RISING, SETTING AND CONJUNCTION OF PLANETS A rule telling us (1) how to convert the degrees of time into vighatis, and (2) how to determine the degrees of time between the Sun and a planet: 200 46-47. These degrees of time when multiplied by ten are called vighatis. (When the planet is seen) in the east, they are determined from (the oblique ascension of) the sign occu- pied by the Sun and the planet; (when the planet is visible) in the west, they are determined from (the oblique ascension of) the seventh sign (as measured from the sign occupied by the Sun and the planet).¹ (The process is as follows): Divide the oblique ascension of the sign occupied by the Sun and the planet (or of the seventh sign, as the case may be) as multiplied by the degrees of the difference between the longitudes of the planet and the Sun by 30. If the resulting time is equal to (or greater than) that stated (for that planet), the planet will be seen to rise (heliacally). The longitude of the planet is that corrected for the visibility- corrections. CONJUNCTION OF PLANETS Definition of the "divisor" to be used later : 48. The sighra-karna as multiplied by the mandocca- karna (or manda-karna) should be divided by the radius: the result thus obtained is called the "divisor".2 This "divisor" denotes the distance between the Earth and a planet (bhu-taragraha-vivara). The above rule for the divisor was pro- bably derived by proportion as follows: "If the radius of the sighra concentric denotes the manda-karna, what will the sighra-karṇa stand for? The result is the geocentric distance of the planet, the so called "divisor". Cf. SIDV I, vii. 5 (iv).
- Cf. SidV, I, x. 1.
