WRITTEN BY  London Swaminathan

swami_48@yahoo.com

Date: 10 DECEMBER 2019

 Time in London – 18-52

Post No. 7326

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‘Ancient Mesopotamia Speaks’ is a latest book (year 2019) on Babylonia. It is published by Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University. The Yale Babylonian collection with more than 40,000 clay tablets and seals is one of the most important repositories of Mesopotamian artefacts in the world.

The Mesopotamian writing system, known as Cuneiform, was invented in southern Iraq around 3500 BCE and remained in use for 3500 years. Scholars in the Western world believe that everything we have today came to us via Greece. Greeks took it from Babylonia and spread it to other parts of the world. Early Indian scholars also wrote that astronomy and astrology came to  Hindus from the Greeks. The blunder that they made was that they thought Vedic civilization came after Babylonian. But Hindus strongly believe that Vedas and other texts were from Pre Kaliyuga period. According to them Kaliyuga began in 3102 BCE. And this belief has been there for at least 1500 years according to archaeological evidence. According to Aihole inscription and Parthivasekara pura Tamil inscription Hindu dating of Kaliyuga and Vedas was correct.

Very interesting similarities are seen between the Hindus and Babylonians with regard to Time, Calendar and Almanac. I have found the following similarities in the book:

1.Following Luni-Solar calendar for celebrating festivals; for instance Hindus celebrate some festivals on the basis of cycle of moon and others on the cycle of Sun. Babylonians did the same.

2.Because of the 11+ days of difference between the two cycles, an Intercalary Months was inserted every third year as the unlucky 13^th month. Vedic scholars also did this and called it impure/dirty month (Mala Maatha). That is why 13 is considered impure, un lucky.

3.Horoscope writing was followed by both the cultures

4. Marking favourable and unfavourable days i.e. Auspicious and Inauspicious (Subha and Asubha Dinas)

5.Good days to make medicines and to take medicines. What part of the body is controlled by which zodiac sign. Though we have lots of things about these in Sanskrit scriptures, scholars believe that we borrowed them from the Babylonians through Greeks.

6.Movement of Venus and its effects on us. Hindu astrology linked movement of Venus and Jupiter with drought and harvest.

7.Even 2000 year old Tamil Sangam literature has hundreds of astrological and astronomical remarks in Tamil verses.

Following statements in the book are interesting: –

“Babylonians had astronomical diaries marking the movements of celestial things on day today basis. Akkadian language mentioned them as ‘regular watching’.

Celestial divination is known to have been practised in Mesopotamia already in early second millennium BCE . The late first millennium BCE saw many significant developments in astrology, including schemes linking astronomical phenomena to the rise and fall of business. They applied astrology to medicine including associating signs of the zodiac to a wide range of aspects of life. In particular, we find an increasing interest in applying astrology to medicine , including associating signs of the zodiac with different parts of the body.

The most significant development within astrology, however, was casing the horoscope of a new born child. One of these horoscopes reads-

“Year 77 (of the Seleucid Era), on the fourth of the month of Simanu, in the morning of the fifth, Aristocrates was born. That day the moon was in Leo, the sun was in 12;30Gemini. (..) The place of Jupiter (his life) will be prosperous, at peace; wealth will be long lasting. Venus was in 4 degree Taurus. The place of Venus; he will find favour wherever he goes. He will have sons and daughters.”

Seleucid era began in 312 BCE.

My comments

This is how Hindu astrologers write horoscopes till this day. Seleucus Nicator was a commander in Alexander’s army and he occupied parts of Alexander’s territories after his death. When Selecus invaded India he was defeated by the mighty Hindu army of Mauryas and he made peace with Chandragupta Maurya by giving his daughter in marriage to him. So he might have taken this horoscope writing to Babylonia and not vice versa. Even the 12 zodiac sign system came to Babylonia very late. This also may be the contribution of Hindus. Before that they had some zodiac signs and not all the 12. Greeks spread it to the Western world.

–subham–