2012.1.

Bill M. Mak (Kyoto University)

Ratnaketu-parivarta, S!ryagarbha-parivarta and Candragarbha-parivarta of Mah!sa"nip!tas#tra (MSN) Indian Jyoti!a through the lens of Chinese Buddhist Canon
1

One of the greatest difficulties working with Indian texts is their general lack of a sense of history. Historical events are often conveniently placed in some mythological past, and even if dates and numbers are given, they are so fantastic that only the diehard literalists would take them seriously. This is particularly true for Indian jyoti!a (astronomical/astrological) texts as the astral science which was thought to be transmitted to humankind from the divine beings since time immemorial. In the case of compilations, old texts were simply collated together, as in the example of Var"hamihiras Pacasiddh"ntik", leaving it to the readers to decide what the interrelation between its components are. In such a manner, the highly-esteemed jyoti!a knowledge of different historical periods is confounded together and only with painstaking philological skills and a certain amount of luck can one reconstruct a textual history from purely internal evidences. External evidences often shed new lights on such kind of texts, but at the same time they introduce a whole new set of problems. In many cases they lead to more questions than answers. These include parallel materials in works within or without the same textual lineage, as well as translations in other languages. The Buddhist jyoti!a tradition had all along emulated its mainstream Vedic/Hindu counterparts and by and large it preserves the older form of Indian jyoti!a. From the 3rd 9th century CE, a large amount of these Indian Buddhist jyoti!a materials, many of them no longer extant, were translated into Chinese and were included in various Chinese Buddhist canons. Thus the Chinese Buddhist translations serve as a time capsule of Indian jyoti!a materials throughout a large part of

1 This research was supported by a grant from the Kyoto University's Kyoto Erasmus Program which is funded by 'The Institutional Program for Young Researcher Overseas Visits' of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. The paper was presented on Jan 8 2012 in the panel Sanskrit and Science at the 15th World Sanskrit Conference, New Delhi. A full version of the paper is planned be published in the Proceedings of WSC.

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Bill M. Mak (Kyoto University)

the first millennium of our era. The questions we ought to ask are: Firstly, what exactly do these Chinese materials contain and how reliable are they? Secondly, what can they tell us about the nature and historical development of Indian jyoti!a at least from the Buddhist angle? Lastly, how does this historical insight compare with our current knowledge of Indian jyoti!a. In this paper, my focus will be a text called Mah"sa#nip"tas$tra (MSN), translated into Chinese in various stages from late 4th to late 6th century CE. This text contains extensive references to Indian jyoti!a and appears to be extremely popular in Central Asia as Buddhism was spread from its native India to the rest of Asia. Leaving aside the Central Asian and Chinese influences the text might have picked up by the time it reached the Chinese in its present form, the text is basically a translation of an Indic exemplar no longer extent. As it turns out, the Chinese translation of the Mah"sa#nip"tas$tra has in fact preserved the different stages of Indian jyoti!a and its structure and composition could only be justified within a historically informed framework.2 I. Classification of Jyoti$a literature Before we proceed to the Chinese materials, let us look at how the jyoti!a tradition was conceived. One of the approaches to this question is to examine how the jyoti!a literature is classified, both traditionally as well as from the contemporary perspectives. Traditionally, jyoti!a was viewed as one of the auxiliary disciplines associated with the Vedas (ved"%ga). The prevalent classification follows the tripartite scheme given in Var"hamihiras (505-578 CE) B&hatsa#hit", namely ga'ita (mathematical astronomy), hor" (genethlical astrology or horoscopy) and sa#hit" (natural astronomy or miscellaneous divinations). Var"hamihira produced three major works in each of these categories, namely Pacasiddh"ntika, B&hajj"taka, and B&hatsa#hit", which in turned became the authority in the respective domains up to the present day. Given jyoti!a is a

For a comprehensive, philological study of the Chinese translation of MSN, see Mak 2012 [forthcoming]. The astronomical materials have been treated extensively in Zenba 1957. At the present, only few Sanskrit fragments of the relevant passages have been identified (Hoernle 1916, Saerji 2005).

