tiijikis.
I hall not try your patien e b writing at length about the details of all these
lots~ I wiU only note that the orr,e pond faithfully to what we are told
concerning them in Per ian and Arabic texts as well as, to the extent that
they appear in Greek astrolog , in tho e text · for many lots were added to
the ancient s rem b earl authoritie writing in Arabic, such as Abu Macshar.
But the name of the e lo in tajika are not tran literations of the Arabic
43
Ibid. , saJ?ijiiiiramra , ir.. pp. I 10-4 .
44
Ha)anarama 4, cir .. ff. 24-31, e p. ff. _4-24 .

89
originals, but translations of their meanings into San krit.
For the rest, tajika texts traditionally di cu s the conception horo cope of
the native, computing it not a does the older jataka tradition but a do the
Arabs and Persians, though both system ultimately go back to the ame
Greek adaptation of a Mesopotamian method; they determine the length of
life by means of the tastra (Arabic tasytr , prorogation) of the hillaja which
word we have already seen to be a transliteration of the Arabic haylaj; and
they discuss annual events not only on the ba is of the anniver ary horo-
scope, but a well on that of the munrhaha also called inthiha, which, a we
have seen, probably suggested to the author of the Var$aphala the u e of the
ancient name MaIJ-ittha as his p eudonym.
It has been my objective in this chapter simply to outline the hi tory of
the introduction of tajika into India, in Gujarat in the 13th century, the same
region of India into which Greek astrology had been introduced more than a
millennium before; to trace its slow expan ion over we tern India in the
next few centuries , and its spread over almo tall of India in the 17th century
as a result in part at least of the interest in it shown by members of the
Mughal courts at Agra and at Delhi ; to di cu the argument by which it
wa attempted to per uade orthodox Brahmaryas to regard thi importation
from the West as sanctioned by the t$iS as a legitimate science; and to
demarkate the methods of tajika from those of jataka though both derive
from the same Hellenistic source. Much remain to be done with regard to
identifying the specific sources used by the Sanskrit tajika.fostrakara ,
whether Persian or Arabic, and with regard to the specific detail of the
Indian understanding of what they received and of how it differed from their
Arabic or Persian sources either because of it being viewed as imply an
addition to traditional jataka, or becau e of mi under tandings introduced
by the translators or their early interpreters.

90
 8 CH PTER
ASTRO OMY AT THE COURT OF A UPASIMHA

One of the large t San krit librarie till in pri, ate hand belong to the
Maharaj a of BIkan r. lt w briefl . from the 19,..,0 till the 1960 known
a the Anup San krit Librar in honor of the man ho collected the vast
majority of i 10 0 0 manu ript Arn1pasin)ha 1, the Maharaj a from 1669
till 1698, though civen the titJ b urangzJb onl in 1674. Fortunately,
while it wa the Anup San krit Library, it wa for the mo t part catalogued
by C. Kunhan Raja and . Madhava Kr. IJ.a Sarma 2 • As it i now an un-
wanted appendage to a pala e hotel, it i no longer po ibJe to con ult it
manu cript . I theref re. in thi hapter, make inference ba ed on the infor-
mation pre ented in the publi hed catalogue to on truct a plau ible tory
that wrH fit the detail con ernfog Anup iq1ha' career gi en by Sam. am
al-Dawla Shah awaz Khan in hi Ma )athir al- maraYJ· bur I believe the
inference are for the mo t part alid ince the accumulated effect of o
man y imilar pro enan e of group of manu ript the names of their
scribe and the date at hi h the wer copied arry, for me at lea t, over-
whelming con iction. Still \vhat I am about to a to a large extent is conjec-
ture and not pro en fact.

1
CE S A 1 pp. 4 b-4-+a. monograph on Anup iqiha , ould be mo tu efol. For a few
fact and a portra.i l (Plale VIlI ee B. Gra '. Trea ures of Indian Miniamres in rhe Bikaner
Palace ColleC1io11 0 ·i rd 19 • 1.
2
C. Kunh an Raja , . .K. arma. Caralo 1t of the Anup anskrit Librar) 5 fa c .,
Bikaner 1944-194 .
3
The Maiithir-11/ - marii. tran lat db H. B v ridge, Bl. _Q2, CaJ utta 191 I , repri nted in
3 vol . Patna 1979. The noti e of nup iinha i in ol. 1. pp. 76 - -66.

91
 I shall restrict my remarks to the effort of Anupasin:iha to a emble a
distinguished library onjyoti$a and related areas of dharma at B1kaner and
his employment for its use and expansion of a professional a tronomer,
VIrasin:iha4, whom he entitled, in imitation of Mughal practice, Jo~iraya or
J yoti~araja, just as SavaI Jayasiq1.ha of Jaipur later granted Kevalarama the
same title 5 . Similarly Anupasirr:iha bestowed on his chief musician,
Bhavabhatta6 , the title Satigitaraya.
The office of Jyoti~araja, the Hindu astrologer at the Mughal Court, goes
back to the time of Akbar~ for an unnamed Jotik Ray ca t the horoscope of
Akbar's birth (15 October 1542), during his reign , according to the Indian
method7 , while Maulana Cand cast it for Humayun according to the Zij-i
Gurgiinz of Ulugh Beg 8 and Maulana Alyas according to the Zij-i l!-Khiinf
of Na~Ir al-Din al-TusI 9 . There continued to be a Jotik Ray at the MughaJ
court during the reigns of Akbar 10 and J ahangir; during mo t of the time that
Akbar ruled he was probably NI1akal).tha 11• In the Muhiirtamafa that he com-
posed at KasI in 1660, Raghunatha Kavikar:ithirava 12 informs us that his
father , Nrsin:iha, was awarded the title of Jyotirvitsara a by Akbar at the
capture of Aseridurga; the Fort at A~Ir in Khandesh was taken by the Impe-
rial forces in August of 1600, but it is not clear whether or not Nrsin;iha was
Akbar's Jyoti~araja at this time (the la t known date of Nilakar;i-tha is 1587).
Incidentally, Anupasin:iha's Jyoti~araja owned a manuscript (Anup 4993) of
the Muhurtamalii that had been copied in 1662, just two year after its com-
position. We know, moreover, that Paramananda 13 held the office of Impe-
rial Jyoti$ariija for a time under Jahangir, for he gives himself the title in the
Jahiing'iravinodaratnakara, whose epoch is 1614; its manuscript at Bikaner
(Anup 4605) was in the possession of Anupasirl)ha. A few years later
Paramananda had been succeeded by Kesavasarman, the son of
Karl)harasarman, a member of a family of Kanyakubja Brahmar:ias residing
in Kalifijara; for Kesavasarman 's son, lsvaradasa 14, inform us that his fa-

4
CESS, A 5, pp. 712b-714a.
5
CESS , A 2, p. 63b; A 3, p. 23b; A 4, p. 63b; and A 5, pp. 54a-54b.
6His Anupasangitaratnii.kara and Aniipasa,igitiitiku.fo were both edited by Bhalacandra
Sannan, Poona 19 19; hi s Aniipasailg"itaviliisa was edited by the same, Poona 1921
7
Abu al-Fac,ll, Abkar nama 4, in The Akbar Nama ofAbu-1-Fazl, tran lated by H. Beveridge,
Bl, 138, Calcutta 1897-1918, reprinted in 3 vol ., Dehli 1972, vol. l , pp. 85-95.
8
Ibid. , 3, in vol. I , pp. 69-84.
9
Ibid., 7, in vol. 1, pp. 117-8.
10
Ibid., vol. 3, pp. 42 and 54.
ti CESS , A 3, pp. 177b- l 89a; A 4, pp. I 42b- l 44b; and A 5, pp. 186a- I 89b.
12
CESS , A 5, pp. 374b-376a.
13
CESS , A 4, p. 186b, and A 5, pp. 21 la-211 b.
14
CESS, A 1, pp. 55b-56a; A 3,. p. l6a; and A 5, p. 18b.

92
ther was granted the title of J oti . ara a by J ahangir. Thi information i
given in the Muh17rtaratna that he rote in 1663. Again there is a manu-
script of thi work at Bikaner (Anup 4998). l know of no references to a
Jyoti~araja during the reign of Shah Jahan and of AurangzTb; but, of cour e,
this silence doe not pro e the di appearance of the office.
ln any ca e both Anupa in)ha and, follo ing him Jayasin)ha had their
Jyoti~araja , whether a re i al of the earlier Mughal tradition or as coun-
terpart of contemporary Imperial official . The office under Anupasin;lha
was apparent! an inno ation at Bikaner. The onJ one of Anupasin:iha's
ance tor who i known to ha e taken an intere t inj)oti~a was Rayasill)ha 15,
who was Maharaja of Bikaner during the time that Akbar was Emperor; he
ruled from 1573 till hi death on Wedne da amiivdsyd of Magha in San:i.
1668, which corre pond to _2 Januar 1612 16 • He had an a tronomer named
Ramacandra Bhan,a 1 at hi court ho wrote a Karar:zakalpadruma whose
epoch is 1599: the unique manu cript tiU at BTkaner (Anup 4458) , con-
tains note written b Ra a i1'1-ha him elf. So far a i known, Rarnacandra
was not granted a title by hi patron. Ra asin:iha him elf i aid to have
written a commentar in Raja than I, the Biilabodhinf, on Sr1pati' s
Jyoti~aratnamiilii ~it i likel that the Maharaja then, is the author who con-
cealed hi identit under the epithet Paramakarur:uka 18 • The earliest manu-
script of the Biilabodhin"i, copied in 1636 wa presented to Harvard Univer-
sity by Fitz Edward Hall 19 who clearl had acce to ome of the BTkaner
manuscript during h1s stay in Raja than in the years immediately preceding
the Indian Mutin .
Before the death of hi father, Kan:iasin:iha on Tuesday 4 suklapak~a of
A$ac;lha in Sruv. 1726, Saka 1591, or 22 June 166920 , Anupas~lha had for
several year borne the expectant title of Maharajakumara, but had been
placed in actual charge of affairs at B"ikaner already in the ninth year of
Aurangzib (1665) becau e of ome offence that Kan:iasifD.ha had given to
the Emperor. While he wa Maharajakumara Anupasimha had already be-
gun to manife t hi bibliomania by collecting manuscripts both by purchase
and by the agency of a cribe Mathena J osI, who seems to have worked in
B Ikaner and it neighborhood between 1660 and at least 1698, the year of
Anupasin;1ha' death. Thu , a Kuma.ra Aniipasifl)ha owned manuscripts of
the Brhatsa'!lhita ofVarahamihira21 (Anup 4920) the principle Sanskrit work

15
CESS A 5, p. 503b.
16
R.P. Vyasa, Bikiinera ke siliileklw. B1kanera 1990, p. 12.
17
CES , A 5, p. 4 Oa.
18
CESS, A 4, pp .. 18lb-l 82a· and A 5 p. 09a.
19
Harvard 761 (no. L9 in rn forthcoming catalogue of Ha:rvard'sjyoti,rn manuscripts) .
20 v-
ya a, op . crt. . pp. 313"'
- .,_
21
CESS, A 5, pp. 564b-S7la.

