The Panjika: The Hindu Astrological Almanac 1971-1972

From the very beginnings of Eastern civilization, the collective life of the peoples of the sub-continent of India has been guided by the dicta of an astrological system almost totally unknown in the West. The system is based not on a tropical but on a constellational Zodiac, a scheme of such esoteric complexity as to baffle all but the initiated. Knowledge of its secrets was, and is, limited to a small and privileged class of astrologer/priests who made their computations in private and proclaimed the results through the oral grapevine of the priestly hierarchy. With the Advent of movable type came the first volumes of the annually computed compendium of this wisdom. This was The Panjika, and to this day the readings of the priests, as contained in its pages, are followed religiously by millions of Hindus.