History of Science in South Asia A journal for the history of all forms of scientific thought and action, ancient and modern, in all regions of South Asia  A Note on the Indian Planetary Exaltations and their Greek-Language Sources Martin Gansten Lund University  style citation form: Martin Gansten.   A Note on the Indian Planetary Exaltations and their GreekLanguage Sources.   History of Science in South Asia, 9 (2020): 77  82. DOI: 10.18732/hssa66. MLA  Online version available at: http://hssa-journal.org  HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN SOUTH ASIA A journal for the history of all forms of scientific thought and action, ancient and modern, in all regions of South Asia, published online at http://hssa-journal.org  ISSN 2369-775X  Editorial Board:                    Dominik Wujastyk, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada Kim Plofker, Union College, Schenectady, United States Clemency Montelle, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Fabrizio Speziale, School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHSS), Paris, France Michio Yano, Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyoto, Japan Gudrun Bühnemann, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA Anuj Misra, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Aditya Kolachana, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India Dagmar Wujastyk, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada  Publisher: History of Science in South Asia Principal Contact: Dominik Wujastyk, Editor, University of Alberta Email:  wujastyk@ualberta.ca  Mailing Address: History of Science in South Asia, Department of History, Classics and Religion, 2  81 HM Tory Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2H4 Canada This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. 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A Note on the Indian Planetary Exaltations and their Greek-Language Sources Martin Gansten Lund University  1  I N T RO D U C T I O N  N THE COMMENTARY OF HIS CRITICAL EDITION AND TRANSLATION of Sphujidhvaja  s Yavanaj taka, David Pingree notes that the degrees of the exaltations (ucca) of the planets    that is, the regions of the zodiac in which they are considered uniquely powerful    as given in that text largely correspond to the standard scheme found in Greek-language astrological works.1 The two exceptions concern the exaltation degrees of the sun and Jupiter in Aries and Cancer, respectively:  I  The two deviations in the Yavanaj taka, then, are Aries 10   for 19   and Cancer 5   for 15   . It is possible that these represent purely scribal errors, a      being omitted from an         and an      for an         in the manuscript translated by Yavane vara. 1 Pingree (1978: II, 220 f.), ad Yavanaj taka 1.58  60: meṣo v ṣaḥ karkitule amīn ḥ kany  m ga  co(cca)g h  i vindy t | ravīndujīv rki ukraindav r  yath kra ma   [ ] [sūrya]sya bh ge da ame t tīye somasya jīvasya tu pa came sy t | saurasya vi  e tv adhisaptake ca vindy d bh goḥ pa cada e budhasya || bhaumasya vi  e   ṣṭayute (pra)sūta  tri  allave svoccag he nive am | svocc t tu j mitram u anti nīca  tri  allavo yac ca sam nasa khyam ||   शम ना     या म      (  )  हािण म ष  व ष   ि   तल      दवारा यथा    म   [ ] िव    ात।  रव      वाि   श      [स य]र    य भा   दशम  त त य  स म  य   व  य त   प  म    यात।  स र  य िव श     विधस  त     िव    ा  भ     प  दश    (प  )स त   ित   श  लव    व     ह    बध  य॥ भ म  य िव श   ऽ   यत    िनव शम।    व   ा  त    ािमत  मशि  त न    ित   श  लव  य   समानस  यम॥  As noted by Pingree (1978: I, 54) in his apparatus, the two latter stanzas are also quoted (with minor variations) by Bhaṭṭotpala ad B hajj taka 1.13. The first stanza, incomplete due to a tear in the unique manuscript available to Pingree, contains a metrical irregularity which could easily be emended by substituting   sitai- for    ukrai-.  HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN SOUTH ASIA 9 (2020) 77  82  DOI: 10.18732/HSSA66  78  INDIAN PLANETARY EXALTATIONS Sphujidhvaja  s exaltations are completely confused by Mīnar ja (1, 43  46), but all later Indian astrologers have copied it [sic] faithfully [ ]2  Although Pingree  s assumption that Sphujidhvaja  s is the earliest preserved Sanskrit work on horoscopic astrology and must therefore be the original source of the Indian exaltation degrees has now been called into question by Bill Mak and others,3 it is substantially correct to say that Indian astrological tradition agrees with the scheme given by Sphujidhvaja. Pingree  s reconstruction of the likely mechanisms behind the two Indian deviations    the Greek alpha-numeric ιθ (19) becoming ι (10) and ιε (15) becoming ε (5)    is likewise compelling, irrespective of who was responsible for the original misreading. However, Pingree  s reference to the   completely confused   version of the exaltations found in Mīnar ja  s V ddhayavanaj taka, and its presumed dependence on Sphujidhvaja, merits closer examination. Planet  Greek standard Sanskrit standard Mīnar ja  Sun  Aries 19    Aries 10    [Aries] 10    Moon  Taurus 3    Taurus 3    Taurus 27    Mars  Capricorn 28    Capricorn 28    Capricorn 3    Mercury  Virgo 15    Virgo 15    Virgo 28    Jupiter  Cancer 15    Cancer 5    Cancer 15    Venus  Pisces 27    Pisces 27    Pisces 5    Saturn  Libra 20    Libra 20    Libra 27        20    [Additional]     Exaltation degrees of the planets according to Greek and Sanskrit standard schemes contrasted with the scheme of Mīnar ja.  2 A CA S E O F D I S P L AC E M E N T  T  HE ARGUMENT THAT I AM ABOUT TO PRESENT first occurred to me a few years ago and is briefly sketched in a footnote in one of my previous publications.4  2 As also remarked by Pingree (loc. cit.), individual Greek-language sources sometimes differ from this scheme, in each case by a single degree in either direction    a fact that to my mind suggests a confusion of car-  dinal and ordinal numbers as a likely cause. 3 See Mak 2013; 2014, in which the earlier contributions of K. S. Shukla and H. Falk are also discussed. 4 See Gansten 2018: 171, n.30.  HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN SOUTH ASIA 9 (2020) 77  82  MARTIN GANSTEN  79  At that time, however, I had not fully considered its implications for the early transmission history of the doctrine of exaltations. It thus seems worthwhile to examine it here in greater detail, and to draw out those implications. Mīnar ja gives the following account of the planetary exaltations: The exaltation of the sun is the first ten degrees; of the moon, the twenty-seventh [degree] from [the beginning of] Taurus; for Mars, the third degree of Capricorn is declared supreme by experts; for Mercury, the number twenty-eight from the sixth [sign, Virgo]; for Jupiter, the [degree] numbering fifteen from Cancer; for Venus it will be the fifth from Pisces; for Saturn, the twenty-seventh of Libra. The twentieth [degree] is declared to be of full strength; earlier and later in the house, subtraction [is to be made].5 Comparing this with the standard scheme found in other Sanskrit works, three important points may be noted. First, no sign of exaltation is explicitly mentioned for the sun, although   the first ten degrees  , if taken to refer to the zodiac as a whole, would fall in Aries; second, the degrees of exaltation for the remaining six planets all differ from the standard scheme; and third, Mīnar ja  s account ends with an odd mention of the twentieth degree, not assigned to any particular planet. If we compare the models as shown in the table above, a partial explanation suggests itself almost immediately: following the 10 degrees given for the sun, a superfluous figure 27 has somehow intruded, leading all subsequent numbers to be displaced. Thus, the 3 degrees for the moon  s exaltation in Taurus have been assigned instead to Mars   exaltation in Capricorn; the 28 degrees properly belonging to Mars in Capricorn have been assigned to Mercury in Virgo, and so on. This chain eventually leads to the figure of 20 degrees (originally belonging to Saturn in Libra) being left unassigned. However, this solution leaves us with a new question: where did the intrusive figure 27 come from?  5 V ddhayavanaj taka 1.44cd  46 (edition by Pingree (1976: I, 8), my translation): ucca  raver  dyatam  da       candrasya sapt  visamo v ṣ c ca || m godgamo bhūmisutasya tajjñais t tīyabh gaḥ paramaḥ pradiṣṭaḥ | gaj  visa khyendusutasya ṣaṣṭh j jīvasya kark t tithisa khya eva || sy t pañcamo bh rgavanandanasya mīn t svar  vis tu  anes tulasya | vi  anmitaḥ pūr abalaḥ pradiṣṭaḥ  arv gatīte bhavane tu p taḥ ||       रव रा  यतमा दशा शा         य स  ताि  वसम  व षा  ॥   