93
on omens, and of the Jnanabhaskara 22 (Anup 1645), on karmavipdka; both
were copied by Mathena in 1660. Later, Anupa ifl'.1ha patronized Pantoji
Bhana23 who wrote a fika on thelnanahhaskara that is pre erved in a manu-
cript at BTkaner (Anup 1649). Thi manu cript was copied by Mathena
Samvala, who is pre umably identical with Mathena JosI. The Maharaja-
kumara also owned a PrasnartJavaplava on interrogational a tTology by
Narayar:iada a Siddha24 (Anup 4889) and a Kalamadham of Madhava25 (Anup
1664), both of which had been copied by Mathena in 1662; a Meghamala
(Anup 5004) on omens copied in 1663; Ramacandra Vajapeyin's 1rtti on
his own Kw:,cjakrti 26 copied in 1666 (Anup 1743); a ir~wyadipaka of Acala27
copied in 1667 (Anup 2441), all due to Mathena Josi' cribal kills; and a
Madanaratnapradipa of Madanasin:iha2 , copied also by Mathena, here
named San:imidasa, in 1668 (Anup 2542). These were all fairly standard
texts on dharmasastra and jyofi$a, and were clearly readily available in
Bikaner.
Anu.pasiqiha also owned as Kumara a copy of an iatromathematical text
the Virasif!1havaloka composed by the Tamara VTrasin:iha29 in 1382 (Anup
2615); this manuscript had been copied in 1510.
On his father's death, Aniipa ill).ha inherited at lea t two manu cripts that
Kan:iasin:iha had apparently acquired in the Deccan, where he had served
the Emperor Shah Jahan at Dawlatabad and Burhanpur between 1633 and
1656. These are a copy of a very rare astronomical text the Nabhogasiddhi,
composed by Narmada in about 137S3° (Anup 4783), and one containing the
mo t popular commentary on the Yajflm iilkyasmrti the ~jumitiik~arii of
Vijfianesvara3 1 (Anup 1501); the latter manu cript had been copied in 1651
while Kamasin::iha was governor of Dawlatabad. The father, then, eems to
have anticipated his on's later practice of acquiring manuscript in the
Deccan, though on a much smaller scale, so far as we can tell.
After Anupasin:iha became Maharaja of Bikaner in the ummer of 1669
he apparently spent a period of a few years in hi capital city. During that
time Mathena continued to copy manuscripts that pa ed into the Maharaja s
possession: a Prayogasara by Visvesara32 (Anup 2515) on rituals and a

22
CESS, A 6 ub Surya.
23
CESS, A 4 , p. l 80a.
24
CESS, A 3, pp. 168b-17la; A 4, pp. l40a-140b; and A 5, pp. 182a-182b.
25
CESS, A 4, pp. 407a-41 la; and A 5, pp. 302a-303a.
26
CESS, A 5, pp. 472a-473b.
27 CESS, A 4, pp. 11 a-l 2a; and A 5, p. 3b.
28
CESS, A 4, pp. 35 Lb-353b; and A 5, pp. 275a-275b.
29
CESS, A 5, pp. 7 I la-712b.
°
3
31
CESS , A 3, p. 171 b and A 5, p. I 83a.
CESS, A 5, pp. 626a-638b.
32 CESS, A 2, pp. 44b-45a.

94
Vasantariijasiiroddhara on om n in 1669 (Anup 5124), and a Mahasanti
on purification rirnal a ordinc to the tradition of the Arharvm eda that was
copied by Mathena Ra . ca (in a later manu cript pelled Rakheca) at
Babha1:ia a a in 1670 (Anup __06 . It i not 1et dear whether or not this
Mathena wa the ame a rnJpa iqiha' fa orite cribe.
Shorrl thereafter Aniipa in:iha was ummoned b Aurangzib to serve as
hi father had in the De an. He e m to ha e i ited. during the cam-
paign of the early 16 o· . the town of Khefa (now Gangakheir) on the
Goda arT in the di tri r of Parthapura a region in , hich e era] important
familie of jyo,i~i lived. One u h famil ' traced it ance try back to
Kr. r:iade a, ho had hv d wn Khe,a in the fir r half of the 16th century. Hi
on, Bopadeva, wa u e ded b_, n 10 n . Kai'Traja 3- and Ballala; and
Ka'Traja was the father of Rama andra and of Ira iqilia. It a VTrasin;iha
whom Anupa in:iha app inted t be hi J . ira a or J oti. araja. thereby in-
troducing thi 1ughal offi and De anI a tronomy into the ro al court of
Raja than.
Vira iqiha, v ho had be n born in 1613 . \U te hi fir ta tronomical trea-
ti e, the Khe(aplcn•a. hen h v. a only twelve year old. All of the known
manu cript belong to the pala . e hbrar at Bikaner: the copy that belonged
to AmJpasin:lha (Anup -149 wa opied in 167- b Ka 'iraja. who may be
identical with Ira iqiha · father. though he, ould b then have been about
85 year old. Anoth r manu ript at Bikaner Anup 4 2_)_ containing a work
ofVTra in.ilia, hi Paiica11Rabl11,. a~1a. w aJ o tran ribed by Ka ' Iraja. Other
manu cript in Anupa in:iha · li rary that, ere opied b_ Ka ' Iraja and that,
if he wa fra iqiha' fath r. were probabl I brought to Bikaner by the new
Jyoti. araja include t, o copie of Ke ' ava · Jatakapaddhati3 3 (Anup 4609
and 4610), a popular work on genethlial.og , , of which the econd was copied
in 1644- and an unidemified et of a tronomical table copied in 1670 that
had belonged t Ka 'Iraja ( nup -_ 9 .
One of the a tronomi aJ te · r that Irasi11lha and hi famil were par-
ticularl intere t d in w the \'ar. ikaranrra ompo ed by Viddcll)a in the
Kamat.aka in the earl , l-hh century~. Ira iqiha uncle, Ballala, had writ-
ten a (fkii on it in the earl l 7th entuT) 3:.: there i a unique cop of chi (ika
at Bikaner Anup 5135) \\ ell as the unique cop of the t"ikd by Tamrnar:ia
evidentl al o from KanJa~aka:-0 (Anup -1 ..q and t o unidentified com-
mentarie (Anup 51 and -1 6). Tra ill)ha own revi ion of the
Var~ikatantra i contain din one of the manu cript copied by Mathena at
a place called Chav~r ec;lagarna. in 167 ,Anup - 1 0): I u pect thi i the

33 CESS, A~, pp. 66b-70b; . p. _.ia: A 4. pp. 6-+a-6-a; and - , pp. 56a-5 b.
3-1CESS. - . pp. 6-+6a-64 a.
35
CESS, A 4. p. 2 7a.
36 CESS, A 3, p. a.

95
version found in a Harvard manuscript37 , which was acquired in Raja than
by Fitz Edward Hall in the 1850's and differs substantially from the manu-
scripts that I have seen emanating from the Kan:iataka. Two other manu-
scripts of the Var~ikatantra at Bikaner (Anup S 131 and 5132) may or may
not contain VIrasin:ma's version. The library al o ha a unique manuscript
of astronomjcaJ tables intended for use with the Var~ikatantra (Anup 5137);
it was copied by Madasudana Purohita in 1647 for, I su pect, VTrasin:iha· for
MadasO.dana also copied a Bhagat;otpatti on the derivation of the number of
rotations of the planets in a yuga for either Anupasin:iha or hi Jyoti~araja at
Aurangabad in 1689 (Anup 4927).
VIrasin:iha had written at least two other works in addition to the
Khe(aplava before he joined Arn1pasifl)ha s service; a brief Camatkarasiddhi
has 1627 as its epoch; in it he refers to a Muslim, perhaps a patron, named
MaJ:imUd. This man is probably identical with the Sultan MaI:unud whose
saka or era VIrasiqlha mentioned in hi SaurabharatJa. The Camatkarasiddhi
is the only work of VTrasin:iha that I have been able to read, since there are
two copies outside of Bikaner; one remains in the Deccan, at the Osmania
University in Hyderabad 38 , while the other, now at Oxford 39 , wa in Benares
at the beginning of this century. One of the two copies at Bikaner was copied
by a scribe named Visvanatha in 1679 (Anup 4581). The same scribe copied
in 1681 a manuscriptofVIrasin;ha'sAryasiddhantatulyakara~ (Anup 4448),
whose epoch is l633. This manuscript belonged to the Jyoti~araja, for whom
Visvanatha evidently worked. Two works VIrasiqiha certruniy wrote under
Ano.pa iqiha's patronage; these are his AnupakaratJa, whose epoch presum-
ably was the date of the Maharaja's abhi~eka, and the gigantic
Aniipamahodadhi, in which he refers to an intercalary month in 1673 as in
the past, one in 1681 as in the future. The Aniipamahodadhi deals with arith-
metic, geometry, algebra, the measurement of time, the seasons, and the
alleged motion of the Saptar~is. We do not yet know the dates of VIrasiqiha' s
final two works; the Muhurtajftasafifivana on catarchic astrology and the
GraharJasadhana on the computation of eclipse .
I suspect that VIrasin;lha also brought to Bikaner many of the earlier manu-
scripts of jyoti~a texts composed in A.ndhra· Pradesh, southern Maharastra,
and the Kamaraka that ended up in Anupasi.Il)ha' s library, and played a large
part in the introduction of DeccanI astronomy to Rajasthan. The most inter-
esting of these ought to be the unique manuscript of the Kara1Jaka1J,thfra, a

37
Harvard 1113, ff. 1-2 and 5-10 (no 26 in my catalogue).
38
Osmania University B. 46/4.
39 Oxford, Chandra Shum Shere d. 791 (9), which is no. 71 in D. Pingree, A Catalogue of

the Chandra Shum Shere Collection in the Bodleian Library, part I. Jyoti}Jsastra, Oxford
1984.

96
compo ed b I' ara40 at Kollamburapura under Firuz Shah; the town may
possibly be Kalambur near Vellore in orth Arcot, which briefly was ruled
by a Fi:ruz Shah of the Macbar Sultanate in l 341 /1342. The manuscript was
copied by Lak. midhara in 1543 (Anup 4456). Another novelty brought to
Rajasthan wa a cop Anup 4464) of the Karar:iaprakiisa of Brahmadeva4 1 ,
a text normall found on1 in the Kan:;ta!aka; another incomplete copy from
Rajas than i combined ith the manu cript of ViddaI)a' V ar~ikatantra that
Fitz Edward Hall ga e to Harvard42 .
Other manu cript ontain the work of member of some of the great
Deccan'i familie of j onfis . I ha e alread mentioned the Nabhogasiddhi
of Narmada that had belonged to Kan:ia in:iha before it passed into the pos-
ses ion of Anu.pasi~ha. armada's on, Padmanabha wrote a Dhruva-
bhramayantra43, on an a tronomical in trument of that name. Two copies of
it (Anup 4779 and 4780) one with the author's own (ika, belonged to
Anilpasi[l).ha. And there i al o a manuscript of the rare Suryatulya of
Padmanabha on Damodara at Bikaner44 (Anup 5346). These manuscripts
were undoubtedly acquired in the Deccan, perhap by Virasin)ha.
At Parthapura a fe mile from Kheta lived an ancient family of jyot1/fs
who traced their ance try back to Rama who flouri bed in the late 14th
century. The fir t author in thi family as far as we know, was Jnanaraja,
who compo ed hi Siddluintasundara in 1503 45 ; there are two copies at
Bikaner (Anup 5334 and 5335), one of which wa copied in 1610. One of
Jfianaraja' on Cintamru:i.i, wrote a commentary, the Grahagaf}itacintdma7J,i,
on the Siddhiintasund.ara-t6; four manuscripts of this are at Bikaner (Anup
5336 5337 5338 , and 5339) one of which wa copied in 1668 and another
of which once belonged to the Jyoti.araja. Another of Jfianaraja's sons,
S0.rya47 , is repre ented b three works in the Anup San krit Library: his fTka,
the Suryaprakasa on Bhaskara s treati e on algebra, the BTjagaJJ.ita (Anup
4906); the Bhiiskarabhu. a~za in a manu cript copied in 1572 and purchased
by the Jyoti. araja (Anup 4930); and the Siddhantasaf!1hitasarasamuccaya,
in a manuscript copied in 1681 (Anup 5331). And there are six copies of the
Jiitakiibhara,.w of Jfianaraja nephew QhUI)c;J.hiraja48 , at Bikaner (Anup 4530,

40
CESS, A l , p. 55b.
41
CESS, A 4 pp. 2 -7b-2 - b; and A 5 pp. 240a-240b.
42
Harvard 1113, ff. 2-5 and 8-9 (no 7 in my catalogue).
43
CESS, A 4, pp. l 70b-172a; and - , p. 205b.
44
CESS, A 3 p. lO la and A 4, p. 10 a.
45
CESS, A 3, pp. 7 a-76b· A 4 p. I OOa; and A 5, pp. l 22b-123a.
46
CESS, A 3, p. 49b; and A 4, p. 94a.
47
CESS, A 6.
48
CESS, A 3, pp. 79b-84b; • pp. 102a-103a: and A 5 pp. I 24b-126a.

