Uttara Kalamrita (Kalidas) [RP]

Uttara Kalamrita

The demand of the growing readership of astrologers all over the world is for critical and illustrated versions of books of astrology, particularly the classics and their translations. Those who have the ability to appraise critically some of the classical concepts should produce their researchers but not, attempt translations unless their knowledge of Sanskrit is sound enough.

The real difficulty is with those who translate Sanskrit texts uncritically and do damage to the cause of astrology. It is left to great scholars like Dr. P.S. Sastry to show the way out of this tangle and he does it with commendable ease in this book in many ways.

First he establishes clearly that the Kalidas of this book, Uttarkalamrita is different from the great Kalidas of the Shakuntalam fame. The present author was a south Indian who came after the sixteenth century.

In the chapter on longevity, Dr Sastry is harsh on the author and proves him wrong in many places but it is easily the most educative chapter in the book as it contains some apt illustrations. Using of navamsas might have been better in some places. The horary part is totally unillustrated but is sufficiently lucid and clear for other astrologers to try the unique methods given.

It is only Dr. Sastry who can say with confidence that child marriages etc had no social and scriptural sanction in Vedic times and interpolations in Smritis was done to justify some wrong social practices.

Scholarship of Sanskrit, of theoretical and practical aspects of astrology and the ability to produce a commentary with over one hundred illustrations can be done only by a master scholar of our times. Readers will benefit and feel grateful to Dr. Sastry for this work.