म      म  भ िमसत  य त       त त यभा   परम  प  िद    ।     सत  य   ाि  वस  य    ष  ठा   व  य   ार ि  तिथस  य  व॥   या  प  म  भा  र वन  दन  य म ना    राि  व  त     शन    तल  य। िव शि  मत  प णबर  ल  प  िद      वार  त त  भवन   त   पात ॥  HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN SOUTH ASIA 9 (2020) 77  82  80  INDIAN PLANETARY EXALTATIONS 3  T H E G R EEK CON N E C T I O N  HE ABSENCE OF AN EXPECTED ELEMENT (a word for Aries) and the presence of an unexpected one (the superfluous figure 27), taken together, raise the question of whether one might have mutated into the other. In Sanskrit, the possibility seems a remote one. No word used to denote the sign Aries    meṣa, aja, kriya, etc.    has the numerical value 27 either in the frequently used bhūtasa khy  (word-numeral) system or in the less common kaṭapay di one; and even if they did, a scenario where the primary meaning of such a word would have been overlooked in an astrological context appears highly unlikely.6 Nor is any of these words, written in the scripts used in northern India in the early centuries of the Common Era (including the Aramaic-derived Kharoṣṭhī), similar in appearance to the numerals 27. In Greek, on the other hand, the situation is much more promising. Astronomical and astrological papyri often curtail the names of the zodiacal signs using abbreviations of two or three letters, such as κ  or κ ι for   ι     Aries  .7 It is certainly suggestive to note that the first letter of this name is also the first element of the Greek alpha-numeral for 27, κζ. Although considerations of palaeography in relation to a wholly hypothetical source, for which neither the century nor the region of origin is known, are necessarily speculative, we may further note the similarity between the letters   and ζ in cursive forms of Greek writing common from the first to the third centuries CE.8 On the basis of these observations, we may reconstruct the likely chain of events as follows: in a Greek-language text, an original abbreviation of the name   ι   (or some oblique form of the same) is misread as κζ. These two letters, occurring in the context of a list containing alpha-numerals, are interpreted as meaning 27. Next, this intrusive 27 occurring between the numbers 10 (the exaltation degree of the sun) and 3 (the exaltation degree of the moon) displaces all subsequent figures, leaving a meaningless number 20 at the end of the list. Finally, Mīnar ja does his best with the list as he understands it, enshrining the mistake in Sanskrit verse. The above scenario accounts for Pingree  s   complete confusion   in a series of plausible steps. It does, however, seem to preclude any dependence of Mīnar ja on Sphujidhvaja (or on any other Sanskrit source) or vice versa, at least for the  T  6 For the bhūtasa khy  and kaṭapay di systems, see Plofker 2009: 47, 75 ff. 7 This form of abbreviation was first brought to my attention by an anonymous reviewer of an earlier version of this paper, who suggested the variant κ ι. For instances of both two- and three-letter abbreviations, see, e.g., Jones 1999: II, 170 ff. (I am grateful to Stephan Heilen for alerting  me to these examples). Either abbreviation would remain identical irrespective of the case form intended, which, judging from the context, would most likely have been the genitive (  ιοῦ). 8 See Thompson 1912: 192 f. I am indebted for this observation to the anonymous reviewer already mentioned.  HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN SOUTH ASIA 9 (2020) 77  82  MARTIN GANSTEN  81  topic of exaltations. If the displacement in Mīnar ja  s list is due to a misreading of a Greek abbreviation, then clearly Mīnar ja used a Greek-language rather than a Sanskrit source for the exaltations. Equally clearly, Sphujidhvaja and the mainstream Sanskrit tradition did not depend on Mīnar ja, as they do not reproduce his displaced values. Yet once that mistake has been corrected, we see that Mīnar ja  s work and the mainstream tradition are based on exactly the same scheme of exaltations; therefore both must be derived, independently of each other, from Greek sources. Indeed, we are now able to take the argument one step further: assuming that Pingree  s explanation for the deviant exaltation degrees in the case of the sun and Jupiter is correct, which seems highly likely, the presence of this telltale error both in Mīnar ja  s immediate source and in that used by Sphujidhvaja (or his Indian predecessors) suggests the existence of at least two, and possibly more, copies of an astrological text in Greek dependent on the same hyparchetype, in which a θ had been accidentally dropped from the alpha-numeric ιθ and an ι from ιε.9 What text this may have been, and whether it was authored in the Indo-Greek cultural area or in some other part of the Hellenistic world, we do not know. But it does suggest that, while Pingree may have been partly correct in positing a   bottleneck   text from which all subsequent Indian literature on horoscopy derived, that text was neither Sphujidhvaja  s Yavanaj taka nor any other Sanskrit work, but rather a currently unidentified work in the Greek language. 4 CO NC LU S I O N HESE ARGUMENTS CONCERNING THE DOCTRINE OF EXALTATIONS are not intended as blanket statements regarding the sources or intertextuality issues of the V ddhayavanaj taka or the Yavanaj taka as a whole. Both works do refer to earlier Sanskrit authors, and the historicity of such claims will no doubt be addressed in the forthcoming edition and translation of the V ddhayavanaj taka.10 At the very least, however, we may be reasonably certain that one of Mīnar ja  s sources    presumably an important one, used for a central doctrine near the very beginning of his work    was written in Greek, and therefore that Mīnar ja had some proficiency in that language. In response to a question recently raised by Mak, there thus seems to be some justification for labelling Mīnar ja an Indo-Greek.11  T  9 I am not aware of any non-Indian source containing both these deviations. Winkler (2011: 247) reports a figure of   Cancer in [1]5      for the exaltation of Jupiter in the imperfectly preserved MS P. Carlsberg 81 (which, as Andreas Winkler informs me in a personal communication, has a hole in the  place where the numeral for 10 would be expected); but the same source explicitly gives   Aries in 19      as the exaltation of the sun (loc. cit.). 10 This project is currently being pursued jointly by Bill Mak and Ronnie Gale Dreyer. 11 See Mak 2018: 12 f.  HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN SOUTH ASIA 9 (2020) 77  82  82  INDIAN PLANETARY EXALTATIONS IN D E X O F MA N U S C R I P T S  Copenhagen KU P. Carlsberg 81: 81 Kathmandu NAK 1/1180: 77  REF E RE NC E S Gansten, M. (2018),   Origins of the T jika System of Astrological Aspects and Dignities  , History of Science in South Asia, 6: 162  99. DOI: 10.18732/hssa.v6i0 .34. Jones, A. (1999), Astronomical Papyri from Oxyrhynchus: (P. Oxy. 4133  4300a), 2 vols. (Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, 233; Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society), ISBN: 978-0871692337. Mak, B. M. (2013),   The Date and Nature of Sphujidhvaja  s Yavanaj taka Reconsidered in the Light of Some Newly Discovered Materials  , History of Science in South Asia, 1: 1  20. DOI: 10.18732/h2rp4t.     (2014),   The   Oldest Indo-Greek Text in Sanskrit   Revisited: Additional Readings from the Newly Discovered Manuscript of the Yavanaj taka  , Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies (Indogaku Bukkyogaku Kenkyu), 62/3 (3): 1101  5. DOI: 10.4259/ibk.62.3_1101.    (2018),   The First Two Chapters of Mīnar ja  s V ddhayavanaj taka  , Zinbun, 48: 1  31, https://www.academia.edu/36306484/, (on 22 Aug. 2020). Pingree, D. 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