97
4650, 4651, 4652, 4653, and 4654). One was copied in 1663 by Garigadhara
at All)va (modem Mominabad about 20 mile southea t of Gangakheir).
The same scribe copied a Dasiipaiicakaphala now at Bikaner (Anup 4757)
in the same year and the same place. Finally, I;)hm:ic;lhiraja's on, Gru:iesa,
composed a widely used Tajikabhu!ja!Ja 49 (Anup 4717) on Islam.ic astrology
and a Paddhatiratnavati5° (Anup 5043) on genethlialogy at Parthapura in
about 1600. There are manuscripts of both of these works at Bikaner; that of
the PaddhatiratnavalT was copied by Yajii.iklal in 1648, and was once the
property of one JagatamaQi. While we can not be certain whether or not any
of these copies of the works of thi productive family was brought to
Anupasin;iha's court by his new Jyoti$araja, that at least remajns a strong
possibility.
Another family of jyoti~Ts , one that emanated from a ection of Parthapura
called Golagrama, was founded by a different Rama in the 15th century. llis
grandson, Divakara, studied under 08.l)esa of Nandigrama, and then appar-
ently moved to KasI, where his descendents flourished till the end of the
17th century. We do not know whether members of this family from whom
VIrasimba may have acquired copies of their works remained in Golagrama;
but a large number of 17th century manuscripts of those works ended up in
Bikaner. Among those that belonged to VIrasiqiha or to Anupasill)ha (many
were the property of another of Anupasin:iha 's pafJ4itas, Mal).irama
Dik$ita 51 ,who was settled in KasI in the 1690's if not earher) are the follow-
ing. Surprisingly, there are no works by Divakara's famous son, Visvanatha,
at Bikaner, though a copy of the commentary on Garigadhara 's rare
Candramdnatantra composed by another V(vanatha52 , previously thought
to be Divakara 's son, was the property of the Jyotisaraja (Anup 4582). I note
in passing that Visvanatha's son, Tryambaka53 , wrote an a trological
Paddhatikalpavaffifor AnupasirDha in 1673, about the year that the Maharaja
met the Jyoti$araja; the unique manuscript of this work, now also at Bikaner
(Anup 4827), was copied by Tryambaka himself in 1684. Another of
Divakara's grandsons, Nrsi.qlha, composed important commentaries on three
astronomical treatises, the Suryasiddhiinta 54 (Anup 5350), Bhaskara's Sid-
dhantasiroma,:ii55 (Anup 5325, 5326, and 5327), and GaQe ~a' Tithicintii-
ma!Ji56 (Anup 4733); manuscripts of all three are at BTkaner. That of the
Saurabhii~ya , on the Suryasiddhanta, was copied in 1659. Nrsiqiha al o
49
CESS, A 2, pp. 107a- 109a; A 3, p. 28b; A 4, pp. 75b-76a; and A 5, pp. 74b-75a.
5
°
51
CESS, A 2, pp. 109a- I09b; and A 5, p. 75a.
CESS, A 4, pp. 344b-345b; and A 5, pp. 270a-270b.
52
CESS, A 5, p. 674b.
53
CESS , A 3, p. 94a.
54
CESS, A 3, pp. 204a-205a; A 4, pp. 162b-163a; and A 5, p. 202b.
55 CESS , A 3, pp. 205a-206a; A 4, p. 163a; and A 5, p. 203a.
56
CESS , A 3, p. 206a.

98
wrote a nibandha on genethlialog theliitakasiiradipa·\ of which there are
seven manu cript in the Anup San krit Library (Anup 4643, 4644, 4645,
4646, 4647. 464 , and 4649 ; the olde twas copied in 1651. Nrsill)ha ' s son,
a second Di akara in thi fa.mil ,, wrote al o a genethlialogical treatise, the
Jiitakamarga · · the manu ript at Bikaner wa copied in 1642 by Nrsin;1ha
him self (Anup 4640 . All of thi ugge t , though it doe not prove, that
there was a clo e connection betw en thi famil · , that had migrated from
Golagrama near Kheta to Ka 'i and Anupa ifl)ha court and that the link
wa the J oti. araja ir i11}ha.
Another cholar \ horn nup iqlha apparentl disco ered at this time
was Rama Bhana Ho "inga , who e famiJ also eem to ha e lived near the
GodavarI. He wrote a number of work for Anupa i11).ha on dharma , tantra,
and ayun eda. Among the manu crip that Rama brought to Bikaner were a
copy of the tithinir~w 'a from a Sairksepanin:zayasindhu (Anup 1711 ) and a
Vya ahiiramG)iikha of I1akai:it:ha60 (Anup _523). Some of the Deccanijyoti~a
manuscripts in Aniipasiqma Library may al o have come from this source.
But the mo t extraordinary acce ion of manu cript occurred while the
Maharaja and hi J oti. araja were campaigning together in Aurangzib's anny
in the D eccan- thi v a one of the occa ion on which war facilitated the
spread of cientific knowledge between region of India that normally had
little contact. In 167 6 Arn1pa in;iha as in command of the Imperial troops
succe fully defending Aurangabad again t the a ault of the Maratha leader,
SivajL After thi e ·plait, he apparently returned to Bfkaner where his first
scribe, Mathena Jo 'f made a cop of the Strijataka of R arnacandra6 i , a work
on the nati ities of fomale in 1679 (Anup 5358). He probably used as his
exemplar the manu cript of the ame w ork that had been copied at
Aurangabad in i 671 and brought back to Bik:aner (Anup 5359).
Aurangzib and hi' arm evident} including the Mahar.aja of Bikaner
and hi Jyoti. araja, et off in September 1681 from Ajmir to attack Bijapur;
the army reached Aurangabad in the Spring of 1682, and remained there till
the Spring of J 6 5· the Maha.raja and hi a trologer occupied at least part of
their time acquiring manu cript . The Anup copy of the tithinin.wya from
PH:ambara Bhan.a ' Dha1·miir~1ava6 2 was copied at Karru:iapura in Aurangabad
in 1681 (Anup 2435) · in the ame ear RamajI Josi copied at Aurangabad
the Bikaner manu cript of the Smrtikaumud, of Visvesvara63 (Anup 2633).

57
CESS, A 3 pp. 19 a- 19 b; A p. l5 b; and A 5, p. 203a.
5
CESS, A 3, pp. 106b-l07b: A 4, p. I lla; and A 5 p . 14 lb.
59
CESS, A , pp. 4-0a-4 - , a.
60
CESS, A 4, pp. 14 b-l -oa; and 5. p. 192a.
61
CESS A 5, pp . 462b-46 a.
62
CESS A 4, p. 204a.
63
CESS , A - . pp. 69 a-699a.

99
One of the Bikaner manuscripts of Rarnacandra Kiilanin:iayad'ipika64 was
copied at Kara])apura in 1683 (Anup 1676), while Mahe ' vara work on
catarchic astrology, the Vrttasata 65 , was copied at Aurangabad in 1682 and
acquired in that same city by the Jyoti$araja (Anup 5172). Another text on
the same subject, the Muhurtacintamal'}i of Rama66 , had been copied by
Bauhara GopalajI at Karal)apura in Aurangabad in 1683 and had first be-
longed to one Devaraja Jaujasa before coming into the Maharaja ' s library
(Anup 4970). A Caturthikarar;a had been copied by Lirnba Jo ' i, a re ident
ofNirjhara, in 1685, and had first belonged to Nandalala Mjsra of Padmapura
in Aurangabad before being carried off to Bikaner (Anup 2991 ).
In March of 1685 Aurangzib' s army finally moved South to invest BTjapur.
The Jyoti~araja and his master immediately set to collecting manuscript .
Among tho e that they had copied at Bijapur already in 1685 were two that
deal with the application of astrology and magic to military campaigning,
Narapati 's Naraparijayacarya 67 (Anup 4793) and Rar;iahastin s Rajavijaya 68
(Anup 5055). Another manuscript whose contents were in part relevant to
the conduct of military operations wa on atmospheric and terrestrial omens,
the Sakuna of Vasantaraja 69 , also copied at BTjapur in 1685 (Anup 5114). It
was presumably at Bijapur that they acquired a manuscript of Prthuyasas'
$a{pancasika with the ffka of Bhartotpala70 , a work on interrogational as-
trology, a manuscript that had been copied at Bijapur in L586 (Anup 5221).
The city surrendered to the Mughal forces in September 1686. Anupa il1lla
was initially rewarded for his services by the sarkar ofNa$ratabad or Sagara
to the east of Bijapur, near Hyderabad, and in 1689 by the diamond-produc-
ing Sabah of Aduni, south of the Tungabhadra River. At some time during
the decade and more that he spent in Mahara$tra and the Ka.n:i.ataka he seems
to have collected other manuscripts onjyoti~a and dharmasiistra . There is a
copy of the Kalatattvavivecana of Raghunatha71 that was bought for
AnupasiTl,lha in Mahara~tra by Rama Ramabhana, perhap the ame indi-
vidual as Rama Bhana Hosiriga (Anup 1658). A manuscript of the
Smrtikaustubha of Anantadeva 72 was copied in the Korikar;ia in 1689 (Anup
2637). The Anup Library' s manuscript of Madhu Ddana Dik$ita 's

64
CESS, A 5, pp. 465a-467a.
65
CESS, A 4, pp. 397b-398b; and A 5, p. 298a.
66
CESS, A 5, pp. 428b-443b.
67 CESS, A 3, pp. 137a-142a; A 4, pp. 122b-123b; and A 5, pp. 162a-164b.
68
CESS, A 5, pp. 392b-393a.
69
CESS , A 5, pp. 598b-602a.
70 CESS, A 4, pp. 212b-22 lb; and A 5, pp. 219b-224a, and A 4, pp. 277b-281 b; and A 5,

pp. 247b-248b.
71 CESS, AS, pp. 373a-374a.
72 CESS, A l , pp. 4 lb-42a; A 2, pp. Llb-I 2b; A 3, pp. 12b-13a; A 4, pp. l 5b-l 9b; and A

5 , pp. 7a-8a.

100
Smrtiratna, aff73 had been copied in 141- b Svami Kavi, a re ident of
Prati ..thana, and \ as probabl acquired in the vicinity of that town on the
Goda arI (Anup _6- l ). A manu ript of Ramacandra Kalanir'}ayad'ipikii
that had been copied at Pi. adrigiri in 1617 wa acquired at Na ik (Anup
1675) a wa a cop of the ection on acara from the Dinakaroddyota of
Vi've ' ara Gagabhana. a Brahmar:ia from Ka ' I 4 (Anup 2394) who had of-
ficiated at the abhi~eka of Am1pa in;ha old ad er ar , SivajI, in 1674;
manu cript of ei(Jht other part of the Dinakarodd)ota are found atBikaner.
The Maharaja manu ript f the astrological lyoti~aphaloda)a wa copied
at Ahmadnaoar by Gopfila J otirvid, a re ident of Paranaragrama (Anup
4680). One of the Anup Library three manu cripts of an important work
on catarchic a trolog , he Muhiirrada,par;a compo ed in the Kan:iataka by
Vidyamadha a in a bout 1.,50 - had been copied in I 586 by Ananta at
Sin.ghaJ)anagara, a place nam dafter the ] .,th centur Yadava Maharaja of
the Sahyadri (Anup 5142 . The manu cript of Sr:idhara Kalavidhana-
paddhati16 copied b IlakaJJ.tha in 1586 mu t al o have come from the
Deccan (Anup 44 2)· it i the only cop of thi te t north of the Narmada.
And the library po e e t o copie (An up 4718 and 4719), one of which
belonged to Mal)ira.ma Di:k. ita of the Tiijika ogasudhiinidhi composed by
Yadava Suri at Va1 in 161677 . From further to the east came the two manu-
scripts (Anup 4677 and 67 ) of the J)oti_ adarpa~1a and the five (Anup
4768, 4769 4770 4771 and 477 _::) oftheDaivajnm ilasa written by Kaficam
Y allaya at KoQC,apalli in A.ndhrapradesa7 . It ma well have been in the
Kan;afaka that the J roti. araja pur ha ed hi two manu cripts of Lalla 's
Si~yadhivrddhidatantra 19 , one of the grahaga~1ita (Anup 5198), the other of
the go/a section (An up 451 ); at lea t the KaD)ataka is the region in which
thi text wa traditionall tudied.
Anupasiq1ha i aid to ha e been relie ed of hi charge as governor of
A.diini in 169 l but other account claim that he continued in that office till
his death. Howe er thi ma be, he eem to ha e returned at la t to Bikiiner
and hi book . ln thi la t pha e of hi life Aniipa in;lha patronized another
astronomer Yid anatba Suri O who wa the guru of the Ahicchatra
Brahnuu1,a ; it i po ible that VTra i~a had died by 1690, when he would
have been nearl 80 ear old. id anatha \ rote four work for the Maharaja:

73
CESS , A 4 p. " - 4b.
74
CESS A 5. pp. 699a-700b.
75
CESS A 5 pp. 649b-6-2a.
76
CESS A 6.
77 CESS. AS, pp. 3'"'5a-., "5b.
7
CESS, A 5, pp. 323b-32 a.
79
CESS, A 5, pp. 545b-546b.
° CESS A 5 pp. 64 b-649a.

