Bṛhat Saṃhitā

Bṛhat-saṃhitā[lower-alpha 1] is a 6th-century Sanskrit-language encyclopedia compiled by Varāhamihira in present-day Ujjain, India. Besides the author's area of expertise—astrology and astronomy—the work contains a wide variety of other topics.

Contents

According to the penultimate verse of the text, it contains 100 chapters in less than 4000 shlokas (verses). Sudhakara Dvivedi's edition of the text, with Utpala's commentary, contains 105 chapters, plus the last chapter containing the table of contents; H. Kern's edition contains an additional chapter (#36) titled Raja-lakshnam. According to Utpala, Varahamihira excludes five chapters from the contents, thus arriving at 100 as the number of chapters; However, Varahamihira himself excludes 3 more chapters from the table of contents, bringing the number of chapters to only 97; so, it is not clear how exactly is the number 100 is arrived at.[3]

Utpala cites the authorship of one of the excluded chapters to Vidhya-vasin. He also declares four verses to be spurious, and does not comment on two additional verses, which suggests that these may be later interpolations.[4]

List of chapters from M. Ramakrishna Bhat's edition[5]
  1. Introduction
  2. Canons for Astrologers
  3. Transit of the Sun
  4. Transit of the Moon
  5. Course of Rahu
  6. Transit of Mars
  7. Transit of Mercury
  8. Course of Jupiter
  9. Course of Venus
  10. Transit of Saturn
  11. Comets
  12. Canopus
  13. Course of the Seven Sages (Big Dipper)
  14. Divisions of globe
  15. Stellar rulership
  16. Planetary rulership
  17. Planetary wars
  18. Conjunction of the Moon with planets of stars
  19. Planetary years and effects
  20. The Planetary Triangle
  21. Pregnancy of Clouds
  22. Retention of Embryo
  23. Rainfall
  24. The Moon's Conjunction with Rohini
  25. The Moon's Conjunction with Svati
  26. The Moon's Conjunction with Asadha
  27. The Wind Circle
  28. Signs of Immediate Rain
  29. Prognostics from Flowers and Creepers
  30. Indications at Dawn and Twilight
  31. Glow at the Horizon
  32. Signs of Earthquake
  33. Signs of Meteors
  34. Characteristics of Halos
  35. Signs of Rainbows
  36. Signs of Aerial City
  37. Mock Suns
  38. Indications of Haze
  39. Symptoms of Hurricane
  40. Growth of Crops
  41. Classification of Substances
  42. Fluctuations of Prices
  43. Glory of Indra's Banner
  44. Lustration Ceremony
  45. The Wagtail
  46. Portentous Phenomena
  47. Motley Miscellany
  48. Royal Ablution
  49. Signs of Crowns
  50. Signs of Swords
  51. Science of Limbs
  52. Characteristics of Pimples
  53. Architecture
  54. Exploration of Water Springs
  55. Treatment of Trees
  56. Description of Temples
  57. Preparation of Adamantine Glue.
  58. Description of Idols
  59. Entering Forest
  60. Installation of Images
  61. Features of Cows
  62. Characteristics of Dogs
  63. Signs of Cocks
  64. Characteristics of Toroises
  65. Signs of Goats
  66. Characteristics of Horses
  67. Signs of Elephants
  68. Signs of Men
  69. Signs of the Great Five Men
  70. Characteristics of Maidens
  71. Omens from Slits of Garments
  72. Signs of Chowries
  73. Signs of Umbrellas
  74. Praise of Women
  75. Winning of Affection
  76. Erotic Recipes
  77. Preparation of Perfumes
  78. Union of Man and Woman
  79. Signs of Couches and Seats
  80. Examination of Gems
  81. Signs of Pearls
  82. Signs of Rubies
  83. Signs of Emeralds
  84. Signs of Lamps
  85. Token of Tooth Sticks
  86. Omens through Birds and Beasts
  87. The Circle of Quarters
  88. Cries of Birds and Beasts
  89. The Circle of Dogs
  90. The Cries of Jackals
  91. Behaviour of Wild Animals
  92. Intention of Cows
  93. Intention of Horses
  94. Attitude of Elephants
  95. Cries of Crows
  96. Further Omens
  97. Time of Frution of Effects
  98. Functions and Properties of Asterisms
  99. Functions and Properties of Lunar Days
  100. Qualities of the Karanas
  101. Effects of Birth in the Asterisms
  102. Division of the Zodiac
  103. Planerary Combinations at Marriage
  104. Transits of Planets
  105. Worship of the Stellar Day
  106. Conclusion

