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:—­

The Names of the Signs .......  Their Exoteric or Literal Meanings

1.  Mesha ...........................  Ram, or Aries.
2.  Rishabha .......................Bull, or Taurus.
3.  Mithunam ...................  Twins, or Gemini (male and female).
4.  Karkataka ......................  Crab, or Cancer.
5.  Simha ..............................  Lion, or Leo.
6.  Kanya .............................  Virgin or Virgo.*
7.  Tula ..........................  Balance, or Libra.
8.  Vrischika .....................  Scorpion, or Scorpio.
9.  Dhanus .......................  Archer, or Sagittarius.
10.  Makara ...........  The Goat, or Capricornus (Crocodile, in Sanskrit).
11.  Kumbha ..................  Water-bearer, or Aquarius.
12.  Meenam .................  Fishes, or Pisces.

The figures of the constellations included in the signs at the time the division was first made do not at all resemble the shapes of the animals, reptiles and other objects denoted by the names given them.  The truth of this assertion can be ascertained by examining the configurations of the various constellations.  Unless the shape of the crocodile** or the crab is called up by the observer’s imagination, there is very little chance of the stars themselves suggesting to his idea that figure, upon the blue canopy of the starry firmament.

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* Virgo-Scorpio, when none but the initiates knew there were twelve
signs.   Virgo-Scorpio was then followed for the profane by Sagittarius. 
At the middle or junction-point where now stands Libra and at the sign
now called Virgo, two mystical signs were inserted which remained
unintelligible to the profane.—­Ed. Theos.

** This constellation was never called Crocodile by the ancient Western astronomers, who described it as a horned goat and called it so—­ Capricornus.—­Ed. Theos. --------