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practical science, it is but natural that the materials are classified according to the genre which closely related to their functions and operations. A more historically rigorous approach was attempted by Pingree, who classified Indian jyoti!a based on the places of origin of the materials, which fall largely into five historical periods: i) Vedic (ca. 1000 B.C. - 400 B.C); ii) Babylonian (ca. 400 B.C. - 200 A.D.): e.g., Ved"%gajyoti!a (VJ); iii) Greco-Babylonian (ca. 200-400): e.g., Yavanaj"taka (YJ); iv) Greek (ca. 400-1600): e.g., (ryabha)*ya, PS; and v) Islamic (ca. 1600-1800).3 Pingrees scheme is the fruit of a lifetimes work dedicated to comparing astronomical materials of different ancient cultures, including Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Indian and Arabic. While many of Pingrees arguments are logical and well-found, there are cases which have shown how Pingrees over-emphasis and faith in Babylonian elements in Indian jyoti!a had led the great scholar into making some grave mistakes.4 A less speculative and more scientific way of classifying the jyoti!a texts is to examine the position of vernal equinox described therein. Due to the precession of equinoxes (at about 1 degree in 72 years), the reference point in different jyoti!a texts also varied: a) K&ttik" (2350 B.C.): Taittir*ya-s, Atharvavedapari+i!)a, VJ, BS; b) Bhara'# (1300 B.C.): VJ; c) A+vin* (300 A.D.): PS, BS. Although this phenomenon is well recognized by scholars of Indian texts, its implication has not been examined seriously, possibly since the materials of different stages are often mixed together within a single text. Nonetheless, looking at it from another angle, this observation is in fact not only helpful toward disentangling the confounded Indian materials, but turns out to be an important way of making sense of the whole corpus of the Chinese materials as we shall see. A summary of the above three types of categorization is as follows: a. Based on genre (Var"hamihira, 6th century CE)

Pingree 1981. The most striking example would be Pingrees edition of the 79th chapter of Yavanaj"taka, which Pingree amended heavily to agree with Babylonian data. As K.S. Shukla later pointed out, most of Pingrees emendations are incorrect and unnecessary. The original readings in Pingrees apparatus were in fact mostly correct!
4

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i) Ga$ita: Pacasiddh"ntika (PS) ii) Hor": B&hajj"taka (BJ) iii) Sa%hit": B&hatsa#hit" (BS) b. Based on origin/materials (Pingree 1981) i) Vedic (ca. 1000 B.C. - 400 B.C) ii) Babylonian (ca. 400 B.C. - 200 A.D.): Ved"%gajyoti!a (VJ) iii) Greco-Babylonian (ca. 200-400): Yavanaj"taka (YJ) iv) Greek (ca. 400-1600): (ryabha)*ya, PS v) Islamic (ca. 1600-1800) c. Based on position of vernal equinox a) K&ttik" (2350 B.C.): Taittir*ya-s, Atharvavedapari+i!)a, VJ, BS b) Bhara'# (1300 B.C.): VJ c) A+vin* (300 A.D.): PS, BS II. Chinese translations of Jyoti$a materials One of the key advantages of working with the Chinese Buddhist translations is that most of them are relatively clearly dated and their textual history (at least the translations, and in some cases, also the original) are often carefully documented. The earliest text extant containing extensive jyoit!a materials is Zhi Qians translation of ,"rd$lakar'"vad"na (&KA), titled Modengjia jing (230 CE). In this work, the 28 nak!atra-s or the Indian lunar mansions, the 9 luminaries (graha-s), as well as astronomical measurements such as the so-called Metonic cycle and the gnomic measurements throughout the year are given. Subsequently, for the next 600 years or so, new jyoti!a and more sophisticated materials were progressively introduced. By the 9th century, most of the basic Indian jyoti!a materials found in the works Var"hamihira and 'ryabha((a, such as the Hellenisitc weekday order, the horoscopes and the ephemerides, and some basic calendrical techniques are reflected the Chinese translations. Curiously, within this corpus, MSN represent a transitional stage between the old and the new, where new materials are tentatively introduced without the necessary elaboration. An overview of the key Chinese translations containing Indian jyoti!a materials are given as below. 230 C.E. M"ta%gas$tra (=&KA) T1300 by Zhi Qian 28 nak!atras from K&ttik", 9 graha-s, Metonic cycle, monthly gnomic

