astro book history

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All rights reserved © Sreenadh OG, [email protected] All rights reserved © Sreenadh OG , [email protected]

Indian Astrology

(A collection of astrological articles)

By Sreenath OG

(email: [email protected])

;,

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A few wordsThese are some of the aritcles I wrote in yahoo groups such as

‘ancient_indian_astrolgy” and “vedic astrolgy” during the past 2years. Since much effort went into creating them, at that time. Ithought it would be beneficial for others as well if presented as abook. So I took them, polished them a bit here and there, makingthem proper to be presented in a book, and here is the outcome.The subject matter of these articles ranges from general discus-sion about astrolgy to more technical issues that were always un-der contraversy. I have arranged these articles into four sections.

* General articles

* Articles about pure astrology

* Technical articles that involves Mathematics as well

* Non-astrological articles

Hope this division will help the readers in co-relating thesedisconnected articles in a helpful way.

These articles cover some unique matrial that you may not findanywhere else, and so would be useful to every astrologer whowant to master this subject.

Most of these articles contains technical terms and astrologicalcontent and therefore would be of interest to astrologer only, butstill there are many articles primarly in first section which wouldbe of interest to everybody who would like to know more aboutastrology.

Sreenadh OG

[email protected]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ancient_indian_astrology

Table of ContentsPart - 1

1. Base of Astrolgy ..................................................................03

2. Outline of Holistic subjects .................................................07

3. Arsha School of Astrology ..................................................09

4. Jain School of Astrology .....................................................14

5. Yavana School of Astrology ................................................17

6. Astrology in Kularnava Tantra ............................................20

7. Tantric Astrology and Dattatreya Mahatantra ......................25

8. Swastika and Astrology ......................................................30

9. About the system of Black Magic .......................................32

10. Tajik Astrology .................................................................34

Part - 2

11. Sign and House are the same ............................................37

12. Divisions such as Trimsamsa ............................................39

13. Year Length ......................................................................42

14. Origin of the word Jyotisha ..............................................44

15. Astrology in Epic period ...................................................45

16. Nakshatra Chakra .............................................................46

17. A Secret Exposed .............................................................48

18. Bhava nasa karo Jeeva? ...................................................53

19. How to predict with Navamsa .........................................56

20. Vasya Signs .....................................................................59

21. Marriage Compatibility .....................................................62

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23. Stars and Planets ...............................................................64

24. Sakunas and Nimittas .......................................................67

25. Chaya Jyotish ...................................................................70

26. What is Drishti? ................................................................73

27. Kunda Birth Rectification Method ...................................78

Part -3

28. True Ayanamsa .................................................................80

29. Zero Ayanamsa Year ........................................................ 86

Part -4

30. About the Gospel of Eve ..................................................92

31. Rama call Buddha a ‘Thief’!.............................................94

32. Siva Sankalpa Sukta .........................................................97

- 000 -

Part -I

Base of AstrologyVedic astrology is a subject originated in Vedas. It is a branch

of knowledge, ancient as Vedas. Astrology is composed of 3Skandhas (main branches), such as Sidhantha (Astronomy andMaths), Samhitha (Omens) and Hora (Horoscope-Horary andMuhoortha).

Astrology was also called Kalavidhana Sastha (Ancient ad-vice about Time and its divisions). To determine the nature of time(past-present and future), to find out how the flow of time impactshumans and other animals and plants, and their life containingpleasures and pains, is the aim of this branch of knowledge. It isthe root purpose of Astrology.

Time is the cause for everything that is good and bad (pleasureor pain) in life. Time is the cause of all movements. Even thoughtis a time bound (It is also a movement). Even thought cannot breakaway form the boundaries caused by time, your past present andexperience. To predict the happenings (incidents) of life, we shouldstudy time. But we cannot see, touch, or hear time, but can knowand comprehend it with our mind and analyze it. This is possibleonly because we can observe movements. It is by watching move-ments that the concept of time originates in our mind. The move-ments on Earth (The flying of birds, fall of withered leaves, theflowering of plants etc), the sunrise and sunset, the waxing andwaning of moon, if you watch in detail (even the subtleties incosmic movements) the movements of planets - every thing showsus the existence of time. Time is the cause of movements. It is thecause for the movement of Earth, Moon and Planets. It is the causefor life and death of plants, animals, and humans, it is the cause ofall our worldly conditions - birth, marriage, accident, disease, death,

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wealth, poverty or what ever you name it.

To know about the life incidents of humans (to predict one’sfuture) we should study Time. We cannot study it directly. Butthere is a way out - Time is the cause for movements. So if westudy the movements of cosmic bodies (Earth, Moon, Planets etc),we can know or understand or comprehend the rhythm of Time -its ebb and flow. If we are able to know the rhythm of Time (theflow of time felt by the human minds), we could predict the lifeincidents of humans (what he is, and what he would become - butdon’t forget of course the prediction is probabilistic). Astrologyoriginates from this basic rationale. So never think that it is irratio-nal or irrelevant, don’t through mud on the truthfulness and sin-cerity of Rishis (saints) who created this branch of study. Try tounderstand the sincerity they had.

By watching the clock we can determine time. But it is not theclock that controls time. When the birds cry we know that it issunrise. Still it is not the birds that cause sunrise. Similarly thestudy of planetary movements helps us to predict the past-present-future events of life. But still it is not the planets that controls hu-man destiny. Neither the sunlight that is reflected by the planets,nor the attractive force of planets that has little impact on earth,has much importance. It is a truth both the wise astrologer and thescientist know. Planets are just instruments that helps us in under-standing the rhythm of time, the instrument that helps us in pre-dicting the human destiny. It is the way planets are utilized in as-trology. Every believer of Vedic astrology should understand thistruth.

Only when you understand this basic rationale of astrology,the unnecessary arguments and debates will stop. Try to see as-trology in its true theoretical foundation. Why should we arguewhether astrology is an art or science? Astrology is nothing butastrology. If somebody asks whether bat is bird or not, what would

be the answer? It will only create an unending array of positiveand negative arguments. If somebody asks whether history is sci-ence or not, without my intervention, you know that the resultwould be the same. Bat is bat, history is history and astrology isnothing but astrology, neither science nor an art.

The fault is with our view. Why should we try to cast some-thing into a particular mould, or to limit subjects into some coloredboxes? Man wants to classify everything. But the truth would bealways beyond all the classifications. It stays outside all the classi-fication attempts. The fault lies fundamentally with the fragmentedhuman brain that tries to classify every thing, which ultimatelyleads to erroneous knowledge. This fundamental error remainsunsolved, and we are trying to limit subjects in to predefined boxes.It is the second mistake. Will these repeated errors lead us to cor-rect knowledge and view?

When I have written this much, I felt that the fundamental clas-sification error of fragmented human brain should be clarified fur-ther. Let me explain. We divide time in many ways, such as hour-minute-second, or as Nadi-Vinadi in Indian system, or as cristian-vikrama-kali-yuga era or using many other systems that could beused to divide time. Year-month-day divisions, let it be solar-side-real-lunar, it is all the same. There are thousands of methods! Allthese classifications originated in human mind. But truly time isbeyond all these classifications. Is it the hour-minute division orthe nadi-vinadi division that is correct? You know that this ques-tion itself is stupid and irrelevant. Time is continuous.... All theseclassifications are created by the fragmented human brain to com-prehend time. Our view is fragmented. It is like a fragmented mir-ror that shows the picture of the complete and continuous world ina fragmented way. Even though these classifications are neces-sary for humans to study and comprehend time, the continuousentity “Time” does not need or necessitates all these classification.

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All these classifications are there or not - the time will prevail.Existing always there - beyond... Yes, all the classifications arewrong. But human brain cannot live without them. That is why itis said that every branch of study is nothing but “attempts to com-prehend the incomprehensible and complete world with frag-mented classifications”.

In a fragmented mirror the reflected world would also be frag-mented. It is the fundamental limitation of human brain or mind.That is why it is said, “the eternal truth is realized only in a mind-less state”. The Vedic verse that says, “where the mind turns backwith the unreachable words (etho vacha nivarthanthe aprapyamanasa saha) - that is truth” also points in this direction. Due to allthis we cannot but accept the fundamental error of trying to com-prehend the non-fragmented existence (world), with the fragmentedmind. Can’t we at least avoid the second error, i.e. trying to limitastrology into some predefined boxes such as science or art? Can’twe avoid such arguments as whether astrology is art or science?Try to comprehend astrology in its true theoretical foundation. Viewscience as science and art as art, don’t mix-up all. Like humanityis a quality of man neither limited by class-creed-color-religion-cast etc, astrology cannot be limited within the classifications suchas science or art.

When I see the efforts of people to classify astrology into pre-defined moulds such as science or art, I am just feeling compas-sionate, because even these classifications are unscientific and non-systematic. A relevant doubt is, how to classify all the subjectsunder human study. The thought process of human mind can bebroadly classified into two - 1) Analytical 2) Wholistic. The as-trologer refers to this duality using the words ooha-apoha,mathematician’s uses the words Differentiation -Integration, andothers uses the technical term Analytical approach-Wholistic ap-proach. What ever be the terms used they point to the fundamental

difference in the thinking approach. These are two different think-ing methods. Most of the braches of knowledge we have today isthe product of one of these approaches.

Science is the product of analytical approach. We used to saythat science tries to study everything by dividing it into smallerand smaller parts. Science has its own method (based on analyti-cal approach) called Scientific method. Data collection, conceptformation, analysis, verification are part of it. A theory is the finaloutput. These theories may later herald as the true mirrors or knowl-edge (laws), or based on new data input refined or discarded. Thusscience is a continuous search for truth. Starting from small lawsthat controls our daily life, unstopping it searches for a single lawthat comprehends everything and describes the whole world. Sometheories that are refined further and further become stronger ratio-nally and experimentally, and heralded as laws, that becomes thefoundation of science and promotes further study. Physics, Chem-istry, Botany, Zoology etc are all branches of science. Maths eventhough does not follow the scientific method, has a systematicfoundation and is a product of analytical approach. “Fact to gen-eralization” is the prime motto of analytical approach. But wholisticstudy method is an entirely different one.

The wholistic approach also had given raise to many branchesof knowledge. Let us start from the most common example - i.e.Psychology. Psychology says that all the mental diseases (whichmay have even physical symptoms) are caused by unhealthinessof mind. In other words Psychology finds its foundation in theconcept called Mind. If we knew all about the processes in brain,nervous system, and the chemical reactions in brain and body thisconcept of mind will not be necessary. We feel the Mind becauseof the combined and coordinated function of all these. Even thoughwe cannot find Mind by subdividing the body in to its minutestparts (i.e. by physical analysis) nobody will say that psychology is

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a useless subject. By using the classifications such as conscious -subconscious -unconscious, id-ego-superego (or the Indian clas-sical division chitt-budhi-ahankara), we believe that psychologyleads us towards truth. All the branches of knowledge that origi-nates from wholistic method use one or more non-provable con-cepts as its foundation, which are accepted based on their useful-ness. Psychology is no exception to that. The ancient Indians usedthe word Sasthra (ancient advice) to indicate such branches ofstudy. Psychology that speaks about Mind, Ayurveda that speaksabout Tridosha (Vatha, Pitha and Kapha), Homeopathy andNaturopath that speaks about Vital force, Astrology that speaksabout Planets and Signs (Rasis) all are the product of wholisticapproach. In this sense subjects such as Psychology, Ayurveda,Homeopathy, Naturopathy, Astrology etc does not come underthe broad classification called Science. Still we know that nobodywill dare to say that Psychology, Ayurveda etc are useless. In theview of ancient people sasthras leads us to truth, they helps us tocomprehend truth more clearly, they helps us to know truth thatare useful for our existence. Astrology that depends on wholisticapproach is no exception to this. In this study method calledwholistic approach, firstly to cover all our ignorance about thedetails of something and to help the further study, some basic con-cepts are formulated. This hypothetical foundation becomes aspringboard for further study. Here also psychology can be takenas a suitable example. When we know 100% about the processesand behavior of brain and body, when we understands whichchemical reactions leads to each thought and emotion, when wecould clearly state how and where memory is encoded (with itsminutest details), when we attain the ability to control all theseusing chemical and physical mechanisms (machine driven or oth-erwise) we could discard the concept of mind and psychology.Till then psychology will exist, no matter how ever the scientistsexpress their reaction to it. Similarly when we understands how

the rhythm of time impacts the living organisms and their life inci-dents (100% i.e. to its minutest details) astrology will also be dis-carded. Till then whatever opposing arguments originate, thisbranch of knowledge will prevail.

Even those who accept that Psychology Ayurveda Homeopa-thy etc are wholistic methods, tend to reject astrology. Why? Theyask - How can you say that astrology is based on a fundamentalconcept like Mind, Tridosha or Vital force used by other branchesof wholistic approach? Can you consider Sun Moon and Planetsas concepts? Signs (Rasis) such as Aries, Taurus are the divisionsof sky - how can they be concepts? All who sincerely study theancient Vedic astrology knows the answers to such questions. Iwill explain.

Think that we collect the common characteristics or life inci-dents of children born, when the sun is in some particular sign.Instead of considering these characteristics as that of time, theyare projected to sun. Sun is considered the significator of all suchcharacteristics. Later when the sun in the same sign, if a child isborn, we predict that, that child will have those predefined (pre-collected) characteristics. It is a sort of give and take policy. Thetechnique of projecting the characteristics those are not of sun tosun, and later taking them back from sun. Here the sun becomesnot the sun that we see with our naked eyes. Sun becomes a con-cept. This sun is the god Siva, father, gold, soul, courage, success,light, king, govt. service, light, forest, peak, hill... and so manyother things. Sun is man, middle-aged, bald, and the significatorof diseases due to heat. All these ideas are formed thus. Not onlythe Sun, Moon and the Planets becomes concepts in this way.What ever is called significators in astrology, they are all concepts(Hypothetical constructs to mould the truth). Yes, in astrology Plan-ets, Houses and Signs are called significators. Therefore Signs,Houses and Planets are the basic concepts used in wholistic study

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method called astrology. Apart from this some other basic con-cepts that are used by Vedic culture such as Panchabootha (Earth-Water-Fire-Air-Sky), Triguna (Sathwa-Rajas-Thamas) etc are alsowell utilized in astrology.

Of the two approaches such as Analytical approach andWholistic approach, Astrology and Ayurveda is closer to wholisticapproach. As these two methods (Analytical and Wholistic) arefundamental to the thought process itself, why should they com-pete each other? Why should the branches of study that are part ofwholistic approach try fruitlessly to become part of science (a prod-uct of analytical approach)? Even physics should resort to the useof concepts such as stress, strain, force, time etc. Ayurveda cannotstand away from the fact that the use of its methods should curethe patient. The world we see is composed of both facts and con-cepts (matter and mind). Because of all this, the analytical approachthat takes facts as the starting point and the wholistic approachthat takes concepts at the starting point should ultimately meet andhelp each other to the ultimate fulfillment of human knowledge.They are like yin and yang, the opposing counter parts of one andthe same thing. As both of them are the foundation of thoughtprocess itself - one defeating the other is impossible.

Don’t think that even this classification such as Analytical andWholistic is complete. Don’t ever think that you can bring all thesubjects under the sun into this classification. As I told earlier, allthe classifications are nothing but the creations of human mind.The truth would remain outside all classifications. In this case alsoit is true. (Just think of bringing subjects such as art and historyinto this classification. You will see what I mean!!) A Vedic as-trologer should be ready to approach astrology with such realiza-tions, because astrology is part of a wholistic approach to studythe rhythm of time and make probabilistic predications.

Hope I have succeeded in conveying the idea that I had.

Outline of holistic subjectsWe can structurally classify the subject matter dealt within any

holistic subject (Such as astrology, Vastu sastra, Ayurveda etc) intothe following 4 categories: 1) Philosophy 2) Concepts 3) Rules4) Rituals. Let us understand this in a better way by taking astrol-ogy as an example.

1) Philosophy

The philosophy such as "Sarva vidyam Brahma vidyaPratishtam" (All knowledge is based on Brahma vidya – the knowl-edge of the soul and the eternal) is at the root of astrology. Every-thing is a small print of the eternal. The microcosm and the macro-cosm is in rhythmic correlation. We cannot define the eternal Brah-man or the duality it has with in, popularly known as Prakriti (Mat-ter) and Purusha (Energy + Time). Brahman represents the space-time continuum and anything beyond it. It also includes every-thing the mind can understand and everything beyond it. Brah-man (of which space and time is just components) is the realityand what we understand though the classifications and theoremsis just the reflection. Mind can only reflect truth and can nevercomprehend it. The Sun and its reflectionon in water should beentirely different in essence, though seems to be similar. Under-standing this truth is the first step in utilizing the study methods(scientific or holistic) provided by the mind itself. So in reality wecan not define Brahman (Since every definition has existence onlywithin mind, and Brahman represents mind and things beyond it.Every theorem exists only in mind). Same is the case with Prakritiand Purusha. Even though we cannot define the eternal (Let it beBrahman, Purusha or Prakriti), it can have many practical defini-tions. For example in Astrology –

Purusha = Kala Purusha (Energy + Time)

Prakriti = Zodiac (3 Dimensional Space including sky and

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planets)

In Vastu Sastra–

Purusha = Vastu Purusha (Built space + Energy)

Prakriti = Vastu (3 dimensional space including as land andenvironment)

In Ayurveda–

Purusha = Body (Soul + Mind + Body)

Prakriti = Nature (Nature of body + Environment)

Any one can expand/explore this or similar philosophic con-tent in astrology or in any other holistic subject. The holistic philo-sophic content is a thread that is common to all holistic subjects.

2) Concepts

(i) Concept of Universe (Zodiac)

The universe around us ( for the people living in earth) is spheri-cal in shape. We can use the ecliptic to represent the circular hori-zontal plane in it and the celestial poles represents the other twodirections up and below that sphere. But this spherical representa-tion causes problems, since it is difficult to project the 8 directionscorrectly in it, and it is difficult to draw. Therefore in astrology thespherical circular shape of the zodiac is represented as a square.Yes, as you know it is the Rasi chakra (The Zodiac), as popularlyknown to us, starting from the first point of Aries and Aswini stel-lar division. (Reasons for fixing this point as the first point anddividing the ecliptic into 30 deg and 13 deg 20 min divisions etc isthe stuff for another discussion, involving lot of mathematics.Chandrahari has done it in an excellent way in his book HinduZodiac)

Other similar/fundamental concepts in astrology are : (ii) KalaPurusha (iii) Prakriti-Purusha (iv) Signs (v)Planets (vi) Houses

(vii) Nakshatras (viii) Pancha Bhoota etc

I invite others to go into the depths or give an introduction tosuch concepts in astrology for the benefit of all, for the benefit ofbeginners for understanding them as concepts. Here, in this dis-cussion, the point I want to emphasis is that, many such conceptsforms the foundation for any holistic subject.

3) Rules

The Rules can be divided into two – Laws and Principles. Welltested, well founded, unchangeable rules with a mathematical pre-cession are termed Laws. And the flexible and simple rules thatare used to describe, modify, expand and apply the Laws can betermed principles. Laws are nothing but, well accepted principles.Let us understand them in the light of astrology.

(i) Laws

Even though we have the concepts in its place, we need toknow the laws to utilize those concepts. In astrology it starts with-(a) Rules to divide the zodiac into Signs and Nakshatras.(b) The7-fold rule for calculating Yogas (which ultimately lead to predic-tion) (c) The rules for calculating Dasa and Gochara.

(ii) Principles

Let us understand them with some examples- (a) Rules thatexplain how the Signs, Houses, Nakshatras and Planets can bemade use in prediction. (b) Rules that tells us about the 7-foldprediction system and the exceptions related to it. (c) Rules to befollowed while predicting with Dasa and Gochara. Almost thewhole of the astrology is nothing but this rules (which base them-selves on the fundamental concepts) and there application.

5)Rituals

Rituals that is associated with implementation etc. For example-(i) Rituals (Actions) associated with Prasna such as determination

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of Arudha.(ii) Rituals associated with worshiping of the signs, plan-ets etc.(iii) Remedial rituals associated with etc

In this short essay I have tried to categorize the content dealtwith in any holistic subject taking astrology as an example. Yes,the categorization of subject matter into- Philosophy, Concepts,Rules, Rituals is important in any holistic subject. This fundamen-tal classification should be considered, and any subject should beweighed against this, so as to ascertain whether it is holistic or not.If it is a holistic subject, then it will fit into this categorization andalso will not obey the path of scientific method

Any comments on this regard are welcome. I also request oth-ers to weigh other subjects such as Yoga, Vastu, Naturopathy, Psy-chology, Ayurveda etc as per these structural norms.

Arsha School of AstrologyIndia is a country with a great tradition. In every branch of

knowledge it has its uniqueness. Agama (Tantric) and Nigama(Vedic) knowledge molded the foundation of everything. Beforelooking into these foundations, let us have a look at the astrologi-cal system that grew up from these very roots, and became thegreat river from which almost all the other streams drew energy.This vast knowledge base is the Arsha or Sanatana school of as-trology of which great saints like Vasishta and Viswamitra(Kousika) and the others of Saptarshis were the gurus. It is thepurest flow of original astological knowledge, which I cherish inmy mind, and want to learn more about. It is the school of astrol-ogy from which most of current knowledge of astrology draws itspower from. It is the school of astrology which all the other schoolsfully accepted but later modified.

Was it from an effort to unite the Agama and Nigama systemsof astrology that this school stemmed? Otherwise why Skanda(kartikeya /Muruka) of the Tantric system was considered the origi-

nator of this system when the text itself tries to emphasis the im-portance of Vedic (Nigama) knowledge as well? In the whole ofVedic literature or in the epics we can not see the Rasi chakra butonly the Nakshatra chakra. In the whole of Vedic literature we cansee only the Tropical solar and lunar months, but not the SiderealSolar months like Mesha (Aries), Vrishabha (Taurus) etc. The Vedic(Nigama) system of astrology was fully based on Tropical Monthsand (fixed) Sidereal Nakshatra system. But the Tantric (Agama)system of astrology was fully based on (fixed) Sidereal SolarMonths and (fixed) Sidereal Nakshatra system. The Tantrics usedthe fixed framework of Rasi + Nakshatra to study the sky. Forthem the point 120 deg away from fiducial star Moola (Mahakala,the path of pritr Yana) was very important since it represented thepoint where the 7 planet conjunction occurred (Meshadi). Ra-Sichakra was their symbolic Yogic body of Kalapurusha. TheKalatantra the Tantrics cherished was a result of a mix of Yogicexperience and the Mahakala who himself is the universe - therhythm of universe becoming one with that of human body. TheSuras (Vedic followers) and Asuras (Tantrics) fought for long! Overtheoretical issues, importance of Yaga and Yoga, Tropical and Si-dereal Calendar systems, importance of Nakshatra and Rasi, Notemples or Temples, Architecture methods that should be followedand many more. A merge of the two was the only possible out-come of this struggle, which eventually happened, even after thestrong opposition from puritans. As far as astrology is concernedthere emerged a uniting stream of thought, that merged the con-cepts of both (Agama and Nigama) and that was Arsha (Sanatana)School of astrology. It was an adaptation of Tantric knowledge byVedic followers rather than the Tantric adopting the Vedic stream.In this struggle many great Tantric gurus and there concepts wereleft out – to mention some, Bhrigu, Agastya, Ravana, Nandi, KakaBhusunda and the like. But their knowledge too survived to anextend as we would see later when we try to have and under-

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standing of Tantric stream of astrology. The true knowledge ofastrology held by Vedic (Nigama) and Tantric (Agama) cultures isstill there in mystery and demands a lot of study to eradicate thedarkness surrounding them and the related literary history.

But in this article my effort of not to de-mystify the astrologicalknowledge possessed by neither Vedic nor Tantric culture, but toreveal the efforts and knowledge base of the new stream emerged– that is Arsha (Sanatana) school of astrology. Let us try to havean idea about the texts and gurus of this school of astrologicalthought.

Skanda Hora

This text is also known as ‘Jyotishmati Upanishad’. In the endof every chapter of this text the words ‘Atharva kilejyothishmatyamupanishadi ithi’ is present. This indicates that thistext was considered as an extension of Atharva Veda. Many slokasof this ancient text is quoted by many. The language of this textitself indicates that it is the oldest of Rishi Horas. It is said thatSkanda advised the knowledge of astrology to Brahma. So it couldbe considered that it is a text written by Brahma as per the adviceof Skanda Deva. This text is not available today except manyslokas from it. We could find elaborate description of the Rasis inthis text. Apart from this the subject dealt with are Prediction re-lated to - Significance of Signs-Houses-planets, Exaltation-De-bilitation etc for planets, placement of planet in Rasis, placementof planets in Bhavas, conjunction of planets, Drishti and Drishtiphala, Different Sign-House-Planet combination related Yogas,Raja Yogas, Introduction to Nabhasa Yogas, Special Yogas likePravrijya Yogas, Adhana Lagna, Hora-Drekkana-Navamsa etc,Life span determination, Pinda Dasa calculation, DrekkanaSwaroopa, Horoscope of women etc.

That means almost the whole of popular astrology that we findin use today can be found in this age old text! The whole of astrol-

ogy used today is nothing but an extension and interpretation ofthe concepts and ideas presented by Skanda Hora only!

In Sounaka Hora it is said that after leaning this knowledge ofastrology from Skanda, Brahma taught it to Daksha Prajapati alonebut none else. That means the prime continuation of this tradition(school of astrology) is through Daksha here after.

Brihat prajapatya

This text is an elaborate explanation and interpretation of thesubjects dealt within Skanda Hora. As said by Sounaka Hora,Daksha is the direct disciple of Brahma who learned this knowl-edge from Skanda. Brihat prajapatya is a Vyakhya of Skanda Horarather than an independent presentation of ideas. This text mighthad been very large and that is why the prefix ‘Brihat’ (Big). LeghuPrajapatya:- This is abbreviated version of Brihat Prajapatya. Boththese texts are not available today except many slokas from them.

Vasishta Hora

This is a very reputed and authentic text of astrology based onSkanda Hora and Brihat prajapatya. In Sounaka hora it is saidthat, Vasishta hora contained 16000 slokas. Many slokas from thistext is quoted by various authors. Vasishta had authored texts forall the 3 branches of astrology. They are Vasishta Sidhanta, VasishtaHora and Vasishta Samhita. Mihria, Kaikulangara (Author ofHridya padha vyakhya of Brihat jataka - a well known keralascholer), Balabhadra etc quotes Vasishta extensively.

Vridha Vasishta: Another Rishi with the name Vridha Vasishtais also popular. He has authored 2 texts known as Vridha VasishtaSidhanta and Vridha Vasishta Samhita. Of them Vridha VasishtaSidhanta is available even today.

Kousika Hora

In Sounaka hora it is said that, Kousika (Viswamitra) created

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this text to compete the Vasishta Hora, based on Vasishta Horaerroneously thinking that it was a copy of Skanda Hora. This textcontains 36000 slokas says Sounaka. This is the text where thelogical and astronomical inconsistencies evolve first. Vasishta sim-ply applied his logic to extend the concepts presented in VasishtaHora, and didn’t know much about astronomy which caused thetrouble.

He is even speaking about the predictions that should be givento Mercury placed in the 4th house from Sun etc, which is anastronomical impossibility. It is said by Sounaka that, Vasishta laterlearned astronomy from Maya (the sishya of Surya, the originatorof Surya Sidhanta) and regretted the errors he committed.