101
 an enormous Anuparatnakara (the copy at Bikaner, Anup 2674, has 849
folia ); a Jyotpattisara on constructing a table of Sines (the Anup Library
manuscript, Anup 4697, was copied by Devadatta in 1696); a Yantra-
cintii.maJJ,i, presumably on astronomical instruments (the unique copy, Anup
7632, is at Bikaner); and a truly enormous Sant.isudhakara (the first of the
two copies at Bikaner, Anup 2230 and 2231, consists of 1096folia and was
copied at Adunigiri in 1697).
Anupasin;iha bad many other manuscripts copied for his collection at
Aduni. He usually employed a scribe named Harikr~na Srimali or
Srimalikacara (once Srimalavikacara). This man in l 691 copied the
iiciiraratna from the Anupavilasa that Aniipasin:iha's protege, Maiµrama
Dik~ita, was then busy compiling at Kasi (Anup 2325); the Anup Library
has manuscripts of the dii.naratna (Anup 2322) and the vatsararatna (Anup
2321) copied in 1690, and one of the :fraddharatna copied in 1691 (Anup
2324). Mal).irama Dik~ita's work on catarchic astrology , the Anupa-
vyavahii.rasii.gara, was copied by ~Qadatta Vyasa at Raicuradurga (Raichur,
about fifty miles north of Aduni) in 1689 (Anup 4426); a manuscript of
NI1aka1}.tha's Tajikan"ilaka!J[hr> 1 had been copied for Anupasin;iha by
MIQthaka at Rayacu in the same year (Anup 4 708).
To return to Srimal.Ikacara: he copied three manuscripts at Aduni in 1692:
an induphala from a CandrartJava (Anup 4451), the Prasnavidya of
CaIJ.c;lesvara82 (Anup 4555), and the malanuisavrata from the Bhavi~yotta-
rapurii!J.a (Anup 2132). One of the two copies of Payonidhi's Siimudrika-
siira83, a rare DeccanI treatise on physiognomy, was copied in 1693 (Anup
5275), but we remain ignorant of the scribe and the place of copying. At
Sagara, which Aniipasi~ha had been governor of from 1686 till 1689,
Mathena Kusaliya copied a Paiiciirigasdra,:zi for Anupasiqiha in 1694 (Anup
4824), and Bhupati Vyasa in 1695 copied the iiciira section of Sridhara's
Smrtyarthasiira 84 , also for Anupasiqiha (Anup 2660). In the next year, 1696,
Srimali copied his last manuscript, a collection of four vedii.rigas: the jyoti~a,
a sik~ii, the chandas, and the nighaTJ,fu, at A.dilQ.i in Kari:iatakadesa (Anup
. 668). Also in 1696 Somesvara Vyasa acquired for Anupasiqiha a manu-
script (Anup 4518) of the Grahakausala, composed on the basis of the
Suryasiddhanta in 1659 by Sambhunatha85 , a pupil of the Nityananda86 who
had expounded Muslim astronomy in Sanskrit for Asaf Khan in the days of
Shah Jahan; (the Anup Library has two copies (Anup 5332 and 5333] of

81
CESS, A 3, pp. 180a-189a; A 4, pp. 143a-l44b; and A 5, pp. 186b-189b.
82
CESS, A 3, pp. 41a-4 lb; A 4, p. 88b; and A 5 , p. W5b .
83
CESS, A 4, p. 180a.
84 CESS, A 6.
85
CESS, A 6.
86
CESS, A 3, pp. 173b-174a; A 4, pp. 14La-14l b; and A 5, p. 184a.

102
kha~uj.a 3 of Nityananda · Siddhii.masindhu, the Sanskrit translation of FarTd
al-Din IbrahTm Dihla I' Zij-i Shiih Jahiin and the unique manuscript (Anup
519I ) of his S.ahajaha1?1ga1.1 ira) . In 1697 Manarupa Ojha copied a
Janmapatr1ninJaya (Anup 4597) and Kasinatha sliitakaratna87 (Anup 4641),
bothatAdurri .A are ulrofthi ariedacti it o eraperiodoftwenty-five
years there was a ast influx of cientific texts from the South into Rajasthan;
copies of at lea t some of the e ended up in the hands of Savai Jayasiqiha,
whose father R ama im,ha had been AnupasiI]) ha' s friend and fellow
bibliophile; thes,e are now in the Pa.IDace Mu eum at Jaipur.
On Sunda the ninth tithi of the suklapak§a of adhika Jye~~ha in SaJ11.
1755, Saka 1620 - that i on 8 Ma 1698 - the Maharajadhiraja
Aniipasi.fl).ha died _To paraphrase Tod famous epitaph on Jayasin;iha, two
wives, seven concubine and nine la e girl along with an incurable case
of bib Ho mania peri hed together on the funeral pyre. But ten thousand manu-
cripts forrn a fitting memorial to their pas ionate collector,. revealing to us,
in the pre ent circum tance· not the achie ements of the authors of the
works they contain, but the pint of curiosity and inquiry that inspired this
warrior-scholar.
One of his courts-poets, Vi!1hala f(r$J)a, wrote an Anupasif!lhagw:uivatiira
in a hundred ver e · I would like to conclude by quoting the ninety-first,
since it combine a deserved praise of his scholarship and valor with a pun-
ning astrological identification of the Maharaj a with the effective Moon:
samyag budhena uru1_1a kavina ca dr$!al:i
pr§!O na nu11ui.a\•adanair adhiruif.liakarka~z/1
bhii.niimrgarika ranu~e yad a,rupasirriha
bha, )DJ?'l bhm ed iha kmhaf!1 m.ama cittacimall
(first) Mounted on your white horse you are seen by the wise teacher and
poet, but are not touched by those whose speech is slow, oh Moon to the
world! Oh Anupasin).ha whatever you do is proper.
(second) Ott Moon to the. world ha ing entered your house, Cancer, you
are aspected by (benefic) Mercury Jupiter, and Venus, but are not touched
in conjunction by (malefic) Saturn. Oh lion in a watery sign, whatever you
effect will come to pa .
(common to both) How could there he anxiety in my mind in this matter?

s7 CESS, A 2, p. 35a.
88
Vyasa, op. cil ., pp. 44-45.
9
C. Kunhan Raja, A1.1i,pasi1!1Jza 11~111,•acam b i!fhala Krishna, Bikaner 1942, p. 94.

103
I DICES
 Greek and Larin Authors

Achinopulo : 24 Kancaf el ndio: 52

· xµaTT1s 6 ITlpa11s: 74 Kankaraf Indu : -2
Aelius: 45 46 KaTTtcnis: 65
'A)..Elµ 6 UL()$ TOU 'Pei TOU " 69 LVTT)s:69
'A.Af:i._µ vi.as; 'hmCI.K b 'I apa.TJM TT)S' : 67 Kmxn cip: 69
Alexm of B zantium: 76 Leo the Philo opher: 65 66
Antiochu : 716 Mavl6wv Manetho: 37 79 82
Antipater: 24 MouyVT)s-, Mu9ne : 70
Ari totle: 47 , 5_ aburianu : 2q
Ar eniu the onlc: 77 Odap u : 25n
Augu tine: 23 PaJchu : 75 76
Bero u : 24 Panaetiu of Rhode : 23
Chry ippu : 23 Peto iri : 19, 25 26
Cicero: 23 Philip of Opu : 27
Cidenas: 24 Plato: 25 2
Daniet 76 Plin : 24
Demetriu : 76 TTop( o( 6µxap: 69
Democritu : 52 Po idoniu : 23 25
Demophilu : 66 Pro lus: _4 25n
Diogene : 23 Ptolem : 40 50 68, 73, 74
Dorotheu : 46-50, ~ 63 67, 69. 70, 76, Pythagoras: 52 54 70
83,8 6 'PciTIT11s: 70
Eleutheriu Zebelenu : 75, 76 Rhetoriu ofEgypt:48 67-69, 71, 74, 76
"Eµ~pE: 70 L<lXA 6 vl cs- TOD ITEap: 69
Epigene : 24 erapio: 76
Eudoxu : 23 24 2 im on Seth: 6 69
'H>..rivwv: 69 Srephanu of Me ina: 67, 73
Finnicus Maternu : _5 Stephanu the Philo opher: 59, 64, 65,
Frontinu : 24n 6 75
Pronto: 25 Strabo:24
Gerninu : 28 Sudine: 24
Heliodoru : 76 Theodo iu : 66
Hephae tio of Thebe : 2 26, 46, 6 - Theophane : 64n
70,74 Th ophilu : 49, 58, 59 63-66, 68, 69,
Hermes: 41-42,46 9.. 0 5 __ 54 62. 76 74, 76
Hipparchu : 25 Theophrastu : 24
Hugo of San . tall a: 47 4 70 Timaeu Praxidicu : 76
Hyp icle: 24 ettiu alen : 40 46-50, 55 63, 68,
luhanu : 76 70, 7
John Abramiu : 74 75 itru iu : 24
John Camaterus: 6 Zanniharus:48
John of Se iJle: 52

107
 Arabic Author

Abraham ibn Ezra: 51, 52 Zaradu ht. Zaradu ht: 43-47, 49

Ibn abT U~aybi' a: 51-53 al-Zana.ti: 77
Ibn al-AdamI: 51, 54, 73n aJ-SijzI: 45 60-62
Ibn Khaldun: 44, 46 Sa'id ibn Khura ankhu rrah: 45 47
Ibn al-QiftT: 47 Sahl ibn Bi hr: 4 l, 48 . 49 61 62 69-
Ibn al-Nadim: 47, 50, 55 , 56 72 74
Ibn Nawbakht: 50, 63 Shadhan: 56, 5 , 69-71 73
Ton Hibinta: 48 , 56, 57 Shanaq: 51
Ibn Yunis: 69 Sifid al-Andalu I : 4 53
Abu Sahl ibn Nawbakht: 50, 63 al -S a mari: 49
Abu 'Abdallah al-ZanatI: 77 ' Abd al-Rahim: 84
Abu ' AH a1-Khayyat: 69-71 ' Abd al-'Aziz al-QabI_I: 65, 7 1
Abu al-' Anbas a]- ~aymarT: 49 ' Ali ibn Abt al-Rijal: 40
Abu a1-Fadl: 92n ' AH ibn Ahmad al-Imrani: 70 71 74
Abu Ma'shar Ja'far ibn Muhammad ibn 'An ibn I ~aq: 75
cumar al-BalkhI: 4!'-43, 49, 53 , cAn ibn Yahya: 75n
54, 58, 62, 65-67 , 69-7 1, 73-75 , 'Urnar ibn al-Farrukhan al TabarI: 4 1
88, 89 46, 49 50, 52 5 63°, 71
Abu YusufYa'qub ibn 'Air al-Qa . ranI: Farrnasb: 50
41 , 49 al-FazarT: 51
Al)mad ibn M ul} ammad al-Sijzi: 45 , al-Fadl ibn Sahl:. 41 63
60-62 al-Qab1. i: 65 71
Al)madibn Yusufibn al-Qaya: 68, 69, 71 al-Q<!$rfu1I: 41 49
Ahmad the Persian: 75, 76 Qidrii : 50
IliyUs: 46 QI!Jinu al-Sad, aH:, 6 50
Ulyiis: 46 Katrami ha' : 52
al.-Imrani: 70, 71, 74 al-KindI: 69-71 74
91-Andarzaghar: 48 Kankah rabb al-Hind: 52
UUli: 52 Kankah al-Hindi: 5 L-62
al-Battani: 56 Kushyar ibn Labban: 69
Buzurjmihr: 40, 44, 47 , 48 , 69 Masba>allah ibn thar1: 39n, 41, 46-
al-BalkhI: 76 48 , 55 , 565 59 61,63, 68-
al-BirfinI: 55 71 . 75 76
al-Tamimi: 58 Muhammad ibn Ahi Bakr al-Fa.Ii I: 4_
Tinkalush: 45 Muhammad ibn Mu a: 75n
Jabir: 52 Mu}:iammad ibn Mu a al-KhwarizmI: 59
Jamash, Jamasb: 42 , 43 Mankah al-HindI: 51
Hamza a1-IsfahanI: 40n Nawbakht: 4l 58 63
Khurshacthmah: 63 Hunnu: 43
a1-Khwarizmi: 59 Yal:iya ibn Abt Man. ur: 75
al-Khayya~: 69-7 l Yah a ibn Muhammad at-HalabI: 44
Rashiq: 68 Ya'qiib ibn Tariq: 51 ·
Zadanfamlkh al-Andarzaghar: 48 al-Ya' qubI: 59

