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Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies Vol. 68, No. 3, March 2020
Muhūrta in Gārgīyajyotiṣa
BILL. M. Mak
1. Introduction: Structure of proto-Garga in the Gārgīyajyotiṣa
Scholars have generally opined that the extant recension of the Gārgīyajyotiṣa (G1) contains
materials dated to as early as the first century C.E., coinciding with the period of Indian astronomy we know very little about.1) The name Garga and astral works attributed to this author were known to the Chinese before the sixth century C.E.2) The decipherment of this partially edited text by an international team of scholars has been ongoing since 2017. 3) An
unusual feature of G1 overlooked by previous scholars is that the first Aṅga, titled
“Karmaguṇa” (“constituents of ritual acts”) has a different character when compared to the
subsequent ones in terms of structure, format, and content. While a detailed analysis is possible only when a complete critical edition of G1 is produced, some of the salient differences
may be readily discerned based on our preliminary examination of the text (Table 1).
Table 1.
Aṅga
Comparison of Aṅga 1 with other astronomical Aṅgas
1
2–11
Structure
With subsections
Without subsections
Format
Prose and verses
Verse only
Content
Lunar-nakṣatra astral lore
Solar-zodiac planetary astral lore
Attribution
Garga and Vṛddhagarga
Garga
These differences indicate that the first Aṅga might have been originally a compilation of some much older materials. The occasional attribution to Vṛddhagarga beside Garga was likely the author-editorʼs attempt to disambiguate an older author from a contemporary one,
both belonging to a Gargaʼs school of astronomy. In the introductory prose section
of G1 under the subsection Sāṃvatsara-nirdeśa (i), four basic astrological time-related
concepts are introduced:
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Muhūrta in Gārgīyajyotiṣa (Mak)
tathā laukikavaidikādhyātmikānām arthānāṃ karmaguṇānāṃ prayogakālasiddyarthaṃ
tithinakṣatramuhūrtakaraṇānāṃ ca prayoktā |
“[The astrologer/astronomer (sāṃvatsara)] thus ascertains the tithi, nakṣatra, muhūrta, and karaṇa
for the success at the applicable time of the constituents of ritual acts, whose purposes are mundane,
Vedic or supramundane.”
In the subsection titled “Paribhāṣa” (iii) of the same Aṅga, the importance of these four
concepts is reiterated:
caturvyūhaṃ karmaguṇaṃ gargeṇoktaṃ yathāvidhi |
tithinakṣatrakaraṇair muhūrtānāṃ ca saṃpadaḥ || (1.3.1)
“The constituents of ritual acts are proclaimed by Garga to be of four varieties accordingly. The
complete enumeration [of the four varieties are] tithis, nakṣatras, karaṇas, and muhūrtas.”
Aṅga 1 of G1 is subdivided into nine subsections (with only three explicitly numbered: iii,
iv, ix. Table 2). The four astral topics mentioned in the preamble are treated in three subsections: (iv) Nakṣatrakarma, (v) Tithikarmaguṇāḥ, (vii) Muhūrtaguṇāḥ (including the topic of karaṇas). The decipherment of (v) Tithikarmaguṇāḥ, and (iv) Nakṣatrakarma in Mak
2018a and Mak 2018b reveal that these materials are considerably archaic and were supplanted by other materials by the time of Varāhamihira in the sixth century; similar archaic
astral materials are preserved in Buddhist sources such as the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna and
Amoghavajraʼs Xiuyao jing as first suggested by Yano 1986. Mak 2018b further reveals
that G1 contains materials of different sources and periods, with the example of both 27
Table 2.
Structure of First Aṅga (cf. Mitchiner 1986, 105)
Subsection
Title
Number of verses
[i]
Sāṃvatsara-nirdeśa (cf BS Ch. 2)
Prose + 5
[ii)
Aṅga-samuddeśa
58
iii
Paribhāṣā
13
iv
Nakṣatrakarma (cf. BS Ch. 97 Nakṣatrakarmaguṇa)
96
[v]
Tithikarmaguṇāḥ (cf. BS Ch. 98 Tithikarmaguṇa)
44
[vi]
Grahakarmaguṇāḥ
18
[vii]
Muhūrtaguṇāḥ (cf. BS Ch. 99 Karaṇaguṇa)
85
[viii]
Prathamaḥ
15
ix
Dvitīya āditas [prathamaḥ sargaḥ samāptaḥ]
30
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and 28 nakṣatra-systems found in different Aṅgas. In this paper, our focus will be the subsection (vii) Muhūrtaguṇa. It may be noted that subsections such as (vi) Grahakarmaguṇaḥ
and other subsections with miscellaneous topics (viii, ix) appear to be interpolated at a later stage, since graha or “planet” is not mentioned among the four fundamental astral concepts. This observation corroborates with the striking fact that planets are not mentioned at
all in either early Vedic sources, or in the oldest extant jyotiṣa treatise in the Vedic tradition̶the Vedāṅgajyotiṣa.
