Ancient Books on Astrology

When I first started studying jyotish in India in 1977-1983 there were very few classic texts easily available in English. The main authors to have translated texts were V. Subrahmanya Sastri to whom we owe translations of:  Brhat Jataka  Brhat Samhita  Jataka Parijata  Sripatipaddhati  Phaladipika  Uttarakalamrita  Shatpanchasika  Prasnajnana  Jataka Tattva  Jatakadesamarga  Jatakalankara  Sanketanidhi  Horasara (Most of which have been pirated and republished after his demise by others claiming to be the authors.) B.V. Raman though a prolific author did not translate many books but the

ones he did were important in particular Prasna Marga. His grandfather B. Suryanarayana Rao translated and commented on several important classics including Brhat Jataka, Jaimini Sutras andSarvartha Cintamani. This is not a complete list of translators and titles. I remember from my early days of study that the "big five" main classical texts that the scholars in The Astrological Magazine eulogized and encouraged one to read and study were:  Brhat Jataka  Jataka Parijata  Phaladipika  Saravali  Sarvartha Cintamani We note the absence of BPHS. In The Astrological Magazine we read that in South India, especially Kerala, one was not considered a scholar of jyotish unless he had memorized bothBrhat Jataka and Prasna Marga not BPHS. Brhat Jataka was considered to be the jewel among astrological literatures and indeed in my early days of study there were many translations and commentaries on Varaha Mihira's Brhat Jataka. I have already mentioned the translations of V. Subrahmanya Sastri and B. Suryanarayana Rao, another excellent translation was by Swami Vijnananda. A

less valuable translation (in my opinion) was that of N. Iyer which was later pirated and repackaged as authoured by Usha and Shashi. Much later P.S. Sastri also did a translation of Brhat Jataka. Indeed Brhat Jataka and its author Varaha Mihira were so famous and adored by the Jyotish Pandits that when it came to eulogize Dr. B.V. Raman he was honored by calling him the modern Varaha Mihira. BPHS as one can see from my narrative so far was hardly mentioned or popular. ----- Above narrative is from Shyam dasa.