The contents of the text fall into two major categories: anga and upanga. The anga discusses divination based on planets, asterisms, and zodiac signs. The upanga discusses a wide variety of other topics, as listed above. Varāhamihira does not discuss several traditional topics which he considers legendary and unscientific.[6]

The text displays Varāhamihira's skill as a poet:[7] it uses at least 63 different metres (Arya being the most frequent) in the Brihat-samhita.[8]

  • Manuscripts of Bṛhat Saṃhitā
  • 1279 CE palm-leaf manuscript from a Buddhist monastery
    1279 CE palm-leaf manuscript from a Buddhist monastery
  • Devanagari manuscript from a Jain temple
    Devanagari manuscript from a Jain temple
  • Manuscript with Utpala's commentary in Grantha script
    Manuscript with Utpala's commentary in Grantha script

Influence

Varāhamihira's text became far more popular than earlier similar texts, because of its comprehensiveness, lucidity, appealing presentation, and literary merit. He wrote an abridged version of the text, Samāsa Saṃhitā, which is now lost and is known only from Utpala's commentary on Brhat-samhita.[9]

According to Varāhamihira, in some verses he was merely summarizing earlier existing literature on astronomy, Shilpa Sastra and temple architecture, yet his presentation of different theories and models of design are among the earliest texts that have survived.[10][11]

Several chapters of the text - such as Chitraymayura, Drgargala (Jalagala-shastra) and Prasada-lakshana - were studied as independent treatises by later scholars, who regarded Varāhamihira as an authority on a variety of topics.[12] 11th-century Iranian scholar Al-Biruni also quotes Brhat-samhita.[13]

Abd Al-Aziz ibn Shams ibn Baha' Nuri Dihlavwi (fl. c. 1350/1375) composed Tarjamah i Barahi, a Persian translation of Brhat-samhita, for the Delhi Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq.[14]

For modern scholars, the wide range of the text makes it a very useful source of history about the contempoary period.[6]

Editions

Printed editions and translations of the text include:[15]

  • 1895-97, Varanasi: Edited with Bhattotpala's commentary by Sudhakara Dvivedi (2 volumes)
  • 1865, Calcutta: Edited by H. Kern
  • 1870-1875: English translation by H. Kern in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
  • 1947, Bangalore: Text with English translation by V. Subrahmanya Sastri and M. Ramakrishna Bhat (2 volumes)

Notes
  1. IAST: Bṛhat-saṃhitā; also transliterated as Brihat-samhita;[1] also known as Varāhi-saṃhitā.[2]

References
  1. Ariel Glucklich (2008). The Strides of Vishnu: Hindu Culture in Historical Perspective. Oxford University Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-19-971825-2.
  2. A.M. Shastri 1991, pp. 19–20.
  3. A.M. Shastri 1969, pp. 37–38.
  4. A.M. Shastri 1969, p. 38.
  5. M.R. Bhatt 1996, Contents.
  6. A.M. Shastri 1991, p. 21.
  7. A.M. Shastri 1969, p. 37.
  8. A.M. Shastri 1969, p. 15.
  9. A.M. Shastri 1991, p. 22.
  10. Michael Meister (2003). Gudrun Bühnemann (ed.). Maṇḍalas and Yantras in the Hindu Traditions. BRILL Academic. pp. 251–260. ISBN 90-04-12902-2.
  11. T. A. Gopinatha Rao (1985). Elements of Hindu Iconography. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 25, 58–59. ISBN 978-81-208-0878-2.
  12. A.M. Shastri 1991, pp. 21–22.
  13. Varahamihira; M Ramakrishna Bhat (1996). Brhat Samhita of Varahamihira, Part 2. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 960–961. ISBN 978-81-208-1060-0.
  14. David Pingree, ed. (1970). Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit Series A. Vol. 1. American Philosophical Society. p. 13.
  15. A.M. Shastri 1991, p. 216.

Bibliography
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