108
 Pahlavf and Persian Authors

lugh Beg: 92 Mahank:ard: 45

(Maulana) Al as: 92 asir al-Din al-Tu I: 92
(Maulana) Cand: 9_ Hui:-muzdafrid: 44-
Sarnsamal-Da Ia hah a azKhan:91 Handarzgar. 48
FarTd al Din Ibrahim al-Dihla, I: - , 10

Sanskrit Author

Acala: 94 arapati: 100

Anantadeva: l 00 arii anadasa Siddha: 94
Aryabhata: 34, 54, 57 armada: 94. 97
Isvara: 97
I' varadasa: 92
i ananda: s- 87, 102, 103
i:lakaJJP,a: 84-86, 88, 89 92, 99, 102
Kanaka: 51-62 r in)ha: 83, 98, 99
Kanakacarya: 54 Padrnanabha: 97
Ka1>-'.aJJ-avarman: 54 Pa onidhi: 102
KasTnatha: 103 Paramakarunik:a: 93
Kasyapa: 87 Paramananda: 92
Kevalarama: 9- Parame' a.ra: 50
Kesava: 83, 95 Para' ara: 37
Khindika: 80 81 86 Pitambarn Bhatta: 99
Gangadhara: 98 Prthu a'a : 10()
Gane ' a: 84, 86, 9 B·alabhadra: 85-87 89
Garga: 80 86 Ballala: 95
Govmda varnin: 37 Brahrnagupta: 54
Cande'vara: 102 Brahmade a: 97
Caraka: 5 l Bbanotpala.: 34, 37, 100
CaJJ-akya: 51 Bhadatta: ., 7
Cint:amani: 97 Bha abhatta: 92
Cirafijlva Bhanacarya: 6 Bha kara: ·87 97, 98
Cirantanaya ana: 37 MaJJittha: 37,. 79, 82, 83, 90
Jagannatha: 85 Manira.ma DTksita: 102
Jivasarman: 36 Mada:na imha: ·94
Jfianaraja: 97 Madhu udana Dik ita: 100
QhuIJQhiraja: 97 Mahe' ara: 100 ·
Tammana: 95 Madhava: 94
Tejal}si111ha: 82 Minaraja: 34 36 37 40
Tryambaka: 98 (Kaficam) Yallaya: 101
Damodara: 97 Ya ana: 37 80 82 86, 87
Divakara: 99 Ya ana arya: 37, 86
Deva vamin: 7 Ya ane' ara: 54, 36 37 79, 80

109
Yadava Suri: 84, 10 I Visve 'vara: 94, 99
Raghunatha: 100 Vi ' ve ' vara Gagabhan,a: 101
Raghunatha Kavikamhirava: 92 Vi~Qugupta: 37
Ranahastin: 100 V1rasin;1ha: 92, 95, 96
Rama: 85, I00 (Tomara) V1rasin:iha: 94
Ramacandra: 100, 101 (Bhugola) Venkate ' a: 86
Ramacandra Bhatta: 93 Saktipurva: 37
Ramacandra Vajapeyin: 94 Sambhunatha: 102
Rayasin:iha: 93 $r1dhara: 101, I 02
Rornaka: 79, 87 Sr1pati: 93
Lalla: 101 Satya: 36, 37 , 80, 86
Varaharnihira: 34, 36-38, 49, 54, 93 Samarasin:iha: 80-83 85-87, 89
Vasantaraja: 100 Saya:Qa: 31 n
Vijiianesvara: 94 Siddhasena: 37
Vitthala Krsna: 103 Surya : 83 , 97
Viddar:ia: 9.5,° 97 Somesvara: 8 ln
Vidyanatha Suri : 101 Sphujidhvaja: 34-37 39, 47, 79, 83
Vidyamadhava: 10 l Haribhana: 82
Visvanatha: 98

Akkadian and Sumerian Titles

Diaries: 16 Letters: ] 2, 16
Diviner's Manual: 12 MUL.APJN : 27n, 31n
Enuma Anu Enlil: 12, 13, 15-17, 19, 25, Reports: 12, 15, 16
27, 32,33 Summa alu: 19, 32 33
Iqqur 1pus: 22

Greek Titles

ALWJ/La Kav6vw, AtwVLOL KQJ/OJ/E5': 73 Kav6vES' TTPOXElPOL: 50

'Av8o)...oy(m: 46, 47, 55, 73 Kapn6s: 68-70, 7 4
'ArrOKClAUl/JLS: 76, 77 KptaLS: 70
'ArroTEAEcrµanKa': 26, 66n, 70, 83 MuaTTJpLa : 70, 75
'ArroTEAEcrµanKT) 1TpayµaTE(a: 59, 64 TTEpl TWV EVQAAaywv TWJ/ YEVECJE -
Els TCIS IToAL TELUS fficiTwvos 'Yrr6- wv: 66n
µIIT]P,-a : 25n :Z.:apaKT)VtKov ~L~Atov : 66
Els Tov 1 lµmov TTAciTwvos : 24n LTpaTllyiJµaTa: 24n
EtcraywYT1_ ElS' Ta ¢aw6µEva: 25n LuvTa~tS' µa9liµaTLKTJ: 40n 50, 73
Elaaywyr1 ds T'flV drroTEAEaµan - Ttµmos-: 25
Kllv: 25n <l>a'i8pos-: 28n
"EvorrTpov : 28n <l>m v6µEva : 28n
'Err1.J)Oµls- : 27, 28n XE.KEµ: 69
8EµEJ...tov : 74-76 Xpovoypa(j)la: 64n
8Eµe:\ws cioTpovoµucfJs TE,XV11S' KaTa.
Taus- Xa)...8alous 86/;a: 40n

110
 Latin Title

Cen1iloquium: 6 ram genetialium q11am circula-

De archirectura: _4n rium summam conrinen : 4 7, 48,
De ivitate Dei.: 2 n 70, 71
De die na1ali: _4n Liber de narivitarib11s: 47
De divinatione: 2 n Liber de rarionibus tabularum : 5 ln
D efato: 23n Uber universus: 4 ln . 52n
De re iolutionibu 11aril·irarw11: "7n Mathe is: 25n
Liber Aristorili de d11ce111i quinqua- at11ralis hi roria: 24n
inta qui11q11e fndornm ,·olumi- rrateoemara : _4n
nibus unii·er aliwn que rionwn

Arabi Tit !es

al-Athiir al-baq?
· •a: -- <Jim al-ram/: 77
Ahkiim tahiiwt sin, al-mawiil'fd: 4 __ < v1111 al-anbii )ft ,rabaqiit al-afibbii ): 52n
. 67, '73 Gfuiyat al-hakim: 52n
al-A~1kiim <a/ii al-ni. bar al-falak~ra: 69. al-F"ilu-i r: 50. 5-n
71 72 Fi a~1kam <a/a al-adwar wa aljardiirtit
al-Asrar: 49 wa al-qiriinat ft al-intiqiil a/-
Asrar kaliim Hurmus al-murhallath bi mi/al i1:a al-duwal: 56-62
al-hikma: 4 Fi a~1ka111 al-qiriinat: 43
Asrar al-mawatid: - Fi talJqiq ma Ii al-Hind: 54n
al-Usu!: 49 Fi daliFil al-qiriiniit wa al-kusi7fiit : 56
al-Uluf: 53 62 Fi <i/al al-:ijiir. 5 ln. 54n, 73n
al-Bari <: 40 Fi al-qiriinat wa al-adyan '11 a al-mi la/:
al-Biz1diij: 40 47, 4 56n,S9
Tahawtl sinf at- <atam: 6_ Ff qiyiim al-khulafa wa ma<rifat qiyiim
Ta >rikh al-hukanuY 5 In kull malik: 59
Ta )rikh al-Ya <qiibi: 9 al-Qiriiniit: 44, 55
al-Thamara: 68 al-Qirii11iit al-kabfr: 56-62
al-Jami<al-shiihi: 4- al -Qiriiniit wa ta~uiw'il sin1 a/-<afam :
Zij al-Arjabhar: ~ 4 60-62
Zij al-Arkand: 54 al-Qiriiniit 1va al-du'l1 al wa al-mulk wa
al-Zij al-lfakimi: 69 al-muli'ik wa a/-anbiya' : 45
a/-Zij al-Sindhind: 51. -· -4 -,9_62, 7 Ma )iithir al- mara ): 91
al-Zij al-Mu;.affari: 4 al-Mujarradiit: 52
Suwar daraj al=Jafak al-rhalarhmii'a wa al-Majus: 44
· al-sittayn: -i al-Madkhal al-. agh1r: 8, 89
Tabaq<it al-umam: 4 n, 51 n. al-Mad/.:hal al-kabir: 70
<Arc! mifuV1 asriir al-11uj(im: ..t l. 4_n Mudhakardt: 56, 69 70. 73

111
a/-MasiVil: 49, 69 sin1 al- 'alam wa tasyrr qismat al-
al-Mughn f fi ahkiim al-nujiim: 48n, 57 duny a wa rahiiwtl sint al-
a l-Muqaddima: 44n mawiiltd v. a al-masiVil: 45-47
a l-Mulhama: 76 Nazm al- ciqd: 51
al-Mav.~alTd: 44-49 a/-Namiidiirfi a/-a <mar: 55
al-Mawalr.d al-kab1r: 47 al-Nahmatiin : 50
al-MawaJid wa al-kusiifiit wa tahiiw'il Hay )at al-falak: 45

Pahlavz and Persian Titles

Akbar nama: 92 Zij-i Shah Jahiin: 85

Bundahishn: 39, 67 Zij-i Gurgiinf: 92
Denkart: 50 Zfk-i Shahsriyiirii.n: 40, 85
Zij-i l l-Khanf: 92 Wizidag : 47

Sanskrit Titles

Atharvaveda: 31, 95 Kirtikaumudr: 81 n

Atharvavedaparisi~fa: 31, 32n Kundakrti: 94
Adbhutabriihmana: 31, 32n Kausikasutra: 31
Adbhutasiinti: 3i Kha~qakhayaka : 54
Aniipakarar_z.a: 96 Khetakautuka: 84
Aniipamahodadhi: 96 Khetaplava: 95, 96
Aniiparatniikara: 102 Ganakabhusana: 80
Anii.paviliisa: 102 Gargasamh'itd: 33
Anii.pavyavaharasiigara: 102 Grahakausala: 102
Anii.pasaligftaratnakara: 92n Grahaga1Jitacintama1Ji: 97
Anii.pasalig"itavilasa: 92n Grahanasii.dhana: 96
Anupasaligitiirikusa: 92n Caturthikarana: 100
,1nii.pasif!thagul}dvatara: 103 Candramiinatantra : 98
,1ryabhatfya:34,54 Candrarnava: 102
,1ryasiddhantatulyakara,:ia: 96 Camatkarasiddhi: 96
,1svaliiyanag,:hyaparisi~ta : 31, 32n Jagaccandrikii : 34
Asvaliiyanagrhyasii.tra : j ln Janmapatrrnin;.aya : 103
JJjumitaksarii: 94 Jaharigiravinodaratnakara: 92
karanakanthirava: 96, 97 Jiitakapaddhati: 95
Kara~akalpadruma: 93 JatakapaddhaticintamaFJ-i : 85
Karanakutii.hala: 87 J<itakamarga: 99
Kara~aprakasa: 97 Jiitakaratna: l03
Karmaprakasika: 80 Jatakasaradrpa : 99
Kiilatattvavivecana: 100 Jiitakabharana: 97
Kalanirr;ayadfpika: 100, 101 J fuinabhaskai·a: 87, 94
Kiilamii.dhava : 94 Jyoti~adarpa1.1a: 101
Kalavidhanapaddhati : 101 Jyoti~apha/oda)a: 101

