Text / Sourcedraftschool: pan-indian· Bṛhat Saṁhitā

Brihat Samhita

बृहत्संहिताBṛhat Saṁhitā

also: Brhatsamhita, Varahi Samhita

txt-brihat-samhita

Definition

Varahamihira's 6th-century encyclopedic samhita treatise covering the three-branch jyotisha curriculum's samhita (mundane) division: planetary courses and omens, meteorology, architecture (Vastuvidya), hydrology, temple-building, iconography, gemmology and more.
Traditional

Prāṇa relevance

Carries the root-text statements of the dwelling–body homology used by this project: the Vastu Purusha limb scheme (53.51–54) and the marma–owner's-limb correspondence (53.58–59).

Cross-book attributes (3) — fill / concur / diverge

Key ChaptersFilledper txt-svoboda-vastu
53:95b (Bhat ed. p.486) — 'Tat tasya bhavati śubhadaṁ yasya ca yasmin mano ramate' / 'Any site becomes auspicious for a person, provided that it gladdens his heart' — the verse Svoboda quotes-and-locates as the BS's own heart-over-calculation conclusion to its site-selection chapter
Svoboda Quoted VersesFilledper txt-svoboda-vastu
Svoboda quotes-and-locates TWO BS verses in ch. 10, with Sanskrit + Bhat page/verse numbers: (1) BS 53.88 (Bhat p.484), the topography verse — 'Ground that is soft, even, of sweet smell and taste, abounding in excellent herbs, trees and creepers, and not hollow underneath confers all-round prosperity…'; (2) BS 53.95, the heart verse — 'Any site becomes auspicious for a person, provided that it gladdens his heart' (tat tasya bhavati śubhadaṁ yasya ca yasmin mano ramate).
Vastu History PlacementFilledper txt-svoboda-vastu
Svoboda (MODERN) frames the BS as 'one of the earliest passages describing the details of Vāstu' in the classical literature — a 125-verse chapter by Varāhamihira (5th–6th c. A.D.) that the later Mayamata, Mānasāra and Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra 'elaborate on'

Sources

  • txt-bs-bhat-1981Introduction & ch. 53 headnoteModern✓ verifiedScope, authorship, and 125-verse extent of ch. 53

Notes from other books

  • brihatCh. 54 names its sources explicitly: atmospheric-water teachers Baladeva, Garga, Kashyapa, Devala (cross-ref ch. 23); subterranean-water teachers SARASVATA (summarized in Arya metre, 54.1–99) and MANU (summarized in Vrtta metre, 54.100–end). Bhat: no Dakargala work of "Manu" survives, so Utpala's testimony is uniquely valuable [MODERN]. The Garga of ch. 54 (atmospheric water) may or may not be the Garga of ch. 56 (architecture, txt-garga-vastu) — keep distinct pending evidence (Q28).
  • brihatCh. 56 colophon (56.30–31): Varahamihira states he has summarized sage GARGA, and drawn authority from the voluminous works of MANU and others (Vasishtha, Maya, Nagnajit named by Bhat). Bhat observes Utpala quotes neither Garga nor Manu — only Kashyapa repeatedly — inferring Garga's and Manu's architectural works were already lost by Utpala's time (10th c.) [MODERN — M.R. Bhat (1981)]. Feeds the source-stratigraphy thread; see new stub txt-garga-vastu and Q28.
  • brihatCh. LI (Science of Limbs) — Utpala doubts Varahamihira's authorship of the chapter as it stands (possibly an original lost and rewritten before Utpala's time); VM did list anga-vidya among the Samhita's topics (II.18). Epistemic flag on every LI claim: chapter authorship is contested [the doubt itself is CLASSICAL — txt-utpala-vivrti].
  • brihatSelf-locates within Varahamihira's corpus (I.9, I.10): jyotisha has three skandhas — Ganita/Tantra (astronomy), Hora (horoscopy), Anga-vinishchaya (ascendant/limb-determination) — and Samhita is the COMPILATION genre. VM cross-refers his own Pancasiddhantika (astronomy), Brihat Jataka (hora), Brihad-yatra/Yogayatra (travel), Vivahapatala (marriage). The constitutive graha attributes this Step defers (element/dosha/adhidevata) live in the Hora skandha — i.e. Brihat Jataka — not in this Samhita.
  • txt-svoboda-vastuSvoboda also paraphrases-without-locating the BS slope-by-varṇa scheme in his footnote (PDF p.271): 'the archaic drainage-based theory of the Bṛhat Saṁhitā… says that laborers (śūdras) should have land whose declivity is toward the west… vaiśyas southward… kṣatriyas eastward… brāhmaṇas northward.' That IS Book-1 rul-slope-by-varna (BS 53.90). ⚑ Svoboda EXPLICITLY POSITIONS his own SW-high/NE-low scheme as an ALTERNATIVE to ('one alternate to this… is') the BS varṇa-slope theory, which he calls 'archaic' and caste-inspired — a direct Svoboda-vs-BS DIVERGENCE on slope doctrine. Captured as a question.
  • txt-svoboda-vastuSvoboda independently quotes Varāhamihira's BS 53:95b (the 'gladdens-his-heart' verse) to make his theory-vs-experience point — the same Bṛhat Saṁhitā ch.53 Book 1 extracted verse-by-verse. Two things flagged, neither resolved: (1) CROSS-BOOK CORROBORATION — does Book-1's ch.53 extraction already carry 53.95? (Book 1 has 53.95–96 as the SOIL-traits rule rul-soil-traits-by-varna; 53.95b 'gladdens his heart' is the SECOND hemistich, a DIFFERENT content than the soil quadruples — a potential gap in Book 1 worth checking.) (2) Svoboda's MODERN claim that BS is the seed the Mayamata/Mānasāra/Samarāṅgaṇa elaborate is a Phase-2 lineage hypothesis, captured not asserted. NOT merged with Book-1's BS records.

Other attributes

Text Class
samhita
Approx Date
c. 505–587 CE (Varahamihira's traditional dates; tag MODERN — scholarly consensus reported by Bhat)
Attribution
Varahamihira
Numbering Variance Note
Bhat's (1981, Motilal Banarsidass) chapter/verse numbering is this project's canonical locus. Editions differ: chapter counts and verse divisions vary between editions (e.g., Kern's and other editions number some chapters and verses differently; Bhat himself reports bracketed passages "not found in some editions", e.g. within 53.60–62). Where another edition is cited in secondary literature, expect ±1 chapter and small verse drift; always re-anchor to Bhat before citing.
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