Even though this discrepancy is there in this text, this is also awell reputed ancient astrological classic.

Surya

He is an acharya with astronomical par excellence, who taughtMaya. He is regarded as one of the 18 great gurus of astrology.Maya collected the advice given by Surya and presented it in theform of ‘Surya Sidhanta’. It is the modified version of this text iswhat we find in ‘Pancha Sidhantika’ by Mihira. It is though Mayaand some other rare references that we know about this guru. Atext known as ‘Surya Hora’ or ‘Surya Jatakam’ or ‘Surya-Arunasamvada’ is also available in the name of this Rishi. It is in theform of a guru-sishya conversation between Surya and Aruna.Acharya Balabhadra quotes extensively from this text.

Maya

This is a great scholar well versed in many fields of knowledgesuch as – Astronomy, Mathematics, Architecture etc. It is he whowrote or modified ‘Surya Sidhanta’ and presented it to the world.Many texts like Mayamata (Architecture), Maya Hora etc areauthored by this acharya. Both ‘Surya Sidhanta’ and ‘Mayamata’

are available today but not ‘Maya Hora’. Chandra Hari is derivingthe concept of ‘True Ayanamsa’ and the mathematical foundationof Rasi-Nakshatra division based on this text (Surya Sidhanta)only. If this text was not available, it would have been an impossi-bility to judge the true mathematical foundations of Rasi chakraand the astronomical concepts and methods cherished by the an-cient scholars and Rishis. It is erroneously considered by manythat Maya is an astronomer of ‘Yavana Kula’ and the student of‘Yavaneswara’. But as evident from classics, ‘Maya’ is a studentof ‘Surya Kula’ and the student of the great guru ‘Surya Deva’.But still there is a possibility that he may have some connectionoutside India, judged from the fact that he was called ‘Yavana’ bysome. He was a follower of Asura (Tantric) tradition and not Vedic.Remember that he was well known as ‘Asura Silpi’ (Architect ofAsuras) It may be this non-Vedic foundation of the knowledgecherished by Maya that might have caused the trouble, of mis-judging him as ‘Yavana’ by later day scholers.

Atri

He is one of the 7 great gurus (Saptarshis) of astrology, fromwhom astrology descendent to the 18 gurus. The text written byAtri is known as Atri Hora. Texts in the names of other gurus likeMareechi, Chyavana etc are also mentioned here and there. AtriHora is not available today. Atri is supposed to have written someAyurvedic texts as well.

Brihat Sounaka Hora

This is a very good and large text, many slokas of which areavailable even today. The available slokas from this text helps usvery much in rebuilding the literary history of ancient Indian as-trology – especially of the Arsha (Sanatana) school of astrology.

This is a text written as advised to Sounaka Rishi by Soma(Mo). Here one thing we should remember is that in that era no

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body called Arsha school or Sanatana school, like Hindu religionwas never called by that name by Hindus. It is we who name thisoriginal school of astrology as Arsha or Sanatana school of astrol-ogy.

Sounaka Hora: It is a summarized version of Brihat SounakaHora.

Mandavya Hora

Rishi Mandavaya who was a true devotee of Siva wrote thistext. Many slokas of this text is quoted by Mihira and many oth-ers. This is a well reputed text of the original stream.

Chyavana Hora

Chyavana is a well reputed name both in Astrology andAyurveda. Chyavana Rishi is the author of Chyavana Hora. Veryfew slokas from this text only is available today.

Sukracharya (Brigu)

Brigu is the well reputed acharya of astology. He is the authorof ‘Brigu sutra’ and ‘Brigu Samhita’. ‘Brigu Sutra’ is a very goodtext with deals with ‘Planet-House’ combination and the relatedresults to be predicted. ‘Brigu Samhita’ is not a samhita text at all!It is a book that deals with natal chart prediction based on the‘Nadi System’ of Astrology’. It is also possible that the authors ofboth these works are different gurus of ‘Brigu Kula’. (judgingfrom the difference in approch and techniques adopted by bothtexts)

The language style of ‘Brigu Sutra’ indicates that it is a veryold text. (Also not that it follows the ‘Sutra system’ rather than thenormal poetic sloka system, which also indicates that this book isvery ancient). Brigu (Sukracharya) is well known as Asura guru(Agama system).

Brihaspati

The authorship of the text ‘Brihaspati Hora’ is ascribed to Devaguru Brihaspati. It mentions subjects related to Muhoorta and Mar-riage compatibility elaborately. Even though mentioned by somethe slokas that are said to be of this text available today seems to oflater origin.

Mention of ‘Brihaspati Sidhanta’ and ‘Brihaspati Samhita’ isalso available in some texts. Brihaspati is well known as Devaguru (Nigama system).

Badarayana Hora (Vyasa)

This Badarayana does not seems to be the author ofMahabharata, but some later time scholar guru of Vyasa Kula.Many slokas form a text with the name Badarayana Hora is avail-able. Hridyapadha and Many other texts quotes Badarayana ex-tensively, which indicates that he too was a reputed scholar thoughnot to the stature of Rishis. Even the literary quality of his slokasdoes not have much in comparison with that of Rishi Horas. Itwould be good not to confuse this later time scholar of astrologywith the Badarayana Vyasa who wrote Mahabharata.

Soma Jatakam

This might be a text of later origin, since we find no mention ofit in ancient classics, but only by the time of Acharya Balabhadraof (10th century). This might be a text created following the styleof Surya Jataka which is an ancient text.

Suka Hora

A text written by Suka Rishi. Many other texts like SukaJatakam is also popular by his name. It could be possible that thesetexts are also of later origin.

Satyacharya Hora

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Satyacharya is a well reputed acharya lived before the periodof Mihira. He is considered almost equal to the Rishis in authen-ticity. Satyacharya Hora is extensively quoted and mentioned byMihira. Mihira had a special repute for this acharya. Many slokasform Satyacharya Hora is available today, but not the original text.

Geevasarma Hora

Geevasarma is another acharya who was the contemporary ofSatyacharya or one lived after him. Mihira quotes and mentionsGeevasarma also in his works. He has developed many modifica-tions and alterations to the original system which makes him standapart from the general stream.

Vishnu Gupta (Chanakya?)

He is the famous minister of emperor Chandra Gupta Mouryaof Pataleeputra. Vishnu Gupata Hora is a well authentic text andwell reputed by the ancient scholars. But except some slokas, thistext is also not available today. (Note that a detailed study ofArthasastra reveals that Chanakya, Koudilya and Vishnu Guptaare 3 different Teachers; it is Vishnu Gupta who was the ministerof Chandra Gupta Vikramaditya and wrote Arthasastra)

Varaha Mihira

He is the great acharya who caused the destruction of ancientRishi Horas. The reasons are –

• He created a very good and very small text named BrihatJataka, containing 573 slokas, which briefed the contents of Rishihoras. Therefore the people with less memory and scholarshipstarted learning this text instead of learning the original Rishi Horas,which were very big.

• He mixed the teachings of Arsha school with that of Yavanaschool. He authored many texts such as – Pancha Sidhatika, BrihatJataka, Brihat Samhita, Leghu Jataka, Brihat Yogayatra and many

more.

Bhattolpala

Bhattolpala (Utpala Bhatta) wrote a very good commentariesfor Brihat Jataka and Brihat Samhita quoting many Rishi horas,which enabled/ensured the survival of at least some of the RishiHora slokas.The vyakhyas Bhattolpala for Brihat Jataka and BrihatSamhita are available today.

Acharya Balabhadra

A great scholar of 10th century who wrote a text called ‘HoraRatna’ which presented the contents of many Rishi Horas and theastrological classics before his period in a systematic manner. Thistext also enabled/ensured the survival of at least some of the RishiHora slokas.

Kerala Astrology

The astrological system followed in Kerala is an extension ofArsha or Sanatana school of astrology especially due to the effortsof the following acharyas.

Krishnacharya:- He wrote a very good text namedKrishneeyam. This acharya might have lived in the 15th centuryAD, and was the contemporary of Madhavacharya who wroteMadhaveeya.

Vishnu:- He is the son of Madhavacharya, who wrote an elabo-rate and very good commentary for Krishneeyam with the name‘Chatura Sundari’ in Sanskrit. This commentary became verypopular, and is appreciated very much by the Kerala astrologers,and is in line with the interpretation system of Rishi horas.

Talakkulattu Govinda Bhattatiri:- He wrote a very good com-mentary for the first 10 chapters of Varaha Hora (Brihat Jatakam)with the name ‘Dasasdhyayi’ in Sanskrit. This commentary be-came very popular, and is appreciated very much by the Kerala

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astrologers, and is in line with the interpretation system of Rishihoras.

Kaikulangara Ramavaryar :- He wrote a very good com-mentary for Varaha Hora (Brihat Jatakam) with the name‘Hridyapadha’ in Malayalam, quoting hundreds of Rishi horaslokas. In Kerala ‘Hridyapadha’ has become another name for‘Varaha Hora’. It is well appreciated by Kerala astrologers. Thistext also enabled/ensured the survival of at least some of the RishiHora slokas.

I have listed the names of some Rishis and acharyas of Arshaschool of astrology and tried to emphasis why Kerala astrologycould be considered as an extension of this school of astrology.

This list is not at all complete. The lot many scholars who col-lected and presented the slokas to us from the texts available tothem (but not available today – the lost treasures) from all schoolsof astrological thought also helped in the survival of this school ofastrology at least to this extend. Collecting and classifying theknowledge imparted by these different schools of astrology sepa-rately and uniting them to one single stream, identifying the opin-ion differences clearly are the need of the moment. I hope suchstudies and classifying efforts could be of great help in this regard.

If I am able to depict, even a glimpse of the size of this vasttreasure house of ancient astrological knowledge, I am satisfied. Ihope this effort was not futile.

Jain School of AstrologyRishabha Deva of Vedic period is thought to be first teerthankara

(enlightened guru) and originator of Jain stream of spiritual thought.It was traditionally believed that there were 24 teerthankaras (en-lightened gurus), and the 23rd Parswanadha and the 24thVadhamana Mahaveera. In the ancient past the teachings of en-

lightened masters like Rishabha Deva were also considered to bepart of Veda-Vedanga teachings itself, but later gradually it be-came a separate stream. The Jain stream of spiritual thought formthe clear shape of a religion by the period of Mahaveera, and there-fore he is thought to be the originator of Jain religion. We havenothing to do with these enlightened masters of spirituality, butare more interested in the astrology they cherished.

Garga

The first guru in the Jain school of astrology is thought to beBrahma. In Garga hora it is said that, Garga Rishi got this knowl-edge from Brahma. I will quote the sloka for you-

Swayam swayambhuva srishtam chakshurbhootamdwijanmanamVedangam jyotisham brahmaparam yejncha hitavahamMaya swayambhuvaH praptam triyakala prasadhanamDevanamuttam sastram trilokya hitakarakamMattaschanyanrisheen praptam paramparyena pushkalamTistada srishtibir booyo grandhaiH swaiH swirudahritam

(Garga hora)[(Garga Rishi tells) This system of knowledge is created by lordBrahma, and became visible to the people who took second birthwith true knowledge. This system of astrology is part of Vedicknowledge, and helps to become enlightened, and is useful in Yaga(for determination of Yaga timings etc). I got this system of knowl-edge from lord Brahma. (In other Rishi horas it is told that, Skandataught astrology to Brahma, and that the text written by lord Brahmais known as Skanda Hora) The knowledge of astrology is appre-ciated even by devas (heavenly beings) and is useful in all 3 worlds(past- present-future). The other Rishis learned this knowledgefrom me, and thus the tradition flourished. They have also createdastrological texts of their own]

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This essentially means that by the time of Garga many astro-logical texts existed, probably closely related to Rishi names. TheRishi kulas were like universities, were every enlightened newmaster would be known by the name of the originator of the kula.It is similar to the Sankaracharya tradition of today where everynew person coming in charge would be termed Sankaracharya.Similar was the case with all Rishi kulas like, Garga, Vasishta,Kousika, Atri, Chyevana, Agastya, Parasara etc. The head guruwas like the chancellor of the university, and his designation wasthe name of the originator of the Kula. We should remember thisfact while learning the knowledge taught by Rishi Paramparas.Otherwise we may confuse many individuals who held the samedesignation as one and the same person. (For e.g. Parasara Kulawas another such tradition)

Garga wrote books on all the 3 branches of astrology, namely,Sidhanta, Samhita and Hora. That means the 3 popular texts writ-ten by Rishi Garga are – Garga Sidhanta, Garga Hora and GargaSamhita. Many slokas from Garga hora and Garga Samhita is avail-able but not anything from Garga Sidhanta. In Hridyapadha, BrihatSamhita etc we could see many quotes form Garga Hora andGarga Samhita. There are many more ancient texts that quote fromthese age old texts by Garga Rishi. All the texts written by GargaRishi are in Sanskrit language. Garga Samhita is said to be avail-able even today in some manuscript libraries. The language of thistext (Garga Samhita) is a mix of Prakrit and Sanskrit.

Astrology texts not only by Garga, but Gargi and Gargya arealso available. These names either indicate other acharyas of GargaKula, or the son of Garaga, and the son’s son of Garga. Manytexts which ascribe their authorship to Garga, Gargi and Gargyaare available (e.g. Garga Jataka) – but it seems that we can not besure about the authenticity of these texts.

Garga Rishi was also known as ‘Jainarshi’ (Jain Rishi), indi-

cating that he followed Jain religion. A sloka quoted in the text‘Bharateeya Jyotish’ (by Nemichandra Sastri) supports it.

Vridha Garga

This is another famous scholar of Garga Kula. Two texts areknown by his name – Vridha Garga Sidhanta and Vridha GargaSamhita. Of these Vridha Garga Sidhanta is available even today,but only some slokas of Vridha Garga Samhita is available. Likeall the Rishis of Garga Kula he was also a reputed Jain Rishi.

Rishiputra

Rishiputra is the son of Garga Rishi. He too wrote texts on allthree branches of astrology, such as Sidhanta, Hora and Samhita.He was well versed in Sanskrit and Prakrit. From Prakrit onlySanskrit originated. Prakrit was the common mans use of San-skrit, but later it became a separate language, and due to continu-ous use it deviated very much from the organized, systematic, andclearly grammatical use of Sanskrit. This deviation from Sanskritwas evident even from the period of Rishiputra. Almost all theteachings of Jain gurus are in the common mans language, i.e.Prakrit. Rishiputra is also no exception to this, even though hewrote some book in Sanskrit as well. Rishi putra was never knownas Garga which might mean that he deviated from the originalstream of astrological knowledge taught by Garga Rishi or it couldalso be that he never held the position of head guru of Garga kula.

Mihira in Brihat Samhita quotes extensively form the Samhitaby Rishiputra. A text called ‘Madana Ratna’ mentions ‘RishiputraSamhita’, which proves the existence of Rishiputra Samhita.Rishiputra Samhita is a text written in Sanskrit. Rishiputra is thoughtto be the originator of the study of Omens (Nimitta). A text onNimitta Sastra (Ancient advice on Omens) in his name is also avail-able. Brihat Samhita quotes Rishiputra extensively. The ancientand famous Jain sidhantic texts on astrology Surya Prajchapti and

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Chandra Prajchapti are also thought to be the works of this greatastrologer. These texts are in Prakrit. (Prakrit language is consid-ered divine by the followers of Jain religion, since most of theteachings of Mahaveera and other gurus of this religion is inPrakrit). There is another trend that should be kept in mind whilestudying Jain school of astrology. Prakrit was the revered languageof Jain religion and the common man’s language at that time. Sothe astrologers of Jain school of astrology almost invariably re-sorted to Prakrit while writing texts. But the side effect of this isthat, almost all the texts written in Prakrit was later considered tobe part of Jain school of astrology, which is a wrong interpreta-tion. (I too can not escape from this pit fall, while trying to locatethe teachers and texts of Jain school of astrology. Please keep it inmind)

Jyotish Karnadak

This is an ancient text of Jain school of astrology. We don’tknow who wrote this book. It is in Prakrit. In this text, we encoun-ter slokas which considers ‘Nakshatras like Swati and Aswini aslagna of equinox’. Does it give any indication about the period ofthis text? Learned one’s can think about it. This ancient Jain astro-logical texts mentions Rishiputra as guru, and thus it is part of theJain school of astrology.

Anga vidya

It is ancient text about predictions related to the touching ofvarious body parts by the qurent. This is a text on omens (Nimitta).It speaks elaborately about the body language of the qurent. It is avery large text containing 60 chapters and is in Prakrit.

Kalakacharya

He is well known among the gurus of Jain school of astrology.He was the son of King ‘Vayara singh’ who was the king of‘Dharavas’ city. His mothers name was Surasundari and sister’s

name ‘Saraswti’. He was the student of Jain Muni ‘Gunakar’ whowrote ‘Brihat Katha’. Kalakacharya was also known as ‘KalakaSuri’, meaning the knowledgeable person with the name ‘Kalaka’.Kalkacharya is first guru of Jain school of astrology who mixedthis ancient knowledge with the systems of Yavana, and thus origi-nated the system of astrology known as ‘Ramala vidya’ or ‘RamalaJyotish’. The Ramala system of astrology originated from the mixof Pharsi (Parsi) and Indian system of astrology. (So the wordYavana means Pharsi or Persian in this context). This also givessome indications about the period of Kalakacharya. Kalakacharyahas written a Samhita text as well. [The text known as ‘Ramalavidya’ written by ‘Bhojsagar Gani’ mentions the name ofKalakacharya as the originator of this system] His period was be-fore, Varaha Mihira. Mihira mentions ‘Kalakacharya Samhita’ inBrihat Samhita.

Mahaveeracharya

This acharya lived after the period of Brahmagupta, the famousastronomer. He wrote 2 texts with the names – Jyotish Patala andGanita Sarasamgrah. He was also the follower of Jain system. Butthe texts are in Sanskrit. Both these texts deal with astronomy.Karnataka, the southern state of India, seems to have developedsome strong relation with the Jain school of astrology in later years.Sridharacharya who wrote the texts like Ganitasar, JyothirjchanaKalanidhi, Jatak Tilak etc and many more reputed later astrolo-gers of this stream were the natives of Karnataka. Bhattavesari(also known as Damanandi acharya) who wrote the text Aya jchanatilak in Prakrit was a follower of Digambara Jain religion, and isthought to be a native of Karnataka. In this text he mentions anancient acharya of astrology called ‘Sugreeva Rishi’ as the origi-nator of Prasna system giving importance to 8 directions (DwajadiYoni). He calls it ‘Aya’ and that is why the name ‘Aya JchanaTilak’ (the texts which tells about the use of Aya in prediction)..

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Other Jain astrologers

Durga dev who wrote astrological texts like Ardha Kand andRishta Samuchaya, Mallishena who wrote ‘Aya sadbhava’, Ballalasena who wrote the Samhita text called ‘Adbhuta sagar’ etc arethe followers of Jain school of astrology. Actually this list is verylong and you can have a list of it from the text ‘Bharateeya Joytish’by ‘Nemichandra Sastri’. The text ‘Adbhuta Sagar’ demands spe-cial mention, because this text is a collection of slokas by greatancient acharyas such as, Garga, Vridha Garga, Mihira, Parasara,Devala, Vasanta raja, Kasyapa, Yevaneswara, Mayoora chitra,Rishiputra, Brahma gupta, Maha balabhadra, Poulisa, Surya (Suryasidhanta), Vishnu Chandra and the like. It contains more than 4000slokas. Existence of texts like this also means that the whole astro-logical knowledge taught by the Rishis is not yet totally lost, andif someone is willing to selectively collect Rishi slokas from suchtexts, and present it before all in a systematic manner, the originalstream of ancient Indian astrology can be restored. One thing Ishould mention here is that, there were many astrologers who fol-lowed the Jain religion. But it may not be necessary that all ofthem were the followers of Jain school of astrology. This truthalso should be kept in mind while trying to study the astrologicalsystem of thought taught by the Jain school of astrology. The an-cient language Prakrit is a vast store house of ancient astrologicalknowledge and ancient Rishi hora slokas. It is another treasurehouse where too we should concentrate our search upon.

Ref: 1) Bharateeya Jyotish – by Nemichandra Sastri2) Bharateeya Jyotisha Sastretihas – by Acharya LokamaniDahal

This article is very long by now itself and therefore I conclude.Hope this might have stirred your interest in Jain school of astrol-ogy, and would provide clues and guidance for further study.

Yavana School of AstrologyThere is a controversy about the meaning of the word Yavana.

Modern historians almost always erroneously take ‘Yavana’ tomean ‘Greek’. Of course Greeks where called Yavana by Indiansfor a long time, and so it is not completely wrong to take ‘Yavana’to mean ‘Greek’ if one is talking about the a limited historic pe-riod, i.e. Period after the invasion of Alexander. But when we lookat the literature, we see that the word Yavana is used to indicatePharsi or Persian in several instances. The popular definition ofthis word, supported by classics is that, any person who is not anative of India and does follow our custom and tradition is calledYavana. So the point to be kept in

mind is that-• The ‘Yavana’ has some link outside India• Their tradition and system is slightly different than ours.• The heir (sons and daughters) and successors of a ‘Yavana’(Guru-sishya paramapara) would be termed ‘Yavana’.

The 3rd point is often ignored by even the learned. It essen-tially means that at times even people who were and born andlived in India, and even followed the Indian custom and traditionwhere termed ‘Yavana’ only because, they were the descendentsof Yavana. Before the arrival of Greeks it was Persian peopleswho were known by the word ‘Yavana’, and even before that?Yes, at that time it could mean even people from ‘Afghanistan’,‘China’, or ‘Egypt’, i.e. any where outside India or their descen-dants or followers (students).

Yavaneswara

Someone in ancient past brought some new knowledge of as-trology to India. It was even before the period of Parasara (1400BC), and this great scholar gets mentioned by Parasara, Narada,Kasyapa and many more. He must have been an astonishing store

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house of knowledge, and well versed in Sanskrit, even the Rishisconsidered him as an Rishi.

His great knowledge, made Rishi Garga speak out-

Mlescha hi yavanasteshu samyak sastramidam stitamRishivattepi pujyante kim puna daiva vad dwija

Meaning, even though a person outside from, by native placeor tradition followed, the knowledge of astrology is well settledand find comfort in ‘Yavana’ (Yavana Kula). Because of this theyare worshiped like Rishis. Then why not if a person who tooksecond birth by devoting himself to knowledge and is learningastrology?

We should remember that Garga was the head guru (like chan-cellor of a university) of the Garga kula. Many great learning cen-ters like Vasishta Kula, Kousika kula, Atri Kula, Mareechi Kula,Angira Kula, Bhrigu Kula, Chyvana Kula, Vyasa Kula etc ex-isted at that period – and the knowledge preserved was so vast.Garga know about this all, and was part of this great tradition.Even then he felt astonished by the astrological knowledge pre-served and propagated by another such learning center – YavanaKula. This is wonderful! We could see that later acharyas startedmentioning the name of Yavanewara, including him in the list of18 great gurus of astrology. Narada, Kasyapa, Parasara – no bodyfailed to mention his name! How great an influence he and hisschool of thought would have been to Indian astrology?!!

Yes, this ‘Yavaneswara’ is a great Rishi, vast treasure house ofknowledge, worshiped Surya, had some connections outside In-dia, was well-versed in Sanskrit, was the head guru of YavanaKula, and lived before BC 1400. He very much appreciated theastrological tradition and knowledge of India, adopted many con-cepts from India streams and tried to modify them. This too madethe Indian scholars give special attention towards him. This is theknowledge we have about his mountainous individuality – he

stands tall and unique even among the peaks!

Yavanewara Hora is the text known by his name. His succes-sors (sishya parampara) like Sphujidwaja, Meena raja amply quotesfrom this text. Later day scholars like Mihira too quotes him andmentions the opinions by him. Yavanswara says that he got thisknowledge of astrology from Brahma (Prajapati), which indicatesthat he was a follower of Indian tradition itself, but with some-what slight difference.

Some problems surfacing

If even Garga felt astonished by this knowledge stream howMihira can not? But due to these mutual appreciation (betweenArsha and Yavana schools of astrology) and scholarly interactionmany problems surfaced. They are –

• Ancient Indian Rishi Kulas appreciated the knowledge ofYavana school, but never mixed it with there own system.

• Even Garga was not an exception to this even though hehimself was somewhat outside the Arsha or Sanatana stream dueto the fact that he was a follower of Jain philosophy (originated byRishabha Deva). But we should also remember that at that timeJain hadn’t become a separate religion, but was part of the Vedicstream.

• Just contrary to this, Yavaneswara tried to lean all the Indianknowledge as well, modified it applying logic, and taught them aswell in his guru kula. This is evident from the example of Nabhasayogas. Nabhasa Yogas are just mentioned in Arha (Sanatana) Rishihoras like Skanda hora, Brihal prajaptyam etc, but Yavaneswaratook this concept and made the number of named Nabhasa Yogas1800 by applying permutation combination!!!!! The concept ofNabhasa yogas were not totally in line with the foundations ofancient Indian astrology, that is why the Indian Rishis didn’t gavemuch importance to them. Yavanewara never bothered about it,

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took this concept, and applied maths to it! The result was 1800Nabhasa yogas, out of which hundreds of them were astronomi-cal impossibilities!! Here we see the type of interaction and thereason for respect or disrespect.

• In the Arsha system of Parasara started mixing the conceptsof Yavana, and many of his new concepts as well. Due to this hewas also not considered as a true follower of Arsha stream, andwas even called Yavana at times, even though he was not Yavana.What ever that be, Parasara is also honored among the 18 greatgurus of Astrology. We should remember that, Yavana, Romaka,Poulisa, Lomasa & Parasara schools may not be part of the true(Arsha/Sanatana) stream of astrology. But there was a lot of giveand take, and they where also honored among the 18 like the Rishisof Arsha stream – Brahma, Vasishta, Kousika, Atri, Manu,Mareechi, Angira, Vyasa, Sounaka, Kasyapa, Chyevava, Garga,Brihaspati etc. We should remember the other reputed scholarslike – Bhrigu (Sukra), Agastya, Suka, Soma, Skanda, Daksha,Surya etc as well. May be this classification itself is not that cor-rect, since every Rishi Kula may have their uniqueness in the sys-tem of astrology taught and followed. [We shouldn’t forget thefact that different teachers teach even the same subject differently,and therefore slight differences are always a possibility]

• Unlike the ancient Rishis, Mihira also started mixing ArshaSchool of astrology with thoughts and ideas borrowed from YavanaSchool, even though he never introduced hundreds of new ideaslike Parasara. Even though Mihira was a great teacher this hasbecame a big cause for confusion in later years. Parasara was aRishi, Mihira a scholar and there is no comparison, but both ofthem borrowed ideas from Yavana school and thus the originalschool and system fell back to the back side of memory, and logicand foundations an almost lost memory.

This is the brief history of astrology. A problem originated due

to the presence of Yavana school of astrology, but for sure notcaused by it, as much as the later great scholars like Parasara andMihira. If Parasara and Mihira the great teachers of Indian astrol-ogy deserve better blame, then how can we blame Yavana schoolof astrology and the great Yavaneswara who peaks high amongmany?! This school of astrology was successful in preserving itsteachings and books while the Arsha school failed to do so!!Shouldn’t we appreciate them, and learn from them? They adoptedeven the Arsha (astrological) ideas as well and still preserves manyand now without their minor help we can not go back and re-trieve our originals!!! Apart from this what a

great system it in itself is!! [This essay is becoming too long andso I would just brief about the other gurus of this stream andconclude]

Sphujidhwaja

He was an Indian king who was well versed in Sanskrit, Vedicphilosophy and astrology. But he was a follower of Yavana schoolof astrology and considers Yavaneswara as guru. A great text withthe name Sphujidhwaja Hora is available – and it is very good inunderstanding the contributions of Yavana school.

