I agree with Bill Mak that it is no longer possible to see the Yavanajataka as ?an original source? for natal astrology in India. In addition to the mistaken dating, Bill also points to Indian cultural references such as caste, Hindu deities, and Ayurveda, as well as the word kapalika, a rather spec...

And, just for fun, an illustration which shows that the markings on a cobra's hood really do look like the Rhetorius glyph for the Dragon's Head:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... bra_33.JPG

I will address Bill Mak?s comments on the VYJ of Minaraja in another post, when I have had time to read his new article thoroughly; for the moment I will stay with this thread and give a few of my own observations on the Nodes. As Bill points out, Rahu is used in Varahamihira?s Brhat Samhita, where ...

Therese writes: "My conclusion is that the nakshatra stars did not divide the ecliptic into equal portions, but remained as individual stars or asterisms." This can be verified. If anyone is interested, I will try to find the exact quote. In 1025 CE, al-Biruni records during his visit to I...

I have wondered about that too, Martin, especially in regards to the standard chapter on Stri Jataka or "Women's Horoscopy" in the Brhat Jataka, which seems to be derived largely from the much more extensive (and thus far untranslated) material in Minaraja. I have seen every Greek text thu...

In India, where chronocrators remain the principal method of prediction, this question is often raised in much the same manner that Larxene has raised it: If an especially powerful planet never becomes the major Time Lord, does it still have an opportunity to give its full results? The general conse...

B V Raman was without doubt the most renowned Hindu astrologer of his generation. At one time -- that is to say, before other authors from India became readily available in the Western world -- he had a reputation which virtually amounted to "infallible." Of course, the contact with India ...

As with almost anything in Jyotish, there are numerous interpretations, but the most common is as follows. Planets in the first 15 degrees of masculine (odd) signs are in the hora of the Sun, while those in the second 15 degrees are in the hora of the Moon. Planets in the first 15 degrees of feminin...

That's an excellent link, Mark. Harappa.com posts the finest academic articles in the field of Indus Valley archaeology. The links within this post provide a fairly good summary of Parpola's work. It is worth noting that many of his colleagues in the field of Asian studies have vehemently disagreed ...

This concept is explicated in "Deciphering the Indus Script," by Asko Parpola, a professor of Asian Studies at the University of Helsinki. The idea is that there are several nakshatras which are "doubled" in the sense that they have a purva (earlier) and uttara (later) sector. Sp...

I finally got a chance to take a look at this one. Back in the 1990's, it was Parpola who suggested that astronomy was a possible important key to the decipherment of the Indus script. He specifically referred to the nakshatras, which he took to be the calendar of the Indus civilization (not an unco...

Michael, they were using the system I cited earlier. This is one of the reasons I have always thought that its origin was Tantric. I am also going to search the Yogananda lessons for the Ayurveda based system mentioned by Therese.