ON THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND COSMOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF INDIAN ASTROLOGY

Abstract

In India, since their inception, astronomy and astrology have operated concurrently and in complementary fashion, providing a grammar and syntax for a single semantic universe. In the present paper, an attempt is made to reveal the epistemological and cosmological foundations of Indian astrology and divination practices, using early astrological Sanskrit sources and historical and textual-hermeneutical methodology. According to traditional Indian sources, the formal cosmological structure is coupled with a rich mythological tradition in order to support a living, meaning-filled cosmos. This cosmos was relevant above all to the terrestrial world, especially to the proper functioning of ancient Aryan society. Astrological practices cannot be differentiated from other social practices on the basis of their symbolic exchange or their rhetorical powers. The concept of “likeness” (sādṛśya) is fundamental to the operation of the Indian astral sciences. Therefore, to know the grammar and the syntax of the heavens – the unfolding chronology, the modulations of meaning – was essential for Indians if the order of the world and of society was to be maintained.