Elements of Tibetan predictive astrology. Watercolour.

In the top left corner is depicted Mañjuśrī, the presiding divinity of astrologers, who is always invoked at the beginning of astrological prescriptions. The square below shows the twelve animals by which, in combination with five elements, sixty year cycles are reckoned. The five elements are shown by symbolic colours: wood by green, earth by yellow, iron by white, and water by blue. The calculations are made by moving counters along the coloured squares, as on a chess board, in accordance with rules given by manuals on the subject