112
Jyot1)aratnanuila: 93 Muhiirtadarpa1:ia : 101
Jyotpattisara: 102 Muh11rtamalii : 92
Todarii.nanda: 84 Muln"irtaratna : 93
Tii)ikatantradipa : 80 Meghanuilii: 94
Tiijikatantrasara: 0. 1. - . 6. 9 Yann·acintamani: 102
TiijikanUaka~1[hT: 4-86. 8 9 .. 102 Yavanajataka: J4-37, 39, 47, 79, 83
Tiijikabhu. ww: 4, 6. 9 Yiijna a/kyasmrti : 94
Tiijikayoga udhanidhi: 4. 10 l Rajavija) a: 100
Tajikaratniikara : 6 Rii.mavinoda: 85
Tiijikasara: 82 83 5. 6 Romakarajika: 87
Tajikdla,ikiira: 4 ar~aphala: 82, 83
Tithicintiimani: 9 ar~aphalapaddhati: 83
Dasapaiicakaphala: 98 asantarajasaroddhiira: 95
Dinakaroddyota: IOI ii.rsikmamra: 95-97
Dighanikiiya: 32 i. ~udharmottarapurii!Ja: 33
Dah ajiia\ iliisa: 10 l 1rasimlui, aloka : 94
Daivajnii/a,ikrti: 8_ rttasata : 100
Dharmarnava: 99 r·ddhayavanajii.taka : 34, 36, 40
Dhru ab/1ramayamra: 97 ediirthaprakasikii: 31 n
Nabhogasiddhi: 94, 97 \(ym ahiirama ii.kha: 99
Narapatija aca,;a: 1 Sakuna : l 00
Nir1Jayad1paka: 94 Samisudhiikara: 102
Paikasiddhantildi: 34, 3 SahaJaharr1g.w1ita : 103
PancarigabhuJarya: 95 Si~yadhh rddhidatantra: 101
Pafica1igasara~1i: JO_ Sarpanca 'ika: 100
Paddhatikalpa vatri: 9 · ad, im.fobriihmana: 31
Paddhatiratna, alf: 98 Saiik~epan ir~iayasindhu: 99
Paitamahasiddhiinta: 3 Siimudrikasiira: 102
Prayogasiira: 94 Siiravati: 54
Prasnavidya: 102 Siddluintasiromani : 98
PrasniirtJ.a aplava: 94 Siddlui1.1tasa1?1hitasiirasamuccaya: 97
Biilabodhinl: 93 Siddhiimasindhu: 85, 103
BijagafJ.ila: 97 Siddluintasundara : 97
Brhajjiitaka: 34 36, 37 Suryan,/ a : 97
Brhatsamhitii: 54n, 93 Sr,ryaprakiisa : 97
B!·hadyii"trii: 49 Si"i1J,asiddh{mta: 98, 102
Brahmajiilasuua : 32 33 Saurabhiis a: 98
Briihmasphufasiddhiinra: - 4 Sauriibharana :96
Bhagaf}otpatti: 96 Strijataka: 9·9
Bhavi~yottarapurii,_w : I 02 Smrtikaumudi: 99
Bhaskarabhusana: 97 Smrtikaustubha: 100
Madanaratnap/adipa: 94 Smrtiratniivalf: 101
Mahiisiinti: 95 Sm!·tyarthasara: 102
Mahii.siddhanra: 51 Hayanaratna: 85-87 89
Manu~yajataka.: 80 Hilliijadfpikti: 83
Muhurracintanumi: s- 100 Horaratna: 85
Muhurrajfla aP1ji,·a11a: 96

113
 Akkadian and Sumerian Words

ahu: 12 mihru: 23
afar nisirti: 27 narnburbu: 11, 22, 32
biiru: 24 tallu: 23
DUR : 23

Greek words

Aly6KEPW5': 37 tµno8wµ6s: 72
civapopa.: 34 ETTavmpopa.: 35
UVTlCJ"KLOV : 25 'Epy.i1s: 38
a.TI6KALµa: 35 f pWTI)CJLS: 47 , 63
cm6ppow: 34, 72 ( aµrnrrcip: 73
O.iTOGTpo<p~: 72 Zuy6v : 38
T) a.CJ8€VELQ: 72 "HALOS": 38
"Apris: 37 8r)pLWOl)5' KEvo8poµi.a.: 72
cipi-n1s-: 49, 83 'I 8us: 37
'A<j)po8t.TT}: 37 K~Lf3uv: 75n
o.xpriµaTLCJTLKOS' TOTTOS': 71 KapKivos: 37
yvwµwv wpOCJKOTILK05': 55 KGTapx~:47,49,63
OEKQV05': 35, 73 KEV08poµia : 35, 72
8EpTTE(dv :73 KEVTpov:35
8La.µnpos: 35 KATJPOS' 89
Ll.L8uµoL: 38 KOAA.T)CJL5': 71
8opupopf.a: 35 KpLQS": 37
Tl 8-6vaµL5': 72 Kp6vo5': 37
8Dvov :38 KUf3EpVT}aL5': 72
OWOEKQETI)PLS' : 66 Kupta: 77
8w8EKaTI)µ6pLOv: 23, 27, 28 A.ETTTOV: 35
f ;>...f3cixCJT}: 72 AEwv:38
t;>...86yf 72 Myo,; : 67
EA.EKiTEA: 71 µa9TjµanK6<; : 24
EAEATECJCIA: 71 Mcil)J: 75n
EAEVCYEpE<p: 72 µE')'LGTO<; : 53
EAETiTap : 71 µEJ...08ECJlQ'. 28
EA.KOU~E: 72 µEaoupcivriµa: 35
t\.µEvEy:72 µnaKOµL8~: 72
EA.VCIKA: 72 MlxpL: 75n
fA.VOUp: 72 µT)VLUl05': 35
thETTITJe: 12 µ_ovoµOLpi.a: 45
EAT(Eµ:72 NaxELµ.: 75n

114
 voumipx: 73n TQAT]A: 74
vounci;,cpaT: 67, 73 , TaDpQS': 38
vounaxpaTES , vounaxpaTLS' volf TE¢Y e),J<ouf3e: 72
naxpaTOS' VOUTIEUXPES'' vou- TE<py fATETTITjp: 72
noDxpa: 73n TtpL : 75n
vvxeiJµepov: 71 Tµijµa:67
6pe6s : 58 To~6T11s: 38
OvpµoupTWS:75n TOTTQS': 71
ii napci8ocns TllS' 8uvciµews- : 7 _ Tpe1s: 53
ii rrapci.8ocns TllS' KU f pVT)<YEWS': 72 !f)L ywvov: 35
1Iap8foos: 3 TpwµEywTos- : 53
na~pciµ: 75n ,8pax6os': 38
nepL08os: 74 i.moynov: 35
iTOL l)µa : 77 q>apTap : 74
raf3oALOV: 77 qxI,PTO,PT), qxrpTapla, qxrpTapLKWS', cpap-
raµALov: 77 TQPLTllS', ¢apTap6s :74n
pen 0,voup: 72 cpams: 35
<JUAXOOOT)S', O"OAX0001lS': 74 cpw I : 67
CJT]µELWTLK05': 74 xa~ab)P: 72
~KOpTTLOS' : 37 XPTJµOTLOTLKOS' TOTTOS': 71
auvaywyii: 72 ).;POVOKpa.Twp: 74
auva¢11: 35 71 wpa:35
a<j)dipa 6pefi : 58 WpO<JKO'iTLKOS- : 55

Arabic words

abjad: 6 l
ittisal: 71, 72 88, 89 duf(Y al-quv. wa: 89
idbar: 71, 88 da:f al-tadb'ir: 72
iqbtil: 71, 88 daj al-quwwa: 72
imiha >: 44, 58 83 dalil: 74
in$iraf: 72, 88 al-dahr al-dahir: 73n
bti: 73 radd: 8
ta marbuta: 9 radd al-nur: 72
Tiizf: 79 zfj: 55 , 62
tathlith: 87 salkhudiih : 74
tadb'ir: 72 89 sin'i al- 'ii/am: 42
tarbt: 87 sahm : 89
tasdis: 87 4u'f. al-efu;_: 72, 89
tasy fr: 90 al- (ii/am : 42
j<irbakhtiir: 73 cayn: 72
jam(a: 88 ghayr qabu.l: 88
jam c al-mir: 72 ohayn: 12
a/-jawi rast: 58 }ardar: 44, 49, 56, 58, 74
hadd: 88 (Mighty) Fardar: 58-60
kha/a >al-sayr: 72 8 qabi": 88
a/-khayyiit: 70 qisma : 44, 45, 49, 58-60
al-diihir: 73n quwwa_,_~l-qurt wa: 72, 89
darbajiin: 73 al-kabu. 56
darfjan:73 muthallatha: 88
dufii' al-tadbir: 89 al-mufas$ar: 45
muqaoila : 87
115
muqiirina: 87 namudiir: 55
maqiila: 67 nawbahra: 67 73
muntahii: 83 al-nur: 72
al-man e: 72 Hindi: 80
man (a: 88 haylaj: 83, 90
mim: 73 al-wahshr: 72
naql, al-naql: 72, 88 ya: 73·

Pahlavi and Persian words

Azarag: 40 K~yy.,~: 75n

bahr:67 , 74 gehan. 39
Bahram: 75n Gocihr: 39
Tazig: 79 gay rast: 58
Tir: 75n Mah: 75n
jiir-bakhtar: 73 musallasat: 88
Jotik Ray: 92 Mihr: 75n
Khan-i Kha.nan: 84 Nahida: 75n
darigiin: 73 no bahr: 67, 74
dahig : 73n Wizidag: 47
drwan: 84 vazir: 84
rast: 58 vakrl: 85
zayc 'i gehiin : 39 Hunnuzd: 75n
sal-xwaday: 74 hilag: 49 , 83
sarkar: 100 handarzgiir: 48
quwwat: 89

Sanskrit words

akhila: 80 ardhar<itrika: 58
adhirudha: 103 Aslesa: 40
anudipaka: 80 ikkavala: 88
antarda.§a: 87 itthasiila: 88
api: 86 inthiha: 90
abja: 80 induphala: I 02
abhiseka: 96, 101 induviira: 88
alaksyagu!Ja: 80 iha: 103
a~fakavarga: 88 isarapha: 88
aham: 103 ukta: 80
ii.Cara: 101 , 102 ucca: 88
iicararatna: 102 udas: 80
adi: 80 uddhr: 80
iidya: 80 r~i: 86, 87 , 90
iiyurveda: 84, 99 ka!J{ha: 86

116
katham: 103 dutthada\ ira: 89
kanaka: 54 duphiilikuttha: 89
kambi"ila: 88 durapha: 89
karana: 85 drsta: 103
karka: 103 d°e..atii: 43
karma: 80 drekdna: 73
karmavipaka: 94 dreskana: 88
karmasiiksin: 80 dvada Jiimsa: 88
0

