[INDOLOGY] About "bha-graha"

[Martin Gansten]

I am not entirely sure either, as I am not familiar with the text, but 
from the surrounding verses (as found on GRETIL 
<http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/1_sanskr/6_sastra/3_phil/saiva/tantralu.htm>) 
the context seems to be instructions for determining the most suitable 
time for one or more rituals (that is, muhūrtaśāstra: electional or 
katarchic astrology). Verse 45 has bhagrahau, making it probable that 
the compound should be understood as a dvandva throughout. In that case, 
bha is probably a synonym of nakṣatra or asterism ('zodiacal sign' would 
be another possibility, but I don't see the twelve signs mentioned at 
all, and the nakṣatras are typically much used in muhūrta), and graha 
means 'planet'. But what planet is meant, or what it is supposed to be 
doing, is not clear to me. As I said, I haven't studied the text, just 
looked at the section immediately surrounding the verse you asked about.

Martin Gansten

Den 2019-09-24 kl. 11:40, skrev Mrinal Kaul via INDOLOGY:
> Dear Friends,
>
> In the following verse of the /Tantrāloka/ (28.42cd-43ab) of 
> Abhinavagupta, I do not completely understand the expression 
> /*bha-graha*/. The only thing I am sure is that this has to do with 
> Jyotiṣa.
>
> *bhagraha*samayaviśeṣo nāśvayuje ko 'pi tena tadvarjam |
> velā*bhagraha*kalanā kathitaikādaśasu māseṣu ||
>
> Can someone guide me? I apologise for being illiterate in Jyotiṣa and 
> I did not get much help from the obvious basic sources either. I hope 
> I am not missing something very basic.
>
> Thanks very much in advance.
>
> Mrinal
> ------
> *Mrinal Kaul, Ph.D.*
> Assistant Professor - Manipal Centre for Humanities (MCH)
> Coordinator - Centre for Religious Studies (CRS)
> Dr TMA Pai Planetarium Complex
> Alevoor Road, Manipal 576 104
> Karnataka, INDIA
> Tel +91-820-29-23567 Extn: 23567
> https://iuo.academia.edu/MrinalKaul
> email: mrinal.kaul@ <mailto:mrinal.kaul at manipal.edu>stx.oxon.org 
> <http://stx.oxon.org>
>
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing committee)
> http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or unsubscribe)



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20190924/6f9fbbfb/attachment.htm>