बृहत्संहिता (आचार्य वराहमिहिर - स्थापत्य, खगोल, मौसम व जल विज्ञान)

4 बृहत्संहितायाम् [Adh. I. Sl. 8-9 Sloka 7.—Sage Kapila has declared प्रधान-Pradhana (the unmanifested Prakriti) to be the material cause of the universe, while Sage Kanada—who was the founder of the atomic theory relating to the origin of the Universe—has described the Dravyas—the nine sub- stances—as the material cause. Some have opined that time is the cause of the universe. There are others who say that the universe was produced and is sustained by the natural and necessary action of substances according to their inherent properties (and not by the agency of a supreme being). Lastly, there are people who state that the actions—good or bad—of the beings are the cause of the universe. तदलमतिविस्तरेण प्रसङ्गवादार्थनिर्णयोऽतिमहान् । ज्योतिःशास्त्राङ्गानां वक्तव्यो निर्णयोऽत्र मया ॥८॥ Sloka 8.—Enough of this incidental discourse on a polemical and vast subject, and which, if it were to be discussed, would swell to a very great length and be of no avail to us for the present. I am now going to treat in a decisive manner of the principles of the science of Astrology—Jyotissastra—and the ancillary topics. ज्योतिःशास्त्रमनेकभेदविषयं स्कन्धत्रयाधिष्ठितं तत्कार्त्स्न्योपनयस्य नाम मुनिभिः सङ्कीर्त्यते संहिता । स्कन्धेऽस्मिन् गणितेन या ग्रहगतिस्तन्त्राभिधानस्त्वसौ होराऽन्योऽङ्गविनिश्चयश्च कथितः स्कन्धस्तृतीयोऽपरः॥९॥ Sloka 9.—The science of Astrology consists of various branches and is in three sections or Skandhas— viz., गणित-Ganita, होरा-Hora and शाखा-Sakha, and the treatment of the subject in its entirety is termed by sages