2. Structure and Characteristics of Muhūrtaguṇa
2.1. Structure
The subsection (vii) Muhūrtaguṇa contains 85 verses. The first 25 verses deal with
karaṇas, an astral concept defined as a half of a tithi (1/30 of a synodic month). The remaining 60 verses deal with various topics related to the muhūrta (Table 3).
2.2. Description of the muhūrtas
In the Ṛgveda, the muhūrta appears to denote an unspecific short period of time.4) In the later
Vedic texts, it is accepted as general knowledge that a day contains thirty muhūrtas, though
their description varies.5) In the Muhūrtaguṇa of G1, the thirty muhūrtas consist of fifteen diurnal and fifteen nocturnal ones (v. 27). Their names, though likely corrupt, are reminiscent
to those found in the work of Parāśara,6) the Buddhist narrative Śārdūlakarṇāvadana (ŚKA),7)
Agnipurāṇa (AP),8) and Ātharvaṇa jyotiṣa (AJ) 9) (Table 4). Although their relation cannot be
clearly established due to the poor quality of the extant materials, they clearly share a common, archaic origin. As a fixed time unit, a muhūrta is a thirtieth of a day (48 minutes), analTable 3.
Structure of Muhūrtaguṇa
Topic
Verses
1–25
Karaṇas
26–30
General description of increasing and decreasing muhūrtas
31–35
Metrology̶subdivision of a muhūrta
36–41
30 muhūrtas distinguished by their deities
42–44
Saṃcara- and dhruva-muhūrtas
45–54
Shadow length of the 15 muhūrtas on the equinoxes
55–85
Auspicious and inauspicious acts for the 30 muhūrtas
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ogous to a tithi being a thirtieth of a synodic month, and is the smallest among the four astral
units. On the shortest day (kṣīṇa), i.e., the winter solstice, the text describes that there are
only twelve diurnal muhūrtas (v. 30a), presupposing thus a day-night ratio of 12:18, similar to
that found in a number of early Sanskrit sources10).
sarvāgreṇāpi saṅkhyātā muhūrtās triṃśati smṛtāḥ |
divā pañcadaśocyante rātrau pañcadaśaiva tu ||27||
“If they are reckoned completely from the beginning [of a day to the next], thirty muhūrtas are
known. In the day there are said to be fifteen diurnal, and in the night precisely fifteen as well.”
ahno dvādaśasu kṣīṇāṃ muhūrtteṣv eva tiṣṭhate ||30a||
“In the day of the reduced type, there are only twelve muhūrtas.”
After giving the names of the thirty muhūrtas (Table 4), the text proceeds to describe the
six movable (saṃcara) muhūrtas, which belong to the daytime on summer solstice, and to
nighttime on winter solstice (vv. 42–45). On the equinoxes, the day and the night are equal,
each consisting of 15 muhūrtas. In the three months between the equinoxes and the solstices, the day/night muhūrtas increase or decrease by one muhūrta per month, in a manner
similar to one of the Babylonian zigzag schemes.11)
aindravāruṇabhāgyākhyaraudragāndharvadhānadāḥ |
ṣaḍ ete saṃcarāḥ śeṣāś caturviṃśad dhruvāḥ smṛtāḥ ||42||
udaggato ʼrka ṣaṇmāsās tadādīnarkamānajāḥ |
kramād aindrādayaḥ ṣaṭsu saṃcarā dinavṛddhiṣu ||43||
etad eva viparyasthā aindryāntā dhanadādayaḥ |
yāsthāpane rātrivṛddhau saṃcarāḥ ṣaḍdhruvādiṣu ||44||
evam ahnaś ca rātryaś ca hrāsavṛddhikrameṇa tu |
muhūrtāṃs tarkayed vṛddhyā chāyāmātrikayogataḥ ||45||
“Aindra, Vāruṇa, Bhāgya, Raudra, Gāndharva, [and] Dhānadā: these six [muhūrtas] are known as
“saṃcara,” the remaining twenty-four as “dhruva.” When the Sun moves northward during the six
months (from winter to summer solstices), then arising from the measure of the strengthening (lit.
not-weak) Sun in the order: Aindra, etc., the saṃcaras are [progressively distributed as daytime
muhūrtas] among the six [months] of increasing daytime. The [muhūrtas] in reverse (i.e., from
summer to winter solstices) when [the Sun is] weakening are precisely from Dhanadā, etc., ending
with Aindra. The six saṃcaras are [each progressively distributed as nighttime muhūrtas] among
the six [months, whose days] begin with the dhruva [muhūrtas] and of increasing nighttime. Thus
are the days and nights by the steps of diminution and growth. One should consider the muhūrtas
with growth by means of the shadow measure.”
