The Yavanajataka: Greek Astrology in Sanskrit?

Episode 241 of the podcast features an interview with Kenneth Miller about an ancient Sanskrit text from India known as the Yavanajataka, and the debate about whether it is a translation of a Greek work on Hellenistic astrology.

A critical edition and commentary on this text was published by David Pingree in 1978, and since that time it has become generally accepted in academic circles that there was some sort of transmission of Greek astrology to India between the 1st and 7th centuries CE, which was then merged with the indigenous forms of astrology that already existed there.

In recent years some scholars such as Bill M. Mak have pushed back on Pingree’s dating of the Yavanajataka and some of the conclusions that he drew from the text, while still accepting the general premise that the text demonstrates that some sort of transmission did occur.

These conclusions on the part of academics are sometimes rejected by some practitioners of Indian astrology, who believe that their tra…