Skyscript Astrology Forum

Dear Martin: I hope you’re well. I could really use the insight of a world-class Sanskrit scholar such as yourself.

In Girish Chand Sharma's English translation of Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (BPHS), published by Sagar Publishing in 1994, there appears to be a puzzling discrepancy. In Chapter 49, which covers the effects of Dashas (slokas 34–39), Sharma translates the following from Sanskrit into English:
"The exaltations signs of Rahu is Scorpio and for Ketu it is Taurus...”

This is the reverse of what is stated in both the Ranjan and Sagar editions of BPHS, where Rahu is exalted in Taurus and Ketu in Scorpio.

Would you be able to verify whether this is a correct translation or possibly a mistranslation or typesetting error?
Perhaps it was the particular mss Sharma was using???

I’ve attached an image of the relevant section from Sharma’s edition.

I would be deeply grateful for any light you can shed on this.

Thank you kindly for your time and expertise.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Assuming that G.C. Sharma was actually working with the text as printed (and not from some manuscript with a different reading), his translation seems to be a slip of the pen. The text reads (first half of verse 35, third line in your image):

rāhos tu vṛṣabhaṃ ketor vṛścikaṃ tuṅ[ga]saṃjñakam
'For Rāhu, Taurus, and for Ketu, Scorpio is called exaltation.'

(The lower half of the conjunct ṅga character seems not to have made it through, for some reason, but the meaning is clear. The exact same phrasing, including the conjunct, is used in the Ranjan edition, and even in the Sanskrit/Hindi Chaukhamba edition, the readings of which are often completely different from the Ranjan/Sagar versions.)

Given the similarity of the words vṛṣabhaṃ and vṛścikaṃ, it's an easy mistake to make.

martin / aj

thanks for responding to aj's question and offering some help in understanding this...

i would like to share an image which was shared to me via e mail yesterday for consideration...

Martin:

Thank you so much for your time and expertise in clarifying the matter regarding this sloka in the Sharma edition of *Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra* (BPHS). Your observation about the *slip of the pen*—as you so aptly put it—makes perfect sense. I think this editorial oversight has likely contributed to the widespread dissemination of incorrect information regarding the exaltation signs of Rahu and Ketu.

Your thorough analysis helps cut through the confusion, and I truly appreciate your dedication to preserving accuracy in astrological scholarship.

Would you have any objection to me citing your analysis here in full?

AJ wrote: Sun Mar 23, 2025 7:05 pm [...]Would you have any objection to me citing your analysis here in full?

By no means; go ahead. This is a public forum, after all.

Martin: Thanks again for your generosity.