The Tajika Nilakanthi

With the Vernacular Commentary

Having bowed my head with joy and haste to the Supreme Deity—the profound light residing within the pericarp of the thousand-petaled lotus—who is Shiva, the granter of auspiciousness, united with the Goddess original: "Shiva-yutam," referring to Parvati/Shakti, unborn, bathed in nectar, appearing in the form of the Mother and the Guru, and served by all the Bhairavas terrible or fierce forms of Shiva. || 1 || The Brahmin Mahidhara, son of the learned Dharmadatta, having indeed composed a vernacular explanation of the Great Compendium of Nativity The Brihat Jataka, a classic text on birth charts, now extends a beautiful explanation here in the common tongue—called the "Mahidhari"—for the Tajika text named after Nilakantha of the Triganas. || 2 ||

The commentator, for the sake of completing the book without obstacles, describes his own work while offering salutations to the Supreme Brahman in the form of the Guru, Lord Shiva. To the auspicious image, the doer of all good, the one with his power (that is, Shiva with Uma), the self-perfected, sitting with a delighted face bathed in supreme nectar in the most secret, invisible, and imperceptible place within the pericarp of the thousand-petaled lotus; surrounded on all sides by the sixty-four Mothers Matrikas or goddesses and all the Bhairavas—or rather, served by the Mothers as vowels and the Bhairavas as consonants—to that Supreme Deity in the form of the sacred syllable Om Pranava and the Guru-God, I bow my head with excitement and joy. The Brahmin named Mahidhara, son of the wise Dharmadatta, after completing the vernacular commentary on the Brihat Jataka, now expands the "Mahidhari" commentary in easy, simple language for the three systems of this astrological treatise, the "Tajika Nilakanthi." || 1 || 2 ||

The author of the original text—the Acharya Acharya: a preceptor or highly learned teacher, the crest-jewel of the lineage of the sage Garga, the crown-gem of all astrologers, the composer of the three-branched Triskandha: the three branches of Jyotish—Siddhanta (astronomy), Samhita (omens), and Hora (horoscopy) astrological treatises, the grandson of the astrologer Chintamani and son of the astrologer Ananta, Sri Nilakantha the Astrologer—being eager to construct the three sections of the ancient Tajika science, namely the System of Definitions Samjna-tantra, the System of Annual Horoscopy Varsha-tantra, and the System of Horary Astrology Prashna-tantra, first begins the first system called the "Discrimination of Definitions"—