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265-316 308

[396?]<586 401-413

Ak"lak"las$tra ,"rd$lakar'"vad"na (&KA) MSN

550-567 645-664

T794 by Ruo Luoyan T1301 by Dharmap"la T397 by Dharmak!ema/ Narendraya)as Mah"praj"p"ramitopade+a T1509 by Kum"raj#va Commentaries to T1559/1644 by Abhidharmako+a Param"rtha

measurement gnomic measurement by half-month Descriptions of 28 nak!atra-s, explanation of units 12 zodiacal signs Four types of month

702 710-727 718

742-764

806-866

Reference to geocentric theory in India ((ryabha)*ya?) Various works T1545/1558/1563/ comprehensive 1579 by introduction of Indian cosmology, calendrics Xuanzang and planetary size Mah"may$r*dh"ra'*r"ja T985 by Yijing Nine grahas Various tantric works T1304,1310,1311 Horoscopy by Yixing by Siddh"nta algorithms Navagrahakara'a Gautamasiddha T1299 by 27 nak!atra-s from Xiuyao jing A)vin#, weekday Amoghavajra astrology Planetary ephemeris Qiyao rangzai jue T1308 by Jinjutuo(?)

III. The Transitional character of MSN The Chinese translation of the MSN contain three chapters (parivarta-s) Ratnaketu, S*ryagarbha and Candragarbha, which contain materials relevant to the present study:. While all of them deal with various aspects of Indian jyoti!a, they each have a different character, representing their different sources, often dislocated in place and time. The differences among the three chapters will be discussed under the following headings: a) Context; b) Representation of the lunar mansions; c) Number and order of the luminaries; d) Zodiac; e) Astronomical measurements. 5

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Bill M. Mak (Kyoto University)

a) References5 The jyoti!a materials in the three chapters of MSN were attributed to different sources according to the texts themselves: i) Jyot#rasa (Ratnaketu); ii) Jyot#rasa/Karo!(ha/Garga (S$ryagarbha); iii) Buddha/Brahma (Candragarbha). Broadly speaking, we can see that jyoti!a materials are often incorporated into Buddhist texts somewhat apologetically in the early phase. In the Mah"y"na case, jyoti!a knowledge is often considered a form of expedient (up"ya), employed for the benefits for the sentient beings though they are not considered genuine Buddhist teachings per se. In the late stage, in particular among the so-called Tantric works, they are seen as authentic Buddhist teachings and are often employed directly with no justification given or required. The different contexts of which jyoti!a materials are incorporated in the three chapters of MSN thus coincide with this general development. I would suggest this however is by no means coincidental as we shall see further evidences of the transitional character of MSN which captured Indian jyoti!a in its different stages. b) Lunar mansions In almost all cases when the lunar mansions are mentioned, K&ttik" is given as the first nak!atra.6 In one case, Bhara'* is incoherently mentioned first among the nak!atra-s. As mentioned already earlier, the changing order of the lunar mansions (from K+ttik" of 2350 BC to Bhara$# 1300 BC) reflects the shift of vernal equinox, i.e. precession. MSN thus reflected the old jyoti!a materials which took K&ttik" as the first nak!atra. In India, after 300 CE, A)vin# (equivalent to Aries) is established as the first nak!atra. This is in fact also reflected in the order of the zodiacal signs which we will see later, as well as in almost all Chinese translations made after MSN.

The question why jyoti!a materials, often irrelevant, if not antithetical to the Buddhist teachings, were incorporated into the Buddhist texts is a curious one and will require separate treatment. The topic will be dealt in a forthcoming paper of mine, titled Indian jyoti$a (astronomical/astrological) materials in Chinese Buddhist Translations - Why were they there in the first place? to be presented at the symposium Cross-Cultural Transmission of Buddhist Texts: Theories and Practices of Translation. University of Hamburg. Jul 23, 2012. 6 In Ratnaketu, k&ttik" was translated to Jiao instead of Mao which reflected the confusion with the Chinese system on the part of the translator (Zenba 1957, Mak 2002).

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Chapter T397-9 Ratnaketu T402 (Ratnaketu parallel) T397-14 S$ryagarbha Fasc. 41

First mansion Jiao (=K&ttik") Mao (=K&ttik") Mao (=K&ttik")

T397-14 S$ryagarbha Fasc. 42

Wei (=Bhara$#)

T397-15 Candragarbha

Jiao (=K&ttik"?)

