Shatpanchasika

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Knowlege is power and as Alfred Lord Tennyson puts it, a wise man thought,

"To follow knowledge like a sinking star,

Beyond the utmost bound of human thought"

A paraphrase of the same may be found in the following,

Astrology is rightly termed as one of the shad-angas-the six works auxiliary to the Vedas. And it will not be too much to say that this branch of know - ledge is as necessary to civilisation as any other branch, as a lack of knowledge of Astrology means a dificiency in the advancement of man.

The present work - Prasna sastra - is one of the branches of Jyotisha sastra and is condensed in - as the title of the book implies, 56 slokas. The author Prithuyasas is really a chip of the old block in as much as he is the son of that celebrated Astronomer Varahamihira-one of the nine gems of Vikramaditya's court. All aspects pertaining to 'query' have been very cleverly handled in this short work. The author presumes a preliminary knowledge of astrology and it is understood that the reader masters the first two chapters of Brihath Jataka.

That Prithuyasas has kept up the line of thought after his father is plain from the fact that the number of slokas in this work is 56. With reference to the life (little is said, but much is meant.) One is prompted to study every line in a detailed manner. For example the first line of this work starts with a prostration to the Sun, the beginner of every- thing. cf.

It is but right that the letter which is the beginning of that alphabet stands for Vishnu, Siva and Brahma and the genesis of Pranava is now identified with the Sun. There seems to be analogy between the 56 countries which India is supposed to have been composed of and the 56 verses of this work. The first of the 56 countries in Anga and the first line of this work represents the chief anga. Any amount of research on this line is worth while and will only add to strengthen the position of this science in the ocean of knowledge.

I take this opportunity to thank my friend M.

Ramakrisha Bhatt. M. A. Lecturer in Sanskrit and superintendent of Indian Languages, St Joseph's college, Bangalore for the great help he rendered to me in bringing out this work.