Hello Forum,
I asked Ernst this question via email and will post the question and answer here as it is useful to have this info on the forum.
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Dear Ernst,
In BPHS ch. 3 verse 4-6,
Parasara states, "The said zodiac comprises 27 asterisms commencing from Aswini. The same area is divided in 12 parts equal to 12 Rasis (or signs) commencing from Aries."
A pretty explicit statement for using sidereal zodiac with regards to astrology.
How would you interpret this? Would you say this is a mis-translation? You have stated numerous times that Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra has some corruptions due to it being recompiled and a text that was lost in the dark ages.
But have to ask...
Scott
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Yes, its something to consider. Also, brihat jataka very clearly states that Asvini is a the beginning of aries and brihat jataka is not corrupt, it’s a very clear and well preserved text. HOWEVER, the same author in his book panchasiddhantika states very clearly that aries rasi, drekkana, navamsa, all start on the vernal equinox. So for this reason, there are 2 groups in India that use tropical nakshatras with tropical rasis.
So this statement in Brihat Parashara does not support sidereal or tropical, it only supports nakshatras and rasis lining up at Asvini/aries, but is it a correct statement in the face of the fact that BPHS was recompiled in the late 1800s with much additional stuff that was not in the original.
We could almost take Brihat jataka and Panchasiddhantika as gospel and say its obvous that rasis and naksahtras are both tropical according to these, BUT, the author also makes it very clear that they did not know of precession! That’s the problem, by 500Ad the hindus had lost the knowledge of precession and sometime after the 7th century they noticed it. So that is why nothing is clear in the old books from India. The answers are simply not there in any clear way.
Ernst