Contents (D=descriptive; P=predictive) D: mole in body part P: On individual (character and longevity) based on birth D: i) Presiding deity; ii) Name; iii) Number of stars; iv) Shape of asterism; v) Span in degrees.; vi) Objects for worship P: i) General Divination; ii) On sickness; iii) On individual based on birth; iv) On individual based on conception D: K$rmavibh"ga - two sets of correspondence between mansions and Asian kingdoms

c) Luminaries Nothing much can be said about the luminaries of MSN since no details except their enumeration is given. It is nonetheless noteworthy that 8 and 7 graha-s are represented in S*ryagarbha and Candragarbha respectively, in contrast to the 9 graha-s which were already prevalent in India as seen in the work of Var"hamihiras works of roughly the same period. The order of the luminaries appear haphazard which is characteristic of Buddhist works.7 Moreover, it shows no Hellenistic influence which is found in later Chinese works.8 In this respect, the luminaries represented in MSN are not different from those of earlier Chinese translations, reflecting an earlier representation of the graha-s in ancient India whose order is not significant.

See Yano 1986:27-28. In the case of S*ryagarbha, the order of the luminaries is typical of the Chinese. The earliest Hellenstic weekday order ( ! " ) evident in Sanskrit work extant is found in Yavanaj"taka 79.52-54. c. 250 AD (?).
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S$ryagarbha: Jupiter-Mars-Saturn-Venus-Mercury-Sun-Moon-R"hu (8) Candragarbha: Sun-Moon-Mars-Jupiter-Saturn-Mercury-Venus (7)

d) Zodiac The twelve zodiacal signs seen in the Chinese S*ryagarbha and Candragarbha of MSN is the earliest representations of the Zodiac within the Chinese corpus. The names of the zodiacal signs are translated by meaning and by the Sanskrit pronunciation in the two respective chapters, which are spuriously assumed to be translated by the same person, Naredraya)as. Regardless of who the translators of these two passages actually were, apparently the materials were fairly new to the translator(s) since the translation style was not yet fixed at this stage. Furthermore, no definitions are given on the horoscopes in the S*ryagarbha, despite the zodiacal signs themselves are carefully incorporated into the lunar mansion-based astrology. At any rate, the enumeration of the twelve zodiacal signs beginning with Aries (equivalent to A)vin#) represents the latest stage of astronomical observation if the precession of equinoxes is taken into consideration as we have discussed earlier. Zodiac in Chinese translations of MSN Sign English Sanskrit T397-14 S$ryagarbha Aries me!a Taurus v +! a Gemini mithuna Cancer karka ( a Leo si % ha Virgo kany " Libra tul" Scorpio v+)cika Sagittarius dhanvin Capricorn makara Aquarius kumbha Pisces m#na

T397-15 Candragarbha ()

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e) Astronomical measurements One of the most intriguing piece of information we can glean from the astronomical passages of the S*ryagarbha of MSN concerns the gnomic measurements and the day-night ratio. Although rather unfortunately the length of the gnomon itself is not given in the text, the day/night ratio on the summer solstice described (18:12) is possible only when observed at around 3230 N.9 This ratio has been noted in a number of other Mah"y"na jyoti!a texts, suggesting these works could have be composed or at least mainly circulated near the Northwest frontier of present India, where it is now known as the Gandh"ra region. Conclusion To sum, the following points may be made: - Chinese Buddhist translations from c. 250 1000 CE capture the evolution of Indian jyoti!a in three stages old, transition and new. - Up to 6th century CE, Buddhist texts preserved the oldest type of lunar astrology (28 nak!atra-s) in India. - S*ryagarbha and Candragarbha of the compilation Mah"sa#nip"tas$tra (<600 A.D.) reflects a transitional stage where new jyoti!a elements such as the Zodiac and new coordinates were introduced. - Parallel development is reflected in Var"hamihiras B&hatsa#hit" where the older lunar astrology and the newer horoscopy coexisted. - By 8th century CE, tantric astrological works reflect an overwhelming interests in hor" which required a more sophisticated form of calendrics (e.g. aharga'a) and computational astronomy (e.g. karana). Chinese translations > 300 A.D. &KA MSN-Ratnaketu Astrology Lunar astrology/ 28 nak!atras Astronomy VE=K&ttik" (2350 B.C.), 5 years yuga Indian correspondences TS, AV-P, Gargasa%hit"

Old

Niu 1981; Mak 2002.

