Skyscript Astrology Forum

Therese wrote:

On Indian classics I have a printout of an article by Dr. Satya Prakash Choudhary titled "Jyotisha Through the Ages." From the historical point of view, I found this paragraph interesting:

Quote:
Kalyana Varma (6th century AD), Vaidyanatha (13th century AD) and Mantreswara [Phaladeepika] (16th century AD) are some other important names. Kalyana Varma [Saravali] crystalises very comprehensively Varahamihira's works as well as those of others like Yavana while Vaidyanatha models his wonderful work Jataka Parijata after Varahamihira and Kalyana Varma. His work is widely acclaimed, and is also among the prescribed list of texts for any serious student.

To summarize:
Brihat Jataka (earliest)
Saravali (6th century)
Jataka Parijata (13th century)
Phaladeepika (16th century)

I am interested in opinions comparing these texts with Brihat Jataka for accuracy and study purposes. As these were all standard recognized classics before BPHS emerged from the shadows in the last century, what does BPHS contain that isn't in these classics?

This exact dating of all these texts is of course necessarily debatable. Ronnie Dreyer in her interview with his Chris Brennan on his podcast ( The early History of the Lunar Nodes in Astrology) seems to place the Kalyana Varma (Saravali) to the 8th century or earlier and Phaladeepika as somewhat older than your source to the 13th or 14th century CE.

https://theastrologypodcast.com/2021/02 ... astrology/

If we are looking at the earliest Jyotish astrological texts (still extant) I think the contenders probably include the following:

The G??rgīyajyotiṣa
The Yavana Jataka of Sphujidhvaj
The Vrddhayavanajataka by Minaraja
Bhrigu Samhita by Maharishi Bhrigu
Brihat Jataka by Varahamihira
Brihat Samhita By Varahmihira
Daivajnavallabha by Varahamihira or Śrīpati
Jyotisaratnamala by Śrīpati
Jatakapaddhati or Śrīpatipaddhatiḥ by Śrīpati
Saravali by Kalyana Varma, aka Kamadeva
Phaldeepika by Shri Mantreswara
Jatak Parijaat by Sri Vaidyanatba Dikshita
Sarvatha Chintamani by Venkatesa Sarma
Ashtak Varga Nibandh
Bhavartha Ratnakar by Ramanuja
Uttara Kalamrita By Khalidasa
Jathakabharanam-by Shree Saraswati Prakashan
Prasna Marga by Narayanan Nambutiri

Therese wrote:

And a related question: What is earliest text that mentions Jaimini Sutram? Can this text be dated?

We are back in the deep, dark , jungle of dating Indian astrological texts!

David Pingree is his dating of Jaimini’s ‘Upadesa Sutras’ asserted that because of ‘the lack of earlier citations and internal evidence’, one cannot date the text of Jaimini (and his teachings) before c. 1700

However, many Indian's disagree with Pingree's conclusion. Its rather a circular debate as it brings up the question of whether the BPHS is essentially a Jaimini text or a separate development. There is no denying Parasara’s text deals with parts of Jaimini. But the definitive and more authoritative text for Jaimini methodology is the Jaimini Sutras and the commentaries on it. Whether Parasara’s text was earlier or later than Jaimini is debatable. One theory is that the BPHS passed down to us was a late product of an indigenous astrological movement originating in medieval Jaimini teachings.

Sri Madhura Krishnasmurty Sastry has suggested that even ‘Kalpalata’ the commentary of Somanatha on Jaimini astrology is much older than than Pingree's suggested date. He believes that text dated back as far as the the 11th century CE. However, the text of ‘Kalpalata’ contains certain areas of Jaimini methodology that had already become obscure during Somanatha’s times. So Sastry has inferred that the original teachings of Jaimini must have preceded Somanatha’s times by several centuries at the least

Some of he major Jaimini texts I have seen listed:

Krishna Misra’s ‘Jyotisha Phala Ratnamala’,
Raghava Bhatta’s ‘Jataka Saara Sangraha’,
Narasimha Suri’s ‘Jaimini Sutrartha Prakasika’,
Somanatha’s ‘Kalpalata’,
Nrisimha Daivagna’s ‘Jaimini Sutra Vyakhya’,
Singayarya’s ‘Jataka Rajeeya’.

Mark

Yes, trying to date Sanskrit texts can be a real pain. Ronnie Dreyer probably relied on Pingree's Jyotiḥś??stra volume (which I see is available on archive.org, at least for now), and I don't know of any better single resource.

The list you give, Mark, is a very mixed bag, with only the first three texts being early (pre-Var??hamihira, who can be dated to the 6th century). Some of the authors are mythical (Bhṛgu) or pseudepigraphic (K??lid??sa, R??m??nuja), and Śrīpati is 11th century. All the texts listed after Śrīpati are late medieval to early modern (I never heard of Aṣṭakavarganibandha, but the title shows it to be a compendium). The author of J??tak??bharaṇa is Ḍhuṇ???hir??ja; 'Shree Saraswati Prakashan' seems to be a publishing house.