In Hinduism

Jyotisha (astronomy and astrology)

Source: Journal of South Asian Intellectual History: Samarasiṃha and the Early Transmission of Tājika Astrology

Nidhanādhikāra (निधनाधिकार) (lit. “regarding the end of life”) is the name of the eleventh chapter of the Karmaprakāśa—one of the earliest preserved Sanskrit works on Perso-Arabic (Tājika) astrology authored by Samarasiṃha in the 13th century.— Chapter 11 (nidhanādhikāra) makes a return to the topic of the hillāja and discusses how to establish the precise time of death using Indian calendric parameters, though still without explaining the mathematical procedures properly underlying the method of direction. It also describes how to predict the cause of death, or of a brush with death (apamṛtyu)—‘by illness or by iron’—from the planet afflicting the hillāja. While this method appears to be derived from Ptolemy, the intermediary Perso-Arabic source is as yet unidentified. The text attributes the doctrine simply to ‘Yavana’; like the similarly attributed chapter 8 above, it is also very short—with its six verses in fact the shortest chapter of the Karmaprakāśa.

context information

Jyotisha (ज्योतिष, jyotiṣa or jyotish) refers to ‘astronomy’ or “Vedic astrology” and represents the fifth of the six Vedangas (additional sciences to be studied along with the Vedas). Jyotisha concerns itself with the study and prediction of the movements of celestial bodies, in order to calculate the auspicious time for rituals and ceremonies.

See also (Relevant definitions)

Partial matches: Nidhana, Adhikara.

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Full-text: Nidhana, Apamrityu.

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