Words of Destiny: Practicing Astrology in North India

404 Pages·2021·5.916 MB·English

by  Caterina Guenzi

Words of Destiny
SUNY series in Hindu Studies
——————
Wendy Doniger, editor
Words of Destiny
Practicing Astrology in North India
CATERINA GUENZI
Cover image: “An astrologer. Watercolour by an Indian artist, ca. 1825.”
Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Translated by Renuka George and Caterina Guenzi.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2021 State University of New York
Le discours du destin: La pratique de l’astrologie à Bénarès © CNRS Éditions, 2013
All rights reserved
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Name: Guenzi, Caterina, author.
Title: Words of destiny : practicing astrology in North India / Caterina Guenzi.
Other titles: Discours du destin. English
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, 2021. | Series: SUNY
series in Hindu studies | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020024801 | ISBN 9781438482019 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781438482033 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Hindu astrology—Social aspects—India—Vārānasi (Uttar
Pradesh) | Predictive astrology. | Astrologers—India—Vārānasi (Uttar Pradesh)
Classification: LCC BF1714.H5 G7813 2021 | DDC 133.5/9445—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020024801
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Carlo and Margherita

Et tantost que li enfant naissent, si font escrire le jour et l’eure et le
mois. Et ce font il pour ce que il font tuit leur fais atout devinaille,
quar il sevent moult d’[art magique] et de nigromance et d’astronomie
et d’autres enchantemens dyaboliques.
—Marco Polo, Le devisement du monde: Livre d’Ynde
As soon as a child is born, whether it be male or female, the father
or mother writes down its birth—that is, what day it is born, what
month, what moon and what hour; and they do this because they
place all their faith in astronomers and diviners who know a lot
about enchantments, magical arts and geomancy; there are also some
who know astronomy.
—Marco Polo, The Description of the World: The Book of India

Contents
Illustrations xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
Part I. Institutions
Chapter 1 The Many Branches of a Tree: Jyotiṣa as a
Scholarly Tradition 29
Chapter 2 Professors and Prophecies: Astrology at Universities
in Banaras 55
Chapter 3 Sacred Specialists, Modern Professionals:
Astrologers between the Temple and the Office 77
Plates follow page 100
Part II. Readings
Chapter 4 Horoscopes and Truth: Divinatory Techniques and
Their Applications 103
Chapter 5 Karma and Bhāgya: The Idea of Destiny in
Astrological Consultations 147