Meenaraja

He too was an Indian king, well versed in Sanskrit, and a fol-lower of Yavana school of astrology. A great text with the nameMeenaraja Hora (Vridha Yavana Hora) is available. It too is a verygood text.

Maya

Many are confused about whether to call Maya ‘Yavana’ ornot. He is not the student of ‘Yavaneswara’ but ‘Surya’. As weknow ‘Surya Kula’ was another great teaching center for astrol-ogy. Maya modified/wrote ‘Surya Sidhanta’, which later becamethe backbone of Arsha school of astrology. So even if Maya is

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‘Yavana’, he is Yavana of a different mould and is not part of theYavana school of astrology which started from ‘Yavaneswara’.He was a great architect as well. Surya Sidhanta, Maya Hora,Maya Matam(Vastu) etc are some of the texts by him. He was trueacharya with mathematical par excellence, and may be onlyAryabhata I of later years have any comparison to him. Maya isnot part of this school of astrology taught by ‘Yavaneswara’.

Manindha

Manindha Hora is the text by him. Mihira mentions and quotesform this text and mention the name of Manindha with respect.Manidha Hora is not available today.

Srutakeerti

Srutakeerti was a hindu king, but he followed Yavana streamof astrology. Srutakeerti Hora is the text by him. Mihira mentionsand quotes form this text and mention the name of Sruitakeertiwith respect. Srutakeerti Hora is not available today.

Other gurus

There might have been many other gurus in this school ofthought but the names of many are not popular may be due to theall covering presence of Sphujidhwaja and Meenaraja. Later peoplestarted calling Sphujidhwaja by the name ‘Yavana’and Meenarajaby the name ‘Vridha Yavana’. Only a few scholars were goodenough to come out of this shade. One of them is Haraji.

Haraji

He is the author of Manasagari Jataka padhati. He is a GujaratBrahmin born of ‘Sandilya gotra’. But he too followed the Yavanasystem of astrology. Therefore Manasagari Jataka padhati shouldbe considered as one of the last text in Yavana school of astrology.

The Yavana school of astrology is one of the well reputed andrespects schools of ancient Indian astrology, like the Arsha school

& Jain school of ancient Indian astrology. The now extinct predic-tion schemes of Vedic school and Tantric school also needs men-tion, from which everything seems to have originated. (Call themVedic and Non- Vedic or Nigama and Agama origin of everythingif you want).

In this article I had tried to give a brief idea about the Yavanaschool of astrology and its books and masters, as far as I know.History is not always simple – it always hides something far be-neath hiding even the sources for retrieving them. I hope this ar-ticle may help you in getting a glimpse of the almost forgottenhistory of Yavana school of astrology.

Astrology in Kularanava TantraKularnava Tantra is an Agama Grantha - meaning it is a text

written if the format of Siva’s advice to Parvati. As Osho pointsout in his work “Vigyan Bhirava Tantra” -

“This is a different type of language. You must know some-thing about it before we enter into it. All the tantra treatises aredialogues between Shiva and Devi. Devi questions and Shiva an-swers. All the tantra treatises start that way. Why? Why thismethod? It is very significant. It is not a dialogue between a teacherand a disciple, it is a dialogue between two lovers. And tantrasignifies through it a very meaningful thing: that the deeper teach-ings cannot be given unless there is love between the two – thedisciple and the master. The disciple and master must becomedeep lovers. Only then can the higher, the beyond, be expressed”

Usually the tantric texts are not going to teach you the details -the philosophical and theoretical. It is more concerned with thetechnique, the use and practice. If you are not in the path suchtexts can usually mislead you. Before entering in to the study ofAgama (Tantric) texts the core should be understood; otherwise itcould mislead you. In Osho’s words -

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“It is concerned with method, with technique – not with prin-ciples at all. The word ‘tantra’ means technique, the method, thepath. So it is not philosophical – note this. It is not concerned withintellectual problems and inquiries. It is not concerned with the‘why’ of things, it is concerned with ‘how’; not with what is truth,but how the truth can be attained.”

The core concept in Kularnava Tantra is -

ªÉè®äú´É {ÉiÉxÉÆ pù ªÉè& ÊºÉÊrùºiÉè®äú´É SÉÉäÊnùiÉÉ¸ÉÒEòÉè±Énù¶ÉÇxÉä SÉÉÊ{É ¦Éè®ú´ÉäxÉ ¨É½þÉi¨ÉxÉÉ**

- EÖò±ÉÉhÉÇ ÉiÉxjÉ[Whatever things that cause the downfall of people moving in thepath of spirituality, the same things can become true tools in thepath of enlightenment as well. (They can teach you how to saveyourself from downfall, if you are a true seeker of the ultimate). Itis the subject dealt in detail by Bhairava (God Siva) in KularnavaTantra as well (similar to Bharava Tantra)]

EÖò±ÉÆ ¶ÉÊHòÊ®úÊiÉ |ÉÉäHÆò¨ÉEÖò±ÉÆ Ê¶É´É =SªÉiÉäEÖò±Éä(+)EÖò±ÉºªÉ ºÉÆ¤ÉxvÉ& EòÉè±ÉÊ¨ÉiªÉÊ¦ÉvÉÒªÉiÉä**

- EÖò±ÉÉhÉÇ ÉiÉxjÉ[Kula means Sakti (Parvati = feminine = Mooladhara = Sex) andAkula means Siva (Bhairava = masculine = Sahasrara = Superconsciousness). The one who attains the relation or oneness be-tween Kula and Akula is termed ‘Kaula’ (Kularnava Tantra dealswith this subject)]

The Agama path (Kaula Path = Tantric Path) has got twobranches - Vama (Left) and Dakshina (Right). The text KularnavaTantra appreciates the Kaulachara (The Path of Kaula) and in thatitself the Dakshina Patha (Right Path; also known as Samayachara).Actually Vamachara (Left path) is the original and pure Agamapath. The Dakshinachara (Right path) mixes the Vedic slokas intoit to an extend. Unlike the pure Vamachara it combines the Vedic

suktas as well and has an aura of Vedic ritualistic in it. You canfind many examples for the same in texts like Kularnava Tantra.Possibly it is caused by the uninvited entering of Vedic priests intothe Agama patha. Vamamarga (Vama patha = Vamachara = Leftpath) is the pure branch of Agama and is purely outside the Vedicrealm. The Agama path is purely outside the Nigama (=Vedic)path. The Parasurama Kalpa sutra clearly states that -

ºÉ´ÉÇiÉxjÉÉhÉÉÆ ´Éänù´ÉÉÁi´É ¶ÉRÂóEòÉÊxÉ®úÉºÉ&- {É®ú¶ÉÖ®úÉ¨É Eò±{ÉºÉÚjÉ

[Without any doubt clearly understand that, all Tantras (Agamas)are outside the Vedic path]

Thus it is clear that the Agamas does not appreciate the vedicpath of Yagas, the caste differences etc. For the Tantric any humanbeing can attain the ultimate (=enlightenment) if he is a sincereseeker. It states that all human beings are equal and that there is nomeaning in caste and creed differences. With clarity GautameeyaTantra states-

ºÉ´ÉÇ É®úhÉÉÊvÉEòÉ®úÉ¶SÉ xÉÉ®úÒhÉÉÆ ªÉÉäMªÉ¨Éä É SÉ- MÉÉèiÉ¨ÉÒªÉ iÉxjÉÆ

[Everybody can practice Tantra, including women (No doubt re-mains!)]

The true worship of Siva (=God) with a sincere heart is betterthan 1000 yagas. Thus it is a great path of spirituality to be prac-ticed and valued, one of the oldest and truly ancient indian contri-bution to the path of spirituality.

As we all know astrology too is an Agama Sastra (Tantric dis-cipline). About Tantra Osho states - “TANTRA means technique.So this treatise is a scientific one. Science is not concerned withwhy, science is concerned with how. That is the basic differencebetween philosophy and science. Philosophy asks, ‘Why this ex-

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istence?’ Science asks, ‘How this existence?’ The moment you askthe question, how?, method, technique, become important. Theo-ries become meaningless; experience becomes the center”. In thecontext of astrology also this statement is valid. We trust in astrol-ogy not because of its thousand theories - but because of our ex-perience; Our experience that it can reflect truth; Our experiencethat the time, the rhythm of the universe can greatly influence us;our experience that we are one with the world; our experience thatthe universe reflect s itself even in the minute.

Even though not part of the main body of knowledge,Kularnava Tantra deals with, it mentions and speaks about, astrol-ogy here and there in bits and pieces - of course this is normal andexpected since Astrology too is nothing but an Agama Sastra; Abranch of study that has its foundations in Agama (Tantra). As weknow it is from the experience of oneness of human being withthe universe around him that the branch of astrology originated, asevident from the fact that the Zodiac as we comprehend it is com-posed of 21600 minute and the human day is composed of 21600breaths. They rhythm is one and the same - inside and outside.

Kularnava Tantra mentions Astrology, as present and practicedin ancient India, while dealing with the selection of Mantra thatare proper for a Sadhaka (one who practices Tantric worship). Iam not interested in explaining and elaborating those slokas toclarify the various situations where the co-relating of alphabetswith Signs and Nakshatras dealt here in can be used. I am quotingand describing the meaning of those slokas here in brief to showthat Nirayana astrology as we practice today is (and was) an inte-gral part of Agama Sastra; and also that the subject is dealt with inmany Agama texts.

Selection of Mantra and Astrology

Chakras (Circles) such as Siddha Chakra, Rasi Chakra,

Nakshatra Chakra, Kulakula Chakra etc are used for the selectionof Mantra that will give good results for the Sadhaka (the one whopractices the path of Tantra). As stated earlier, in this article I amnot interested in explaining how to use the same for selection ofMantra that is proper for practice for the individual. Here I amonly interested in quoting those slokas and giving their brief mean-ing just to show that Kularnava Tantra and Tantric texts as a wholeconsidered Nirayana Astrology as an integral part of Agama Sastra.

Nakshatra Chakra and AlphabetsThe following sloka describes how to correlate Nakshatra chakra

with the alphabets so that the same can be used for the selection ofproper Mantra.

|ÉÉ{É ±ÉÉä¦ÉÉ {É]Öõ |ÉÉÁÆ ¯ûpùºªÉÉÊpù û¯û& Eò®ú¨ÉÂ±ÉÉäEò ±ÉÉä{É {É]Öõ& |ÉÉªÉ& JÉ±ÉÉäPÉÉä¦ÉäÊnùiÉÉ& Ê|ÉªÉä´ÉhÉÉÇ& Gò¨ÉÉiÉÂ º´É®úÉxiÉÉè iÉÖ ®äú´ÉiªÉÆ¶ÉMÉiÉÉè iÉnùÉ**

- EÖò±ÉÉhÉÇ ÉiÉxjÉ[Starting from Aswini in order to write the following number ofalphabets in each Nakshatra (starting from the first alphabet inSanskrit). Pra = 2; Pa = 1; Lo = 3; Bha = 4; Pa = 1; Tu = 1; Pra =2; Ya = 1; Ru = 2; Dra = 2; Ya = 1; Adri = 2; Ru = 2; Ru = 2; Ka= 1; Ram = 2; Lo = 3; Ka = 1; Lo = 3; Pa = 1; Pa = 1; Tu = 1; Pra= 2; Ya = 1; Kha = 2; Lo = 3; Gho = 4] We get the following tableas per this rule.

+ÉÊ·ÉÊxÉ - + +É¦É®úÊhÉ - <EÞòÊkÉEòÉ - <Ç = >ð®úÉäÊ½þÊhÉ - @ñ @ñ ±ÉÞ ±ÉÞ¨ÉÞMÉÊ¶É®úÉ - B+ÉpùÉÇ - Bä{ÉÖxÉ´ÉÇºÉÖ - +Éä +Éè

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{ÉÖ¹ªÉ - Eò+É¶±Éä¹ÉÉ - JÉ MÉ¨ÉvÉÉ - PÉ Ró{ÉÚ ÉÇ ¡òÉ±MÉÖÊxÉ - SÉ=kÉ®ú ¡òÉ±MÉÖÊxÉ - Uô VÉ½þºiÉ - ZÉ \ÉÊSÉjÉÉ - ]õ `öº´ÉÉÊiÉ - b÷Ê´É¶ÉÉJÉÉ - fø hÉ+xÉÖ®úÉvÉÉ - iÉ lÉ nùVªÉä¹`öÉ - vÉ¨ÉÚ±É - xÉ {É ¡ò{ÉÚ´ÉÉÇ¹ÉÉføÉ - ¤É=kÉ®úÉ¹ÉÉføÉ - ¦É¸É´ÉhÉ - ¨ÉvÉÊxÉ¹`öÉ - ªÉ ®ú¶ÉiÉÊ¦É¹ÉÉ - ±É{ÉÚ ÉÇ ¦ÉÉpù{ÉnùÉ - ´É ¶É=kÉ®ú ¦ÉÉp{ÉnùÉ - ¹É ºÉ ½þ (IÉ)®äú´ÉÊiÉ - ³ý IÉ +Æ +&

This completes the table with 51 alphabets. [Do Sanskrit al-phabets have a Tantric origin? The number 51 is considered sa-cred in Tantra due to several reasons. This question won’t be dealtwithin this article, but provides clear scope for further study]

As per another available Tantric reference describing the same,Ksha should be ascribed to Uttara Proashtapada and there for thesame is shown with in brackets in the above list. The relevantsloka is given below-

iÉiÉ& IÉEòÉ®ú& ºÉÆVÉÉiÉ&....ºÉ& {ÉÖxÉ& ¹ÉºÉ½èþºÉÉvÉÈ {É®ú|ÉÉä¹`ö{ÉnÆù MÉiÉ&[The letter Kha should be ascribed to Uttara Proshtapada] This

completes the list of all Sanskrit alphabets.

Kularnava Tantra further states that the following is the primemode of association of Nakshatras with the native’s life. As youcould see it is nothing but a description of Janmadi division start-ing from birth star.

VÉx¨É ºÉ¨{ÉnÂù Ê´É{ÉiÉÂ IÉä É |ÉiªÉÊ®ú& ºÉÉvÉEòÉä ´ÉvÉ&Ê¨ÉjÉÆ {É®ú¨ÉÊ¨ÉjÉ\SÉ VÉx¨ÉÉnùÒÊxÉ {ÉÖxÉ& {ÉÖxÉ&**

- EÖò±ÉÉhÉÇ ÉiÉxjÉ[Starting from Birth star the names of 9 Nakshatras are - 1. Janma(Body), 2. Sampat (Wealth), 3.Vipat (Danger), 4. Kshema (Pros-perity), 5. Pratyari (Enemy), 6. Sadhaka (Gain), 7. Vadha (Death),8. Mitra (Friend), 9. Parma Mitra (Dearest Friend). These nameswill repeat for other Nakshtras twice in order to complete the countof 27 Nakshatras]

Thus it becomes clear that this is the prime mode of associationof Nakshatras with the native’s life while using Nakshatra Chakrafor prediction!

Rasi Chakra and AlphabetsThe following sloka states how to correlate Rasi chakra with

the alphabets so that the same can be used for the selection ofproper Mantra.

¤ÉÉ±ÉÆ MÉÉè®Æú JÉÖ®Æú ¶ÉÉähÉÆ ¶É¨ÉÒ¶ÉÉä¦ÉäÊiÉ ®úÉÊ¶É¹ÉÖGò¨ÉähÉ ¦ÉäÊnùiÉÉ ´ÉhÉÉÇ& EòxªÉÉªÉÉÆ ¶ÉÉnùªÉ& º¨ÉÞiÉÉ**

- EÖò±ÉÉhÉÇ ÉiÉxjÉ[Starting from Aries in order to write the following number ofalphabets in each sign (starting from the first alphabet in Sanskrit).Ba = 4; Lam = 3; Gau = 3; Ram = 2; Khu = 2; So = 4; Nam = 5;Sa = 4; Me = 4; So = 5; Bha = 4. The remaining alphabets startingfrom ‘Sa’ should be written in Virgo]. We get the following tableas per this rule.

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¨Éä¹É - + +É < <Ç´ÉÞ¹É¦É - = >ð @ñÊ¨ÉlÉÖxÉ - @ñ ±ÉÞ ±ÉÞEòEÇò - B BäËºÉ½þ - +Éä +ÉèEòxªÉÉ - +Æ +& ¶É ¹É ºÉ ½þ (³ý)iÉÖ±ÉÉ - Eò JÉ MÉ vÉ Ró´ÉÞÎ¶SÉEò - SÉ Uô VÉ ZÉ \ÉvÉxÉÖ - ]õ `ö b÷ fø hÉ¨ÉEò®ú - iÉ lÉ nù vÉ xÉEÖÆò¦É - {É ¡ò ¤É ¦É ¨É¨ÉÒxÉ - ªÉ ®ú ±É ´É (IÉ)

[Qn: The above sloka uses KTPY notation for numbers. Whendid KTPY system originated? This question won’t be dealt withinthis article, but provides clear scope for further study]

As per another available Tantric reference describing the same,Ksha should be ascribed to Meena (Pisces) and there for the sameis shown with in brackets in the above list. The relevant sloka isgiven below-

SÉiÉÖÌ¦ÉªÉÉÇÊnùÊ¦ÉºªÉÉvÉÈ ºªÉÉ±ÉÂ IÉEòÉ®úºiÉÖ ¨ÉÒxÉMÉ&[The letter Kha should be ascribed to Meena (Pisces)] This toocompletes the list with 51 alphabets.

Kularnava Tantra further states that the following is the primemode of association of Signs with the native’s life. As you couldsee it is nothing but a description of houses starting from Lagna.

±ÉMxÉÉä vÉxÉÆ §ÉÉiÉÞ¤ÉxvÉÖ{ÉÖjÉ¶ÉjÉÖEò±ÉjÉEòÉ&¨É®úhÉÆ vÉ¨ÉÇEò¨ÉÉÇªÉ ´ªÉªÉÉ pùÉnù¶É ®úÉ¶ÉªÉ&**

- EÖò±ÉÉhÉÇ ÉiÉxjÉ[The 12 signs are 1. Lagna (Body), 2.Dhana (Wealth), 3.Bhratru

(Co-born), 4. Bandhu (Relatives), 5.Putra (Children), 6.Satru (En-emies), 7.Kalatra (Wife), 8.Maranam (Death), 9.Dharma (Righ-teous path), 10.Karma (Job), 11.Aya (Income) and 12. Vyaya (Ex-pense)]

Note that the above quote is clear proof also for the fact thatSigns itself should be considered as Houses. As per ancient Indianastrology, the various house calculation techniques (such as Sripatimethod, Placida’s division etc) does not have any meaning. Thesigns itself should be considered as houses; with the only differ-ence that the signs are always counted from Aries, where as housesare counted from Lagna.

[Note that the study of astrology mentioned in the Tantric textsgives us unique insights which we may miss even when dealingwith the standard texts of astrology, which deals with such thingsin detail. This itself point to the Agama (Tantric) foundation ofnirayana astrology]

º´É®úÉ¶Éä ÉÇxjÉ®úÉ¶ªÉxiÉÆ MÉhÉxÉÒªÉÆ Ê´ÉSÉIÉhÉè&+YÉÉiÉä ®úÉÊ¶ÉxÉIÉjÉä xÉÉ¨ÉÉtIÉ®ú®úÉÊ¶ÉiÉ&**

- EÖò±ÉÉhÉÇ ÉiÉxjÉ[Intelligent individual who practices the Tantric system should startcounting the Signs from his own Lagna, and the counting shouldgo up to the Mantra sign. If one does not know his Lagna thecounting should start from Sign indicated by his name (NamakshraRasi = Lagna indicated by the Name of the individual)]

Since this sloka comes after discussing alphabets associatedwith both Nakshatras and Signs, the rule could be taken as com-monly applicable to both Nakshatra Chakra and Rasi Chakra. Thisrule may indicate two further possibilities -

* One should start the study of astrology by studying his ownhoroscope! This is a unique advice not found anywhere else!

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* Nakshatra Chakra and Rasi Chakra are both independent sys-tems complete in themselves - Nakshatra Chakra uses NakshatraLagna as starting point, and Rasi Chakra uses Lagna as startingpoint! The system of using Nakshatra Chakra in this way is al-most completely lost to us; But this is the system visible in Vedas,Epics and Puranas. A dedicated individual might be able to recon-struct this system from the available rudiments after a detailed studyof the same. This too provides a clear scope for further study. Inancient texts the use of Nakshatra Lagna is clearly visible, as clearlystated in texts like Sukra Neeti and Surya Pranjapti. The uses ofNirayana Rasi Chakra (starting with Nirayana Mesha Sign) as anindependent system, is well popular as we all know and practicetoday.

This article is just the continuation of my effort to shed somelight on the Astrology present in Tantric texts, which I have startedwith an article about the astrological statements contained inDattatreya Maha Tantra. Such glimpses clearly indicate that As-trology is an Agama Sastra and also that the Agama (Tantric) tra-dition was well versed in astrology, and also that they always fol-lowed the Nirayana system. Unlike Nigama tradition of Vedas,which used Tropical Zodiac, combined with Fixed Nakshatra sys-tem, Agama (Tantric) tradition used the Nirayana Zodiac with thecommon starting point of Meshadi (starting point of Aries) andAswinyadi (starting point of Aswini Nakshatra) as the point ofreference; as the starting point of Zodiac as we know it today.

Note_1: Kaul ji (Avatar Krishnan Kaul) at times blindly arguesthat “the Tantras contains no astrology” without ever even study-ing them with an inquisitive perspective. As the name indicatesKaul ji is a person born in Tantric tradition of Kashmir. But cur-rently he is after Vedic Tropical zodiac and the restoration of Vediccalendar based on his beliefs about the same. I think that as hediscards the fixed Nakshatra Chakra proposed by Vedas his be-

liefs do not tally with even the Vedic tradition. I hope that thisarticle may inspire him to look back into the Agama tradition towhich he himself belongs, and come up with positive or negativeresponses (after a detailed study) which may further strengthenour knowledge about the same.

Note_2: As I always used to say, it is rather than the subjectand slokas, the consciousness that looks into it and the new innerlight in which things can be viewed is more important in generat-ing clarity of vision. Let the words “Know what is before you,then the things hidden from you will become revealed to you” beour motto in our search and reconstruction of near lost elegance ofancient indian astrology.

Dettatreya Mahatantra and TantricAstrology

“The available text on Dattatreya Maha Tantra is a smalltext“containing 15 chapters and 160 slokas. This text is alsoknown“as "Siromani", meaning "gem in the head'. The text isstructured as a“dialogue between lord Parameswara (lord Siva) &Dattatreya Maharshi.“Kala Tantra (Astrology) and Kala Mantra(Medicine) are the 2 subjects“dealt with in. These are 2 knowl-edge streams the tantrics (tantric“disciples) learned withattention.“Kala Mantra is the branch of Tantra that deals with theuse of“medicine related to the tantric worship for the secret pur-pose of“Killing others, attracting others, making people enemy toeach other,“make people leave their native place, Magic, de-poi-soning, re-“establishing sexual ability etc. Yes, it is a secret branchof study“and you will encounter thousands of superstitions andstupidities as“well in such texts, along with gem like knowledgebits.“ Kala Tantra (Astrology) is the branch of Tantra thatdeals“with the study of time for the purpose of knowing about thepast-“present-future, time of death etc. Of these two (Kala Tantra

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and Kala“Mantra), Kala Mantra is the subject dealt with in theavailable part“of Dattatreya Mahatantra - the description of howto use medicine in“worship along with mantras for the purpose ofShadkarma (Marana,“Mohana, Uchadana, Sthambhana,Vidveshana, Akarshana) etc. But we can“also find some smalldescription about Kala Tantra (Astrology) as“well, here and therein this text.“ [Use of medicine in worship seems to be a super-stition. But“hundreds of medicinal plants are mentioned in suchslokas, which I“think should have served some secret purpose inthe hands of true“guru and sishya of Tantric culture. Tantra is asecret discipline,“and so who could say what would have beenthe real purpose and use of“these medicines mentioned - eventhough in the text it is stated that“it is used for the worship likeHoma etc]“ Since Dattatreya Mahatantra speaks about Kala Man-tra and Kala“Tantra, we could guess that only one part of this textthat deals“mainly with Kala Mantra is available to us and the otherpart that“deals with Kala Tantra might have been lost, in the tur-bulent flow of“time.“ Listen to the request of Maharshi Dattatreyato lord Siva -“"Approaching lord Siva, the lord of all lords, thedivine, the well“wisher of all worlds, savior of devotees, whoseadobe is Kailasa,“humbly, with folded hands, Dattatreya asked:Oh lord, for the benefit“of the devotees please give advice to usabout Kala Mantra"“ In the same style Dattatreya might havelearned Kala Tantra“(Astrology) as well from lord Siva(Maheswara). That is why we could“find Kala Tantra (Astrol-ogy) as well, here and there in this text.“ Only because Dattatreyamentions astrology here and there in“this text, can be concludelike this? No. It is not the lone reason“for this conclusion. As men-tioned earlier, "Siromani" (gem in the“head) is another name forthis text. Which branch of study is praised“as "gem in the head"by the saints? Listen to this sloka in Vedanga“Jyotisha-“ "Like thecrest of peacock, like the gem stone in the head“of a cobra, As-trology is at the head of all Vedanga sastras (like a“gem)"“ Yes,

the praise "gem in the head" usually goes to Kala“Tantra - Astrol-ogy, Astronomy and the related mathematics. Because of“this eventhe other name "Siromani" of Dattatreya Mahatantra,“indicatesthat Kala Tantra (Astrology) is one of the subject matter“of thetext. But that part of the text is lost, and is not available“anymore.“ There is one more point that proves this argument. Dattatreya“givesa list of chapters that are present in Dattatreya Mahatantra at“thebeginning chapter of the text. Here 18 chapters are mentioned,“butonly the subjects mentioned in 9 chapters is available in the“printedtext. Chapters 1,9,12,13,14, 15,16,17,18 (Total 9 chapters)“seemsto be missing. This also proves that the available text of“DattatreyaMahatantra is an incomplete one.“ If we agree up to this thequestion rises, "Is it Vedanga“Astrology that Dattatreya wanted tolearn from lord Siva?" No! As he“wanted to learn medicine (KalaMantra) that could be made use for“worships aimed at purposesuch as Shadkarma etc, he might have“requested to teach astrol-ogy (Kala Tantra) that could be made use in“Shadkarma etc. Lis-ten to his request to lord Siva-"In this world many types of talis-mans, manta, tantric worships are present. Many such are describedin Agama, Purana, Veda and Damara, and in many other texts aswell. Please advice the knowledge of Kala Tantra that would helpto utilize all that knowledge (on Yentra, Mantra etc) in the rightmethod for fulfilling the intentions" This is what Dattatreya re-quests. As said earlier knowledge about medicine (Kala Mantra)and Astrology (Kala Tantra) that would be of help is Shadkarmaetc is the subject matter of Dattatreya Mahatantra. This knowl-edge lies scattered in Agama, Purana, Veda, Damara etc. Dattatreyais requesting lord Siva to collect all these knowledge and giveadvice/teach him the same 'in the right/correct method'.“ Agamasare Siva Tantric texts - old as Vedas. The word Purana here indi-cates 18 Puranas and the Sub Puranas. The word Veda here indi-cates the 4 Vedas and the allied literature called Brahmana,Aaranyaka, Upanishad etc as well. They are also known as

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Nigama. But for Tantric devotees the word Nigama indicates DeviTantra. So the statement 'Agamokta' should be taken as indicativeof both Siva Tantra (Agama) and Devi Tantra (Nigama) texts.Another branch of Tantra is Vishnava Tantra. Damaras are alsotexts on Devi Tantra. That is, the request of Dattatreya to lord Sivais to collect and systematically present and teach him the vastknowledge on Kala Tantra and Kala Mantra which is beneficialfor the purpose of Shadkarma etc, clarifying the right method.

