370 ON THE INDIAN, &C. 



One branch of astrology, entitled Tajaca, has been 

 confessedly borrowed from the Arabians : and the tech- 

 nical terms used in it, are, as I am informed by Hincki 

 astrologers, Arabick. The cast:; g of nativities, though 

 its practice is of more ancient date m India, may also 

 have been received from Western astrologers ; Egyp- 

 tians, Chaldeans, or even Greeks. If so, it is likely, 

 that the Hindus may have received astronomical hints 

 at the same time. 



By their own acknowledgment *, they have culti- 

 vated astronomy for the sake of astrology ; and they 

 mav have done so, with the aid of hints received from 

 the same quarter, from which their astrology is derived. 

 In the present instance Vaiia'ha mihira himself, as 

 interpreted by his commentator, quotes the Yavanas 

 (meaning perhaps Grecian authors), in a manner which 

 indicates, that the description of the Dreshcdnas is 

 borrowed from them. 



The name of Yavana'cha'rya, who is cited by 

 Bhattotpala, would not be alone decisive. He is 

 frequently quoted by Hindu astronomers : and it is 

 possibk, though by no means certain, that, under this 

 name, a Grecian or an Arabian author may be intended. 

 To determine that point, it will be requisite {unless 

 the work attributed to him be recovered) to collect all 

 the passages, in which Yavan-'acha^rya is cited by 

 Sanscrit authors ; and to compare the doctrines ascribed 

 to him with those of the Grecian and Arabian writers 

 on A. tronomy. Not being prepared for such a disquisi- 

 tion, I shall dismiss this subject, for the present, with- 

 out offering any positive opinion on the question, which 

 has been here proposed. 



* Bhascara expressly says, " By ancient astronomers, the pur- 

 pose of the science is declared to be judicial astrology ; and that, 

 indeed depends on the influence of configurations ; and these, oi> 

 the apparent places oi'the planets." 



Cbldd'hydya, 1. v. 6. 



