The division of the Zodiac into different signs dates from immemorial
antiquity. It has acquired a world-wide celebrity and is to be found in
the astrological systems of several nations. The invention of the Zodiac
and its signs has been assigned to different nations by different
antiquarians. It is stated by some that, at first, there were only ten
signs, that one of these signs was subsequently split up into two
separate signs, and that a new sign was added to the number to render
the esoteric significance of the division more profound, and at the same
time to conceal it more perfectly from the uninitiated public. It is
very probable that the real philosophical conception of the division
owes its origin to some particular nation, and the names given to the
various signs might have been translated into the languages of other
nations. The principal object of this article, however, is not to
decide which nation had the honour of inventing the signs in question,
but to indicate to some extent the real philosophical meaning involved
therein, and the way to discover the rest of the meaning which yet
remains undisclosed. But from what is herein stated, an inference may
fairly be drawn that, like so many other philosophical myths and
allegories, the invention of the Zodiac and its signs owes its origin to
ancient India.
What then is its real origin, what is the philosophical conception which
the Zodiac and its signs are intended to represent? Do the various
signs merely indicate the shape or configuration of the different
constellations included in the divisions, or, are they simply masks
designed to veil some hidden meaning? The former supposition is
altogether untenable for two reasons, viz.:--
I. The Hindus were acquainted with the precession of the equinoxes, as
may he easily seen from their work on Astronomy, and from the almanacs
published by Hindu astronomers. Consequently they were fully aware of
the fact that the constellations in the various Zodiacal divisions were
not fixed. They could not, therefore, have assigned particular shapes
to these shifting groups of fixed stars with reference to the divisions
of the Zodiac. But the names indicating the Zodiacal signs have all
along remained unaltered. It is to be inferred, therefore, that the
names given to the various signs have no connection whatever with the
configurations of the constellations included in them.
II. The names assigned to these signs by the ancient Sanskrit writers
and their exoteric or literal meanings are as follows:--