Navamshas/ninth-parts and pregnancy

1
In Ben Dykes's recent translation of al-Kindi's Forty Chapters, p. 225, a technique is mentioned of using the elapsed and remaining ninth-parts of the rising sign in a horary chart to represent the elapsed and remaining months of a pregnancy. The ninth-parts are of Indian origin; but is the technique? Does anyone know of an Indian source, predating al-Kindi, which mentions this idea?