This sloka indicates that Tantric astrology was in a corruptedstate at the time of Dattatreya, and even for this great Maharshi itwas very difficult to separate the right and wrong statements fromthe pile. The sloka also indicates that even in that remote past Vedasand Puranas borrowed the knowledge of astrology and medicinefrom Tantrics and incorporated it in those texts! We can feel thepain of the Rishi when he see that this pure ancient secret knowl-edge is becoming lost knowledge for the Siva devotees. He wantsit to be the heritage of Siva Tantrics. Listen to these words - "Thisgreat knowledge (on astrology and medicine) - which saves onewho devotes himself to this subject, secret, difficult to get even fordavas, first told by lord Siva, shines like a gem in the head allsecret knowledge branches - should be taught only to a personwho is the true devotee of the Guru. This knowledge should notbe imparted to persons who does not believe in acharyas, traditionand the purity of knowledge. One should teach this pure knowl-edge to an individual who is strong willed and is a devotee of lordSiva alone. The statement, "Astrology is originated from lord Siva"(Tavagre kathitahyesha) asks for special attention. Even in theperiod of Prasnamarga (16th century) this truth was appreciated.Even today traditional astrologers read horoscope, or cast prasnaafter bowing to that lord of lords Maheswara (Siva). This is thereason for the importance of Dakshinamoorti (lord Siva in the formof Guru, God of knowledge) in Astrology. Lord Siva is the ulti-mate Guru and originator of astrologic knowledge as per Tantric

tradition. Here I would like to mention a curious fact. If we con-sider the concept about the originator of astrology as per differentschools of astrology, we will find that - Vedic School - lord Brahma(Tropical/Sayana); Tantric School - lord Siva (Sidereal/Nirayana);Arsha School - lord Skanda (Sidereal/Nirayana); Jain School -lord Brahma (Sidereal/Nirayana). This is curious! This differencein concept about the originator of astrology, probably indicatesthat, these are all different schools of thought in astrology, whichprobably originated and existed in the same era. Is it not so? Sincethe basic concepts (Such as Rasi and Nakshatra) where the same,they might have got intermixed in a later stage. It is also possiblethat, all these basic concepts such as Rasi and Nakshatra was origi-nally borrowed from some other civilization which existed beforeall these cultures, such as the Sindhu-Saraswati civilization. Onlyan in-depth study and new evidences could prove whether anyamount of truth is present in this guess or not. In this essay I startedby discussing the astrological content in the available slokas ofDattatreya Mahatantra - and so let us go back to that. Most of theslokas after this discuss how medicines could be utilized forShadkarma (Kala Mantra) etc. Lord Siva tells Dattatreya -“Now Iwill speak about Kala Mantra which is beneficial for the upliftmentof th individual. This secret knowledge (on medicine) which isbeneficial even in this kali yuga, I will teach you, putting aside theknowledge of astrology. Because - (For the benefit with medi-cine) it is not essential to consider Tithi, Nakshatra, Vreta, Day,Pooja, Japa, Homa etc. Even the determination of an auspiciousmuhoorta is not essential. Merely applying the medicine that suitswell for the well being of mind and body serves the purpose. Bythe use of it the disease gets cured. (Medicines are invaluable, andtheir effect mysterious. Because of this I will explain to you, howto use these medicines in Shadkarma worships). With this advicelord Siva starts to speak about Kala Mantra (Medicine). Since thoseslokas are not related to astrology, I am not discussing them here.

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If anyone is interested bye and read the printed text of DattatreyaMahatantra to know more about that. But the last chapter of theavailable printed text (chapter 15) deals with Kala Tantra (Astrol-ogy). The determination of the time of death is the subject dis-cussed. Siva said: “Oh, Maha yogi, Dattatreya Mahamune, for thebenefit of human beings I will tell to you about death time deter-mination. Listen -

“Dwadesa dala chakrastham Mrityukalam cha veekshitam

Chaitradi masa sankhayani likhyante dwadese dale

Meshadi rasaya sthapya suryadi likhyate grahaH

Janma riksha janma rasim veekshante mrityukarake

Surya vedhe manastapam budha soukhyam pravartate

Yatrayam teertha jeeve cha chandre stri sukha sambadaH

Bhrigu vedhe rajya labhaH mase mase vicharayete“ (Dattatreya Mahatantra)

[From the Rasichakra with 12 petals, we can have an idea boutthe time of death. For that first write the numbers of months start-ing from the month of Chaitra in each petal. In each of the petalplace signs starting from Aries. Now, as per current planetary po-sition write down the names of Grahas such as Sun, Moon etc inthe Rasi chakra. If the Mrityu Karaka Graha (Saturn?) aspects(Drishti) the Lagna (Lagna star?) or Moon sign then it is deathtime. If Vedha is present, then for sun - sadness, for Mercury -happiness, for Jupiter - pilgrimage, for Moon - happiness fromsexual acts with women, for Venus - gain of land results. This typeof prediction can be done every month. Some interprets that theSripati's system of Gochara-Vedha is mentioned here (?!). Theyalso argue that if Nakshatra Vedha and Rasi Vedha is present at thesame time then for sure it is time for Kala Mrityu (Ultimate/Surechance of death) (?!). But this sloka was a real problem to me and

I just got confused. Why? I will explain.

(1) Mention of months starting from Chitra

Why it is said that after drawing the Rasi chakra we shouldwrite down the numbers corresponding to the months starting fromChaitra in each square of the Rasi chakra? Did he mean to say that- Chaitra = Mesha (Aries); Visakha = Vrishabha (Taurus) etc? Ifso does it mean that the starting point of Aries should be calcu-lated, taking Chitra star as a reference? That is, as if the point 180deg away from Chitra star is the starting point of Aries or the like?

(2) Mrityu Karaka Graha

Is Saturn mentioned with the word Mrityu Karaka? If so, thewordings "Janma riksha janma rasim veekshante sanaischare",directly mentioning Saturn would have been enough. Then whythe author chose to omit directly mentioning Saturn and insteadused the word Mritru Karaka (Significator of death)? If not onlySaturn but also other planets should be considered, then what otherhouse lords and planets we should consider?

(3) Riksha - Nakshatra or sign

The word Riksha has got 2 meanings - Nakshatra and sign.With the word Janma Riksha Dattatreya Maharshi is mentioningLagna Nakshatra, Lagna sign, Moon Nakshatra or Moon sign? Ifwe think that here the word Riksha represents both Nakshatra andSign, then is it that we should consider both Nakshatra Vedha andRasi Vedha for death time determination? How to calculateNakshatra Vedha and Rasi Vedha in planetary context?

(4) Vedha and the related prediction

Here if Vedha is present for beneficial planets, then it is saidthat results also would be beneficial!! This is contradictory to theVedha concept of Sripati. As per Tantric astrology how many typesof Vedha is present? How to calculate Nakshatra Vedha, Rasi

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Vedha and Graha Vedha in the planetary context? What are therules to be observed while predicting with this type Vedha con-cept?

(5) Transit or Gochara

This Gochara-Vedha system of prediction can be used for pre-diction every month (Mase mase vicharayet) says Dattatreya. Didhe meant to say that Transit should be considered for the determi-nation of death time? If so why he avoided mentioning the transitprediction for Mars, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu?

(6) Vedha and Tantric Astrology

Probably Sripati who lived in 10th century AD, is theperson“who introduced the concept of Vedha in astrology. Buthere we encounter a similar concept in Dattatreya Mahatantra aswell! What should we observe from it? Should we think thatDattatreya Tantra originated after Sripati of 10th century AD? Orshould we think that Sripati borrowed the concept of Vedha fromTantric astrology especially from Dattatreya Tantra?

No. I don't have answers to such doubts. If we want to findanswers to the above or similar questions, an in-depth study of theastrology mentioned in Tantric texts (Tantric Astrology) is a must.For simplifying the study of ancient astrology, we can classifythem into several categories:-

(i) Astrology in Sindhu-Sarasvati period (Sindhu-Sarasvati-Astrology)

(ii) Astrology mentioned Vedas and allied literature (Vedic As-trology)

(iii) Astrology mentioned Epics (Epic Astrology)

(iv) Astrology mentioned in Puranas (Puranic Astrology)

(v) Astrology mentioned in Tantric texts (Tantric Astrology) -

It is the biggest treasure, thousands of unexplored texts (and awhole secret tradition) waiting for us! [Chandra Hari is speciallyinterested in Tantric Astrology and the Sidhantic astronomy]

(vi) Astrology of Arsha school which is scattered in variousancient astrological texts. This is a well accepted stream in Indianastrology starting with Skanda Hora, Brihal Prajapatyam, VasishtaHora, Kousika Hora etc. The acharyas in this school are greatRishis like Skanda, Daksha, Vasishta, Kousika, Sounaka etc, andthe authentic Sidhantic text 'Surya Sidhanta'. [I am specially inter-ested in this stream of thought]

(vii) Astrology of Jain school which is scattered in various •“an-cient astrological texts. This is a well accepted stream in Indianastrology starting with Garga Hora, Surya Prajchapti etc. Theacharyas in this school are Garga, Rishputra etc. (Jain Astrology)[Yes, of course there are other streams of thought as well like Yavanaand Parasara. But books on that them is not yet lost completely,and that is why I am not including them here on the above list]There is not even a single authentic text available that tries to ex-plore the depths of any of the categories mentioned above! Thereis a vast area available for research! They are requesting to us,"please, please, come forward and reveal the knowledge we pre-served for you..." All this ancient knowledge on astrology are stillbehind the dark curtain of half forgotten, unexplored literary his-tory. This vast knowledge is praying to us,"Tamasoma“Jyotirgamaya...". Yes, there is a large amount of workpending, and is seeking our immediate attention. All these knowl-edge is meditating there inside the dark cave and is ready to showertheir secrets before the true seekers of knowledge. Those who aretruly inquisitive can start their search from here. Let us begin oursearch for the hidden treasures of astrological knowledge. Enjoy!It is child's play- and the vast treasure house waiting for us, to beexplored! Let us begin search and present the valuables we find,

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before the all, for the benefit of posterity! And Enjoy the fun oflearning!

Swastika and AstrologySwastika was famous in Sindhu-Sarasvati Tradition. It is a fa-

mous Tantric Symbol used for various kinds of worships. Does ithave some relationship with astrology? Can it clarify to us any-thing about the tradition of Mohanjadaro-Harappan civilizationand the kind of astrology they followed? The answer is: Yes.

Before proceeding to this study, let us understand what Swas-tika is - as you know, it is a symbol. Symbol of what? That we willsee. Two sets of Swastika representations are given below. Thefirst is considered male and the second female.

Male Female

(Closkwise) (Anti-clockwise)

This is a symbol that was and is famous throughout the worldfrom the ancient past. Tibetans believed that the devils liked thefemale Swastika. In Japan and China both the male and femaleswastikas were considered auspicious. North American people tooconsidered both of them as auspicious! In Scandinavia, Arabiaand many other places this symbol was well known. Now a daysSwastika is not only used by the Agama (Tantric) tradition butalso by the Nigama (Vedic) tradition and many other religions andcults; It is popular in India and outside; even though the originalhome of the symbol is known to everybody as India.

Hitler made the male swastika notoriously known - and manysay that he selected it by mistake; instead of the currently popularfemale swastika selecting the transposed one. May be they don’tknow about the history of Swastika and its Agama tradition. Intruth as per the ancient Agama (Tantric) tradition there are twotype of Swastika - symbolically termed male and female. Both theswastikas were used for worship based on the nature of worship.But Hitler selected the one symbolizing Male (representing gooddeeds?) and made it famous as a bad symbol. Due to this or not Idon’t know, today’s Hindus seems to have a preference for thefemale swastika; may be to escape from the bad name Hitler causedto the male swastika. :) But even now in Agama tradition the Maleswastika is used for the worship for good deeds (worship for spiri-tual uplift or for the benefit of all) and the Female swastika is espe-cially selected for bad deeds (worship for selfish achievements).

The original shape of Swastika is shown in Fig.1 and Fig. 2. Itis the shape of swastika famous in India from the ancient past andis part of the Agama (Tantric) tradition. For tantric worship whenthe swastika chakra is drawn different colors (usually with 4 col-ors - White, Yellow, Red, Black) would be used to color the differareas within the swastika chakra (circle). It is cute to not that eventhough drawn as square shape, Swastika drawn for Tantric wor-

Fig. 1 Fig. 2

Fig. 3 Fig. 4

Fig. 5 Fig. 6

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ship is known as Chakra (Wheel = Circle!). Yes, as the word indi-cates, it is actually a circle or wheel represented in square shapesimilar to the zodiac circle which even though a square we usuallyrepresent as a square for convenience of drawing. Actuallyit is nothing but the Zodiac itself! How can we say so? What is theproof? The answer is - Do you ever noticed the Agama (Tantric)directions given to draw swastika? If not, here it is. For Male swas-tika -

+xiÉ¶SÉiÉÖ¹{ÉiÉÊ´É®úÉÊVÉiÉ®úÉÊ¶ÉSÉGäò ¨Éä¹ÉÉÊnùEòÊjÉiÉªÉEòÉÊxÉ {ÉnùÉÊxÉ¤ÉÉÁä´Éè·ÉÉxÉ®ú|É¨ÉÖJÉiÉÉälÉ {ÉnùÉÊxÉ ¨ÉvªÉä SÉÉ{ÉÚ®úªÉärù É³ý{ÉÒiÉ®úVÉ& Gò¨ÉähÉ**[In the infinite zodiac starting from Mesha (Aries) 3 padas (signs)each, cover, each area represented in swastika chakra. Gods suchas ‘Vaiswanara’ (=The universal god) etc sits in the middle ofSwastika Chakra. After drawing the Chakra fill it with colors suchas White, Yellow, Red and Black in order]

For female swastika this description would be as ‘Meenadika’meaning ‘Pisces onwards’ in anti-clockwise direction.

The 4 quarters of Swastika indicates the 4 directions; as male-female combination it is the representative of Siva-Sakti itself; asthe zodiac it represents the universe; it indicates the oneness of theuniversal god with the universe; the oneness of the universe andthe human efforts to grasp that oneness with fragmented classifi-cations. In the practical plane of astrology - It represents the Zo-diac, it represents the Year.

Thus it becomes clear that Swastika is a symbol of Agama(Tantric) tradition, well-known, well understood, well described.Yes, it was the tradition with a glorious past; with a glorious con-tinuity from the Mohangadaro-Harappan civilization! TheHarappan people practiced Yoga (remember the Moolabandhasaposture of the Yogic figures), Tantra (remember the Siva symbolsof Harappa and the worship of Sakti, the mother goddess). Yes,

the ancient Sindhu-Sarasvati civilization followed the Agama tra-dition; which once spanned throughout the world; It is the sameAsura/Agama tradition - which created the Nirayana astrology;feeling the rhythmic oneness of the universe within themselves!The original name of Harappa is Meluhha. Even though theKalibengan Vedic people who lived on the Indian side of Sarasvatistarted calling them Mlechhas (‘Meluhas’ = Meluhans = People ofMeluha), initially with equal respect and later with contempt fornot following the Vedic (=Brahmanic) path; the Agama traditionwas spread throughout India; Siva and Sakti and the Tantric sym-bol of Zodiac never lost its relevance; and it was the path followedby the true seekers of the ultimate; and is in use still today. Beproud to be the followers of such a tradition - and be proud thatwe are the students of a great branch of Agama Sastra that isNirayana Astrology. Don’t you wonder - The Vedic tradition gavemore value to the Tropical Year and months and the fixed frameof reference provided by Nakshatra divisions; but still the Agamatradition of Niryana astrology which consider the fixed from workof Meshadi (starting from Aries) signs survived and is the mostpopular system in India even today. Yes, the same is the case withthe culture and gods of India - the Nigama (Vedic) tradition is analmost forgotten past; but the Agama tradition is the reality in cur-rent practice throughout India! If you don’t believe look at thegods - Siva, Sakti (Devi, Chadika, Kali, Durga), Naga (Snakeworship; Kundalini Pooja) etc; and also at the popularity ofNirayana Zodiacal astrology. Do you find the Vedic gods Indra,Mitra, Varuna any where? Even after the epics and puranas howmany temples for later day Vishnava cult gods of Brahmins suchas Rama and Krishna can you find in India? Alas! Even the Vedicgods had to resort to the temple worship of later day Agama tradi-tion to preserve their existence! You could easily see that the Vedicculture got submerged here in India by the original Agama tradi-tion! Only the trace remains in the form of Vedic literature - butyes it is much valuable; since the Agama tradition never succeededto that extend in preserving the scriptures.

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Note 1: I think now you know the answer to the question, “WhatSwastika symbolize?”. Yes, it is a holistic symbol with utmost rel-evance.

Note 2: The Vedic tradition borrowed much from the earlierAgama tradition; proofs are many for the same in Vedas. The cur-rent Archeological evidences too point to the same direction.

About the system of Black Magic“We the children of cosmic divine destroy the incarnation of

sin ‘Niriti’ (the god of death) and thus destroy the evilness anddiseases that eat us up every day, every moment, by following theconsciousness. Thus we destroy the evilness in us and remove thedarkness that covers over understanding. Oh! God give us thepower to do so!”

- Atharva VedaLet it be the malicious path or the good path, to study mantravada

(A deviant path of Tatra, which aims at fulfillment of intentions) aguru (teacher) is necessary. Why? Atharvada says that- ‘Death,Water and Moon are my teachers. Rice, wheat and all other foodmaterials I am getting due to the compassion of the teacher. Ev-erything and every event in the world are my teachers’ Ashtangahridaya (A book on Ayurveda, which speaks about medicine andhealing techniques, written by saint Charaka) also speaks in thesame line- ‘For an intelligent individual, in his every act, the worlditself is the teacher. Because of this in worldly matters after under-standing the ways methods and nature of nature and living beingsone should follow the same’. These messages may give us thefeeling that a separate guru is not necessary to learn even subjectslike Mantravada. Ultimately, ‘Siva, the god which is present inand with which the whole universe is made up of, is the first guruand he himself lightens himself in everybody as consciousness –thus says the knowledgeable ones’ (Quote from Suta samhita) The

ultimate or the only real possible guru is within ourselves – whichis nothing but consciousness. The teachers can only show the way,actual teaching and learning happens from within – we ourselvesare the real gurus for ourselves. This being the real situation, wemay feel that the stress on having another individual as guru toteach Mantravada (or any other similar subject) is something overstated. But it is not so. Kularnava Tantra tells us that- ‘Siva (or theenlightened consciousness), the ultimate guru is divine. It may notbe possible for common people to see or decipher it – they alwayslive in confusion, and darkness encompasses their consciousnessalways. Due to this the students of subjects like Tantric worshipsshould take someone who is truly spiritual (who wish and act forthe well being of the universe and himself, by following his ownnature) as guru, and follow his teachings (till he himself lightensup, and becomes a guru who could see his own path or true nature– i.e. ‘Dharma’). [By the way ‘Dharma’, ‘Tao’ all mean almostthe same and could be translated as ‘the path’; But even this defi-nition does not clarify full depth of the word ‘Dharma’. An ex-ample may clarify further. ‘Burning is the true dharma of Fire’. Orin other words ‘Dharma’ could also be translated as ‘true nature’(of something)] Thus it becomes clear that to study ‘Mantravada’in the right way, a teacher is a must. This stays true for both Dur-Mantravada (Malicious Mantravada or ‘Black Magic’ and ‘GoodMantravada’ or ‘White Magic’). If not we will end up having anerroneous understanding of this subject – as truly visible from thewords ‘Black Magic’, which itself can cause confusion regardingthe depth and nature of this subject itself.

The Fundamental constituentsHaving said that, I think now we have the minimum ground

necessary to embark on this subject. But before going into thisstudy, we should have at least a minimum understanding of theconstants and of this subject – i.e. Dur Mantravada. It should beclearly noted that I am speaking about Dur-Mantravada (Black

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Magic) which is a deviation happened in the path of Tantra andnot about Tantra itself. The fundamental constituents differ a lot inboth. [If you want to know more about ‘Tantra’ read the book‘Bhirava Tantra’ by Osho] Here I am speaking about the constitu-ents of the system of Black Magic and not about Tantra. ‘Tanta’means ‘Technique’ and it is more about attaining enlightenmentby the union of opposites – Man and Women, Siva and Sakti.Dur-Mantravada (Black Magic) is more concerned with variousbeliefs, and techniques to fulfill intentions, anchoring on thosebeliefs. Black Magic is more or less based on the following be-liefs-

1) The belief in the power of secret hymns.2) The belief in the principles of similarity and transition3) The belief in Ayurveda system of medicine4) The belief in astrology5) The belief in para-normal and para-psychic powers (of

ours and non-human)6) The belief in the words of our ancestors (the belief in

traditional beliefs)7) The belief in ceremonial act or worship techniques used8) The belief in the theory of Karma (Karma sidhanta): Eg.

What you do, the result of that you are sure to get, in thislife or the other.

9) The belief in re-birth.10) The belief in multiple gods11) The belief in the ability of dreams to foretell future12) The belief in time

a. The knowledge of Time and its nature (Time is theultimate counter part of the universe, providing theextra dimension)

b. Knowledge of the effects of time (Calendar andMuturta systems)

c. The belief that we can defy time and thus death(through meditation and breath control)

d. The worship of the destroyer of time (Kalakala –‘Siva’ who can cause the death of time itself)

13) The ultimate state (enlightenment)a. Duality (Siva - Sakti) = Dvaitab. Single God (There are several systems which

consider Tripura sundari or Akhora as this singlegod) = Eka Daiva

c. Unity (The realization that the creator, creation andthe rules are one and the same) = Advaita

Except the last one, all the others are beliefs – but the last oneis rather a realization than a belief. If somebody gross from thepreliminaries of ‘Black Magic’ (ceremonial worships forintension fulfillment) to considering this as a path forenlightenment, then he is in the path of ‘Tantra’ rather than‘Black Magic’.

we should try to elaborate and understand these beliefs in moredeapth. The aim of that effort sould be to understand a method todifferentiate the pearls and waste material and literature that ispresent in the system of ‘Black Magic’.

Once the above steps is covered, we should look into the clas-sification (Shad Karma = Marana, Mohana, Uchadana etc) andfunctional constituents (Mantramsaka = Mantra deeksha, Snana,Dyana, Pranayama etc), and technical constituents (Mantra recita-tion, Homa, Use of flowers, gems and garlands, prasada dana, useof medicines and chemicals etc)

Only such an elaboration can give us the ground to have aminimum understanding about the system of ‘Black Magic’. I hopethat, I have succeeded in providing the outline of the point underdiscussion, and the area it covers.

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Tajik Astrology‘Tajiki’ is the language that present in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

in previous USSR. This language comes under the Indo-Iranianlanguage family, which is a branch of Indo-European languagefamily. Languages like Persian, Kurdish, Baloochi, Dardik, Ar-menian etc are also part of Indo-Iranian language family in whichTajiki is also present.

The primordial form of Persian language is the one used inPersia and Armenia in Arcadian ruling period. The books ofZaratushtra (BC. 1500) are written in such old Persian known asSent Avaste. The middle age pertain is known by the name Pahlavi.The script of this language is also different. Later when the Arabsconquered Iran, the Arabic language greatly influenced Persia andthe modern Persian language (AD 9th century) originated.

That means, much knowledge transfer happened via the path:Tajikistan → Armenia → Iran → India. Or in other words via thelanguage path: Old Tajiki → Old Armenian → Sent Avaste (OldPersian) → Pahlavi (Middle age Persian) → Persian (Modern Per-sian) → Arabic → Indian Languages.

One of the knowledge branches, which got transferred throughthis path, is a particular form of astrology. It is the ancient astrol-ogy prevalent in Tajikistan, Armenia and Uzbekistan which reachedthrough Iran (Through Persian and Arabic) that later became popu-lar as ‘Tajik Astrology’. It is astonishing to note that the systemstill preserved its old roots of origin even after this much transferand transformations. Thus ‘Tajik Astrology’ means ‘the system ofastrology originated in Tajikistan’.

It was with Mohammed Ghazni who entered India in 10th cen-tury, that this system of astrology reached Kashmir, and then laterwith the spreading of Arabs in India, spread throughout NorthIndia. In India the meaning of the word ‘Tajik’ transferred to refer

to Arabs. Remember the quote –

+¶Éä¹É ±ÉÉäEò ºÉxiÉÉ{É Eò±ÉÉ{Énù& iÉÉÊVÉEòÉxÉ±É&[The attack of the Arabs caused much sadness and loss of radi-ance to the whole world] Note that in this quote the word ‘Tajik’ isused to refer to the Arabs.

In Arabic Taj means ‘crown’ – thus ‘Tajik’ system could mean‘the crown among the knowledge branches’. Remember the San-skrit verse that praises astrology as the crust (or crown) of pea-cock. The quote reads as follows –

ªÉlÉÉ Ê¶ÉJÉÉ ¨ÉªÉÚ®úÉhÉÉÆ xÉÉMÉÉxÉÉÆ ¨ÉhÉªÉÉä ªÉlÉÉiÉuùiÉÂ ´ÉänùÉÆMÉ ¶ÉÉºjÉÉhÉÉÆ VªÉÉäÊiÉ¹ÉÆ ¨ÉÚvÉÇÊxÉ ÎºlÉiÉÆ**

- Éän�ÉÆMÉVªÉÉäÊiÉ¹ÉÆ

[Like the crest of peacock, like the gem stone in the head of cobra,astrology is the crown of the vedic knowledge branches]

Thus it is clear that both Ancient Vedic Indians (Suras or Devas)and the Ancient non-vedic Asura empire (which ruled Iran, Arme-nia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) which worshiped Ahur Mazda(Asura medha = Asura wisdom) in the period of ancient Zoroas-trian religion (BC 1500) considered astrology as the crown amongthe knowledge branches. It is one of the rudimentary branches ofthis ancient non-vedic astrology that was popular in Tajikistan,which is available to us now in the name ‘Tajik Astrology’.

In AD 1544 an indian scholar with the name Neelakandha trans-lated this system of astrology from Arabic to Sanskrit. ThisNeelakandha is the son of an astrologer named Ananta (AnantaDaivajna) and is the grand son of the famous astrologer Rama(Rama Daivajna) who wrote the text ‘Muhurta Chinatamani’. Theson of Neelakandha named Govinda, later wrote a famous com-mentary called ‘Peeyoosha dhara’ for Muhurta Chintamani and acommentary known as ‘Rasala’ for Neelakandha’s text on Tajiksystem of astrology. The text written by Neelakandha on Tajik

35


system of astrology is well known today as – ‘Tajik Neelakandhi’.At the time of Neelakandha Kashmir was known as Vidarbha.Note that this ancient kingdom Vidarbha was very popular fromUpanishad and Epic period onwards.

