Book announcement: The Jewel of Annual Astrology

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Following a longer-than-anticipated absence from Skyscript, I am pleased to announce that my edition and translation of Balabhadra’s H??yanaratna (The Jewel of Annual Astrology), the first-ever scholarly volume on T??jika (Sanskritized Perso-Arabic) astrology, is now freely available under Open Access here:
https://brill.com/view/title/57015

This book may be of relevance for anyone interested in Indian astrology, Perso-Arabic astrology, the global transmission of astrology in the pre- and early modern period, and/or techniques of annual prediction.

More specialized Open Access papers on T??jika astrology are available here:
https://brill.com/view/journals/saih/1/ ... ml?lang=en

– and, by doing a search for my name, here:
https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/hs ... hssa/index
https://astrology.martingansten.com/

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Hi Martin,

Thank you very much.

The Jewel of Annual Astrology is like Abu Mashar's Persian Nativities IV. It is such a huge and detailed book. To be able to read it in English, translated by a scholar and an astrologer, and for a free, is a such great gift.

I just browsed through the book and found it to be more comprehensive in delineation in some parts than Abu Mashar. I will just use the Perso-Arabic contributions and skip the Indian ones, such as the 4th house ruling friends.

I also appreciate the chapter "Fate, Human Effort, and the Astrologer".
Ancient and Chinese Astrology:

https://www.100percentastrology.com/

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martin,

thanks very much! it looks fascinating! is there also a hard copy available to buy? i like reading away from the net as i do too much reading on the net as it is! this reminds me of the books i have read by k s charak on varshaphala which is based off the tajika system... charaks books are good, but this might be some of the source for his ideas..

nice to see you posting at skyscript after a long absence.... will you be posting here more often? would be good! thanks again - james

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Thank you, Zagata and James. Yes, there is a hardback version available for €75/$90, which is a bit pricey but a lot less so than most Brill books (thanks to the funding body which paid to make the book Open Access). You can find it on the same page as the PDF version. I see that Amazon.com has it listed, but not Amazon.co.uk (yet).

I'll try to be more active on Skyscript in future. :)
https://astrology.martingansten.com/

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I'm eagerly looking forward to studying this book which is listed on the Brill site for $90 in hardback. But the Brill checkout amount came to USD $186. I then checked Amazon which had the book for $90 with delayed shipping, so I placed my order on Amazon. This will be a wonderful contribution to our understanding of the transition of western annual astrology to India, and India's additions or mid-translations. Thank you, Martin!

Yes, we would love to see you more active on Skyscript! In your absence Tom has stepped down as moderator of the Traditional Forum. Michael Sternbach is the new moderator. This means that we are permitted (though most likely not encouraged!) to post sidereal notes on the forum. The majority of sidereal posts will no doubt continue to be posted on the Sidereal forum.

When it comes to annual astrology, however, the zodiac question is very important due to the precise timing of charts and angularity of planets. This is one area where the peaceful comparison of systems (not competition) could greatly help our interpretation of annual charts.

P.S. Yes, USD $90 is an excellent price for a Brill book. I haven't purchased other Brill books I was interested in due to $200+ prices.
http://www.snowcrest.net/sunrise/LostZodiac.htm

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Hello Dr Gansten,

Thank you for this translation! For personal reason I am not able to get PN IV by Dr Dykes. Your translation being also available in PDF for free download is a huge gift to the astrological community!

thank you and best regards,
François
Regards,
François CARRIÈRE

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Hello Martin,

First of all its great to see you back on the forum.

And bearing such a beautiful gift for us!

Thank you so much for making this fascinating translation available.

Kind regards,

Mark
Last edited by Mark on Tue Aug 25, 2020 8:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly

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Martin, good to know about this podcast. Thanks for alerting us. The link you gave is general for Chris Brennan's site, and I had to work a bit to find your podcast which I'll listen to within the next few days. Here is the direct link to the podcast:

https://theastrologypodcast.com/2020/08 ... -sanskrit/
"Tajika: Medieval Arabic Astrology in Sanskrit"

I'm still waiting for the Amazon shipment of your book, but this is a subject dear to my heart! (I can do very little on-line reading.)
http://www.snowcrest.net/sunrise/LostZodiac.htm