236                        ALBERUNTS INDIA.

like sparks or like fires which remain in the houses of
the pisctccts, the devils, and of the demons, efflorescent
substances and others do not belong to the genus of
the comets.

"Therefore, ere you can tell the prognostics of the
comets, you must know their nature, for the prognostics
Page 313. are in agreement with it. That category of lights which
is in the air, falling on the banners, weapons, houses,
trees, on horses and elephants, and that category coming
from a Lord which is observed among the stars of the
lunar stations—if a phenomenon does not belong to
either of these two categories nor to the above-men¬
tioned phantoms, it is a telluric ketu.

V. 5.—" Scholars differ among each other regarding
the number of the comets. According to some there
are loi, according to others 1000. According to
Narada, the sage, they are only one, which appears in
a multitude of different forms, always divesting itself of
one form and arraying itself in another.

V. 7.—'" Their influence lasts for as many months as
their appearance lasts days. If the appearance of a
comet lasts longer than one and a half month, subtract
from it forty-five days. The remainder represents the
months of its influence. If the appearance lasts longer
than two months, in that case state the years of its
influence to be equal to the number of the months of
its appearance. The number of comets does not exceed
the number lOOO."

We give the contents of the following table in order
to facilitate the study of the subject, although we have
not been able to fill out all the single fields of the
diagram, because the manuscript tradition of the single
paragraphs of the book either in the original or in the
copy which we have at our disposal is corrupt. The
author intends by his explanations to confirm the theory
of the ancient scholars regarding the two numbers of
comets which he mentions on their authority, and he
endeavours to complete the number lOOO.