International Journal of Divination and Prognostication, 2023
From the ancient practice, implied by many textual sources although never formally prescribed, of... more From the ancient practice, implied by many textual sources although never formally prescribed, of identifying the twelve horoscopic places (the δωδεκάτροπος dōdekatropos) with the zodiacal signs, recent scholarship has often concluded that such identification constituted a tenet of ancient astrology even at a conceptual level. On the basis of a close reading of Vettius Valens’ Anthologies, supported by other ancient sources, this paper argues that while the places, like other elements of horoscopic practice, were often provisionally approximated by sign position alone, calculation of places by degree, with boundaries differing from those of the zodiacal signs, was consistently upheld in principle as more accurate and useful. Specifically, Valens’ preference appears to have been for places calculated from the quadrants formed by the intersections of horizon and meridian, a method also occasionally used in the Anthologies for defining planetary configurations and for annual transmission (παράδοσις paradosis). In several cases, such methods are explicitly employed even for horoscopes presented in a simple, signs-only format.
A close examination of the lists of planetary exaltations given by two of the earliest known Sans... more A close examination of the lists of planetary exaltations given by two of the earliest known Sanskrit authors on horoscopic astrology – Mīnarāja and Sphujidhvaja – solves the confusion surrounding Mīnarāja’s idiosyncratic assignment of degrees and suggests that both authors, and indeed all later Indian astrological literature, depended for this doctrine on a single, Greek-language source.
The designation of astrology as an art raises some simple but fundamentally important historical ... more The designation of astrology as an art raises some simple but fundamentally important historical questions. How old is this designation, and, given that earlier generations of astrologers wrote in different languages, what words did they use that we translate as ‘art’? What are the connotations of those different words in their historical contexts? What other designations than ‘art’ would have been possible, and were such alternative labels used as well? Was astrology ever practised in cultural contexts where distinctions like that between ‘art’ and ‘science’ were not made? And if calling astrology an ‘art’ was not originally a question of aesthetics, was there still an aesthetic dimension to the practice of astrology, and how might we define or understand that dimension?
One of the earliest preserved Sanskrit works on Perso-Arabic (Tājika) astrology, the thirteenth-c... more One of the earliest preserved Sanskrit works on Perso-Arabic (Tājika) astrology, the thirteenth-century Karmaprakāśa of Samarasiṃha (also known as the Manuṣya jātaka, Tājikatantrasāra or Gaṇakabhūṣaṇa), is examined with particular attention to subgenre, distinctive content and likely Arabic-language sources. On the basis of a comparison of the extant text of the Karmaprakāśa with excerpts attributed to Samarasiṃha by later Tājika writers, conclusions are drawn with regard to other works, now lost or misattributed, by the same author.
The astrological doctrines of aspects and planetary dignities found in the authoritative texts of... more The astrological doctrines of aspects and planetary dignities found in the authoritative texts of the Tājika (Sanskritized Perso-Arabic) school are examined with respect to their origins and historical development, with particular emphasis on Balabhadra’s encyclopaedic Hāyanaratna (1649) and its quotations from the perhaps earliest work of the school, Samarasiṃha’s Tājikaśāstra (thirteenth century). It is argued that a major source of these doctrines is Sahl ibn Bishr’s Arabic-language introduction to astrology (ninth century), possibly in abbreviated or paraphrased form. Several of the constituent ideas have been imperfectly understood by their Indian epitomists, resulting in reinterpretations and innovations.
This paper supplements and corrects the information given in the works of David Pingree regarding... more This paper supplements and corrects the information given in the works of David Pingree regarding four major authors on Tājika or Sanskritized Perso-Arabic astrology from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century: Tejaḥsiṃha, Yādavasūri, Bālakṛṣṇa and Balabhadra. It further contributes information on a fifth such author, Tuka, not discussed by Pingree.
International Journal of Divination and Prognostication, 2023
From the ancient practice, implied by many textual sources although never formally prescribed, of... more From the ancient practice, implied by many textual sources although never formally prescribed, of identifying the twelve horoscopic places (the δωδεκάτροπος dōdekatropos) with the zodiacal signs, recent scholarship has often concluded that such identification constituted a tenet of ancient astrology even at a conceptual level. On the basis of a close reading of Vettius Valens’ Anthologies, supported by other ancient sources, this paper argues that while the places, like other elements of horoscopic practice, were often provisionally approximated by sign position alone, calculation of places by degree, with boundaries differing from those of the zodiacal signs, was consistently upheld in principle as more accurate and useful. Specifically, Valens’ preference appears to have been for places calculated from the quadrants formed by the intersections of horizon and meridian, a method also occasionally used in the Anthologies for defining planetary configurations and for annual transmission (παράδοσις paradosis). In several cases, such methods are explicitly employed even for horoscopes presented in a simple, signs-only format.
A close examination of the lists of planetary exaltations given by two of the earliest known Sans... more A close examination of the lists of planetary exaltations given by two of the earliest known Sanskrit authors on horoscopic astrology – Mīnarāja and Sphujidhvaja – solves the confusion surrounding Mīnarāja’s idiosyncratic assignment of degrees and suggests that both authors, and indeed all later Indian astrological literature, depended for this doctrine on a single, Greek-language source.
The designation of astrology as an art raises some simple but fundamentally important historical ... more The designation of astrology as an art raises some simple but fundamentally important historical questions. How old is this designation, and, given that earlier generations of astrologers wrote in different languages, what words did they use that we translate as ‘art’? What are the connotations of those different words in their historical contexts? What other designations than ‘art’ would have been possible, and were such alternative labels used as well? Was astrology ever practised in cultural contexts where distinctions like that between ‘art’ and ‘science’ were not made? And if calling astrology an ‘art’ was not originally a question of aesthetics, was there still an aesthetic dimension to the practice of astrology, and how might we define or understand that dimension?
One of the earliest preserved Sanskrit works on Perso-Arabic (Tājika) astrology, the thirteenth-c... more One of the earliest preserved Sanskrit works on Perso-Arabic (Tājika) astrology, the thirteenth-century Karmaprakāśa of Samarasiṃha (also known as the Manuṣya jātaka, Tājikatantrasāra or Gaṇakabhūṣaṇa), is examined with particular attention to subgenre, distinctive content and likely Arabic-language sources. On the basis of a comparison of the extant text of the Karmaprakāśa with excerpts attributed to Samarasiṃha by later Tājika writers, conclusions are drawn with regard to other works, now lost or misattributed, by the same author.
The astrological doctrines of aspects and planetary dignities found in the authoritative texts of... more The astrological doctrines of aspects and planetary dignities found in the authoritative texts of the Tājika (Sanskritized Perso-Arabic) school are examined with respect to their origins and historical development, with particular emphasis on Balabhadra’s encyclopaedic Hāyanaratna (1649) and its quotations from the perhaps earliest work of the school, Samarasiṃha’s Tājikaśāstra (thirteenth century). It is argued that a major source of these doctrines is Sahl ibn Bishr’s Arabic-language introduction to astrology (ninth century), possibly in abbreviated or paraphrased form. Several of the constituent ideas have been imperfectly understood by their Indian epitomists, resulting in reinterpretations and innovations.
This paper supplements and corrects the information given in the works of David Pingree regarding... more This paper supplements and corrects the information given in the works of David Pingree regarding four major authors on Tājika or Sanskritized Perso-Arabic astrology from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century: Tejaḥsiṃha, Yādavasūri, Bālakṛṣṇa and Balabhadra. It further contributes information on a fifth such author, Tuka, not discussed by Pingree.
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