Ka/pa: 53·, 73 dharma: 84, 92, 99

kavi : 103 dharmasastra: 86, 94, 100
kirtita: 80 na: 86 l03
kuttha: 89 nakta: 88
Kumara: 93, 94 nakla: 88
kuvva: 89 nak:jatra: 32, 40
krta: 80 nakhatta: 32
khanda: 103 nam: 80
khallasara: 88 navam.fo: 67, 74, 88
gata: 86 nigha.l}tu: 102
gir: 80 nitya: 80
gUIJG'. 80 nibandha: 85, 99
guru: 80, 85, lOl 103 nibandhakara: 81
g,:ha: 88 ninana: 32
grhakarmamukhya: 80 paficcivargi: 88
gairikambiila: 88 pa,_ujita: 85, 98
gala : 10 L Pai:iq.itaraja: 85
grahaga(iita: 101 padabja: 80
ca: 80, 103 parama : 80
camatkarik.a: 80 paramocca: 88
citta: 103 Parasr: 86
cinta: 103 pra1J-zta: 80
chandas: 102 prasnasastra: 36
jaladhi: 80 priina: 86
Jataka : 34, 36, 79-81 , 83, 85, 87, 88, 90 budJw: 103
jatakasiistra: 86 bhavya : 103
jftiiti: 81 bh.iisii: 86
Jo~iraya: 92, 95 bhu: 103
jyoti.~1sastra: 33, 81 , 87 bhumi: 103
Jyotirvitsarasa: 92 bhoga:80
jyoti$a: 84, 92-94 96, 99 l 00 102 manaii: 88
Jyoti~araja: 84, 92, 93, 95-101 nwndala: 81n
Jyoti~araya: 93 man.Crin: 8 ln
jyoti{i: 83, 85, 95, 97, 98 m.anda: 103
tikii: 94, 95, 97, 100 malamiisavrata: 102
tanubhrt: 80 mahiipuru~a: 39, 40
tantra: "84, 99 Mahayuga: 53
tamv'ir: 89 Maharaja: 91, 93, 94, 96, 98, 99,.101, 103
tarabidika: 87 Mah~~jaku~~a: 93, 94
tasira: 90 MaharaJadhrraJa: 103
ttijika: 71, 79-90 mahdsubha: 87
tiijikasastra: 86, 87 mahottamd: 87
tajikasastrakiira: 90 martanda: 81n
tiijiki: 89 mukabiia: 87
tithinirrJaya: 99 mukiirina: 87
trimsiimsa: 88 mukhya : 80
dasa: s7 muni: 80
danaratna: 102 munthaha: 90

117
mu.fol/aha: 88 siistra: 80, 81, 87
muhurtasastra: 36 siksa: 102
mrgiilika: 103 sighrocca: 40
ya: 80,103 sriiddharatna: 102
yamaya: 88 srz: 80
yatra: 36 ~acj,varga: 88
ycivan'i: 86 sa: 80, 103
yuga:49,53,54,64,96 samhita: 87
yoga:88,89 sainyak: l 03
raada: 88 Sangitaraya: 92
rasmi: 36 sac1va: 81
rasa: 80 Saptar~i: 96
riija: 34 sahama: 89
Romaka:. 80 saksin: 80
vac: 80 siira: 80
vatsararatna: 102 siddhanta: 73
vad: 86 strfjataka: 36
vadana: 103 SPN!G: 103
viyonijanma: 54 smrti: 86
vrtti: 94 hadda: 88
~ediinga: 102 hilliija: 83, 90
saka: 82, 96 horii: 35, 80
.§anti: 22, 31

General Index

Abarwiz: 46 Alexandrian: 65
cAbbasid: 41, 44, 53-56, 60, 62-64, 83 Alexius I Comnenus: 68
Abharvez: 60 Alfonso el Sabio: 52
Achaemenid: 18, 19, 32, 33 Amid: 44
Adad: 15, 18 al-Amin: 57, 60
Adharbayjan: 45 6.mmi~aduqa: 13
Adhin: 45 Amva:98
Aduni: 100-103 Ananta: 101
Adunigiri: 102 Anatolia: 76
Agni: 80 Andhra Pradesa: 96, 101
Agra: 85, 90 Ankara: 56
Anicchatra Brahmana: 101 Antioch: 4 7, 63
Ahmadnagar: 84, 1d1 Antiochus I of Commagene: 26
Ajmir: 99 antiscion: 25
Akbar: 84, 85, 92, 93 Anu, Path of: 33
Akhmim: 53 Aniipasin;lha: 91-103
Akkad: 12 Aniishirwan: 40, 44, 45, 48-50
~adian: 11-15, 22 apodosis: 11, 12
Akkullanu: 15 Aquarius:27, 38,53
cAla al-Din Khalji: 82 Arab:45,56,63, 73, 77, 79,86,90
Alalakh: 14 Arabia: 62
Aleppo: 66 Arabic: 19, 40-47, 49, 51, 52, 54, 55,
Alexander the Great: 52 58,62-77,80,81,83,84,86-90
Alexandria: 24, 34, 62, 64 Arab/Persian: 81, 86-89

118
Aramaic: 33 Brahma: 87
Arbella: 16 BrahmaI).a: 32, 38, 55, 80, 85, 86, 90,
Ardasher, Ardashir I:. 50, 59, 60 92, 101
Ardashir III: 45 Brhaspati 80
Aries: 27 , 28, 37,43 , 44,53, 59, 60, 64 Buddha 32, 33, 52
&istotelian: 21 , 26 Budhasaf: 53, 54
Asaf Khan: 85, 102 Bulgar: 64
e..sclepius: 54 Burhanpur: 94
Aseridurga: 92 Byzantme: 19, 40, 59, 63, 64, 67, 68,
Asia Minor: 25 72-74, 76
Asir: 92 Byzantine-Sicilian: 67
Assur: 13, 15, 16 Byzantium: 49, 63-77
Assurbanipal: 15-17 Caliph:43,57-61,63, 64, 76
Assyrian: 15 Caliphal: 62
astrological: 34, 36, 37, 39, 46-48, 55 , Caliphate: 60
57,59,63, 67, 70, 71 , 76,83,88, Cambay: 81
89,101 , 103 Cancer: 23, 25, 27,28,37,53,88, 103
astrology: 20 sqq. Cal)c;ia.pa: 81
astronomical: Hi, 38, 44, 53, 85, 95-97, Candasimha: 81
101 Carucula: 23
astronomy: 19, 21, 26, 33, 34, 40, 41, Capricorn:25,27,28,37,53
44,45 , 53,54, 62,68, 82,86,87, catarchic astrology: 21, 28, 36, 40, 41,
91 , 95,96, 102 46,47,49,63,65,68,70,71,75,
Athenian: 24 96, 100-102
Athens: 25 Caulukya: 81, 86
Attal us I of Pergamon: 24 Caulukyan: 81
Aurangabad: 96, 99, 100 Chaldaean: 23, 24, 28, 40, 43
Aurangzib: 91 , 93, 95, 99, 100 Chavai:tiyeQ.agama: 95
'Azim al-Hindi: 52 China: 19
Babhanavasa: 95 Chinese: 19
Babilonia: 52 Christian: 8, 68
Babylon: 15-17, 19, 23, 24, 53, 54 Commagene: 26
Babylonia: 15, 16 Comnenan: 68, 71
Babylonian: 15, 22-25, 27, 28, 3 l, 33, Comnenus: 68
40, 70 conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter:
Baghdad:41,48,49,51,55,59,62, 64 42-44,53,55-59,61,64
Ballch: 41, 66, 76 Constans II: 76
Ballala: 95 Constantinople: 59, 64, 65, 68, 76
Banu 'Abbas: 56 Corum: 55
Ba~ra: 41, 63 Ctesiphon: 45, 60
Bauhara GopalajI: 100 Cutha: 16
Behistun: 32 cycles: 57, 58
Benares: 96 Darius: 32
Bengal: 54, 55, 85 Dawlatabad: 94
Bengali: 86 decan: 18,27,35,45,88,89
Bharatavarsa: 85 Decan: 35
Bhavabhatia: 92 Deccan: 94-97, 99, 101
Bhima I Caulukya: 81 Deccani: 95-97, 99, 102
Bhupati Vyasa: 102 Delhi: 82, 85, 90
Bijapur: 99, 100 Devadatta: 102
Bikaner: 91-103 Devagiri: 83
Bodhisattva: 53 Devaraja Jaujasa: 100
Boghazkoi: 14 Dhannapura: 84
Bopadeva: 95 Dilbat I6
Boran: 60 Divakara: 78
Borsippa: 15, 16 dodecaeteris: 66

119
dodecatemorion: 23, 27 , 28 Hindi': 84
Dorothean: 47 , 64 Hindu: 82, 84 86, 92
Dragon: 39, 46 historical and political astrology: 21, 42,
Ea, Path of: 33 44,45,49,55-62,64, 65, 75
Ea-musallim: 15 Hittite: 13-15, 23
East: 56 Hora: 35
Edessa:49,58,59,63-65,68 horoscope: 5, 22-24, 26, 36, 39-42,
Egypt: 18, 21 , 26, 33 , 34, 43, 46 , 48 , 44-46 , 53-57 , 59-77 , 79, 85,
52, 53, 62, 68,69 87 , 90 , 92
Egyptian: 19, 25, 26, 35, 54, 65, 70 Humayiln: 92
Elamite: 13 Hushank: 44, 53
Elis : 75, 76 Hyderabad: 96, 100
Emar: 12-15 iatromathematical: 94
Enlil, Path of: 33 iatrom athematic : 50
Enoch: 53 Idris: 53
Esarhaddon: 16 al-Imam al-Na Ir: 43
Eumenes II: 24n India: 21 , 31, 3·3, 47, 50, 53-55, 79, 80,
exaltation: 27 , 36, 39, 43, 46, 58, 72, 88 83,86,90,99
extispicy: 11, 14, 24 Indian: 19,3 1,33-36,38-4 1,43 44,46,
Fars: 59 49-54, 58 , 62-64, 67 , 69, 70, 79-
Ffruz Shah: 97 81 , 84-90, 92
Flood:43 , 44, 53 , 54 interrogational astrology: 21, 36, 47, 49,
Frankish: 76 63-65, 71 , 94, 100
Gaziapati: 80 interrogations: 36, 40, 45, 47 , 49, 63 , 68,
Gandhara: 32 69, 75
Gaziesa of Nandigrama: 98 Iqi'sa: 20n
Gangadhara: 98 Iran:21,40,42, 43,48,49, 55 ,58,62,
Gangakheir: 95, 98 63, 79,83
Gauda: 86 Iranian: 38, 41, 44, 49, 58
Gaui: 24 clraq: 55
Gayomart: 39, 40, 43 , 53 I~fafian: 53, 55, 56
Gemini: 25, 28, 38, 40, 53, 58, 60 Islam: 41, 55 , 59
genethlialogicaJ : 26, 48 , 67 , 71 , 79, 99 Islamic: 5 1, 52, 59, 81, 86, 98
genethlialogy: 21 , 23, 24, 28, 34-36, 46- Ispahbadh: 45
49 , 70, 75, 79,80, 85-87, 95,99 Istanbul: 56
Gev: 41 !star: 15, 18, 27
GodiivarI: 83, 84, 95, 99, 101 Jagatamani : 98
Golagriima: 98, 99 Jahangir: ·92, 93
Gopala Jyotirvid: 10 l Jaina: 82, 86
GopalajI: 100 Jaipur: 92, 103
Grand Conjunction : 44 Jamnagar: 81 , 82
Greco-Babylonian : 34 Jamshid: 44, 54
Greek: 19, 21 -23, 26-29, 31 , 33-41, 45- Jay: 53
49, 54, 55 , 58, 59, 63 , 64, 67 , 69- Jayabha~a IV: 79n
77, 79,82, 83,86,87,89,90 (SavaI) Jayasiqlha: 92, 93, 103
Gujarat: 54, 79, 81-84, 90 Jew: 41 , 59, 63 69
Harikrsna SrimaJI: 102
0
Jupi~r: 18, 26,27, 103
Ijarriin: 45, 46, 54 Kabtiya: 16
Hariln al-Rashid: 44 , 50, 51, 55-57, Kaccha: 82
59-61 Kalah : 15
aJ-Hashimiyah: 64 Kalambur: 97
Hebrew: 19 Kaiifijara: 92
Hellenistic: 21, 23, 26, 28, 33, 58, 72, 90 Kaliyuga: 44
hemerology: 23 Karnharasarman: 92
Heraclius: 64 Kanaka: 54
Hijra: 59, 64 Kanyakubja: 85 , 92

120
Karai:iatmra: 99 100 Marcellae: 64
Kama: 82 Marduk: 27
Kan:iasi.Il)ha: 93, 94, 97 Marduk-nadim-ahhe: 15
Karnataka: 95-97, lOO 101 Mari: 13, 26 V V

