Some scientific men used to think that the disagreement between the Indian and Greek astronomers,—the former placing the horoscope in Leo and the latter in Virgo, was due to a difference of opinion among philosophers about the movement of the Zodiacal Heaven. A crowd* of ancient philosophers, including Aristotle, were agreed that the Eighth* Heaven had no motion. The philoso­pher Hipparchus contended that it did move, but he did not ascer­tain the rate of progression. Ptolemy said the motion was one degree in a century and that the revolution was completed in 36,000 years. Most philosophers hold that the rate is one degree in seventy years and that the revolution is completed in 25,200 years. Another school say that a degree is traversed in sixty-three* years and that the revolution is completed in 22,680 years. The cause of such discrepancies is a difference in the equipment and instruments of the observatories and difference in the profundity and subtlety* of the observations.

The fact is, the earliest philosophers did not suspect the motion of the Fixed Stars, on account of its exceeding slowness. For this reason, they did not get sufficient time to observe it.*

At the time when the Signs of the Zodiac were determined, the figure Leo which was regarded as a constellation of several fixed stars, was opposite to and in front of a (certain) part of the Heaven of Heavens,* and now, owing to the movement of the Zodiacal Heaven,* it has moved from that part and is in the station where Virgo then was. Similarly Virgo has moved to the station of Libra, Libra to Scorpio and so on, up to the last Sign. Now the calculation of Indian astrologers* is in accord with the observa­tions of the ancient philosophers which were based on the notion that the Fixed Stars did not move. The calculation of the new observations* is founded on the movement of the Zodiacal Heaven which has caused the constellation Leo to move to the House of Virgo. The difference between the two calculations is 17°,* each Sign having moved 17° from its place. From this it may be known that 1190 years have elapsed from the observations of the Indian philosophers to the new ones, assuming that a degree is traversed every seventy years, and most philosophers are agreed that we should multiply 17 by 70. On the view of Ptolemy that the move­ment is one degree a century, the interval between the two sets of observations is 1700 years.

Keen-sighted inquirers after truth and subtle perceivers of the secrets of the skies fell into the valley of perturbation on account of these discrepancies. Now that the pattern of the philosophers of the Age, ‘Aẓdu-l-daulah Amīr Fatḥu-l-lāh of Shīrāz, has shewn by the Greek Canon and the Persian rules that his Majesty's auspi­cious horoscope is in Leo as has been stated above, it clearly appears that the explanation of the disagreement is not, as was commonly supposed, that the Indian philosophers deny the existence of the spheres, as has been set forth in the Second Volume.* Rather it was the Divine wisdom (ḥikmat-i-ilāhī) and the Divine jealousy which demanded that the description of this cavalier* of the plain of majesty and confidant of the sublime cabinet, should remain hidden from the gaze of keen-sighted, penetrating, minute inquirers, as well as from the eyes of the evil-disposed and inwardly blind.

It was from this cause, that his Majesty Jahānbānī Jannat-āshiyānī, who in astrolabic investigations and studies of astronomical Tables and observations, was at the head of the enthroned* ones of acute knowledge and was a second Alexander,—in spite of his per­fect labours and exertions in the matter of the horoscope of the Lord of the Age, did not attain to the truth (did not reveal the whole truth). And likewise all those others who were versed in the secrets of astrology, remained within the curtain of contra­diction and did not arrive at a perfect knowledge of the mystery. And notwithstanding the identity of the canons of calculation and the inquiries of right-thinkers,—for natural philosophers do not materially disagree in these matters,—owing to the jealousy of God, the truth of the holy nativity remained under the veil of concealment and was hidden behind the curtain of contradiction. But on the whole, if each of the horoscopes be looked at with the eye of judgment—and a sketch of each has been given,—it becomes plain that in the matter of power, dignity and sublimity, external and internal, there is nothing equal to them. Though the horoscopes are discrepant, they agree in external and internal splendour and congratulate the Native as supreme over the visible and invisible worlds. And those intimate friends of his Majesty Jahānbānī Jannat-āshiyānī, whose outward and inward beings were clothed with truth and righteousness, have been heard to tell that when his Majesty had the auspicious horoscope shewn to him and had considered it, it happened several times that when in his private chamber and with the doors all closed, he fell a'dancing, and from excess of exultation, revolved with a circular motion. Why indeed should not sitters in the front ranks of the pavilion of true glory, and tasters of the trays of eternal knowledge—who have partaken of the sweets of ecstacy and the knowledge of God, indulge in transports of joy at the sweets of this revelation, and why should they not chaunt strains of rapture? For these perfections are steps or stages of exaltation and are the essence of Divine knowledge. And his Majesty Jahānbānī Jannat-āshiyānī was by the perfection of his personality, enlightened by flashes of forthcoming events and glimpses into the future, and his senses were warmed by the auspicious advent of his Majesty, the King of Kings. And all these lights were seen, before realization in the ranks of actions, in the mirror of the wondrous horoscope. And he many times said to those who were privileged to converse with him, that the horoscope of this Light of Fortune was superior, in several respects and by sundry degrees, to that of his Majesty, the Lord of Conjunction* (Tīmūr) as indeed clearly appears to the scrutinizing students of the prog­nostications. And when these two auspicious documents are com­pared, and the gifts of the planets and the blessings of the heavens* are weighed in the balance of reflection, it will be seen what are the communications of the horoscope of the Lord of Conjunction, and what are those of the holy horoscope. Praise be to God! notwith­standing the remoteness of the horoscopists in time, place and con­dition, and the discrepancy of their canons, every one of the glorious schemes agrees—as has been shewn—in this, that the Native will attain lofty, spiritual and temporal rank, and that his holy personality will be a collection of inward and outward excellencies and will be possessed of various perfections and will have sway over the visible and invisible world. He will have various kinds of sovereignties and various degrees of rule, and will attain lofty rank in worship of the Truth and in theology. He will befriend the poor and humble, and will have long life and soundness of body and an equable disposition and will be praised by high and low and thanked by great and small. He will have perfect knowledge of the world, and will rule countries and guard the paths of righteousness, and will perform the duties of government and of the administra­tion of the world.

It is a remarkable circumstance that all those qualities which astrologers have come to know by toil and meditation, are read by simple-minded persons who know nothing of the diagrams of stellar mysteries, by dint of their own insight, on the forehead-page* of his Majesty's career, though they have humbly to acknowledge the inability of language to expound them.

Verse.

Thy attributes have made tongues incoherent,
Thy glorious personality has changed certainty into conjecture.

Abu-l-faẓl gives four horoscopes. The first and fourth however appear to be substantially the same. Both were made by Muḥammadan servants of Humāyūn,—the first by Maulānā Cānd and the fourth by Maulānā Alyās of Ardabīl. Maulānā Cānd's was drawn up according to the “New Tables,” i.e., those of Ulugh Beg Mīrzā who was Tīmūr's grandson. These were calculated for 1437. Maulānā Ilyās' horoscope was cast according to the Īlkhānī or Imperial Tables, i.e., those made by Naṣīru-d-dīn Ṭūsī at Marāgha— about 50 miles S. by W. of Tabrīz—in the reign of Hulāgū Khān cir. 1272.