Featured on PDR in the collection Diagrams for Travel from the Qanoon-e-Islam (1832)
If you were a nineteenth-century merchant bringing diamonds from the Kollur Mine near Bezawada (now Vijayawada) to Golconda (now Hyderabad), going northwest along the Krishna River, your best bet would be to leave on a Tuesday or Thursday, on the 5th, 13th, or 28th of the lunar month. On a Tuesday, you should eat coriander seeds before leaving; on Thursday, some jaggery. Trade is a dangerous game at the best of times, and it’s always good to have luck on your side. You need to keep the rijāl al-ghayb behind you or to your left; God help you if your path faces the shukur yulduz. Making such calculations is not for the faint of heart. Luckily, as Jaʿfar Sharīf (d. 1863) told his English readers,…