There seems to have lived one scholar who wrote some wellappreciated text on this branch of astrology in Sanskrit prior toNeelakandha known as Samara Simha. Samara Simhas text onMundane astrology must be available even now in some manu-script libraries.

The book Tajik Neelakandhi is composed of 3 parts – knowsas Tantra texts. They are –

1. Samjna Tantra (Naming system or the basic knowledge)

2. Varsha Tantra (Mundane Astrology or Varsha phala or Pre-dictions connected with year beginning)

3. Prasma Tantra (Horary Astrology)

Just as this system preserved its old roots of origin in its nameas ‘Tajiki’ (pointing to ‘Tajikistan’) the use of the word ‘Tanta’ todenote the branches is also cute to note. In ancient times all thevedic knowledge branches were known as Nigama, and all thenon-vedic knowledge branches were known as ‘Agama’ or‘Tantra’. Thus the naming of the various knowledge branches inTajik system of astrology also points to its ancient Tantric origin.The old tradition rooted in Asura wisdom.

As noted above – during the continuous transfer from Tajikistan

to Iran via Armenia and from their through the Arabs to India,even though some part of the inherent knowledge got preserved,the naming conventions used and words used changed and modi-fied elaborately. Many words, especially those used to denote vari-ous yogas, used in current Tajik system of astrology, such as thefollowing seems to denote that the origin or acceptance of wordsfrom Arabic than from its original source or origin.

1. Ikkabali (lucky)

2. Indu vara (destruction or loss)

3. Itthasala (mutual aspect)

4. Eesarapha (separation)

5. Naks

6. Yamaya

7. Manavoo

8. Kabbul (acceptance)

9. Jauri Kabbul

10. Khallasar (Empty)

11. Radrim (waste)

12. Duphali kuddhe (normal)

13. Duddhodha divir (self support)

14. Tambir (benefic)

15. Kuddh (Powerful)

16. Duraph (weak)

Actually many of the yogas mentioned in this system are popu-lar in ancient Indian astrology from age old period itself. As anexample, I will take the first of these 16 yogas, named Ikkabali

36


and elaborate.

The yoga named Ikkabali is formed when all the planets are –

1. In Kendras

2. In Panaphara

3. In Apoklima

[There is an argument regarding whether the words ‘Kendara’,‘Panaphara’, ‘Apoklima’ etc are of Greek origin or not. This Iwon’t touch here, because it is another big controversial subject initself]

Tajik Neelakandhi is tells us that “If all the planets are in Kendra,Panaphara or Apoklima the yoga named Ikkabali is formed andthe native would be very lucky”. This is a general statement. Theancient Indian astrology, deal with these 3 conditions seperatlyand gives them seprate names and provides some unique details.Let us see what are the named given by the sages for these yogasconsidering these 3 conditions seperatly.

As per indian astrology

The word kendra refers to square, i.e. 1-4-7-10 houses. If allplanets (both benefics and malefics) are in Kedra it is known as‘Kamala Yoga’. Brihat Jataka provides the following quote -

Eò¨É±ÉxiÉÖ Ê´ÉÊ¨É¸ÉºÉÆÎºlÉiÉè ÉÉÇ{ÉÒ iÉtÊnù Eäòxpù¤ÉÉÁiÉ&- ¤ÉÞ½þiVÉÉiÉEÆ�

[If all planets (both benefics and malefics) are in Kendra (1-4-7-10) then it is known as Kamala Yoga. If they are in signs otherthan Kendra (i.e. Panaphara and Apoklima) it is known as VapiYoga] From this it is clear that -

* If all planets are in Kendra (1-4-7-10), it is Kamala Yoga.

* If all planets are in Panaphara (2-5-8-11) it is Vapi Yoga.

* If all planets are in Apokilma (3-6-9-12), then too it is VapiYoga

Kamala yoga is also known as ‘Padma Yoga’. What are theresults to be predicted for these yoagas? Brihat Jataka providesthe following results -

Ê´ÉJªÉÉiÉEòÒiªÉÇÊ¨ÉiÉºÉÉèJªÉMÉÖhÉ¶SÉ {ÉnÂù¨Éä´ÉÉ{ªÉÉÆ iÉxÉÖÎºlÉ®úºÉÖJÉÒ ÊxÉÊvÉEÞòzÉ nùÉiÉÉ**

- ¤ÉÞ½þiVÉÉiÉEÆ�

[If Kamala yoga (Padma Yoga) is present, the native would be,famous (very popular), he will lead a happiest life with a multi-tude of virtuous qualities. If Vapi yoga is present, the native wouldbe, healthy (having a body without diseases, enjoying all kinds ofbodily pleasures), and wealthy. But he won’t donate anything toothers (means he won’t help others much with his wealth or prop-erty)]

It is clear that the combination is mentioned in Brihat Jataka,but how can we be sure that these combinations are mentioned bythe great sages who lived before Varaha Mihira? Even thoughMihira tells us that he had created his text only by abbreviating orbrewing the essence of ancient Rihi Horas, is there any proof avail-able to argue that the same is or might have been dealt with inthose ancient Rishi horas as well? Yes there is! Kausika hora pro-vides the results for Kamala yoga as follows -

+ÊiÉJªÉÉiÉªÉ¶ÉÉ& {Éi¨Éä ºÉnùÉ SÉÉÊ¨ÉiÉºÉÉèJªÉ¦ÉÉEÂò+nù§ÉMÉÖhÉºÉx{ÉzÉ& {ÉÖ¯û¹ÉÉä ÊxÉÊvÉEÞòi¦É´Éä±É**

- E�ÉèÊ¶ÉE�½þÉä®�É (¾þt{ÉlÉÉ)

[If the native is born in Padma yoga (Kamala yoga), he would bevery famous, and would always enjoy happiness and wealth. Hewill have a wealth of virtues and will have tremendous amount ofwealth as deposit]

This quote amply proves that such yogas were dealt within

37


Rishi horas in much detail. It is clear that Mihira collected anddiscussed these yogas based on Rishi horas only.

Actually there is a big collection of dealt with in ancient indianastrology with the name Nabhasa Yogas. Nabhasa yogas aresubcategorized in to branches, such as -

1. Asraya yogas

2. Mala yogas

3. Sankhya yogas

The yogas such as Kamala and Vapi comes under the Asrayayoga sub category, because these combinations results due to theAsraya (deposition) of Planets in houses with the names as Kendra,Panaphara and Apoklima.

[The detailed discussion of all possible Naphasa yogas is anotherbig subject and therefore I am not going into it, and thecategroization, sub categoration, and the various yogas involved]

Hope this article much have helped the readers in -

* gaining insight about the origin and development of Tajiksystem of astrology and

* understanding the both Tajik system and ancient indian as-trology sprung from the same root source of Asura wisdom, whichspanned many countries in some ancient past.

If this article inspires you to look in this unique branch of as-trology in a revised new perspective, and also if such an effortsbrings out new insights about the correlation between various cul-tures and ancient wisdom promoted by them, I would be happy.

Part -II

Sign and House are the sameWe may think that Sign are House are different, because there

are so many methods - such as one put forward by Sreepathi (10thcentury), Krishnamoorthi, 30 Degree equal division etc. Now whatwas the opinion of ancient Rishis on this subject? Have theyconsidered Sign and House differently - except from the fact thatSigns starts from Aris and Houses starts from the Ascendant? Letus go through some of the available refferences.

Parasara

If you use Jagannatha hora program to calculate houses, youalready know of many methods for calculating houses the firstoption is, ‘Each Rasi is a house (Parasari /True Vedic)’. Whichitself shows that PVR and Rath has done sufficient study on thesubject and came to the conclusion that Parasara considered ‘EachSign as a House’. I take it as sufficient proof and do not want todiscuss the slokas put forward by Parasara in detail. Let us seewhat are the opinions of others.

Varahamihira (6th Century)

Varahamihira says that - ‘Rasi kshethra griharksha bhanibhavanam chaikardha samprethyaye’. Which means - the wordsRasi, Kshethra, Griha, Riksha, Bham and Bhavanam are used inthe same meaning through out the text Varahahora. (Note the factthat the words Rasi and Griha are used in the same meaning). Ok.For that what? I will explain. In the 15th sloka of the first chapterhe states that-

‘Horadayasthanu kudumba sahotdha bandhu-

puthrari pathni maranani subhaspadaya

ribhakhyamithyupachanyari karma labha-

38


duschithka samgjitha “grihani” na nithyameke’

Which means that - the Houses (Grihani) starting from ascendanthave the names Thanu (Body -Ascendant), Kudumba (Own house- 2nd house), Sahotdha (Brothers - 3rd house), Bandhu (Relatives- 4th house), Puthra (Son - 5th house), Ari (Enemy - 6th house),Pathni (Wife - 7th house), Marana (Death - 8th house), Subha(Good things - 9th house), Aspada (Job - 10th house), Aya(Earnings - 11th house), Ribha (Expenditure - 12th house).

Everybody will accept the fact that houses are mentioned here.I am attracting your attention to the word, which was used todescribe these houses - it is ‘Griha’. In earlier statementVarahamihira has already said that the words Griha and Rasi andused in the same name throughout his text. Is it not a convincingevidence for the fact that Varahamihira considered Sign (Rasi) andhouse as the same? If you are not convinced note the next sloka.

‘Kalya swa vikrama griha prethibha kshethani

chithodha randhra guru mana bhava vyeyani

legnachathurdha nidhane chathurasra samjche

dunam cha sapthama “griham” desamarkshamajcha’

Which means (only the relevant portion) - the houses (Griham)starting from the ascendant have the names Kalya (Fame -Ascendant), Swa (Assets - 2nd house), Vikrama (Courage - 3rdhouse), Griha (House were you are born - 4th house), Prethibha(Intelligence - 5th house), Kshethani (Wounds - 6th house),Chithodha (Ego - 7th house), Randhra (8th house), Guru (Teacher- 9th house), Mana (Proudness - 10th house), Bhava (Next birth -11th house), Vyeya (Expenditure - 12th house).

Here also note the fact that the word Griha is used - whichexplicitly means Sign and House at the same time, because thewords Sign and House means the same thing, with the only

difference that Signs are counted from Aris while the Houses arecounted from Ascendant.

Therefore it becomes clear that even at the period of 6th centuryAD, Signs and Houses are considered the same. It was peoplelike Sreepathi (10th century) who made all the confusion byinterpreting Sign and House as two different entities, and byproviding new techniques of the calculation of Houses. (And justlook - in what a mess we are!! There are 5 or more methods forcalculating house!! In which we should depend on?! I don’t wantto go into the detail)

Even after all this happened there were learned scholars whonever let away the correct system - and if you are not convincedread Krishneeyam and Saravali.

Krishneeyam

Krishneeyam is written by one krishnacharya who probablylived in the 13th Century AD. A well-known and fascinatingcommentary for this classic text is chathura-sundari, written byVishnu (the son of madhavacharya who has written madhaveeya).

While commenting on the 9th sloka of Krishneeyam, he says,“adha moorthyadishu dvadesa rasishu dwadesha bhavanaha”.Which means, ‘Starting from the ascendant the twelve signs arealso known as twelve houses’. This is so clear and explicit astatement, that no true learner of astrology can deny the fact that,Vishnu considered Signs and Houses as the same thing. This alsopoints to the fact that, Krishnacharya and Madhavacharya alsoconsidered Signs and Houses as the same thing.

Conclusion

If all these ancient acharyas (Rishis, Parasara, Varahamihira,Krishnacharya, Madhavacharya, Kalyanavarama etc) consideredSign and House as the same thing, who are we to say that they are

39


different. Therefore any true learner of Vedic astrology, shouldaccept and follow the path shown by these acharyas, and considerSign and House as the same thing. (Probably Sreepathi had startedall this trouble)

Divisions Such as TrimsamsaBefore some days somebody has asked the question “Why

Trimsamsa lords are for 5-6-7-8 degrees while the name suggestthat, one Trimsamsa should be equal to 1/30 th of a sign (i.e. 1Degree)”. Let me try to answer this question.

Initially there were 2 systems in astrology for deriving predic-tions based on divisions.

1) That gives importance to Rasi vargas, especially to 12 Rasivargas (Dwadesa Rasi varga)

2) That gives importance to the lords of Rasis (signs) [Thissystem was later came to be known as shadvarga, saptha vargaetc]

Let us study these 2 systems in detail.

1) Dwadesa Rasi varga

There should be a systematic method for the mixing of the char-acteristics of signs (Rasis) without which minute analysis is im-possible. Thus came about the Dwadesa rasi varga system.“Sphugidhvaja Hora” (An old classic on astrology of AD 250)states that -

®úÉ¶ÉÉè iÉÖ ªÉÉä uùÉnù¶É ¦ÉÉ´É ºÉÆºlÉÉº´Éè º´Éè ¡ò±Éè ºÉÆEÖò±ÉªÉÎxiÉ ®úÉË¶É**

Which means - signs have 12 vargas. The characteristics ofeach division (varga) of sign differ due to the inter-mixing of thequalities and characteristics of other signs.

Now what is the systematic method for deriving Rasi vargas?

While describing hora (2 fold division of rasi) “Parasara hora”states that -

{ÉÊ®ú´ÉÞÊkÉ uùªÉÆ iÉä¹ÉÉÆ ¨Éä¹ÉÉnäù Gò¨É¶ÉÉä ¦É´ÉäiÉÂ**Which means - the hora division circles the zodiac 2 times,

starting from the sign Aris.

Putting it mathematically, we get -

Hora = Sputa x 2

i.e. if we multiply the longitude (planetary longitude or thenirayana longitude of any degree) by 2 we get the hora sputa.Thus first half of Aris would have the characteristics of Aris itself,while the second half will have the characteristics of both Aris andTaurus. For Taurus, the first half of it will have the characteristicsof Taurus and Gemini, and the second will have the characteris-tics of Taurus and Cancer. It goes on like this.

This system is true for all Rasi vargas. For example, while dis-cussing Drekkana, Parasara states that -

{ÉÊ®ú´ÉÞÊkÉ jÉªÉÆ iÉä¹ÉÉÆ ¨Éä¹ÉÉnäù Gò¨É¶ÉÉä ¦É´ÉäiÉÂ**Which mathematically means -

Drekkana sputa = sputa x 3

Thus from Aris: - the first Drekkana will have the characteris-tics of Aris, while the second is a mixture of Aris and Taurus, andthe third Drekkana will have the mixed characteristics of Aris andGemini. For Taurus: - The first Drekkana will have the mixedcharacteristics of Taurus and Cancer, the second of Taurus andLeo, and the third of Taurus and Virgo. It goes on like this.

Now is it a generalized system, which could be used for allRasi vargas? Yes, it is!! Because in Saravali (another classic textof astrology), we could see the statement -

40


±ÉMxÉÉnùÒxÉÉÆ Ê±É{iÉÉ YÉäªÉÉ º´É MÉÞ½þÉÊnù ´ÉMÉÇ ºÉÆMÉÖÊhÉiÉÉ+¹]õÉnù¶É¶ÉiÉ¦ÉHòÉ ±É¤vÉÉ ºªÉÉnùÒÎ{ºÉiÉÉä ´ÉMÉÇ&**

Which means - If you multiply the sputa of the Ascendant andthe other planets with the varga number and then divide it with1800 you can find out, in which sign the varga sputa will occur.Thus for -

4th varga (Chathurdhamsa) = sputa x 4

5th varga (Panchamamsa) = sputa x 5

6th varga (Shadamsa) = sputa x 6

7th varga (Sapthamsa) = sputa x 7

8th varga (Ashtamsa) = sputa x 8

9th varga (Navamsa) = sputa x 9

10th varga (Desamsa) = sputa x 10

11th varga (Ekadesamsa) = sputa x 11

12th varga (Dwadesamsa) = sputa x 12

There is only 12 Signs, and as you can intermix only these 12Signs the important Rasi vargas are Dwadesa rasi vargas.

But of course you can also mathematically derive other rasivargas such as,

Trimsamsa = sputa x 30

Shodasamsa = sputa x 60 etc

If you are deriving the Dwadesa rasi vargas or the higher mul-tiples, the lords of signs and the lords of these divisions are thesame. If you are not sure, see Krishneeyam -

EÖòVÉ ¦ÉÞMÉÖ ¶ÉÊ¶É ®ú´ÉªÉÉä ¤ÉÖvÉ ¦ÉÞMÉÖ ¦ÉÉè ÉÉÎRÂóMÉ®úÉä +EÇò{ÉÖjÉÉ¶SÉ¨ÉxnùÉä MÉÖ ûÊ®úiªÉvÉ<{ÉÉ ®úÉ¶ÉÒxÉÉ¨ÉÆ ÉÆ¶ÉEòÉxÉÉÆ SÉ**

Which means - the palents Mars, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Sun,

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupitor, Satern, Satern, Jupitor are the lordsof Signs and Vargas, starting from Aries in order.

Is it not a clear statement to prove that all the vargas should becounted from Aris and that the lords of vargas are the lords ofsigns itself?

But you should also remember that, if a clear method for math-ematically asserting the exactness of birth time is not present, thereis no point in using higher rasi vargas. Because if there is an errorof 4 minutes in birth time Trimsamsa will change, and if there is anerror of 2 minutes Shodasamsa will change. (Remember also thecontroversy - What exactly is the birth-time? How to rectify itmathematically if there is an error of say, more than 10 minutes?)

Understand clearly that while considering the divisions of signs,Parasara, Kalyanavarma, Krishnacharya, Sphugidhvaja etc allemphesis the point that, for mixing the charecteristics of signs, theonly method to be followed is Rasi vargas. The genral formulawould be -

Varga = sputa x multiple

If we follow this system, not only we can get a clear under-standing about the load of varga, but also the method for predectionwhile using such multiples. This statement is especially true forDwadesa rasi vargas.

So much about the first system of Divisions. Now let us dis-cuss the other system of divisions - namely Shadvarga system.

2) Shadvargadhipa system

Rather than giving importance to mixing of the characteristicsof signs, this system gives importance to the lords of the signs.

The names used are - Kshethra, Hora, Drekkana, Navamsa,Dwadesamsa, Trimsamsa.

41


May be it is this use of same names as used in Dwadesa rasivargas later caused all the confusion. The interpolation of newslokas (and dropping of some old slokas) both in Parasara horaand Saravali should have added to the trouble. Both this texts aswe get today are not in their purest form (There are many evi-dences to reach this conclusion - which are not relevant here).What ever be the connected reasons let us discuss this system.

Kshethradhipa: Lord of the sign

Horadhipa: Lord of the 2-fold division. (For odd sign - for 1sthalf it is sun and for the 2nd half it is moon. For even sign - for 1sthalf it is moon and for the 2nd half it is sun.)

Drekkanadhipa: Lord of the 3-fold division (For chara sign -lords of 1-5-9 signs in order. For sthira sign - lords of 5-9-1 signsin order. For ubhaya sign - lords of 9-1-5 signs in order)

Navamsadhipa: Lord of the 9-fold division (Navamsa lords ofDwadesa varga)

Dwadesamsadhipa: Lord of 12-fold division. (Dwadesamsa iscounted from the sign of the sputa in which the sputa is posited)

Trimsamsadhipa: Lords of some sets of degrees.[For odd sign -5 Deg (Mars), 5 Deg (Saturn), 8 Deg (Jupiter), 7 Deg (Mercury),5 Deg (Venus). For even sign - 5 Deg (Venus), 7 Deg (Mercury),8 Deg (Jupiter), 5 Deg (Saturn), 5 Deg (Mars)]

This Shadvargadhipa system, which gives importance to thelords of these divisions, rather than to the signs (Rasis), helps us inasserting the good/bad effects of the planets. How to predict usingthis system is well depicted in texts like Varaha hora.

Why the name Trimsamsa?

Now let us come back to the question ‘why the name Trimsamsameans 1/30th (i.e. 1 degree) of a sign while lords are counted fordifferent sets of degrees?’

The reason for this might be that the older of the two systems isthe Rasi varga system (especially Dwadesa rasi varga system),and the names used in it were latter adopted to the Shadvargadhipasystem.

Note the fact that in the Shadvargadhipa system, Horadhipaand Trimsamsadhipa does not even use the rasi lords. Even for theother vargas in this system the rasi lords might have been selected,just for the sake of convenience. For example see the fact that ifyou multiply Drekkana sputa with 3 it does not fall in to the cor-rect rasi, the lord of which you can select as the Drekkanadhipa.The same is true for Dwadesamsadhipa. Only in the case ofKshethradhipa and Navamsadhipa, the lords of Rasi varga andShadvarga coincide. This system, which uses vargadhipa for pre-diction, does not even provide a method to derive the lords ofhigher varga divisions. It becomes clear that out of the 2 systems,it is the most unsystematic one. Therefore better go back to theclear Dwadesa rasi varga system and try to make use of it in thepredictions and derivation of higher rasi vargas.

Another question that comes to mind is that why the meaning 1Deg is dropped and the meaning (at least) 5 Deg is taken forTrimsamsa division? The only reason I could point to is that - bythe time Shadvargadhipa system became popular the clear methodfor fixing the birth time should have been lost, and to minimize theerror possibility instead of 1 Deg division 5 Deg (at least) divi-sions are taken. (So that allowable error in birth time leaps from 4minutes to 20 minutes).

If there is other possible explanations for the question onTrimsamsa put forward by the curious learners such as “WhyTrimsamsa lords are for 5-6-7-8 degrees while the name suggestthat, one Trimsamsa should be equal to 1/30 th of a sign (i.e. 1Degree)”, please let me know.

42


Year LengthThere is a wide spread confusion among astrologers about the

year length to be followed in calculating Dasa, especially Vimsottaridasa that is most widely in use. None seem to be sure about theopinion of the ancient sages on the same. This article is an effort tobring some clarity on this issue.

Year Lengths

Several type of year lengths were in use from far ancient past.A list of some of them is given below.

Savana Year = 360 days [This seems to be the average of Lu-nar and luni-solar year. i.e. (354+366)/2 = 360 days] Many civili-zations seems to accept 360 days as year length including VedicIndian and Maya civilizations. There could be other logic as wellbehind this year length.

Normal solar Year (Soura Year) = 365.2425 days [The timetaken by sun to reach the degree from where it started]

Solar longitude based Year = 360 degree

Nakshatra Year = 27 x 12 = 324 days

Lunar Year = 29.5 x 12 = 354 days

Luni-Solar Year = 366 days [The time taken by moon to con-junct with sun again after a complete cycle]

Jupiter year = 361 days [The average time taken by Jupiter tocover a sign. Jupiter takes 12 Years to cover the whole zodiac]

Year to be selected for Dasa Calculation

The primary observations show that even the authentic textsare of different openion on the Year length to be selected. Let uslook through the available references to have a better picture. Whilediscussing Pinda Dasa Bhagavan Gargi says-

+ÉªÉÖqùÉÇªÉ Ê´É¦ÉÉMÉ¶SÉ |ÉÉªÉÎ¶SÉkÉÊGòªÉÉ iÉlÉÉºÉÉ´ÉxÉäxÉè É EòkÉÇ ªÉ& ºÉjÉÉhÉÉ¨É{ªÉÖ{ÉÉºÉxÉÆ**

- MÉÉÌMÉ[For longevity calculation (Dasa), repentance (Prayaschitta),Fireworship (Yaga/Homa, Satra) etc should be done as per SayanaYear] Following the same, Bhattolpala says-

B´ÉÆ {ÉÖ û¹ÉºªÉ VÉx¨ÉºÉ¨ÉªÉä ºÉÉ´ÉxÉ¨É½þMÉÇhÉÆEÞòi´ÉÉkÉº¨ÉÉÊkÉÊlÉxÉIÉjÉSUäônÆù iÉÉ±EòÉÊ±ÉEÆò EÞòi´ÉÉ iÉlÉÉ nù¶ÉÉxiÉqÇù¶ÉÉ&EòÉªÉÉÇ& iÉiÉ& +ÉMÉÉÊ¨Énù¶ÉÉ¡ò±ÉÆ ´ÉHò´ªÉÆ**

- ¦É]Âõ]õÉä±É{É±ÉÂ[After calculating Day, Nakshatra, Tithi etc, based on Savana Yearsystem the Maha Dasa, Antar Dasa, Paryantar Dasa etc should becalculated]

It is clear that both Gargi and Bhattolpala advice the use ofSavana Year (360 days) for the calculation of Dasa. There is asaying-

¨ÉÖxÉÒxÉÉÆ ´ÉSÉxÉÆ ºÉiªÉÆ ¨ÉxiÉ´ªÉÆ IÉä É¨É{ºÉÖÊ¦É&- VÉÉiÉEòÉ¦É®úhÉÆ

[Those who would like to have well being should accept the wordsof sages (and follow the same)]

Astrology is an Agama Sastra (Ancient Tantirc advice). Theadvices of sages are of maximum importance in it. If we acceptthis, it becomes clear that for Dasa calculations we should use the360 day year length.

But there could be an opposing argument. Gargi and Bhattolpalaspeaks about using Savana Year of 360 days, while discussingPinda Dasa. How can we be sure that the same is the case withVimsottari Dasa? But this argument will not stand, because eventhough Gargi and Bhattolpala does not discuss Vimsottari Dasa,they never discards it as well. Bhattolpala was well aware of

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Parasara system. He refers to to Parasara with respect in the com-mentary on Brihat Jataka. This indicates that he was well aware ofVimsottari Desa system as well. More over the same issue of yearlength is applicable to Kalachakra Dasa as well. Apart from Savanayear neither Gargi nor Bhattolpala suggests no year lengths forDasa calculation. Thus it becomes clear that as per their opinion,for all Dasa systems the year length of 360 days should be used.

If this is not enough, Dumdi Raja in Jatakabharana tells us-

=HòÉÊxÉ ºÉÆ ÉiºÉ®ú{ÉÚ ÉÇEòÉhÉÉÆ ¡ò±ÉÉÊxÉ iÉ±ÉÂ |ÉÉÎ{iÉÊ®úÊiÉ |ÉEò±{ªÉÉºÉÉÆ ÉiºÉ®Æú ºÉÉ´ÉxÉ´É¹ÉÇ{ÉºªÉ {ÉÉEäòªÉxÉiÉÖÇ|É¦É´ÉÆ JÉ®úÉÆ¶ÉÉä&**

- VÉÉiÉEòÉ¦É®úhÉÆ[Whatever results I have predicted earlier for Prabhavadi Year etcwill become applicable in the Dasa of Savana year lord and theRitu results and Ayana results in the dasa of Sun]

Here also the reference to Savana Year for calculating Dasaindicate that Dumdi Raja also accepted the Savana year of length360 days for calculating Dasa.

Thus it becomes clear that if we follow the ancient astrologicaladvice, as per the direction of sages, then we should use ONLYSavana year length of 360 days for Dasa calculation! Thus myadvice is that-

If you are following the True Ayanamsa derived as per theancient Surya Sidhanta (provided to us by Chandrahari) thenyou should use the Savana year length of 360 days for calculat-ing the Vimsottari Dasa.

