6.3. Anonymous or Unidentified Works and Authors

Nearly a dozen titles of works both unknown and unattributed are referenced in the Hāyanaratna. In Sanskrit alphabetical order, they are as follows:

Uttaratantra: quoted three times at length, on house results, using Tājika terminology. The title may be understood as ‘the latter treatise’, suggesting a two-volume work, but it is not Nīlakaṇṭha’s Varṣatantra.

Tājikapradīpa: quoted once, on planetary strength. Possibly identical with the Phalapradīpa and/or Varṣaphalapradīpa (below).

Tājikaratnamālā: quoted three times, on aspects, musallahas, and planetary periods. Ratnamālā ‘string of jewels’ is more or less homosemous with Ratnāvali (below). A Tājikaratna by Gaṅgādhara exists but appears to be dated to 1653–1654, some four years later than the Hāyanaratna.

Tājikasarvasvasāra: quoted once, on rājayogas or configurations for rise to power.

Tājikasindhu: quoted once, on house results. Possibly identical with the Hāyanasindhu (below).

Dīpikā: quoted once, on general results of the year based on calendric rather than specifically Tājika elements. Dīpikā ‘little lamp’ is unlikely to be the full title; the word is very common as the final member of a compound, especially in the names of commentaries. The quotation does not appear to derive from Nṛsiṃha’s Hillājadīpikā. I am familiar with one work entitled Tājikadīpikā, but that is attributed to the late author Ghāsīrāma (fl. 1860).

Phalapradīpa: quoted once, on the munthahā in a figure cast for a query. Possibly identical with the Varṣaphalapradīpa (below).

Muddagrantha: may or may not be a proper title, but obviously a work on a type of planetary periods, quoted at length (nearly 60 stanzas) in Chapter 7.^[1]

Yantrādhikāra: quoted once, on general results of the year based on horoscopic but not specifically Tājika elements. Adhikāra may be used in the sense of ‘chapter’, in which case this is part of some larger work.

Ratnāvalī: quoted once on planetary strength, using Tājika terminology. Like Dīpikā, Ratnāvalī (with synonyms) very commonly appears as part of titles. It may quite possibly refer here to the Ratnāvalīpaddhati or Paddhatiratnāvalī by Gaṇeśa Daivajña, which I have not seen.^[2]

Varṣaphalapradīpa: quoted once, on planetary periods.

Hāyanasindhu: quoted once on the so-called tambīra configuration and three times on the positions of the planets in the houses, apparently with approval.

Hāyanottama: quoted once, on planetary periods.

Additionally, an unknown Miśra–apparently a Tājika author–is quoted three times on topics of calculation (of aspects, planetary hours and periods). There are also a few instances of quotations wholly unattributed, or attributed only to ‘another book’ or ‘various works’. Although two or more titles may in some cases conceivably refer to the same work, the above list, taken together with the texts attributed above to Samarasiṃha, Vaidyanātha, Padmanābha and Viśvanātha but not reported by Pingree, serves as a reminder that our knowledge of Tājika sources is still very far from complete.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Pingree 1970–1994 A5: 326b mentions a single manuscript, dated 1855, of a work entitled Muddādaśāphala and attributed to ‘Yavana’. I have not seen this text.

[2]:

See Pingree 1970–1994 A2: 109a.