TY - JOUR AU - Zysk, Kenneth PY - 2019/10/31 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Varāhamihira’s Physiognomic Omens in the Garuḍapurāṇa JF - History of Science in South Asia JA - Hist. Sci. South Asia VL - 7 IS - 0 SE - Articles DO - 10.18732/hssa.v7i0.49 UR - https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/hssa/index.php/hssa/article/view/49 SP - 72-81 AB - <p>In this paper, I study the three chapters devoted to human physiognomy in the <em>Garuḍapurāṇa</em>. Two of the three come directly from Varāhamihira’s sixth-century <em>Bṛhatsaṃhitā</em> with the commentary (<em>vivṛti</em>) of the Kaśmirian Bhaṭṭotpala (fl. ca. 966 or 969 CE).&nbsp; I hope to make two research contributions.&nbsp; First, I hope to show that the date of this section of the Purāṇa, if not indeed the entire Purāṇa, cannot be before the sixth century and probably after the tenth century.&nbsp; Second, I will illustrate how a text in different metres was normalised into <em>anuṣṭubh</em> metre for ease of memory and recitation. I shall conclude with a discussion of the lessons we can learn from this kind of ancient Indian redaction process</p> ER -