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Transitional c. 600 A.D. Lunar MSN-Candragarbha astrology/ MSN-S$ryagarbha Zodiac / 7-8 grahas New c. 800 A.D. Horoscopy Navagrahakara'a, based on 9 Xiuyao jing, Qiyao grahas /27 rangzaijue nak!atras

VE=K&ttik"/ Bhara'* (1300 B.C.) VE=A+vin* (300 A.D.), siddh"nta, ephemerides

VJ, BS

YJ, BJ, PS

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Abbreviations AV& Atharvaveda. &aukana. Edited by R. Roth and W,. Whitney. 1856. Atharva Veda Sanhita. Berlin. BS B&hatsa#hit" by Var"hamihira. Edited by Dvived#, K+!$acandra. 1997. B&hatsa-hit" by ,r* Var"hamihir"c"rya with the Commentary of Bha))otpala. Varanasi: Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. VJ Ved"-gajyoti!a by Lagadha. Edited by Kuppanna Sastry & K V Sarma. 1985. Ved"%ga Jyoti!a of Lagadha in its Rk and Yajus Recensions. New Delhi: Indian National Science Academy. Bibliography Braarvig, Jens. 1993. Ak!ayamatinirde+as$tra - The Tradition of Imperishability in Buddhist Thought. Oslo: Solum Forlag. Hasuzawa Sh.jun (trans.). 1930-1. Kokuyaku issaiky. - Daish$bu 1-3 -1-3. : . Hatani Ry.tai . 1934. . 11:731-744. Hoernle, August Friedrich Rudolf. 1916. Manuscript Remains of Buddhist Literature Found in Eastern Turkestan : Facsimiles with Transcripts, Translations, and Notes. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Kurumiya Yenshu. 1975. Bibliographical Notes of the Ratnaketuparivarta. Tokyo: Rissho Daigaku Hokekyo Bunka Kenkyujo]. . 1978. Ratnaketuparivarta : Sanskrit Text. Kyoto: Heirakuji Shoten. . 1979. Ratnaketuparivarta : 'Dus Pa Chen Po Rin Po Che Tog Gi Gzuns 'Dus Pa Chen Po Dkon Mchog Dbal Zes Bya Ba'i Gzuns, Being the Tibetan Translation of the Ratnaketuparivarta. Kyoto: Heirakuji Shoten. Leumann. 1908. "ber die einheimischen Sprachen von Ostturkestan im frhen Mittealter." Zeitschrift Der Deutschen Morgenlndischen Gesellschaft 62:83-110. Lvi, Sylvain. 1902. "Notes chinoises sur l'Inde." Bulletin de l'cole Franaise d'extrme-Orient 2:246-255. . 1905. "Notes chinoises sur l'Inde. V. Quelques documents sur le bouddhisme indien dans l'Asie centrale (premire partie)." Bulletin de l'cole Franaise d'extrme-Orient 5:253-305. Mak, Bill M. 2012 [forthcoming]. Silk Road Transmission of Astrological Lore to China Indian, Chinese and Central Asian elements in Mah"sa%nip"tas*tra (T397). Silk Road: Interwoven History. Cambridge, MA: Association for Central Asian Civilizations & Silk Road Studies. Matsuda Shinya, . 1997. Daish$bu . In Daij. ky.ten kaisetu jiten . : . 171-194. Niu Weixing, . 2004. Xiwang fantian. : . Pingree, David. 1981. "History of Mathematical Astronomy in India." In Dictionary of scientific biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 533-633. . 1989. "Indian Planetary Images and the Tradition of Astral Magic." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 52:1-13. 11

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. 1990. "The Pur"$as and Jyoti/)"stra: Astronomy." Journal of the American Oriental Society 110 (2): 274-280. Saerji. 2005. . Ph.D. dissertation. Peking University. Shinj. Shinz. . 1928. . In . : . Yabuki Keiki . 1934. . Kokuyaku issaiky. - Daish$bu 4 -4. 1-14. : . Yano Michio . 1986.. : . . 1992.. : . . 2004.. : . . 2011. IT. : NHK. Zenba Makoto, . 1956. . 4 (1): 18-27. . 1957. .22: 101-116.

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