INDIAN AND ARABIAN ZODIAC. 383 



opinion. He reckons the coincidence too exact in most 

 thinc-s to be the effect of chance, and, from the slight dif- 

 ference between them, he infers that one of the two na- 

 tions must have taken its zodiac from the other, but not 

 copied it with servility. He says, "I apprehend that it 

 must have been the Arabs who adopted, with slight varia- 

 tions, a division of the zodiac familiar to the Hindoos : this, 

 at least, seems to be more probable than the supposition 

 that the Indians received their system from the Arabians. 

 We know that the Hindoos have preserved the memory of 

 a former situation of the colures compared to constellations 

 which mark divisions of the zodiac in their astronomy ; 

 but no similar trace remains of the use of the lunar man- 

 sions as divisions of the zodiac among the Arabs in so very 

 remote times." ' , • u 



The almost perfect identity of the Hindoo zodiac with 

 ours will appear from the names of their signs, — 



Mesha, the Ram.' 

 Yrisha, the Bull. 

 Mifhuna, the Pair: ' 

 Carcata, the Crab. 

 Sinha, the Lioo. 

 Canya, the Virgin. 



7V/a, the Balance. 

 Vrishchica, the Scorpion. 

 Dhamis, the Bow. 

 Macara, the Sea Monster. 

 Ciimbka. the Ewer. 

 iXma, the Fish. 



The zodiac itself they call sodi-nmndalum, the circle of 

 stars. The figures of the twelve asterisms have been speci- 

 fied in Sanscrft verses by Sripeti, one of the early Bramin 

 writers, which have been translated by Sir W. Jones as 

 follows :— " The Ram, Bull, Crab, Lion, and Scorpion have 

 the figures of these five animals respectively. The Pait 

 are a°damsel playing on a ri'na, and a youth wielding a 

 mace. The Virgin stands in a boat on water, holding in 

 one hand a lamp, and in the other an ear of rice-corn. The 

 Balance is held by the weigher vaih a weight in one hand ; 

 the Bow by an archer whose hinder parts are like those of 

 a horse. The Monster has the face of an antelope. The 

 Ewer is a waterpot borne on the shoulder of a man, who 

 empties it. The Fish are two, with their heads turned to 

 each other's tail,— and all these are supposed to be in such 

 places as suit their several natures." There is a repre- 

 sentation of the zodiac in the Asiatic Researches,* but it 



* Vol. ix. p. 330 



a 



