Prashna Tantra

Prashna Tantra (IAST: Praśna-tantra) is an Indian text on horary astrology.^[1]

Prashna Tantra

Author	Samara-simha (original text); Nilakantha (possibly compiler of a later version)
Translator	Bangalore Venkata Raman
Language	Sanskrit
Subject	Astrology
Publication place	India

Authorship

The text has been attributed to the 16th century astrologer-astronomer Nilakantha by earlier sources, but later research suggests that the original Prashna-tantra was written by Samara-simha in the 13th century, largely based on Sahl ibn Bishr's 9th century text Kitāb fi l-masa'il wa-l-ahkam. Nilakantha or one of his students may have compiled the hybrid version of Prashna-tantra to complement the two volumes of Nilakantha's Tajika-Nilakanthi, by adding excerpts from other texts to the original work. These other texts include mainly non-Tajika Sanskrit works such as Bhattotpala's Prashna-jnana, Padma-prabha-suri's Bhuvana-dipaka, Narayana-dasa Siddha's Prashna-vaishnava, Prthyu-yashas's Shatpanchashika, Varaha-mihira's Brhadyatra, Ramachandra's Samara-sara, Yaska's Nirukta, Prashna-chintamani, Prashna-dipaka, Prashna-pradipa, Trailokya-prakasha, and Jnana-muktavali, among others.^[2]

Contents

The text is based on the Tajika system of prognostication. It comprises 430 slokas divided into four chapters, and is written in the usual Sanskrit Sloka – format. Prashna Tantra is divided into four chapters, viz – Prashna Vichara (preliminaries), Bhava Prashna (questions bearing on different houses), Vishesha Prashna (special questions) and Prakirnakadhyaya (concluding remarks). The aspects considered by this work are those of the Tajika system, an aspect by itself has no orb but planets have orbs of operation; Yogas in this system arise on the basis of applying and separating aspects, the closer the yoga (Ithsala etc.,), the more certain will be the results.^[3] The rules and methods initiated by this text have found favour with astrologers since the time it was written and came to light around 1580.^[4][5]

See also

Ashtamangala prasnam

References

1. Hart De Fouw (2003). Light on Life. Lotus Press. p. 13. ISBN 9780940985698.
2. Martin Gansten (2014). "The Sanskrit and Arabic Sources of the Praśnatantra". History of Science in South Asia. 2: 101–126. doi:10.18732/H23W27.
3. B.V.Raman. Prasna Tantra (Horary astrology). Archived from the original on 2014-06-05. Retrieved 2012-12-02.
4. Gayatri Devi Vasudev (1970). The Art of Matching Charts. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. p. 17.
5. M.R.Bhat (1992). Essentials of Horary Astrology. p. 29. ISBN 9788120810129.