1. The Names of the Sahamas

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Now, the topic of sahamas. Their purpose is stated by Yādava [in Tājikayogasudhānidhi 11.1]:

Because the sahamas always lend assistance to the results of all the houses, just as fate [lends assistance] to the exertions of men, therefore I set forth the true calculation of sahamas.^[1]

Next, for the sake of easy recollection, the names of the sahamas are listed in Saṃjñātantra [3.1–4]:

(1) Fortune (puṇya), (2) teacher (guru), (3) knowledge (jñāna/vidyā), (4) renown (yaśas), (5) friends (mitra), (6) greatness (māhātmya) and (7) hope (āśā) and (8) ability (samarthatā), (9) brothers (bhrātṛ), then (10) honour (gaurava), (11) dominion (rājya), (12) father (tāta/pitṛ), (13) mother (mātṛ), (14) children (suta), (15) life (jīvita), (16) water (ambu/jala), (17) work (karman) and (18) illness (māndya/roga), (19) desire (manmatha), (20) strife (kali/jhakaṭaka), then (21) forbearance (kṣama), (22) instruction (śāstra), (23) kinsmen (sa-bandhu) and then (24) serfs (banda/bandaka)^[2] and the lot (sadman)^[3] of (25) death (mṛtyu/mṛti), (26) foreign countries (paradeśa/deśāntara), (27) wealth (dhana/artha), (28) others’ wives (anyadāra), (29) others’ work (anyakarman/anyakārya) and (30) merchants (vaṇij), and then (31) success in undertakings (kāryasiddhi), (32) marriage (udvāha/vivāha/pariṇaya), (33) birth (sūti/prasūti), (34) affliction (santāpa), (35) faith (śraddhā), (36) love (prīti), (37) force (bala), (38) body (tanu/deha), the sahamas of (39) dullness (jāḍya) and (40) occupation (vyāpāra), (41) falling into water (pānīya-patana/pānīyapāta), (42) enemies (ripuḥ), (43) valour (śaurya), (44) means (upāya), (45) poverty (daridra/dāridrya), (46) dignity (gurutā), (47) travel by water (ambupatha/jalādhvan/jalapatha), (48) imprisonment (bandhana), (49) daughters (duhitṛ/kanyā) and (50) horses (aśva) are the fifty sahamas.^[4]

Here, the sahama of foreign countries should be understood to be [what others call] the sahama of journeys; the sahama of marriage is the sahama of women; and the sahama of knowledge is the sahama of learning.

Others describe additional sahamas:

(51) Wife (bhāryā/jāyā), (52) release (mokṣa/bandhamokṣa), (53) unhappiness (asukha/duḥkha), (54) uncles (pitṛvya), then (55) suffering (kleśa), (56) coming and going (gamāgama), (57) elephants (gaja), (58) right thinking (sanmati),^[5] (59) killing (ghāta/ghātaka), (60) camels (uṣṭra/uṣṭraka), (61) quadrupeds (catuṣpada), (62) vice (vyasana) and (63) ploughing (kṛṣi), (64) sight (dṛṣṭi/dṛś), (65) hunting (ākheṭaka/ākheṭa), (66) servants (bhṛtya/bhṛtyaka), (67) limbs (aṅga), (68) acquisition (prāpti), (69) treasure (nidhi), (70) family members (jñāti), (71) debts (ṛṇa), (72) understanding (buddhi), (73) impregnation (ādhāna/garbha), (74) wisdom (dhairya) and (75) truth (satya/satyaka): these seventy-five [sahamas] were all declared by the ancients in [that] order. Now I shall explain their true [mode of] calculation as described [by them].^[6]

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

This description of the sahamas, exploiting the phonetic similarity of the word with Sanskrit sahāya ‘assistant’, may further suggest a knowledge on Yādavasūri’s part of the Arabic root of sahm, which, in form III, can mean ‘have a share in, assist’.

[2]:

Bandaka and banda (similar in derivation to the English ‘bondsman’) are Persian loanwords, suggesting a social institution with no exact Indian counterpart.

[3]:

The word translated here and below as ‘lot’ is sadman, a Sanskrit word proper which more literally means ‘seat, abode, place’. This synonym of sahama was presumably chosen chiefly for its phonetic similarity, but it may not be out of place to note that Arabic sahm, among its other meanings, also designates a unit used in measuring land. A somewhat parallel case is the Latin term locus, used by Firmicus Maternus in the fourth century as a translation of Greek κλñρος, the latter apparently being understood in its secondary sense ‘[allotted] piece of land’ rather than ‘lot [that is cast]’.

[4]:

The precise meanings of several of these names are doubtful, chiefly due to the lack of context. As noted in the Introduction, puṇya ‘virtue, religious merit’ has been rendered as ‘fortune’ to accord both with the Greek and Arabic names of this first and most important lot (κλñρος τñς τύχης, sahm as-saʿāda), the latter of which it was undoubtedly meant to translate, and with its astrological usage. The sense here is that of pūrvapuṇya or ‘past merit’, that is, good deeds from previous lives manifesting in the present as good fortune.

[5]:

Or: ‘good inclination’ (sanmati). Text witnesses B N G read ‘agreement’ (saṃmati).

[6]:

Again, the lack of context renders the precise meanings of several names speculative.