Risht Samucchaya

Author(s): Durgadevacharya, A S Gopani
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Page 57

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THE RISTASAMUCCAYA
a. Then follows the elaborate description of team and schaal for which the reader should refer to sts. 152–159 in particular. The T RE means that one who asks a question regarding
the duration of the life of the diseased, should leave off that very s question but he should again put the same question in different
words after the foreteller has uttered the mantra 3 a aa aa qrailca FIT EIET W in his mouth. Then the foreteller should double all the letters and quadruple the syllables and the total
should be divided by seven. The sick person dies if no remainder nois left and lives if it is left. Incidentally we come across a fanciful division of the whole kingdom of letters into eight Āyas (here the author is a bit inconsistent regarding the terminology. See especially sts. 163 and 166) and another subdivision into आलिङ्गित, दग्ध, ज्वलित and शान्त. The sick person lives if there 15 is a majority of ana letters in the question; and dies, if it is not so. I have so far not come across any reference to this last subdivision which shows that the author was in possession of a distinct tradition. He, then, proceeds to 1979 where also he
goes sometimes against the VRS even and thus shows the 20 novelty of his knowledge. In this particular connection, I must mention that the words Feest and sequut are somewhat difficult to be explained. The words can either be aggrafera or her which are again subdivided into TH or 3TH. fafe, gis, 579, fe etc. represent the first type and E, H , #31 etc. belong to the 23 second. The da alarma is described in the following way. At the end of the first watch of the night or at the time of dawn, one should move through the city carrying under his left arm the image of Ambikā that is washed, anointed and worshipped, muttering the mantra 35 St i fs arafor ata qe qe arftafe art il 30 It speaks good if he hears good words and forebodes ill to him for whom this is seen, if he hears bad words. The E CT is also exactly of this kind but there the whole process of carrying the image and uttering the mantra is not to be undergone. The author
proceeds further and gives his opinion that a sick man, doubtless, 35 dies if all the three constellations, namely, HTETET, FH787 and नामनक्षत्र are pierced by malefics. In no other schemes, गर्भनक्षत्र is given a place (because, perhaps, of the fact that it is difficult to put a right finger on the mata) and this shows the originality of the author's traditional knowledge. The author goes on and discusses about various effects likely to result from the constella