Kukkuta Sastra
Kukkuta Sastra (also called Cock Astrology) is a form of divination based on cockfighting, commonly believed in coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is particularly prevalent in state, especially in the districts of Krishna, Guntur, East and West Godavari during the Sankranti festival.
Kukkuta Sastra with reference to the calendar and cock color "is almost certainly associated to a "cock almanac" reported in South India (Saltore 1926-1927, pp 319–327)"[1] and a religious claim of foretelling the future "merely by indicating the color associated with the strongest planet in an Horary Figure".[2] Kukkuta Sastra with further reference to the calendar, the cock within an astrological and religious schema and that divine association as with Lord Murugan and the rooster, his flag, "refers to the sun"[3] and also associated with Ahmuvan, an Indus Valley Deity[4]
A further understanding of the need of the kukkuta being within a religious and astrological context may be taken from the Akkadian, Shidallu or the Sumerian, SIPA.ZI.AN.NA (the True Shepherd of Anu or Heavenly Shepherd) and his accompanying cock representing the herald of the gods with the divinely ordained role "to communicate the messages of the gods".[5] and being from the religions of the pre-Vedic Aryans and the Indus Valley and similar to the ancient religions of the Mediterraneans as determined from "findings of excavations of Mohonjodaro and Harrappa".[6]
Further understanding of the possible significance of kukkuta sastra and the kukkuta association with Mohenjo-daro may be gained from the original Dravidian name of Mohenjo-daro which seems to have been recorded in the ancient Indus script. With the understanding that kukkuta means rooster or cock, Dr. Iravatham Mahadevan, in a paper presented at the World Classical Tamil Conference 2010, brought forth the literal meaning of Kukkutarma, as "the ruined city of the cock".[7] Mahadevan also drew attention to an Indus seal from Mohenjo-daro, which has an inscription featuring the Indus ideogram for "city" and a pair of cocks, inferring that "the Indus seal has recorded in the Indus script the original Dravidian name of the city, IA kukkuta-arma, with the ideographic suffix CITY added to it".[8]
Similarly, kukkuta sastra as a form of divination is also exampled within Javanese-Balinese religious understanding as revealed within "Tatempuran, Javanese-Balinese prose treatise on marks of fighting-cocks, divination of cock-fighting"[9] and "palm leaf notes on divination referring to fighting cocks"[10] found within the inventory of the library of the University of Leiden.
References[edit]
- ↑ The Cockfight: A Casebook edited by Alan Dundes - Univ of Wisconsin Press - June 15, 1994 - pp 244 [1]
- ↑ Encyclopedia of Astrology - By Nicholas DeVore - Astrology Center of America, Jul 31, 2005 [2]
- ↑ [3] The Hexagram, Symbol of God Murukan - N.S. Valluvan - Chennai, India
- ↑ [4] Evolution of the Asian deity Murukan from the Indus Valley Prototype Ahmuvan and his role as a mediator in the process of cultural and religious spheres with linguistic and astronomical implications - 34th Annual Meeting Southwest Conference on Asian Studies - University of North Texas, Denton, U.S.A October 7–8, 2005
- ↑ Babylonian Star-lore by Gavin White "[5]"
- ↑ Critique Of Hinduism And Other Religions - By Lakshmaṇaśāstrī Jośī - Popular Prakashan, 1996. - p.104 [6]
- ↑ Akam and Puram : ‘Address’ Signs of the Indus Script - Iravatham Mahadevan - presented at World Classical Tamil Conference, 23–27 June 2010 - The Hindu "[7]"
- ↑ The Cocks in Indus seal and the Cock-city in Tamilnadu. (World Tamil Conference series 16)[8]
- ↑ Inventory of the Oriental Manuscripts of the Library of the University of Leiden - Vol. 6 - Or. 5016 [9]
- ↑ Inventory of the Oriental Manuscripts of the Library of the University of Leiden - Vol. 6 - Or. 5228 [10]
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