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Table 4.
Day
Names of the thirty muhūrtas
3
4
5
7
1
2
Garga
Raudra
Śveta
Mitra
Śārabhaṭa
Sāvitra
Viśvadeva
Parāśara
Raudra
(Śveta)
Maitra
Sārabhaṭa
Ātmasaha
Vaiśvadeva ̶
ŚKA
Samudra/
Caturojas
Śveta
Samṛddha
Śarapatha/
Śatapatha
Atisamṛddhi/ Udgata
Atisamṛddha
Sumukha
AP
Raudra
Maitra
Śveta
Sārabhaṭa
Sāvitra
Vairocana
Jayadeva
AJ
Raudra
Śveta
Maitra
Śārabhaṭa
Sāvitra
Vairāja
Viśvāvasu
8
9
10
11
12
Abhijit
Rohiṇa
Prabala
Pitryaḥ
Vijaya
Abhijit
Rohiṇī
Indabala
Jaya
Vajraka
Rohita
Bala
Abhijit
Rāvaṇa
Abhijit
Rauhiṅī
Night
Garga
15
Udratha/
Aindra
Vāruṇa
Bhāgya
Pitryaḥ
Bhāgya
Varuṇa
Nairṛta
Vijaya
Sarvarasa
Vasu
Sundara
Parābhaya
Vijaya
Nandin
Varuṇa
Yama
Saumya
Bhava/
Bhaga
Bala
Vijaya
Naiṛta
Vāruṇa
Saumya
Bhagat
20
21
22
18
19
Raudra Gandharva Dhanadā
Parāśara Agnya Yāmya
ŚKA
Bhāraṇa
Gandharva Dhyānapada
Raudra Tārāvacara Saṃyama
23
24
25
13
Vairāja
14
17
16
6
Sāmpraiyaka
27
26
Pauṣṇa
Anila
Anala
Rākṣasas
̶
̶
Rākṣasa
Ananta
Gardabha
Rākṣasa
28
Dānyadaivatyās Somya
Brāhma
Aṅgirās
Indra
Āgneya
Prājāpti
Aśvinendra Brahmaguru Sāvitrī
Avayava
Brahmā
Diti
Arka
Vidhamana
Vaiṣṇava
Āgneya
29
30
Vāyavya
Nairṛtam
Vaiṣṇava
Pauṣṇa
Ātapāgni
Abhijit
The next section (vv. 45–54) describes the shadow lengths of the fifteen daytime muhūrtas.
Similar presentation is found in the ŚKA. Since precisely fifteen day-time muhūrtas are defined here by their shadow length, we can only assume that they provide the gnomic measurements on the equinoxes.
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Notes
1) Geslani et al. 2017, 151; Shukla 1969, 101–3.
2) 伽力伽 jiālìjiā (MC. kae-lik-kae) in Daji jing
大集經, T(397)13.282b (585 C.E.); 竭伽 jiéjiā (MC. gjet-kae) in the Book of Sui 隋書 (629 C.E.).
3) Geslani et al. 2017, 154–5. Tentative ed. of text in this paper is based on mss. D and G.
4) RV
III.53.8.
5) Śatapathabrāhmaṇa X 4.2.18, XII 3.2.5 give 15 diurnal and 15 nocturnal muhūrtas;
Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa III 10.1 give two different sets of 30 muhūrtas for the two pakṣas.
6) Cited in
bhaṭṭotplaʼs commentary on Bṛhatsaṃhitā 98.3 (Tripāṭhī ed. p. 1040).
7) Mukhopadhyaya 1954,
54; Giebel 2015, 85–86.
8) Mukhopadhyaya 1967, 47.
9) Datta ed. 1.6–11.
10) Mahābhāṣya (I. p. 384 I. 18–19), Arthaśāstra 2.20.37–38, and Vedāṅgajyotiṣa (R)7/(Y)8.
11) Pingree 1963, 232, 1973, 4–5.
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Key words
Garga, jyotiṣa, muhūrta
(Research Fellow, Needham Research Institute, Cambridge, PhD)
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