[True Ayanamsa of Chandrahari is approximately 46| morethan Chitra paksha Ayanamsa]

But this is not the end of the story - there is one more valid andauthentic opinion regarding the year length to be used. SageMantresvara in Phaladeepika says-

®úÊ´Éº¡Öò]õºiÉVVÉxÉxÉä ªÉnùÉºÉÒkÉlÉÉÊ´ÉvÉSSÉä±É |ÉÊiÉ´É¹ÉÇ¨ÉEÇò&+É´ÉÞkÉªÉººÉÎxiÉ nù¶ÉÉ¤nùEòÉxÉÉÆ ¦ÉÉMÉGò¨ÉÉkÉÊqù´ÉºÉÉ& |ÉEò±{ªÉÉ&

- ¡ò±ÉnùÒÊ{ÉEò[Based on the longitude of the Sun at the time of birth, when thesun reaches the same degree in the next year, a year should beconsidered as completed. Based on this the Year, Month and Daysof Maha Dasa, Antar Dasa and Paryantar Dasa should be calcu-lated]

It is clear that sage Mantresvara is referring to the use of Nor-mal solar year (Soura Year) of 365.2425 days! How this happened?Is it that sage Mantresvara is discarding the opinion of earlier sages?No. There is a specific reason for this advice. By the time of SageMantresvara the theoretical foundation of ancient Surya sidhantawas lost and people started considering the point opposite Chitrastar as the starting point of Aries, or in other words ‘Chitra pakshaAyanamsa’ came into existence! This must have necessitated theuse of 365.2425 day year length for the results to match with pre-diction. Thus my advice is that-

If you are following the Chitrapaksha Ayanamsa then youshould use the Solar year length of 365.2425 days for calculat-ing the Vimsottari Dasa.

The cute thing is that both of these systems in most occasionswill give the same Dasa, Antar Dasa and Paryantar Dasa for mostof the events.

I am just presenting my understanding about the Year lengthsin use and their acceptability based on ancient texts. The learnedmay correct me, and provide their inputs on this regard.

Origin of the word Jyotisha The word Jyotisha does not seems to be appropriate com-

pared to the original word that is used to denote astrology - the

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words used is “Kala Tantra” and “Kala vidhana sastra”, meaning“subject that deals with time” or the “science of time”. Now com-ing to the word Jyotisha the better word used by our ancestors is“JyothiHsastra”, which is a combined name for Astrology, As-tronomy and the related Mathematics. If we divide the word, itwould be as follows:

JothiHsastra = Jyotis+Sastra (and NOT jyoti+sastra).

“Jyotis” indicates the light emitting bodies, or the light reflect-ing bodies as seen from earth. Thus is indicates both stars andplanets. “Sastra” means “Ancient advice” (Sasyate ithi sastra).There fore in essence “JyotiHsastra” means “Ancient advice aboutstars and planets” or if you want to use the word science then say“Science that deals with stars and planets”.

My friend Vinita ji says: “Jyotisha” mean Jyoti + Isha = lightof god.

That meaning is entirely new to me, and never heard any onementioning such a meaning. If we consider the word “Jotisha”and if we want to divide it, yes, of course we can say it is“Joti+Isha”. But what is that “Isha”?!! In sanskrit “Eesa” or “Esana”is god, god Siva, who is the lord of North-West direction. Butwhat is “Isha”?! How can we say that it means “God”? So I don’tagree to such defenitions.

If we consider the subject matter of astrology, we will recog-nize that it deals with destiny, the rhythm of solar system, andmovements of planets and mathematical points, though all of whichTIME runs as a connecting thread. It is better scientific, whenknown as the “subject that deals with time” or the “science oftime” rather than “Ancient advice about stars and planets”. Thedemerit of the second definition is that in predictive astrology weare not at all dealing with the stars, but only with Nakshatras (fixedarea in sky covering an area of 13 deg 20 min). Still, the words

Kala Tantra, Kala vidhana sastra, Jyotisastra are better than theword “Jyothisha” I would say.

The Origin of the word “Jotisha”

The ancient names for astrology were Kala Tantra (Science ofTime), Kala Vidhana Sastra (Study of classification of time - i.e.Calendar system), Jyotisastra (Study of light emitting or light re-flecting celestial bodies) etc. This branch of knowledge was alsoknown as Jyotishmati (An intellect/brain enlightened by thethoughts on cosmic spheres & light sources) from the period ofAtharva Veda. ‘Mati’ means intelligence and also denotes an indi-vidual with intelligence, brainy person. The first text on astrology,i.e. Skanda Hora (as per Arsha school) is also known as‘Jyotishmati’. It is said that Jyotishmati text (Skanda Hora) is theappendix of Atharva Veda (Atharva Khila), and is an Upanishad.Many slokas from this text is available even today. Only a personwith Jyotishmati (An intellect enlightened by the thoughts on cos-mic spheres & light sources) can predict accurately. May be theword ‘Jyotish’ is the natural abbreviation of the ancient word‘Jyotishmati’, which denotes astrology, astrological texts, and theastrologer. The exact meaning of the word ‘Jyotish’ alone wouldbe ‘light related’ or ‘study of light emitting objects in sky’ anddoes not seems to depict the exact subject matter of astrology.

My friend Vinita ji says -

Time is always with regard to motions....motions with respectto something fixed like the Nakshatras....i remember reading some-where that if there was no movement with reference to somethingfixed, there would be no time, according to the theory of relativity.

We should better think according to relativity - as per context.Newton’s law of gravitation is wrong as per Einstein and there isno force called gravitation but only curvature of space. But thisstatement does not keep us away from using Newton’s laws of

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motion when we consider the planetary movements in solar sys-tem. Same is the case with ‘Fixed’ areas in sky - Nakshatras.

Similar to the concepts of relativity, movements etc broughtinto picture by the statement of Vinita ji - I would just like pose apuzzle. As per Newton, the force or attraction between two bod-ies is proportional to their mass and the distance between them.You know it right? I am just twisting the context-

The force of attraction one body exerts on another depends onthe mass of the other body and the distance between them! Thismeans that the first body should ‘KNOW’ the mass of the otherbody and the distance between them before hand!! And gravita-tion depends on that! How an inert body can ‘KNOW’ the exist-ence of the other body - is it that Newton wants to say that everybody has a ‘Mind’ within?! :) Now may be you could see, howthings could be misinterpreted, when taken out of context, or outof the framework where they are supposed to be used. In Sciencethey use the word ‘System’ to denote the framework with in whicheach concept is valid. Same is true for the concepts used in anyholistic subject. Yes, I suggest, dive deep into the subject and un-derstand the importance of the concept ‘System’ or ‘Frame work’used both in Scientific and Holistic study methods.

Again during our conversation Vinita ji said -

I came across an interesting link regarding how the 0 point inthe zodiac would determine the extent to which there is equal divi-sion of the signs (and the nakshatras?). Intuitively, it is difficult tothink of how each nakshatra could be placed EXACTLY at a dis-tance of 13 deg 20 min from the other, just as it is difficult to imag-ine that all the constellations/signs of the zodiac can be containedEXACTLY within 30 degrees.

My answer was as follows. Signs and Nakshatras are math-ematical divisions of the ecliptic, and in the current developmental

stage of astrology has nothing to do with the imaginary shape ofstellar constellations. If you want to know more about the math-ematics and concepts behind the fixing of Zero point in the zo-diac, and also how the signs and Nakshatras got divided, read thebook “Hindu Zodiac” written by Chandra Hari. Anyway, we allmay find several questions for which none of us have any answer.But yes, we can enquire, search, ask others, and yes, when we aregenuinely interested some answers will pope up from some cor-ners when the time is ripe.

“Ohm...Sahanavavatu...Sahanou bhunaktu...Sahaveeryam Karavavahi.......Tejasweenamadhenamastu...ma..Vidishavahai......Ohm....Santi..Santi..Santi..”

Astrology in Epic periodIn the ancient text ‘Jyotisha Karandak’ (probably a text in the

Jain school of astrology), it is said that-

Lagnam cha dakhinavisute suvi assa uttaram ayane

Lagnam sai visuvesu panchasu vi dakhina ayane

This sloka is in Prakrit. In sanskrit is should be-

Lagnam cha dakshina vishuveshwapi asvam uttara ayane

Lagnam swati vishuveshu panchaswapi dakshina ayane

In this sloka the Nakshatras Aswati and Swati are said to be the‘Lagna’ of the equinox!! This probably means that there was atime when Nakshatras where considered similar to Rasi!!

Consider it along with the fact that in Epics only Nakshatrachakra and placement of planets in Nakshatra is mentioned! Forsure we know that-

In Vedic period : Tropical calender + (fixed) Nakshatra chakrawas used

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So if Vedic astrology was Tropical, and if Nakshatra chakrawas a gift of Vedic astrology, then is it that Nirayana (Siderial)system based on Rasis is of Non-Vedic origin? Is it that epics de-picts the extension of Nakshatra chakra system?

Chandra Hari ji asks:

Whatabout the Weekdays? Epics have no mention of them.Without weekdays can there be astrology?

As far as I know, it might be ‘Yanjchavalkya Smriti’ that men-tions week days first. It says -

SooryaH Somo MaheeputraH Somaputro BrihaspatiH

SukraH sanaischaro rahuH ketuschaite grahaH smrita

Meaning, Su, Mo, Ma, Me, Ju, Ve, Sa, Ra and Ke are theGrahas. We can see the planets arranged in the order of Weekdaysin this sloka.

Is it that week days originated in the period of Smriti only? Oris it that the Non-vedic (or Vedic?) concept of Weekdays got amentioned in smritis only by the period of Yajchavalkya smriti?

By the way, Do you know which is the text that first mentionsthe name of Rasis (Signs)? I have a cute info. In ‘Bodhayana sootra’it is said that-

“Meena Meshayor Mesha Vrishabhayor vasnta”

It might be the first mention of signs starting from Aries (Mesha)in available literature. In Yajchavalkya smriti also the signs arementioned. Which of them is oldest? Who knows!! Just sharingsome info.

Nakshatra CharkaIn Vedic civilization mainly used the Nakshatra Chakra for as-

trological prediction. The same can be observed in epics as well.

Now the question is – What is this system? And how they used it?Let me try to answer it as per my limited knowledge. First weshould accept the following points.

• Originally Nakshatra division was related to path of Moon,and in that unequal division, the 28 Nakshatra scheme was used.But later for mathematical clarity the Nakshatra divisions wereassociated with ecliptic (movement of earth/sun). Thus came thedefinition of Nakshatra as 1/27 th of the ecliptic, which is equal to13 deg 20 min. Since Nakshatra Chakra is an equal division of theecliptic only 27 Nakshatras are important in this system. The con-cept of Degree-minute was present, as evident from theMahabharata sloka bit – “KashtaH kala muhoortascha divaratristhatha lavaH”. Here, Kala = Minute. Bhaga = Degree (Thisis not mentioned in the sloka)

• The 28 Nakshatra scheme, that is associated with the path ofmoon, will not be discussed here. (Due to the fluctuations in thepath of Moon this system can not give correct results for long).The 27 Nakshatra scheme (as told in Titireeya Samhita) is closerto the system we follow today. This is the reason for neglectingthe 28 Nakshatra scheme in this study.

• The movement of equinox through Nakshatras was observedin Vedic period. This was possible if a fixed frame of Reference ofNakshatra Chakra was in use. That means the Nakshatra Chakraused in Vedic period was not Tropical but Sidereal in nature.

• Thus, Nakshatra Chakra is the fixed frame of reference basedon which the movements of planets were studied.

• The Sidereal Year was also in use and many other year sys-tems as well. The use of Sidereal year is clearly indicated by theTitireeya Brahmana sloka bit “Nakshtrani Savatsarasya Pratishta”,meaning, “The year is calculated based on Nakshatras (fixed stel-lar divisions)”.

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• The importance of 360 day Savana year (used in NakshatraDasa) is due to the (intentional) association of the ecliptic (move-ment of Sun) with Nakshatras done by Rishis. Sun stays in a starfor 13.333 days on an average. Multiplying it with 27 we get –360 days.

Classifications used to study the nature of Nakshatras

1. Nakshatra devatas were assigned

I don’t want to discuss here in details, you can get these detailsfrom any slandered text of astrology.

2) Male-Female classification

Nakshatra names that end with i, e or a where considered fe-male and others male. Mrigaseersha and Moola were consideredKleeba (impotent) nakshatras.

3) Kula-Upakula-Kulopakula classification

Three Nakshatra may fall into a lunar month division of thezodiac. The Nakshatra name based on which the lunar month(Aswini, Krittika, Mrigaseersha etc) is named, that Nakshatras arecalled Kula. In other words, in the corresponding lunar monthsfull moon occurs in those Nakshatras. The next Nakshatra is calledUpakula and the third Kulopakula. The same strategy for all thelunar months.

4) Sthiradi classification.

Nakshatras were classified into 5 categories and lordship as-signed to planets. This lordship is different from the one consid-ered now. But here the thing to remember is that the meaning ofStiradi names assigned to Nakshatras were considered more im-portant than this lordship. The list is given below:

Sthira (fixed) – Utra, Utrada, Uttara Bhadrapada, Rohini - Sun

Chara (movable) - Swati, Punarvasu, Tiruvonam, Srevishta,

Satabhishak - Moon

Ugram (Fierce) – Purva Phalguni, Purva Ashada, PurvaBhadrapada, Bharani, Magha – Mars

Misram (Mixed) – Visakha , Krittika - MercuryKshipram (Fast) – Hasta, Aswani, Pushya - JupitorMridu (Soft) – Mrigaseersha, Ravati, Chitra, Anuradha- VenusTeekshnam (Sharp) – Moola, Jyeshta, Ardra, Aslesha- Saturn

This classification was used to understand the nature ofNakshatra

and the people born in them.5) Nakshatra Purusha

Just like the Kalapurusha (Rasi purusha) concept related to Rasis,Nakshatra purusha concept was in use. (Ref. Mahabharata) Wemay be able to find many more classifications if we are willing tosearch the allied Vedic literature. I think the above is sufficient tohave a start.

4-fold prediction system

The Nakshatra Chakra, Planets including Ra and Ke, Benefic-Malefic classification of planets, Exaltation and debilitation of plan-ets (in Nakshatra Chakra), eclipsing of Sun and Moon, Retrogradeof planets The ephemeris components such as Nakshatra-Tithi-Vara-Karana- Nityayoga, waxing and waning of Moon – all thesewere considered to make elaborate prediction. If we look at theepics we could find that a 4-fold system was in use. That means,predictions were given for-

1) Nakshatra Lagna (Ascendant star)

2) Placement of Planets in Nakshatras

3) Conjunction of Planets (in Nakshatras)

4) Janma-Sampad-Vipat etc naming of Nakshatra was in use.

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This might have been in use some what similar to the Bhava sys-tem.

It is not certain, whether the Drishti of Plants was considered inthat period or not. If it was, then Drishti should have meant, Drishtibetween plants in opposite Nakshatras. An elaborate study willreveal the intricacies of this 4-fold system of Nakshatra based pre-diction system that was in use. An elaborate study of the NakshatraChakra (27 Nakshatra scheme) based prediction system used inVedic literature and Epics calls for a detailed study. Hope that be-fore the system is lost someone will come forward to collect, ar-range, explore and elaborate this original system of Nakshatra basedprediction.

I started this article by thinking of writing a very long articlebased on the same, but is seems that my fuel is over, as far as thissubject is concerned :) Now I know that it needs a lot more studyin my part, to write good long articles on subjects like, ancientsystem of Nakshatra Chakra based prediction etc. :) Hope youwill pardon my ignorance.

A Secret ExposedIn Prasnamarga it is said that “if a person with true inquisitive-

ness is approaching an astrologer, then the astrologer should tellhim about problem he is facing and should suggest the appropri-ate solution”. But how? How should we (astrologers) know, whatthe qurent is thinking about, if he is presenting the query by him-self? In places like Kerala, usually a person approaches an as-trologer and just says : “I want to cast a prasna.” !!!! And it be-comes the responsibility of the astrologer to decipher:

1) What the prasna is about?

2) What is the possible solution for the problem faced by the

qurent?

Yes. It is real challenge!! A challenge towards the capability ofthe astrologer, and also about the accuracy of horary astrology!!How the learned astrologers solve this situation? Do you want toknow? Then read on -

There are 2 slokas (good and authentic) that help the traditionalastrologer to predict what the qurent is thinking about or what thequery is about. One of them is from Prasnamarga and the other isfrom Varaha Hora. In this mail I will explain the first one - the onefrom Prasnamarga. The sloka is like this :

“Aprishtatha prishtatho va jinchasyoresya kasyachilHora Kendra Trikonebhya Subhasubha Phalam Vadeth”

Actually this sloka is not of Prasnamarga, but of Vasishta Hora.The author of Prasnamarga has just quoted (included) this slokafrom Vasishta Hora as evident from the next sloka - “Vasitavachanadasmath.........” Meaning, Since Rishi Vasishta said thisand also me (author of Prasnamarga).....

Yes, since Rishi Vasishta told this secret and author ofPrasnamarga (Edakkad Nambootiri) supported it, the sloka getsdouble authenticity!! What is the meaning of that sloka? Let mequote it again:

“Aprishtatha prishtatho va jinchasyoresya kasyachilHora Kendra Trikonebhya Subhasubha Phalam Vadeth”

Meaning, If somebody approaches the astrologer with curios-ity, even if he asks or not, the astrologer should give predictions tohim, BASED ON HORA, KENDRA AND TRIKONA. Yes, itseems to be simple, and it seems that there is no secret hidingbehind. NO! It is not like that! There is lot to explain a SECRETbehind, as is known to all traditional astrologers. What is that?

The advice by Vasishta is that prediction should be based on“Hora Kendra Trikonebhya”. What is “Hora”?

“Horeti legnam Bhavanasyachardham” (Varaha hora) -

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Meaning, Hora is the name for Lega (Asc) or Half of a sign.For our above sloka, the meaning Hora=Lagna is the apt one.There for in essence it means, if there is any planet in the Lagna,then the qurent is seeking answer to the things indicated by thatplacement of that particular planet!

If there is no planet in Lagna, then what to do? Read on thesloka-

“Hora -> Kendra->”Yes, if there is no planet in Lagna, then look for the placement

of planets in Kendra. Kendra means 4th 7th and 10th Houses/Signs from Lagna. Now the question is where to look? In 4th, in7th or in 10th. The traditional answer to this question is first in10th. Why? Because if you look in Laghu parasari, you will seethe statement “Pradabala Utharotharam”, Meaning for Kendrasthe strength increases in the order 4th->7th->10th. That means 7this stronger Kendra than 4th, and 10th is stronger Kendra than 7th.Indications the strength order 10>7>4. So look at the 10th housefirst. If there is no planet in Lagna, then if there is a planet in 10thhouse, then the query is related to that placement! If there is noplanet in 10th as well, then look in 7th to see whether there is anyplanet in it, if not look in 4th. Now what to do if there is no planetin Lagna as well as 10th, 7th and 4th? Look what the sloka says?“Hora -> Kendra->Trikonebhya” Yes, if there is no planet inKendra, we have to look for the placement of planet in Trikona,meaning 5th and 9th. Now, here also where to look? In 5th or 9th.The statement “Prabala Utharotharam” applies here as well. Thatmeans 9th is stronger trikona than 5th and so we have to look forthe placement of any planet in 9th first! Now you can say that, ifthere is no planet in Lagna and Kendra (10-7-4) then look forplanets in 9th or 5th. If there is a planet in 9th then the prasna isrelated to that. If 9th is vacant and if there is a planet in 5th then theprasna is related to that. If there is no planets in Lagna, Kendra

and Trikona, then what to do? :) Then there is no point in thatprasna, since the person is in an utterly problematic unsolvablesituation, and even the guidance by the astrologer would be of nouse to him. :) But still, there also you can look for the bad place-ment of Lagna lord first. I think at least for some the method isclear by now. Somebody can come forward with examples, tocheck how much it becomes true in his own experience.

Of course, the secret is not complete. There exists 1 more method(as told earlier, from Varaha Hora) that is used for the same pur-pose (i.e. Locating the underlying problem that caused the qurentto approach the astrologer). The learned astrologers use this method(the method described earlier), and the one given in Varaha horatogether, and considering the indications supplied by both of themcome to a conclusion. I will explain the other method in anothermail. Till then, let us experiment with this method.

Method -2

In Prasnamarga it is said that “if a person with true inquisitive-ness is approaching an astrologer, then the astrologer should tellhim about problem he is facing and should suggest the appropri-ate solution”. But how? Let us see, how the traditional astrologerare approaching this question, by making use of a Varaha Horasloka. Which sloka is that? I will quote it for you.

“Kandaka Kendra Chatushtaya samjchaSaptama Lagna Chaturdha KhabhanamTeshu yedheshu hithabhi baladyaKeeta narambu chara pasavascha”

Meaning, Kandaka, Kendra, Chatushtaya are respectivelynames for 7th,1st and 4th Houses. Of them Reptail signs, Humansigns and Water signs, and quadruped sign are strong in order.

i.e. In 7th House = Reptail Sign is strong.In 1st House = Human Sign is strong.

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In 4th House = Water Sign is strong.In 10th House = quadruped (four footed animal) sign is strong.

This seems to be simple. What secret is there? How can it helpus in understanding the thought of the qurent? Wait...Wait..I willexplain. Think that the presna Arudha (or Lagna) at the time ofquery was Aries. Now look is the 7th house a reptile sign (Sc andCn)? No. Is the 1st hose a Human sign? No. Is the 4th House (Cn)a water sign? Yes! Is the 10th House a quadruped sign? well, yes/no, it is Cp, partially water sign and partially quadruped sign. OK.Thus is means that the 4th house (the born home/native_place ofthe qurent where his mother, father, brothers, sisters and relativeare present) is (at the time of prasna) a a very strong influence andcontrolling force in that persons life.

But what is the natural tendency of the Lagna? Lagna (In thiscase, Aries) is a quadruped sign, which should naturally gets itsstrength if placed in 10th!! That means the natural tendency of theperson is to concentrate and immerse himself in work! He is moreinterested in work, and don’t like any disturbances in that, but thefamily is holding him back!!

Yes, with the fact alone that Aries is the ascent, you are able toreach this much! Now, whether this influence +ve or negative?Whether his actual problem is the family (4th house) or the job(10th house)? To know this look at the chart again to see the place-ment of 4th lord and 10th lord, and also see how strong is Lagna/Lagna lord?

1) If 4th lord is badly placed then the bad influence or condi-tion of the family/relatives is causing the trouble.

2) If the 10th lord is badly placed then the loss of expectedsuccess / failures / problems in job is causing the trouble.

3) If the Lagna is strong and lagna lord is well placed (theyindicate the qurent himself) then the qurent is able and the prob-

lem is just with the situation. If not the inability (financial or other-wise) of the qurent is also causing the situation to become worse!

Does it mean that all prasna indicates bad things only? No! It isnot like that. When presna Aruda (or Lagna) is Aries and if there isno problem with 4th and if there is a well placed planet in 10ththen the query is related to 10th, about a positive subject, such asa promotion in job or the like! Similarly if there is no problem with10th and if there is a well placed planet in 4th (e.g Mo) then he isthinking of constructing a new house or the like for sure!! (i.e.something that the 4th house and the planet placed in it signify)

Yes, I have explained the example situation by taking Aries asLagna (at the time of query). Now if Taurus is Lagna/Arudha atthe time of query, then what? Yes you know the answer. ;) Thesign “that becomes strong” is the 7th house, since it is a retailsign. (Retail signs are strong in 7th) - So the query could be aboutmarriage or a marital problem. The “that should become strong”(or the natural tendency of the Taurus lagna) is 10th house. (Tau-rus in a quadruped sign) - so he should better concentrate on work.Does he do so? or is it causing the current problem? Locate whatthe qurent wants to ask about (could be either good or bad situa-tions) basing your thinking on these lines. It is easy to locate -combined with the additional clues the planetary placement givesus!!

I think atleast to some of us the idea is clear by now. The tradi-tional astrologers try to logically locate the prime problem/thoughtof the qurent by using both these principles. If both of them leadsthem to the same conclusion, then usually they won’t allow thequrent to speak, and tell his problem on his face, and thus catchinghim in absolute surprise!! Once this happens then it becomes avery easy task for the astrologer since, after that what ever he sayswould be accepted by the qurent by not even without a question!The good astrologers take it as a positive tool to give good guid-

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ance and counseling to the qurent and direct him in the right path.Bad astrologers - humm....You know what that do.... Yes, that iswhy it is said that astrology is a double edged sward. It can beused to guide the qurent to the right path, or to make him believeand first and then destroy him/cheat him totally, by giving wrongguidance! Yes, I agree, all knowledge is similar - good in the handsof good people, and bad in the hands of bad people.

Ok. That were some side thoughts - back to astrology. Experi-ment with the above principle.

Lesson to remember : Some slokas that seems simple hidesample secrets within!! And it demands hard efforts form the partof us to bring them out.

I would just like to add some more info. About the sloka takenfrom Varaha hora. That concept of Human sign becoming strongin Lagna, Water sign in 4th, Retail sign in 7th and Quadruped signin 10th is not a new idea introduced by Mihira. The Garga Horasloka stating the same is also available. Garga was a famous sageof the Jaina Parampara, and might have lived in the time of Skandahimself, since may ideas mentioned by Skanda by ‘others’, foundits place in Garga Hora. Skanda is the author of first book onastrology, known as Skanda hora (many slokas of which is stillavailable). Skanda hora is also called Jyotishmati Upanishad. Mostof the Rishi horas like Brihat Prajapatya, Vasishta Hora, KousikaHora, Sounaka Hora etc are based on Skanda Hora. All these textsare already lost though many slokas and references about thesetexts are available in many medieval astrological classics. VarahaMihira might have collected the above mentioned idea, possiblyfrom Garga or Skanda. The Garga kula provided many texts andgurus (Garga, Gargi, Gargya, Rishiputra etc), like the Arsha stream(Skanda, Daksha, Vasishta, Viswamitra, Sounaka etc) that followedthe ideas put forward by Skanda.

Yes, it is a mysterious literary history, that needs a lot of studyand data collection. Just supplying some side thoughts. Point toremember:

1) The “Hora Kendr Trikona “ theory finds its authenticity inVasishta Hora.

2) The “Kandaka Kendra” tehory finds its authenticity in GargaHora.

Curious! Isn’t it?! ;)

Dear Souvik ji, Depend on your clear understanding, since thelist given by various texts may vary slightly. ;) I won’t talk muchabout the conflicts in texts, but will explain how to depend onyour clear understanding of the symbolic shapes ascribed to signs.

Let us consider the (imaginary) shape that is ascribed to eachsigns:

1) Aries : The Sanskrit word is ‘Mesha’, meaning Ram(uncastrated male sheep). As you know it is a four footed animal.so, Aries is a quadruped sign.

2) Taurus : The Sanskrit word is ‘Vrishabha’, meaning Ox.Yes, it is also a quadruped and thus Taurus a quadruped sign.

3) Gemini : The Sanskrit word is ‘Midhuna’, meaning couple(A Male and A Female standing together). So it is clear that it is aBiped human sign. (But this sign also represents many beings with2 legs, Biped, such as chicken etc as well, since the synonym‘Jootuma’, of Gemini represents chicken, or many other 2 leggedbirds that mingle with humans. Remember it is the same situationwith all the other signs as well. Each sign is significator of manyliving beings. I am not going into it, since I want to limit this mailto the subject under discussion)

4) Cancer: The Sanskrit word is ‘Karkata’, meaning crab (yes,thecrab that lives in water). Here a confusion popes up. The

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Nakshatra ‘Aslesha’ represents snake, the Nakshatra Pushyami hasgot the other name ‘bee hive’. Many saints have told us that wecan think about all the non-poisonous reptiles with cancer sign.So in short it is a reptile sign. Actually the word used by saints is‘Sareesripa’, any thing that move with it belly, such as snake, cha-meleon et. (This sign could represent not only reptiles but alsobees, crabs, fish, butterflies etc as well) To represent such beingsonly 2 signs are used, Sc and Cn, and so this is a reptile sign forsure. But as you know the crab lives in water, and the sign itselfrepresent, a pure water (not salty water) pond, and therefore it is awater sign as well. So cancer could be a reptile sign or a waterysign! And so the confusion.