Karnat.a kade' a: 102 Mar : 18, 27 37

Kasi: 85, 86, 92, 98 99, 102 Marwan ibn al-Hakam : 61
Kasfraja: 95 Mathena: 93-95: 99, 102
Kava.ct II Sheroe: 60, 61 Mathena Josi: 93-95, 99
Kayanian: 41n Mathena Kusali:ya: 102
Kevalarama: 92 Mathena Rakheca: 95
Ke 'ava'am1an: 92 Mathena Raseca: 95
Ketu: 39 Mathena Sammidasa: 94
Khande h: 92 Mathena Samvala: 94
Khanukh: 53 Mawsil: 71
Kheta: 95 97, 99 meloihesia: 28
Khorsabad: 15 Memphis: 52
Khura.san: 41, 62 Mercury: 26, 27, 38-40, 43, 103
Khusro Ario hirwan: 40, 44, 45, 48-50 Mesopotamia: 12, 16-18, 21, 22, 27
Khusro II Abharvez (Abarwiz): 46 60 Mesopotamian: ll , 18, 19, 22, 24-28 ,
Kisra: 60 33 , 90
Kollarnburapura: 97 Messina: 67, 73
Kol)q.apalli: 10 I Michael VITI Palaeologus: 77
Koiikana: l 00 Middle Assyrian: 13, 15
Kr na River: 84 Middle Babylonian: 13
Kr~~adatta Vyasa: !02 military a trology: 36, 49, 63-65, l 00
Krsnade a: 95 millennarianism: 44
Kiiniarasimha: 81 millennial: 58
Laksmidhara: 97 millennium: 49, 64, 79, 90
Late Babylonian: 19 Minthaka: 102
Late Bronze Age: 14 Mitylene: 75
Latin: 19,26,35,47, 52,67 68 73 Mleccha: 54, 81
Lavai:iaprasada: 81 Mominabad: 98
Leo:26,28 ,38, 53 Moon: 12-14, l7, 18, 25-28, 32-35, 39,
Libra: 27, 28, 38 72, 103
Limba Josi : 100 Mu <awiya I: 76
lot: 89 Mughal : 84-86,90,92,93,95, 100
Lot of Fortune: 43 Mul)ammad: 59, 64, 70
Lot of the Strange: 43 Mumtaz Mahal: 85
Ma<bar: 97 Musa al-Mahdi: 44, 57, 63, 64
Macedonian: 19 Muvezib: 16n
Madasudana Purohita: 96 Muslim: 46, 80-82, 84, 86, 96, 102
Madhyaprade ' a: 82, 83 Nabu: 13, 27
Maga Brahamal)a: 38, 55 Nabii-zeru-lesir: 16
Mahak.$atrapa: 34 abii-zuqup-ken u: 15
Mahanahidh: 45 N andalala Misra: 100
Mahara$tra: 83, 96, 100 Nandigrama: 83 98
al-Mahdi: 44, 57 63 64 Nandod: 83
Mahmud: 96 Narmada: 83 , lOl
Mahora:45 Nasik: 101
al-Ma mun: 56, 57 Nasratabad: 100
Manarupa Ojha: 103 Navadvipa: 86
Mandaean: 44 Navanagara: 82
Mal)irama Dik$ita: 98, 101 Navnapura: 82
al-Man$iir: 41, 51, 54, 62 Neo-Assyrian: 18, 19
Manuel I Comnenus: 68 Neo-Babylonian: 19
Maratha: 99 Nergal: 27

121
Newer Persian: 45 Rama Ramabhatta: 100
Nilakantha: 92, 101 Ramacandra: 95· ·
Nimrnd:· 15 Ramadasa: 85
Nimrud Dagh: 26 Ramaj1 Josi: 99
Nineveh: 13, 15-17 Ramasirnha: 103
Ningirsu: 27 Ranbas , ·Ra>ya Rayba : 56
Nippur: 13, 14, 17 Rayasi11J.ha: 93
Nirjhara: I 00 revolutions of the world-years: 42 44,
node : 39,40 49 , 53 56, 57 , 59, 60, 64
North African: 77 revo lution of the years of nativitie : 45 ,
North Arcot: 97 48 , 49, 63 , 64, 67
North India: 84, 85 Rhodes: 23
Nrsimha: 92, 99 Roman: 26 , 33, 50, 65 79 , 80, 86
Nuzi:" 14 Romano: 65
nychthemeron: 71 Rudradaman I: 34
OJd Babylonian: 12-14, 22 Sabah 100
omens: 11-20, 22, 25-28, 31-33, 36, 57, Sabian: 53 , 54
58, 76, 94, 95, 100 Sagara: 100, I 02
oneiromancy: 11 Sagittarius: 25 , 28 , 38, 39 56, 60
Opus: 27 Sahyactri: 101
Oxford: 96 Saka: 34, 54, 82
Pabhagh: 59 Sak:advipika: 55
Padmapura: 100 Samanta: 81
Pahlavi: 39-42, 44-50, 55, 58 , 63 , 67, Samas: 11 , 17
68 , 73 , 74, 79,83 Sanctalla: 4 7, 70
Pancratius: 64 Safijan, Safijayapura: 34
pan-Indian: 85 Sanskrit: 19, 31-35 , 37, 39, 40, 47 , 49-
Panopolis:53 51 , 54, 55 , 63, 67 , 71 , 73 , 74, 79-
Pantoji Bhan.a: 94 90, 93 , 102, 103
Paramananda: 92 Sarak:hs: 41 , 63
Paranaragrama: 101 Sarangadeva: 82
Parthapura: 83 , 84, 95 , 97,98 Sarawiya: 53
Parthian: 19, 28 Sargon II: 15
ParvatI: 35 Sasanian: 21, 39-50, 55 , 58-60, 63 , 64,
Paths of Enlil, Anu, and Ea: 33 70, 83 , 85
Pergamon: 24 Sasanian -Islamic: 67
Persian: 14, 38, 41 , 45, 54, 55, 59, 63, Saturn 27 , 37 , 57, 103
70, 75-77, 79-81, 84-90 Sauras~ra: 81, 82, 86
Photius: 65 Sayf al-Dawla: 66
p~ysio_gi:i~my: 11, 102 Scorpio: 28 , 37, 53
P1~adngm: 101 Scythian: 54
Pisces: 27, 28 , 37, 53, 59 Seleucid: 19, 28, 33
Pragvata, Pragvafajfiati: 81 , 82 Sennacherib: 15
Prakrit: 33 Seville: 52
Pratisthana: 100 Shah: 85
pre-Isiamic: 49 Shah Jahan: 85, 93 94 102
Prophet: 64 Shah Shuja' : 85
protasis : 11, 12, 17, 18, 32 Shapurl:50
Ptolemaic: 70, 86 Sheroe, Shiruya: 60, 61
Qatna: 13 Sidon: 46 , 63 , 69, 83, 88
Rahu: 39 Sin: 14, 17
R~jchur2 ~aicuradurga, Rayacu : 102 Sind: 51 , 54, 62
RaJasthan. 54, 82, 83, 93, 95-97, 103 Sindhuvi . aya: 54
RaJasthan1: 93 SinghaDanagara: 101
Rama: 85, 97, 98 Sirez de Baoilonia: 52
Rama Bhatia Hosiilga: 99, 100 Sirius: 23 , 26 65

122
$iva: 35 , 85 Tungabhadra: I00
SivajI: 99, 101 Turkey: 55
Sobhanadeva: 81 TurkI: 84
Socrate : 52 Turuska: 79
Soma: 32 Ugarit: 14
Somanathapagana: 81 Ugaritic: 14
Somesvara Vya a: 102 UJjayini: 34
Sothi : 26 Ulugh Khan: 82
Spain: 51, 52 Upper Egypt: 53
Spanish: 52 Ur: 16
Samana: 32 Ur III: 12
Srima:iI, Srimaltkacara, Srimalavikaca- Uruk: 16, 19, 28
ra: 102 Uttarapradesa: 8 3
StambhatTrtha: 81 Vac: 80
Stoic: 23, 25 V aghela: 81 , 82
Sumatihema Muni: 82n VaI: 84, 101
Sumatisundara Muni:. 82n ValabhT: 79n
Sumaya: 16 Vastupala: 81
Sumerian: 12, 15 Vayu: 32
Sun: 11, 17, 18, 23 26, 27 32, 33, 38, Vellore: 97
40,43 44 57, 59,60,64 72,88 Venus: 13,24, 26,27,37,40, 60, 103
Sunbadh:45 Vidarbha: 84
Surya: 80, 87 Vidyanatha Suri: 101
Susa: 13 Vikrama: 82
Svami Kavi: 100 VIradhavala: 81
Syria: 13, 14, 62 Virasin_ma: 95-99, 10 l
Syriac: 19 Vrrgo:27 , 28,38,39,43,53 , 59
Syrian: 58, 59 63 Visnu: 32
Tabaristan: 41, 62 , 63 Visvanatha: 96
Tahmiirath: 44, 53 Vyaghratan : 54
Tanjore: 86 West: 21, 67 , 79, 90
Taurus: 27, 28, 38, 53 , 59, 60 Western Europe: 19, 49
Tejahpfila: 81 We tern India: 54, 55
teratology: 1 L Western K~atrapa: 34
Thebe: 25,26,46,68 Yadava: 101
Theodora Dukaina: 77 Yajfiiklal: 98
Theophilus : 65 Yasavanta Sirnha: 86
Tiglathpileser I: 13, 15 Yavana: 79 ·
Todaramalla: 84 Yavanadhiraja: 34
toinara: 94 · Yavanaraja: 34
traikutaka: 54 Yazdijird Ill: 60
triplidty : 28, 43 , 44 53 , 56, 58, 64 Yemen: 42
88, 89 Yoraji: 34
Tryambaka: 98 Zoroa trian: 40, 41, 49, 50, 67

123
 Greek Manuscripts

Citta del Vaticano, Gr 191: 67 Paris BN gr. 2506: 66, 67 , 71

Gr. 1056: 67-71, 74, 75 Roma, Angelica gr. 29: 75 , 76
Firenze, Laurenziana 28, 13: 74 Torino, C. vn. I 0: 75
28, 14:74 Venezia, Marciana gr. 324: 69, 74
28, 16: 74 Wien, NB philosophicu gr. 115: 64-
28, 34: 64-66, 71 66, 71
Milano, Ambrosiana C. 37 sup.: 75 philosophies gr. 262: 75

Arabic Manuscripts

Ankara, Saib 199: 56-62 Milano, Ambrosiana ar. 342 (C 86):

Citta del Vaticano, Ar. 955: 62 4 l-43
Istanbul, Nuruosmaniye 2920: 49 Paris, BN ar. 2487: 43, 44
Leiden, Or. 891 : 46

Sanskrit Manuscripts

Bikaner, Anup 668: 102 Bikaner, Anup 2230, 2231: 102

1501:94 2321, 2322: 102
1645 : 94 2324, 2325: 102
1649:94 2394: 101
1658: 100 2435: 99
1664:94 2441: 94
1675: 101 2515: 94
1676: 100 2523: 99
1711 : 99 2542:94
1743:94 2615:94
2132: 102 2633: 99
2209:95 2637: 100

124
Bikaner Anup 2651: 101 Bikaner Anup 4827 : 98
2660: 102 4889: 94
2674: 102 4906:97
299 l: 100 4920:93
4426: 102 4927: 96
4448:96 4930:97
445L 102 4970: 100
4456: 97 4993:92
4458:9 4998: 93
4464:97 5004: 94
4482: 101 5043: 98
4498 : 95 5055: 100
4513 : lOl 5114: 100
4518: l02 5124:95
4530: 97 5130-5 137: 95, 96
4555: 102 5142: 101
4581: 96 5172 : 100
4582: 98 5191: 103
4597: 103 5198: 101
4605: 92 5221: 100
4609, 4610:95 5275: 102
4640:99 5289:95
4641: 103 5325-5327 : 98
4643-4649: 99 5331: 97
4650-4654: 98 5332, 5333: 102
4677, 4678: 101 5334-5339: 97
4680: 101 5346:97
4697:. 102 5350: 98
4708: 102 5358 5359:99
4717:. 98 7632: 102
4718 4719: 101 Ahmadabad, LDI (LDC) 5638: 82
4733:98 Cambridge, MA, Harvardlndic 761: 93
4757: 9'8 I ll3: 97
4768-4772: 101 GoQ.Qal Uyoti~a) 36: 81
4779,4780:97 Hyderabad, Osmania University B. 46/4: 96
4783:94 London, BL Or. 3354c: 82
4793: 100 Oxford, Chandra Shum Shere d. 791 (9): 96
4822:95
4824: 102
'

125