Abu Ma’shar and India’s Tajika System

Prompted by Stefan’s insightful comments on India’s Varshaphal for “Komilla??? on the “Solar Returns and Profections??? sidereal topic, I have re-visited my neglected texts on India’s Tajika/Varhshaphal (Solar Return) topic, and found some surprising results. It's obvious that this Indian system relates directly to Abu Ma’shar’s recently translated text by Benjamin Dykes ( Persian Nativites IV: Abu Ma'shar's On the Revolutions of the Years of Nativities (The Cazimi Press, 1919)

We already knew of these parallels:

Hellenistic/Persian Profections = Tajika’s Muntha (advancing the ascendant one sign through the houses of the natal chart for each year of life)

Persian (western) aspects and orbs = Tajika aspects and orbs

Arabic Lots = Tajika’s Sahams or “sensitive points???

The Tajika texts are the only (relatively ancient) Indian texts that assign the four western elements to signs of the zodiac.

But further study reveals these surprises:

Tajika’s Drekkanas are none other than the Chaldean Faces! (Aries decan faces belong to Mars, Sun and Venus, and so on through the zodiac.)

The “Hadda??? calculation based on five unequal divisions for each zodiac sign are none other than the Egyptian terms or bounds dating from Hellenistic times!

The traditional Hellenistic Joys of planets in houses are also mentioned.

The Hadda caculation, Drekkanas and Joys are all used to calculate the strength of planets in contest for Lord of the Year. It seems that these zodiac divisions were copied from Persian sources with no understanding of their origins or of how they were used in Persian solar return charts. I have no doubt that Tajika’s 16 Yogas will also be found in Abu Ma’shar’s text (or another Persian source), but arranged in another format.

So it seems obvious that there was an unobstructed exchange of astrological thought between the Persian west and India. Translator Benjamin Dykes notes that both the ‘ninths’ (Indian navamsa) and the Fardars time lord system seem to be foreign to the Persian system. He states that Fardars seem to be an alien technique that is not well integrated with Persian techniques. “The fact that [the Fardars] employ the Nodes also suggests that they were invented in India, or among Persians familiar with Indian thought.??? (Persian Nativities IV, p. 115)

References:
Charak, Dr. K.S., A Textbook of Varshaphala (1993)
Charak, Dr. K.S., Predictive Techniques in Varshaphala (1997)
Chugh, Sumeet, Varshaphal or Annual Horoscope (1995)
Ojha, Gopesh Kumar and Ojha, Ashutosh, The Solar Return or Varshaphal (2005)
Saxena, D.P. Trans., Acharya Neelkantha’s Tajik Neelkanthi (2007)
Raman, B.V., Varshaphal or The Hindu Progressed Horoscope (1938-1969)

B.V. Raman was the first author to introduce the Varshaphal to English speaking readers. I don't know the extent to which the annual chart was used in India before Raman's book was published in 1938. Today Dr. Charak’s books are superior in helping the student grasp Varshaphal principles, but in a few cases he neglects to include techniques. Both his books are necessary for the study of the annual chart.