5) Leo : The Sanskrit word is ‘Simha’, meaning Lion. Yes, forsure it is a quadruped sign.

6) Virgo : The Sanskrit word is ‘Kanya’, meaning virgin lady.Yes, it is a Biped (human sign) for sure. It is symbolically depictedthat this lady is traveling in a boat through a river with plant in onehand and fire in other. So there could arise a confusion that it is awater sign as well. But there is not much support for this argu-ment, as far as the main classification is concerned. Yes, the pres-ence of water becomes important, if you are thinking about theavailability of water, with the use of prasan or the like, otherwisewe can discard it, and it is a human sign for sure.

7) Libra: The Sanskrit word is ‘Tula’, meaning balance. Thesymbolic pictorial representation of the sign is of a man with abalance (the measuring instrument) in his hands, sitting is a streetside market, selling something. So for sure it is a human sign.

8) Scorpio : The Sanskrit word is ‘Vrischika’, meaning Scor-pion itself. The sign has got other names such as Snake, bee hiveetc as well. As stated earlier it is one of the 2 ‘Sareesripa’ signs,any thing that move with it belly, so for sure it is a Reptile sign. It

represents anything that is poisonous and deadly.

9) Sagittarius : The Sanskrit name is ‘Dhanu’, meaning bow. Itis symbolically represented as a kingly warrior with bows andarrows, but the portion below hip of that person is horse like! Sohere also there is little amount of confusion. It is said that, the 1sthalf of Sagittarius is quadruped and the remaining half human.

10) Capricorn : The Sanskrit name is ‘Makara’, meaning croco-dile as well as big fish (like shark). The symbolic representation ofthe sign is half crocodile like and the remaining half dear like! Sohere also confusion exists. But yes, the first half of Capricorn couldbe considered as water sign and the remaining half Quadrupedsign.

11) Aquarius : The Sanskrit name is ‘Kumbha’ meaning pot.The symbolic representation is, a man with a pot in his hand goingin search of water. So it is for sure a human sign. But the presenceof Pot in the symbolic representation of the sign makes someonethink that it is a water sign as well, which is false, since the pot isempty.

12) Pisces : The Sanskrit name is ‘Jhasha’, meaning fish. Yes,fish that lives in salt water. The sign itself represents the sea. So itis watery sign for sure. This I think makes the subject clear. Due tothis situation, it is better to depend on the symbolic representation,and your own clear understanding of that symbolic representa-tion, to classify the signs, than depending on some slokas withoutthinking. If you just try to depend on slokas, you will find slokas,that seems to be contradicting each other in the first look. Butwhen you understand the base of this naming you will see thatthere is no conflict/contradiction between the statements of Saints/Acharyas. :) There are 2 related points that also should be ex-plained.

Signs are Symbolic

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The shape ascribed to the signs are symbolic. The saints wantedthose signs to indicate several significance for which the sign standsfor and that is why that particular symbol/shape is ascribed to thatsign. I will explain. For example take Libra. The symbol is of aman sitting with a balance in his hand weighing something, in amarket place. So for sure, Libra represents a town, humans, mea-suring instruments, food that is eatable for humans, road, crowd,logically correct arguments, interest in maths, business men,learned, luxury, love for good life etc etc. See how clear it is! Thesame is the situation with other symbols.

Significance and its classification

Significance are assigned only to - 1) Signs 2) Nakshatras 3)Houses 4) Planets

What can they signify? Each of them can represent ‘any thing’present in the world!! Or in other words, each of them represents,‘every thing’ present in the world! Try to classify them yourself.

For example a sign could represent-

1) Humans (classify them based on relationship/cast/job/genderetc)2) Plants (classify them based on water/land/creeper/tree etc)3) Animals (classify them based on carnivores /herbivores/wildetc)3) Non living things (classify them based on metal/non-metal/liquid/gas etc)

Yes, you could extend this list. ;)

This same rule for classification of significance for sign appliesto Nakshatras, Houses and Plants as well. But the problem is that,due to the vastness this list and the subject you can not find properlists in classics, but only simple directions. The slokas are just point-ers, that directs you, the way through which you would have toexercise on your own thinking ability. :) Don’t ask me as well, I

too don’t have a well classified elaborate list, which makes every-thing clear and lists out everything in the world. ;) We are waitingfor better lists on all these from you. ;)

“Ohm Sahanavavtu….Sahanou bhunaktu…Saha veeryamkaravavahai……………”

Bhava Nasakaro Jeeva?Qn:

The ‘bhaavanashaaya thing’ do you for one really apply in yourphalaadesha? Tell me.

I would joyously like to quote – Let’s go about it baby step bybaby step.

Because, before I state anything about my own stands, I shouldclarify what the classics say.

Brihat Jatakam states –“Lagnal Putra kalatrabhe subhapati prapteadhavalokite

chadradwa yedi sampadasti hi tayo”

One of the meanings of this sloka bit is that, if the 5th and 7thfrom Lagna is aspected (Drishti) or conjoined by Ju then childrenand wife (vridhi of 5th and 7th house) results. The same can beconsidered from Moon sign as well. From this sloka it is evidentthat Mihira is against the “Karako bhavanasaka” concept. Ju issignificator of 5th house and Mihira says that if Ju is in 5th housethen for sure children will result. Also remember that while speak-ing about the placement of Ve in 7th Mihira says “priyakalahostagethe suratepsu” meaning an increase (vridhi) in sexualurge. My guru says that Ju in 5th or Ve in 7th is like an over volt-age bulb. :) I have seen horoscope with Ju in 5th. Usually thatnative would be very bright with many capabilities (Ju issignificator of intelligence) but in later stages of life (even by halfway through life) they behave almost like lunatics! Their mind

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become too unstable! Presnamarga give the same combination tojudge lunatics!!! It is really over voltage causing damage to thebulb! :) In essence every karaka amplifies the results the Bhavacan produce May be, It would be right to say “Karako Bhavavridhikara”, but may be at the end if the native can not stand it(due to his inner strength), the fuse of the bulb burns!! Like MihiraI would like to stand against the “Bhava nasakaro” concept at thesame time accepting the slokas like the one given in texts likePrasanmarga in the light of the advice given by my guru. :)

Let us take a real life example and try to understand it in thelight of the above knowledge and the words of Rishis. Yap, weare going into the details.

Problem:• Ju in 7th in its own house or exaltation should give many

wives or increase in sexual urge.

• But is it seen that they are satisfied with only one wife!

Is it that “Bhava nasakaro jeeva” concept (not supported byMihira and Rishi horas) at work here or something else? Shouldwe consider and correlate “Bhava vridhikaro Sani” along with itor not?

Study:• Ju in 7th cause an increase in sexual urge and beauty of the

native.How can I say that?! Because -

“Pitro gunadhiko jeeve saptame suhrdanvitarati geeta priyaH khalvadanaH kalahavargitaH”

Says Hora Pradeepam. Meaning, If Ju is in 7th he would havemore good talents than his father, many friends, would like sexand music, love to travel, won’t like to quarrel with any. Look atthe statement “rati geeta priyaH” (would like sex and music) in

this sloka.

Now let us see what Garga hora says about the placement of Juin 7th –

“Gauri suroopam sphuta pankajakshim sitaH subharkshesubhadrishtiyuktaH

chirayusham Bhagyayutam naram cha kuryad gururdarpakavasavasi”

Meaning, If Ju is in 7th placed in good sign with the beneficaspects then, his wife would be young, beautiful, with beautifuleyes, fair skin. If Ju is in 7th then he would have longevity, luck,and he would be handsome like Kamadeva (the god of sex). Lookat the statement “darpakavasavasi” (handsome with good sex urgelike the god of sex) in this sloka.

From the above due to “Dwi tri samvada bhaval” (since 2 or 3arguments indicate the same) I conclude that Ju in 7th cause anincrease in sexual urge of the native.

• If 7th lord is in its own house then the native would be goodnatured and handsome and will have many abilities.

The following two statements substantiate this –

“Saptamage saptamape paramayuH preetivatsalaH purushaHNirmala seela sametastejaswee jayate satatam”

Says Vridha Yavana. Meaning, If the 7th lord is in 7th housethen the native would have longevity, compaction, good nature,smartness and brightness.

This applies to Ju in 7th in its own house as well, as said byKasyapa Rishi - “Ati guna Jurou jaya dunastite” Says KasyapaHora. Meaning, if Ju is in its own house in 7th then, he wouldhave many capabilities (and would be handsome).

• But alas! Even though the native have good sexual urge and

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handsome, women won’t show much interest in him!

Why?! But before answering that question, let understand whosays so.

Look at the following sloka from the text ChamatkaraChintamani –

“Matistasya bahwee vibhootischa bahwee Rathirvai bhavadbhaminee nama bahwee gurur garva kridyasya jamitra bhavesaprindadhikoakhanda kandarpa eva”

Meaning, if Ju is in 7th he would be intelligent, will live a good(luxurious) life, but women will not show much interest in him.He would be handsome (and would have good sex urge) likeKamdeva, and would be proud of his own abilities and beuty. Hewill have many relatives and friends born of his own clan andwould be powerful because of this. Just look at the words“Rathirvai bhavad bhaminee nama bahwee” (women will not showmuch interest in him, and there fore he won’t have much girl friendsand much sexual life) and “akhanda kandarpa eva” (He would behandsome and would have good sex urge like the god of sex). Isit not interesting?! This is specially true if Ju is in its own house inSg or Pi.

Ok. Now I think it is time to answer the question, why ladiesare not showing much interested in such a personality with goodcontacts, beauty and sexual urge. Even if the ladies are not show-ing much interest in him, if he is ready to execute his power andabilities, it would be very very easy for him to get or seducewomen!

Why he is not doing it? Yap, you guessed it, due to his veryown nature! :) He is guru, he is respectable, then how can he dothat?! Women are not showing interest in him due to the very factthat he is respectable and serene. Don’t you believe me? Let uslook at the predictions given for Ju in Cn (exaltation sign of Ju),

Sg (own house of Ju) and Pi (own house of Ju). If Ju is in Cn, then-

“Vidvan suroopa dehaH prajchaH priya dharma swabhavaschasumahalbalo yesaswi prabhuta dhanyakara dhanesaHsatya Samadhi sametaH stiratmajo lokasalkritaH khayataHnripatir jeeve sasibhe visishta karma suhrijjatanurataH”

Says Saravali. Meaning, if Ju is in Cn then, the native wouldbe knowledgeable, intelligent, powerful, famous, with goodwealth, will stand for truth, will be interested in meditation, stablemind, good children, will do good for the world and would befamous due to that, will live/behave like a king, will follow gooddeeds, and will have many friends and relatives.

Dear women, he is highly respectable, and it is better not to gonear him seeking sex!! Even if he want to play with you, he won’tviolate the etiquette!! It seems that he is not going to fall for you(women really like that), then why fall for him. ;) Probably not! Itis better not to go after him seeking sex, and it seems that he won’tcome after you as well, though he may like to enjoy high gradesex with his wife. ;)

If Ju is in Sg then –

Acharyo vrata deeksha yejchadeenamsu samstitarthaschaData suhril swapakshaH priyoparasrutadi rataHMandaliko mantri va dhanurdharasthe bhavet sada jeeveNana desa nivasee vivikta teerthayatana budhiH”

Says Saravali. Meaning, if Ju is in Sg then, the native would beinterested in doing Vrata, Yaga, Mantra worship etc. He will ad-vice to do such thing to others (common people) as well. He willacquire much wealth, will be kind and companionate, helping rela-tives and friends, will be a member of committees or social orga-nizations. He will visit many countries, many sacred places andsacred buildings like temples.

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Hay man! He is a guru and adviser! It is better to consult himasking for suggestions. Dear women will you dare to make himfall in immoral sex with you?! Or will he like to do so? Probablynot! It is better not to go after him seeking sex, and it seems that hewon’t come after you as well. ;)

If Ju is in Pi then –

“Vedartha sastra vetta suhridam poojyassatam cha nripanetaslakhyassadhano adhrisho hyaheena darpasthirambhaHrajchassuneeti siksha vyavahara rana prayoga vetta chakhyataH prasanta cheshata sthirasatwayutascha ménage geeve”

Says Saravali. Meaing, if Ju is in Pi then, the native would bevery knowledgeable in the etymology meaning of Vedic texts (hewould be very knowledgeable and interested in grammar and lin-guistics), respected by friends, a person with leadership quality,perfect (interested in perfection in every field), egotic, will stick tohis aim in all his endeavors, will have good knowledge about law-training- teaching etc, will have good understanding about the useof weapons, famous, steady and quit mind, stable, he is not wor-ried about what may come and keeps the stability of mind both inhardships and happiness.

Dear women, he is too respectable, steady, able and seems dan-gerous with his contacts and abilities – it is better to keep awayfrom him! With that much interest in ethics do you think he willcome after you, even if there is a huge amount of sex urge in him!Impossible, better to stay away from him and for sure he is notgoing to hurt you. ;)

See how the situation turns out to be! Ju is not destroying any-thing! Ju is not destroying the normal tendencies of the 7th house,but only enriches it! But when the natural tendencies of Ju takeshold, and strengthens the inner nature of the individual, then someresults like many wives becomes almost an impossibility. But we

should know that if willing for a person with such a placement ofJu in 7th it is very easy to get 2 or more wives or many sexualrelations. That means the result is there – but it becomes yapya(hidden/suppressed) due to the very nature of the native. Or due tothe very nature Ju in 7th (in exaltation or own house) imparts tothe native. It is very clear that the “Karaka bhavanasaya” short cutis not at all necessary to explain or understand the situation. Thatis all about Ju, “Bhava vridhikaro Sani” is another beautiful story.I will tell about it and will explain why it is irrelevant in the con-text of ancient classics in another mail.

I think my answer is clear by now. I don’t use the “Bhava vridhikaro” or “Bhava nasakaro” ‘thing’. It is better to go the straightbut long way, than to take shortcuts that which can not be appliedin a generalized manner. If anyone try to do so, he/she will end upstanding against the classics, in many situations.

How to predict with NavamsaNavamsa is the 9th Varga. It is 1/9 th of a sign, and that is why

the name Navamsa.Nava = 9 Amsa = Division. Navamsa = 1 division out of 9

divisions.

Navamsa longitude = R x 9

Navamsa prediction is also based on the 7-fold system

[I] Stana (Place)

Saravali says – “Now I will say the lagna navamsa phala forsigns starting from Aries. With lagna navamsa we should knowthe color, shape and lakshana (nature of the native & significanceof the amsa). The same method could be applied to Chandranavamsa and the navamsa of all other planets” This sloka indi-cates that -

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1) Color (based on navamsa sign and navamsa lord)

2) Shape (Swaroopa and geography)

3) Nature (character attributes of the native)

4) significance assigned to the navamsa

Are the basic 4 methods used to extract the stana phala. Let usdiscuss the Shape (Swaroopa concept in detail). This is one of thebasic rule to be followed in prediction based on navamsa. As saidearlier, to determine the stana phala for each navamsa several meth-ods are used. One of them is assigning Swaroopa. This has 2 varia-tions.

i) Navamsa Swaroopa (assigning imaginary shape to thenavamsa)

Saravali says – “The person born in the first navamsa of Arieswill have a face similar to ram, small nose, short arms, rough sound,half closed eyes, a slim body without handicaps” Saravali assumes/assigns such imaginary shape to the individuals born in allnavamsas.

ii) Navamsa Swaroopa based on navamsa number

This is another method of assigning navamsa Swaroopa. Hereimaginary shape is assigned to individuals born in differentnavamsa of each rasi based on the navamsa number with in thatsign. For example, if a person is born in the first navamsa of anysign, then he would be – “stingy, not bold enough in taking deci-sions, sinner, wants to hurt others” says shadvarga phala prakash.

[II] Bhava (House)

The house (from natal lagna) in which the navamsa falls. Forexample if the amsa of the 2nd lord is in 12th, assets and bankbalance etc can be predicted. Also if we want to speak about ex-pense then in which items the money would be spend would be

indicated by the sign in which navamsa falls and the lord of it.

[III] Graha (Planet)

The combination (uti) of planet is considered in navamsa aswell. For example think that Ma is in the 5th navamsa of Aries(which falls in Leo) and Mo is in the 8th Navamsa of Virgo (whichfalls in Leo). Also think that Ju is in Leo. Then there is a Ma-Mocombination in Leo in navamsa. Normal prediction (consideringthe mixing of significance) given for Ma-Mo combination can begiven here as well. But no predictions considering Ju-Ma or Ju-Mo should be given, since Ju is in sign and others are in navamsa.

[IV] Stana-Graha (Place-planet)

The traditional astrologers use the “Asraya rasi phala (predic-tion for placement of planets)” told for planets in natal chart innavamsa as well. [No. Don’t think of navamsa chart. I am speak-ing about navamsa super imposed on natal chart and not aboutnavamsa chart] But there are 2 other cute methods for place-planetprediction using navamsa.

i) Considering the House lord (House = Sign)Saravali says “Without considering the lordship of houses, we

can not move even a single step forward in prediction”. Shadvargaphalaprekash says – “If the navamsa of Su is in the house of Suitself then, he would be wealthy and live a good life. But he wouldlike quarrelling with others, taking the wrong methods and ap-proaches and the like. He will have many diseases as well”. Simi-larly prediction for all the other planets are also given.

ii) Navamsaka sign based predictionSphujidwaja hora says – “Navamsaka in Aries sign (any planet

placed in navamsa allotted for Aries sign) indicates, land, gold etcif Ma is strong. Navamsaka in Tarus sign indicates, quadrupeds,women, wealthy people etc”. For example, in a presena if Su

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navamsaka is in Aries, then that sun could indicate gold, if thelagna lord is Su then the presna itself could be about gold. In whichsign that sun is placed is not important here. See the difference inuse of the these words as well-

Navamsa = 1/9th of a signNavamsaka = to which sign that 1/9th part is allotted. (in whichsignthat 1/9th part falls).

If Su is in Aries 9 deg, then Su in Aries 3rd Navamsa and theNavamsaka falls in Gemini. So Navamsa is Aries 3rd Navamsaand Navamsaka is Gemini. These words are at times used almostin a similar fashion as well. So take those words as having almostsame meaning, but don’t get confused. While making Place-Planetpredictions with Navamsa, remember that the basic significance othe planets and signs remains the same. The only extra thing beingthat it is looked though a new dimension. Mihira also speaks aboutthe Place-planet based prediction with navamsa. For example, inViyoni Janma chapter of Brihat Jataka, he says – “If the lagnamsakais strong then the color of that sign would be the sign of the animalborn at that time” Remember that the word lagnamsaka indicatesthe sign in which lagnamsa falls. Taking another example fromVaraha hora, let us think of the sloka “Ojarkshepurushamsakeshu…”. Mihira says “If Lagna, Su, Moon, Ju andthere amsakas falls in male signs then it would be a male birth”.Here Male/Female variation of sign is considered. So it is a place-planet prediction. See to the fact that Mihira is speaking about theMale/Female variation of 8 signs. They are –

• The sign in which lagna is posited.• The sign in which Su is posited• The sign in which Mo is posited• The sign in which Ju is posited

• The sign in which the lagna navamsa falls (Lagna navamsasign= Lagnamsaka)• The sign in which the Su navamsa falls (Su navamsa sign =Suryamsaka)• The sign in which the Mo navamsa falls (Mo navamsa sign =Chandramsaka)• The sign in which the Ju navamsa falls (Ju navamsa sign =Gurvamsaka)

I started with Place-Planet prediction given for navamsa andnow the path, seems to turn may be because of some discussionshappening in this forum at this time, so I stop here. ;)

By the way there is a whole chapter (Chapter 17) allotted tonavamsa based place-planet prediction, in Varaha hora. Have alook at it.

[V] Bhava-Graha (House-Planet)

Predictions are given considering the Navamsaka house (start-ing from natal lagna) in the horoscope. For example, Mihira says– “Koujamsesthe Sourina vyadhi yoni”, meaning if the navamsaof Ma falls in 7th (from natal lagna) then she will have some dis-ease related to sexual organs”. Brihal prajapatyam says –

Aste jeevamsake tatra bhargavena nireekshiteYa jata tam vijaneehi yoni manojchakanwitam

Meaning, “if the navamsa of Ju falls in 7th from natal lagnaand the Drishti of Ve falls in 7th then she will have beautiful hipand sexual organs” Spot the fact that, since 7th house and planetsare considered it is a House-Planet prediction.

[VI] Stana-Bhava (Place-House)

Since house is always counted from natal lagna this system isnot much important in navamsa based prediction. But we can lo-cate some other cute uses of this. Remember that exaltation, de-

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bilitation etc is also related to place. (Stana) Look at this slokafrom Prasnamarga –

Daresasya navamsese moodhe neechari bhagakePapandare papa drishte kalatrantarabhag bhavel

Meaning, if the lord of the sign in which the navamsa of the 7thlord falls is combusted, debilitated, in enemy sign, between maleficsor aspected (drishti) by malefics then, the native will have morethan

one wife. For example, think that Virgo is Lagna and thenavamsa of the 7th lord Ju Leo. Then if Su (lord of leo) is inLibra, he will have more than one wife. Here -Ju = Daresa (7th lord)2nd navamsa of Pi = Daresasya navamsa (Thus the JuNavamsaka is Leo)Su = Daresasya navamsesa (navamsa lord for Ju)

Notice that, in this sloka, exaltation, debilitation etc (and thusPlace) and 7th house (and thus House) is considered and also thatthe prediction is based on Navamsa. But such slokas are rare andis mostly based on things like exaltation-debilitation (Place),

Kendra-trikona (House) etc.

[VII] Stana-Bhava-Graha (Place-House-Planet)

Look at the Varaha Hora sloka “Vridho MoorkhaHSooryajarkshamsake va” Meaning, “if the 7th house is Cp or Aqand if the navamsa of Sa falls in that sign, then she will get anaged person with not much education as husband”. For example,if Lagna is Cn and the navamsa of Sa falls in Cp then her husbandwould be an aged person. Notice that here – Cn (Place), 7th house(House) and Sa (Planet) are considered. Also notice that it is anavamsa based prediction. I think this explanation might havecleared the doubt – “how to predict with navamsa” at least to acertain extend. Always remember that it is the 7-fold prediction

system that is used both in natal chart and in Vargas (amsas).

• The vargas (amsas) only modify the results shown by the natalchart.• Drishti is not considered in Vargas (amsas).

This message is becoming too long and I have already coveredthe 7-fold system. So I stop here.

P.S. : Take an example chart and elaborate on the same.

Vasya SignsAs per astrological classics, for:

Aries - Leo and Scorpio

Taurus - Cancer and Libra

Gemini - Virgo

Cancer - Scorpio and Sagittarius

Leo - Libra

Virgo - Gemini and Pisces

Libra - Virgo and Capricorn

Scorpio - Cancer

Sagittarius - Pisces

Capricorn - Aquarius and Aries

Aquarius - Aries

Pisces - Capricorn

are Vasya signs.

What is the logic behind this concept? Let us try to understand.

For Aries, Leo and Scorpio are Vasya Signs. Why?

Leo - the lord of Leo gets exalted in Aries.

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Scorpio - Aries and Scorpio are ruled by the same planet.

Rule : (1) If any other planet gets exalted in the sign then thesign ruled by that planet could be a Vasya sign.

Rule : (2) If the lord of 2 signs are the same, the second signcould be a Vasya sign for the first and vice-versa.

For Taurus, Libra and Cancer are Vasya signs. Why?

Cancer - Rule (1) applies here. Lord of Cancer Moon is ex-alted

in Taurus. Libra - Rule (1) applies here. Taurus and Libra areruled by the same planet Ve.

For Gemini, Virgo is Vasya sign. Why?

Virgo - Rule (2) applies here. Gemini and Virgo are ruled bythe

same planet.

For Cancer, Scorpio and Sagittarius are Vasya signs. Why?

Scorpio - Is there any connection? The lord of Cancer getsdebilitated in Scorpio!! Both Cancer and Scorpio are signs thatrepresent reptiles - i.e. Sareesripa signs. The lord of Scorpio getsdebilitated in Cancer. So there is a very strong connection betweenthe two signs. Rule : (3) The sign in which the lord of the firstconsidered sign gets debilitated could be a Vasya sign. (Here Mogets debilitated in Scorpio) Sagittarius - Rule (1) applies here. Thelord of Sagittarius gets exalted in Cancer.

For Leo, Libra is Vasya sign. Why?

Lira - Rule (3) applies here. Lord of Leo Sun gets debilitated inLeo.

For Virgo, Gemini and Pisces are Vasya Signs. Why?

Gemini - Rule (2) applies. Gemini and Virgo are ruled by thesame planet Me. Pisces - Rule (3) applies. Lord of Virgo Me getsdebilitated in Piaces.

For Libra, Virgo and Capricorn are Vasya signs. Why?

Virgo - Rule (3) applies. Lord of Libra gets debilitated in Virgo.Capricorn - Rule (1) applies. Lord of Capricorn Sa gets exalted inLibra.

For Scorpio, Cancer is the Vasya sign. Why?

Cancer - Rule (3) applies. Lord of Scorpio Ma gets debilitatedin Cancer.

For Sagittarius, Pisces is Vasya sign. Why?

Pisces - Rule (2) applies. Sagittarius and Pisces are ruled by thesame planet Ju.

For Capricorn, Aquarius and Aries is Vasya sign. Why?

Aquarius - Rule (2) applies. Capricorn and Aquarius are ruledby the same planet Sa. Aries - Rule (1) applies. The lord of Ariesgets exalted in Capricorn.

For Aquarius, Aries is Vasya sign. Why?

Aquarius - Rule (3) applies. The lord of Aquarius gets debili-tated in Aries.

Fro Pisces, Sagittarius is the Vasya sign. Why?

Sagittarius - Rule (2) applies. Pisces and Sagittarius are ruledby the same planet.

Lesson to remember: The sages never tell a thing without rea-son and Logic!! We just need to search and find it out!!

Vasya means, mutual attraction. The classics talk about signswhich have some kind of mutual attraction. Put in other words,the people born in Vasya signs (Asc or Moon sign)of each other

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gets attracted to each other, either sexual attraction or friendship.Because of this Vasya relation between the Lagna of the girl andboy. Vasya between the Moon signs of girl and boy are consid-ered. This concept is normally used while horoscope matching formarriage. Vasya primarily indicates the attraction we feel towards aperson, just by seeing him/her, even before knowing his/her abili-ties and qualities. It is the inherent quality of the horoscope andthe sign in which the person is born is causing this attraction.

The concept of Vasya (Mutual attraction) can also be used:

1) In Marriage compatibility (This is the traditional use)

2) In selecting your business partner.

3) In selecting your girl friend.

4) In selecting friends etc

Of course we are not selecting friends/business_partners/girl_friends etc after horoscope matching. But if we have somereal relations, we can check the horoscope to verify that, whetherthis principle of Vasya is there at work causing the bond, and help-ing us to strengthen the relation. I hope, though simple, havingthis sound and useful concept in our wallet of astrological knowl-edge, would be useful also in understanding the importance thegreat seers gave to the concept of Exaltation and Debilitation.

