Bibliography on Divination in Indic ReligionsCompiled by Martin Gansten Here is the list of books (excerpts) and articles that I have used (apart from my own book 'Patterns of Destiny: Hindu Nadi Astrology') for the five-week introductory course 'Astrology and Divination in Indic Religions'. Many of these titles were recommended by members of RISA-L; many thanks, all of you. ON DIVINATION AND RELIGION GENERALLY: Evan Zuesse: 'Divination' in Encyclopedia of Religion. Philip M. Peek: African Divination Systems: Ways of Knowing, Bloomington 1991. Richard J. Smith: Fortune-tellers and Philosophers: Divination in Traditional Chinese Society, Boulder 1991. Lama Chime Radha, Rinpoche: 'Tibet' in Divination and Oracles, ed. Michael Loewe and Carmen Blacker, London 1981. ON MISCELLANEOUS FORMS OF DIVINATION IN INDIAN HISTORY: Brahmajalasutta of the Dighanikaya. Pandurang Vaman Kane: History of Dharmasastra, vol. V, part I. Olle Qvarnström: The Yogasastra of Hemacandra: A Twelfth Century Handbook on Svetambara Jainism (ch. V), Cambridge (MA) 2002. David Gordon White: 'Predicting the Future with Dogs' in Religions of India in Practice, ed. Donald S. Lopez, Jr., Princeton 1995. ON THE EARLY HISTORY OF ASTROLOGY OUTSIDE INDIA: Tamsyn Barton: Ancient Astrology, London 1994. S.J. Tester: A History of Western Astrology, Woodbridge 1987. ON ASTROLOGY AND RELATED BELIEFS IN INDIA: Edward C. Sachau: Alberuni's India, Delhi 1964 [1888]. B.S. Friedman: Negotiating Destiny: The Astrologer and his Art in Bengali Cultural History (unpublished), Chicago 1986. C.J. Fuller: The Camphor Flame: Popular Hinduism and Society in India, Princeton 1992. R.S. Peribanayagam: The Karmic Theater: Self, Society, and Astrology in Jaffna, Amherst 1982. Judy F. Pugh: 'Astrology and Fate: The Hindu and Muslim Experiences' in Karma: An Anthropological Inquiry, ed. Charles F. Keyes and E. Valentine Daniel, Berkeley 1983. Karin Kapadia: Siva and Her Sisters: Gender, Caste, and Class in Rural South India, Boulder 1995. B. Suryanarain Rao: Stri Jataka or Female Horoscopy, Bangalore 1984. ON KARMA AND OTHER THEODICIES: Sheryl B. Daniel: 'The Tool Box Approach of the Tamil to the Issues of Moral Responsibility and Human Destiny' in Karma: An Anthropological Inquiry, ed. Charles F. Keyes and E. Valentine Daniel, Berkeley 1983. Karl Potter: 'How Many Karma Theories Are There?' in Journal of Indian Philosophy 29 (2001). M. Ramakrishna Bhat: Essentials of Horary Astrology or Prasnapadavi, Delhi 1992. ON THE ART OF HINDU ASTROLOGY: N.P. Subramania Iyer: Kalaprakasika, Madras 1991. Hart deFouw and Robert Svoboda: Light on Life: An Introduction to the Astrology of India, London 1996. Bangalore Venkata Raman: Prasna Tantra, Bangalore 1984. Rangachari Santhanam: Horasara, Delhi 1995. ON THE PLANETARY DEITIES: Stephen Markel: Origins of the Indian Planetary Deities, Lewiston 1995. Giuseppe Tucci: 'A Visit to an "Astronomical" Temple in India', in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1929). ON NADI READING: Articles from early issues of the Theosophist, starting with H.S. Olcott: 'Indian Sibylline Books' (vol. 6, no. 8, May, 1885). Also, Perinbanayagam (cited above) has a few pages on Nadi reading (or, as he calls it, 'reading Kantam [kaa.n.da]' -- a fact of which I was unaware when I wrote my thesis on the subject. And of course the Internet is a rich source of information about contemporary practices... Why not ask Ganesha? http://www.kamalkapoor.com/ganesha/Default.asp http://jyotishvani.com/ganesha/ :-) Top of Page | RISA Home PageRevised: June 28, 2004 |