214
 

ALBERUNPS INDIA.
 

On (Spat
KaipLKui
and (hpai-
Icrrjfxepivai,
 

dominus of its first hour. The second hour is ruled by
the planet of the sphere next under the sphere of the
sun, i.e. Venus. The third hour is ruled by Mercury,
and the fourth by the moon. Therewith the descending
from the sun to the cether, i.e. the atmosphere of the
earth, has an end, and in counting they return to Saturn.
According to this system, the dominus of the twenty-
fifth hour is the moon, and this is the first hour of
Monday. So the moon is not only the dominus of the
first hour of Monday, but also the dominus of the whole
day.

In all this there is only one difference between our
system and that of the Hindus, viz, that we use the Spat
KOApiKai, so that the thirteenth planet, counted from
the dominus did, is the dominus of the succeeding night.
This is the third planet if you count in an opposite
direction, i.e. ascending from the lower planet-spheres
to the higher. On the contrary, the Hindus make the
dominus cliei the dominus of the whole vyxOrgj^^pov, so
that day and night follow each other without having
each a separate dominus. This, at all events, is the
practice of the people at large.

Sometimes, however, their chronological methods
make me think that the Spat KaipiKai were not entirely
unknown to them. They call the hour hora., and by
the same name they call the half of a zodiacal sign in
the calculation of the nimhahra. The following cal¬
culation of the dominus horce is derived from one of
their astronomical handbooks :—

" Divide the distance between the sun and the degree
of the ascendens measured by equal degrees, by 15, and
add to the quotient I, dropping a fraction if there be
any. This sum is then counted off from the dominus
diei, according to the succession of the planets from
above to below." (The planet you arrive at in the end
is the dominus of the hour in question.) This calcula¬
tion   is   more of  a nature to make us think of   Spat