Vasya attraction between the Lagna signs or Moon signs is oneof the criterion for determining the mutual attraction between twoindividuals. It is NOT the lone criterion for determining the same!The are other systems that are used for the same purpose such asthe one known as “Rana_Ranee Bhava” compatibility in marriagecompatibility, which also speak about the plancement of Lagnalord, 7th lord, Lagna and Moon Navamsa etc. There is anothersystem called “Rasi vasyam” to have a primary understanding aboutthe sextual attaction (and compatibility) between people born on

different signs. As you know there are some Nakshatra based rulesas well to do the same. It is due to the existance of these manyauthentic rules, which gives prime importance to different factorsthat, we consider all of them in the marriage compatibility (alongwith other rules to validate the future incidents in life) and come toa conclusion almost in a statistical manner!! Yes, I agree, it is notthe statistics but the understanding of the astrologer about the fu-ture events in store for the couple is more important. But the wellfounded rules like Vasya really needs consideration, and shouldbe appreciated. :)

The period of influence for any YOGA in horoscope is deter-mined by DASA and supporting GOCHARA. YOGA could be 1)Sign based, 2) Bhava based, 3) Planet based, 4) Sign-Bhava based,5) Sign-Planet based, 6) Bhava-Planet based, or 7)Sign-Bhava-Planet based. You can rephrace the above terminology based onNakshatra as well.

But the Vasya I told is not a YOGA! It is more related to thebasic nature of the sign itself. I will elaborate little further:

Point -1

The nature of a sign is determined based on divisions such as:

1) Kalapurusha (1 fold)2) The Male-Female classification (2 fold)3) Chara-Stira-Ubhaya, Srishti-Stiti-Samhara etc (3 fold)4) Satya-Dwapara-Treta-Kali Yogadi etc (4 fold)5) Earth-Water-Fire-Air-Sky (Pancha bhootadi)etc (5 fold) etc.

Point -2

The nature of the sign is further clarified based on the follow-ing or similar concepts which fundamentally depends on the un-derlying concepts noted as point -1. They are:

1) Rasyadhipatya2) Exaltation-Debilitation3) Human-Watery-Reptail-Quadrapad etc

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Point -3

The concepts that are based on concepts noted under point 1 orpoint 2 or similar ones.

1) Rasi Vasya and RasiBhava vasya2) Preeti signs etc etc.

Actually concepts noted under points 2 and 3, which are fun-damentally based on the primary concepts or in turn on the sec-ondary concepts needs to be pondered more, logically, so as tobringout the essential logic used by Rishis in designing them.

Point -4

All of these are not YOGAS since the YOGA concept cameinto existance only in the horoscope. But here (in Vasya etc) weare actually speaking about the nature of the sign, rather than thehoroscope itself!! I think the point is clear at least to an extend,and expects more inputs from the leaned members.

Marriage compatibility(A conversation with Arjun ji)

Arjun ji:

Dinam, ganam, mahendram, dheergham, yoni, rasi,rasyadhipati, vasyam, rajju, vedha or dosham, gothram,nakshatram, pakshi, bhootam and others are all listed for measur-ing each parameter of compatibility required in any relation be-tween two individuals. to add to these, manglik dosham, kaalasarpadosham, grahana dosham, Besides various modern man researchedor invented doshams are all there. unfortunately, the various mea-suring tools mentioned in various medieval classics have someinherent contradictions.

Me:

I feel that it is unsystematic (i.e. non-classified) view of theconcepts presented, is causing us the trouble in understanding the

(actually well classified!!) ideas put forward by saints and acharyas.I will clarify:-

Let us approach the first confusion encountered by any one

approaching and trying to use marriage compatibility. You statedit nicely. I agree with your statement. It would be the prime viewthat would be felt by any sincere person approching marriage com-patibility. But the point to remember is that-

The Acharyas have classified compatibility considerations stated

above by you (dinam, ganam etc..) as (“Agoodha GoodhaBhedena dwidha hi khadana gunai”):

I. Agoodha (Non-hidden) marriage compatibility considerations

Eg: Rasi, Rasyadhipa, Vasya, Gana, Mahendra, Yoni, etc......

II. Goodha (Hidden) marriage compatibility considerations

Eg: Drishti (Liking), Mana (Love), Deha (Health and Body),Vidya-Vinaya (Education), Stanabhijatya (Status&Position), Vaya(Age) etc

Now the Non-hidden (Agoodha) marriage compatibility con-siderations are again classified into four.

1) Sign Based

Eg: Rasi, Rasi-vasya, Rasi-Yoni, Rasi-Bhoota, Rasi-Varna etc

2) Sign-lord Based

Eg: Rasyadhipa, Rasi-bhava vasya etc

3)Star Based

Eg: Gana, Dina, Mahendra, Strideerkha, Nakshatra-Yoni etc.

4) Star related (Not important)

Eg: Nakshatra-bhoota, Nakshatra-Pakshi, Nakshatra-Mriga,

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Nakshatra-Linga, Tara-Maitri, Rina-dhana etc.

Of the above four the first 4 are direct “application” of someancient concepts in marriage compatibility. (The marriage com-patibility system originated later only compared to those concepts).The compatibility considerations given as Nakshatra-related aremay of still later application of some nakshatra related conceptsinto compatibility, and many acharyas have told us that they shouldnot be given much importance.

Now comes the considering of the Nakshatra based Doshas.Yes, except one of them (i.e. Vedha) all of these are star based, andtherefore the

importance is to that extent only.

1) Nakshatra-Vedha : Though the word Nakshatra is there inthe name, it is actually a method for locating star combinations,that fall in the Shashtashtama (6-8 axis) signs that cause the mosttrouble. So in essence it considers Sign and Nakshatra.

2) Nakshatra varga vedha

3) Rajju Dosha etc

But still now, except the general qualities of sign and star, theplanetary placement in horoscope is not considered yet!! So let usconsider if the planetary placement supports/indicates marriagebetween those 2 people, by using,

1) Rana-Ranee Bhava (Structural compatibility between horo-scopes) and

Now let us compare the placement of malefic in the horoscopein a ‘general’ manner, by using,

2) Papa samya (Mangala dosha is just something comes within this)

Actually all the systems said above is child play, and the real

ability and understanding of the astrologer in understanding thehoroscope, is used from here onwards. i.e. Now we have to checkfor:

1) Chance for having children

2) Death/Divorce

3) Poverty and scope for economic success

4) Possible Health problems in future

5) Lesbian/Gay nature of male/female

Yes, All of these together it is popularly known as Jataka Poruta(meaning ‘Horoscope Matching’) which indicates that this is themost important considerations in horoscope matching and also thatthese are to be looked IN HOROSCOPE rather than in the merename of sign or star.

Now consider the Agoodha compatibility options as well basedon your understanding of the family, education, status, health etcof male and female and their family!! The relatives of bride andgroom will do this, even if the astrologer is not doing it. So wedon’t have to worry much about it.

This is the well-classified system put forward by the Acharyas.Can we call it un-scientific, or unsystematic?!

We follow it or not, the situations allow us to do it or not, etcare all our trouble and the Acharyas should not be blamed forthat!!

Arjun ji:

Yes, this is where a practicing astrologer if follows saatviklifestyle and develops divine intuition, due to the vaak suddhi andvaak siddhi, the reading, analysis and prediction become simpler.

Me:

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Yes, yes, all this is necessary, and I agree completely. But wouldlike to add that, we should add it up to the above (systematic un-derstanding of the system put forward by the Acharyas)for thebest results.

Stars and Planets(A conversation with Arjun ji)

Arjun ji:

Stars and planets are existing in nature, rasis are mythical innature.

Me:

I disagree!! Why? I will explain.

1) Stars : They are also mythical (following your terminology)since we are talking about stellar divisions and NOT Yoga taras.Our star (i.e. Nakshatra) is ‘an area in sky’, a stellar division, cov-ering 13 deg 20 min. Thus become mythological due to the samereason you ascribed to rasi.

2) Rasis (Signs) : They are also mythological (following your

terminology) since they represent ‘an area in sky’ covering 30deg.

3) Planets : They are also mythological, since in astrology, weare not talking about the planets that physical entities having nospecial qualities and significance 9we ascribe to them in astrol-ogy). But instead we are talking about Sun that is Father and Atmakaraka, Moon that is mother and water, Mars that is warrior etc!!!If not mythological how will you understand it scientifically!!

I will better agree upon using the word ‘concept’ or ‘hypotheti-cal construct’ rather than the word ‘mythological’. In astrology -1) Signs 2) Nakshatras 3) Planets 4) Bhavas(Houses) become con-cepts!!! Actually these are the basic ‘constructs’ in astrology (similar

to ‘Vata-Pita-Kapha’ in Ayurveda and ‘Vital force’ in naturopa-thy) and that is why significance is assigned to these 4 categoriesonly. :) I think you will support this view which helps us much, inunderstanding the logical system called astrology, and understand-ing it as a system that fits into ‘holistic approach’.

Arjun ji:

Over and above, we have astrology derived from hindu my-thology. While according to mythology we treat planets includingsatellite moon as gods and worship their personalities, astronomyand science paints them as balls of some mass. while the sciencesays how moon waxes and wanes, all puranas says how moonwas cursed with kshaya roga due to his neglecting of his 27 wives,how the modern man percieves these contradictions - to see starsas wives and planets as husbands or just balls of some light.

Me:

Here also the problem is with understanding the views of an-cient Rishi’s in there own light, I mean the system provided bythey themselves. I will explain:

In there holistic approach to subjects under study, the ancientRishis from the period of Vedas itself, uses approaches such as-

1) Adhi-Bhowtika

2) Adhi-Daivika etc.

Ascribing human nature or thinking that a divine god/goddesswith a particular shape/body/qualities is present within ‘each andevery material’ (They left nothing! It was a system of study!) is amethod utilized by the saints in study!! But, yes, I should agreethat, this lead to too many misunderstandings and confusions. Butshould also understand that, this system of study is beautifully uti-lized in astrology which negates this disqualification ascribed toit. Just see how beautifully we can picturise things, when we see-

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Sun - as a king, with a strong and matured body

Moon - as a queen, with a motherly nature

Venus - as the beautiful lady

Gulika - as the snake etc !!

The same system is in use, when we see -

Aries - as Ram

Taurus - as Ox etc as well!!

It is better to have a closer look at the logical systems used bythe Rishis, such as Adhi-Bhowtika, Adhi-Daivika etc and also tohave a closer look at the holistic system of study, before jumpinginto conclusions.

It is easy to ascribe/accept everything as part of mythology, butI would add that, it does not help much in understanding the sys-tematic approach of our ancient seers. Understanding the systemthey followed, in their own terms, is what we lacked till date, andbetter than late to save our ancient knowledge in good shape, letus try to do that.

PS: It is the bigger picture, and the exact understanding of out-lines of the subject under scrutiny is of importance in any study.That makes our work simpler.

Tarus LagnaShape = Bull.

A good and beautiful body, almost a narcissist, care too muchfor the bodily and mental well being of oneself, selfish, good high,muscle body, healthy physique, beautiful walking style, likes veg-etarian food than non-veg, strong thighs and bulky bottom, kind,helping nature, takes too much responsibilities, feels that life isburdened with too much responsibilities, takes life too seriously,

mostly fail to see what others think and feel since he/she is toomuch immersed in his own thoughts and emotions. Ta is a quad-ruped sign. This indicates that the native spend his/her childhoodin a good house in a village in kingly manner. Agriculture, ser-vants (helpers 3rd house), good amount of land property for rela-tives, etc will be part of memory. The native

Sign Lord = Venus.

Probably dark brown skin or clear white skin, interest in musicand other art forms, special interest in dress and cosmetics, bigbeautiful eyes, clear black beautiful hair, likes luxuries and enjoyssex. Oily skin, pimples etc and beauty problems due to that atteenage.

Ve is lord of Lagna and 6th exalted in Pc and debilitated in ViThere is a constant inner conflict in him. The mind is always rippedapart between selfishness and understanding of real justice. Mostlyjustice (Li) fails and Selfishness (Ta) wins. Since Ve is the 6th lordas well, the fight in support of or against sex life rules their life.Likes cleanliness and will try to exercise the same habit in othersas well. Likes gardening, agriculture etc. Lagna lord exalted in11th – will have elder brothers or sisters, but will get a chance tocontrol even them like an elder one, as indicated by 11th lord ex-alted in 3rd. 6th lord exalted in 11th – will have many enemies.Lagna lord Ve debilitated in 2nd – Will have some trouble havingchildren. 5th sign Vi is female, indicating that the native will prob-ably would have one or two (probably two since Vi isdwiswabhava sign indicating two) daughters. Lagna lord debili-tated in Vi (naval portion), some trouble related to interior organsin navel portion. Pregnancy problems, urinary excretory organsrelated problems, infections etc is a possibility. 6th lord Ve is Fe-male sign – enmity with ladies or due to ladies. Ve exalted in 11th– more than one elder ones (brothers/sisters). Ta is a stira sign,which indicates that the native has a steady nature, and at times

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fails to change with the changing situations. Due to this memorywill be given more importance and good/bad memories would becherished always. In essence he/she would like to live a half real/half imaginative life. 3rd lord Mo exalted in Lagna Some specialpreference as an youngster among co-born. Nature of mind andbody of a Taurus native depends too much on the strength(pakshabala) of Mo for this reason. If Mo is week, then the nativewill have darkish skin, slim body, won’t care much for beauty inthe early stages of life etc. If Mo is strong, then the native willhave a strong and bulky body, fair skin, plump body, will care toomuch about beauty and cosmetics even from the early stages oflife etc. Mo (significator of Mother) exalted in Lagna indicatesthat, especially if the native is a girl, she would have to full fillmany responsibilities at home like her mother. 3rd house Cn is awater sign, and the lord of it exalted in Lagna indicates that thenative will have a special interest in Water sports like swimming,would like to bath many times a day, will like to visit sea lakes andthe like etc.

Here analysis is shown only for Lagna house. Continue withthe same type of analysis for all the houses such as 2nd house, 3rdhouse etc, which will give a better picture about the life and natureof the Taurus Lagna native.

Some other points

Mo owns 12th house from 4th (signifies mother). The 4th lordexalted in 12th house from Lagna. The significator of mother Mogets exalted in Lagna. All these together indicates that, the hardlife lead by the mother of the native will have a high impact on thememories and nature of the native. The native won’t get muchlove neither from mother (4th house owned by a fire planet), norfrom father (9th house owned by another malefic). He/She wouldbe more affectionate towards the mother, and will think that thesuffering to the mother is mostly caused by the father, even though

there would be a some what good relation between the motherand father. A ruling father (or a father with bad habits such asdrinking or the like) and an obedient/suffering/occasionally revolt-ing mother is the general trend for Taurus native. This gives a hardimpression of life for him, and he/she really tries to shake off andcome out of this shade, and runs after happiness and life withoutworries. But for sure these memories leave a permanent mark onthe native, making him/her improper to handle responsibilities.Coupled with natures like selfishness, running after happiness,tendency to avoid responsibilities, taking life too seriously etc,makes the native fearful, an individual who normally lacks leader-ship qualities etc, makes him/her an improper fellow to handleindependent responsibilities, or do true innovative revolutionarystudies. But the native will never be ready to accept this fact, andalways thinks and tries to project him/her as an able person. He/She always seeks for appreciation form all quarters and feels happyif it is awarded and feels offended if someone criticizes him/her,even if it is true. But inside them they know this truth, and sorespects those who do this kind of criticism but at the same timeconvinces them (through love) that he/she is not against them.

Some other points –

• Many brothers/sisters as pointed by 11th lord exalted in 3rd.

• Untimely death of elder co-born as indicated by 11th lordhaving 8th lordship as well.

• Relatives in high power in the past as indicated by 4th lordSu exalted in 12th.

• Pregnancy problems for women.

• Loss of relatives and high interest in family history as indi-cated by Stira sign in 4th and Su exalted in 12th.

• Job away from home (native place) playing a major role in

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life, even though the native will return to his native place later, andwould have strong ties there.

• Unsatisfied married life, and early death of husband/wife thanthe native, as indicated by the lordship of 12th for the 7th lord.

• Long life (longevity) as indicated by the lordship of 8th housefor Ju, and amrita graha.

• Planet that can cause either maximum damage or maximumhelp to the native due to its unique ownership of house and exalta-tion debilitation relations – Sa (father, guru, luck) and Ma (broth-ers/sisters, husband, sadness).

• The planet that can give maximum positive effect and happi-ness – Me (children and knowledge)

• Remedial gem stone – Emerald in platinum ring.

Remember that all these covers only 1/12 of what can be pre-dicted after knowing that the native is born in Taurus Lagna. Ihope others will continue with the same technique, and bring outthe total general nature and life events of the native, just by know-ing the fact that he/she is born in Taurus Lagna.

Sakunas and Nimittas(A good string of thoughts and mails)

In a yahoo group on astrology, I saw the following message:

— In [email protected], “Jyotisa Shisya”<achyutagaddi@> > > wrote:

|om|

Dear Jyotisas,

Nowadays, in the early morning, I go outside and sit on theporch to enjoy the cool morning air. Today I was a little later

than usual and wondering if I had missed the milkman’s knock.A crow came up and perched on the parapet wall near to whereI was sitting. Into my mind came the following questions in *se-quence*:

(1) Will the milkman come to deliver the milk?

Crows response: three caws

(2) Will I get the expected speedpost today?

Crows response: two caws

The crow then flew away.

Actual situation: The milkman came and the speedpost didn’t

arrive as of now. Is it a coincidence that YES has three letters while NO has

two letters? Who is more intuitive? The crow or the fellow sittingon the porch?

Jyotish lesson: Make it a habit to observe acutely what is hap-pening around. you and try to decipher the meaning of what youobserve relative to the situation. The art of deciphering nimittas orsakuna sastra is an invaluable tool for the jyotisa.

best regards Hari

This story aroused my interest and so I forwarded it [email protected], with the followingnote:

— In [email protected], Sreenadh”<sreesog@.....> wrote:

Dear All,

I have seen the following message in one of the yahoo groups.It is the description of just an incident but the story seems to hidea lot of meaning - and is really good!! So I am forwarding it to our

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forum for all of us to read.

SreenadhI got the following replay for the same from Pandit Arjun ji.

— In [email protected],“panditarjun2004” <panditarjun2004@...> wrote:

dear sreenadh ji

Even though these shakuna shastras are interesting, i did notread or learn them as i did not find any classics on them. if youcould refer any classics mentioning these shakuna shastra or anyold books on how to read from animal hints, i would like to learnthem also. if predictions can be made on the caws of a crow andbarks of a dog and the fall of a lizard, it is really an easy task for anastrologer.

with best wishesarjun

This prompted me to write a detailed replay for the same, asfollows-

— In [email protected], Sreenadh”<sreesog@.....> wrote:

Dear Arjun ji,

It not due to the reference to sakuna shastras that i presentedthat mail, but due to the hidden double meaning and anomali. ;)Becoming serious, :) Now coming to the subject of ‘Sakuna’ and‘Nimitta’ (If you are one a travel the Nimittas that you observe inthe start of the journey - with approx 100 m - is termed Sakunaand all omens are generally termed ‘Nimitta’), it is a subject dealtwith in Samhitas. So the available ancient classics that deal withthis subject would be samhita texts like - Brihat samhita, Haritasamhita, Samasa samhita, Maha yatra etc. Prasna texts likePrasnamaraga, Prasnanushtana padhati etc also refer to various

omens related to Prasna in an elaborate manner. Texts like Keralaprasna samgraha, Prasna Koutuka gives omens to be observedrelated to touching of body parts by the qurent. In texts like Sivasworodaya and Agni purana omens judged from breath patternare mentioned. Even Ayurvedic classic texts like Ashtanga Hridayaalso discusses omens that would help the doctor to judge the dis-ease, situation and the possible outcome of the treatment. Thissystem is very old as is evident from the statement of ‘Vishnugupta’(chanakya) in Chanakya sutra: “Upastita vinasa prakrityakarenakaryena drisyate” Meaning, the future possibility of destruction orbad out comes would be indicated by the natural omens. Eg: Be-fore rain we see the clouds - it is an omen Before earth quake theanimals react - it is an omen. The classification of omens whichdepends on various basic principles itself is a big subject to dealwith. By the way we value the statement of Vishnugupta (chanakya)because he is the reputed author of a reputed astrological classiccalled ‘Vishnugupta Hora’. You said: “ if you could refer any clas-sics mentioning these shakuna shastra or any old books on how toread from animal hints, i would like to learn them also”

If we want to be systematic and authentic, to understand theanimal behavior, it is better to read modern texts on the subjectand depend on direct observation and study of animals and na-ture. :) Mihira in Mahayatra (also known as Brihat yogayatra) asksus to study the animal behavior and nature from direct observa-tion. Yes, I here you ask, where is astrology in it. :) The astrologeris supposed to predict and for that he is collecting all the tools hecould, whether that is related to planets and rasi chakra or not.This is specially important in Ashtamangala Prasna etc. For themthe concept while considering animal behaviour etc was, “it isimportant are you able to predict future events accurately and howyou do it is not important”! But remember, this concept is JUSTPART of the big nimitta system and not a rule that depict theWHOLE nimitta system. I hope the above references will be suf-

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ficient to give you a start on the subject, of omens. “if predictionscan be made on the caws of a crow and barks of a dog > and thefall of a lizard, it is really an easy task for an astrologer.” No wrong!Wisely and efficiently using and understanding this system is oneof the hardest tasks!

I have heard a story related to observation of a nimtta by anAyurvedic doctor. He visited one of the patients with his sishyaand having digestion problems. He observed the smell and pres-ence of Jackfruit near to the bed of the patient, and from that omenobserved that eating of too much jackfruit was the cause of indi-gestion. Another day the in the absence of the guru the sishya hadto visit a patient with the same problem. He was unable to locatethe problem by diagnosis, so he looked around for omens, andfound some grass near to the bed of patient. So he immediatelyasked “Did you ate grass yesterday?”. Same is story of and thestudy of the system of “Omen observation”. It is in a better dam-aged state similar to the jataka stream of astrology at present. :)

We could find knowledge related to Nature, climate, body lan-guage, breath pattern, astrological knowledge of zodiac and plan-ets, animal behavior, biology, psychology, hundreds of beliefs,many superstitions all getting used WITH THE AIM OF PRE-DICTING THE FUTURE in this branch astrology. It is the an-cient mother of several streams of knowledge. :) We should haveto look at the subject of omens in a new light. May the grace ofnature be with us, with that grace let us be with it, to understandthe world around us in a better way, so that everything will reflectin us, and give us clues about the future possibilities which helpsus in prediction.

PS:* The astrologer is like a mirror who reflects the nature and the

qurent himself.

* He is a person who see - which others can not see (Even inday to day life)

* He is a person who hear - which others can not hear (Even inday to day life)

Meaning he observes with attention and understands much morefrom what others too see and hear. He is the wise man who isthere to say what he saw and heard to others, but in a differntmould, so that it would be beneficial to them.

SreenadhTo this mail, I got an interesting response, as follows from

Souvik datta ji:

— In [email protected], SauvikDatta” <sdutta@.....> wrote:

Sreenadhji,

This reminds me of the string theory on quanum physics...

Sreenadhji, do you exist in parallel universes? :)

Thanks

Souvik

My response was as follows-

— In [email protected], Sreenadh”<sreesog@.....> wrote:Dear Sauvik ji,

lol.....In a parallel universe called Kerala (with an indecipher-able and cumbersome language ‘Malalayalam’), where an astrolo-ger started speaking english recently only... :)) But the wonder isthat, these people of the south India, have started copying old San-skrit texts into their regional scripts, before hundreds of years, andthose texts become extinct in North India but still many referencesand slokas are still available in these regional scripts! They felt it

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difficult to write Sanskrit and have created 2 scripts - popularlyknown as ‘Grandha lipi’ or ‘Grandha script’. Grandha lipi meansa script that was created to write Sanskrit in a script that resemblesregional scripts (with less alphabets)of Kerala and Tamilnadu.These scripts are -

1) Tamil Grandha lipi (Now only available in preserved textsin manuscript libraries) [Tamil is the language of the state‘Tamilnadu’]

2) Malayalam Grandha lipi (This later become the slanderedscript of Malayalam) [Malayalam is the language of the state‘Kerala’] Malayalam Grandha lipi become Malayalam and manybe because of that many ancient Sanskrit slokas and sloka refer-ences are available in in this language and texts. The astrologicalknowledge in this language is already explored although the fruitsare not yet completely presented to the world. But the TamilGrandha lipi is an unexplored treasure!! Many spend years to trans-late Sanskrit texts to Tamil Grandha lipi and as you may knowTamil is an older and anceient language than Malayalam. Nownobody reads and uses ‘Tamil Grandha lipi’, but the manuscriptslibraries (all over India) have thousands of ‘Grandha lipi’ textspreserved with them!! Who knows, we many find many, ‘thoughtto be lost texts’ in this collection. It is another treasure for we chil-dren to play with - caused by language development and its his-tory. I think, even though I am able to notice this regardingMalayalam and Tamil, there is a possibility that this is the samesituation with all the other regional scripts as well. Somebody shouldconduct a search for ‘Sanskrit astrological classics in regionalscripts’. Then from Southern states and from states like Kashmir,Orisa etc new knowledge and lost texts may sprung and rise totheir feet, becoming visible to all. :)

Love,Sreenadh

I think, all these shows how even stories becomes Nimittas forgood knowledge sharing.

Chaya JyotishIn ancient_indian_astrology yahoo group, one of the members

pointed to a narration about the experience of “Vargeese Kuryan”(as narrated in one of his books) on Chaya Jyotish. The authersaid that, even though “Vargees Kuryan” was intially relectent tobelive in the predictions given by the astrologer, he was wonderstruck by the accuracy of the system.

<SNIP>After Medora’s brother got his shadow ‘read’, they persuded

me to do the same. So as not to appear a spoilsport and also forsome fun I stood in the sun with the jyotishi measured my shadow.Shuffling through the bunch of parchment-like leaves, and find-ing what he was looking for, he read out: “You have no faith.”

</SNIP>We were all wondering what this ‘Chaya Jyotish’ is! The name

was new to us. While disussing about this, another member as-trologer of the group ‘jagannathan ji’ pointed out - “Possibly thelagnam is arrived at by measuring the chaaya.” I suggested wewill look for more slokas (apart from the ‘Chaya purushalakshanam’ mentioned by Mihira) related to this method, so as toreach a defenit conclution about the subject and its method.

Yesterday I bought a book on “Hanuman Jyothish”, a collec-tion of some locally popular astrological systems which tradition-ally gets associated with the Tantric systems related to “Hanuman”.Most of them are simple predictions using charts or chakras. Thetext I bought does not seemed to be authentic and didn’t gave theoriginal sources clearly. (It is compiled by one “Pramod Sagar”and published by “Manoj Packet Books”) In one of its chapters, Ifound some slokas related to omen interpretation related to crows.

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The chapter started with the words, “Nagarjuna Uvacha”. As someof you may know “Nagarjuna” is a popular Tantric Guru whowrote Tantric texts like “Kakshapuda” which contains astrology(Kala Tantra) Medicine (Kalamantra) etc as well. He is reputedguru of Ayurveda as well. What ever that be, Nagarjuna is a wellrespected Guru of the Tantric Stream, even though his Tantri/Matricbooks contain a large amount of superstitions as well. The pur-pose of telling it all here is that, I found some info about “Chhayaprasna” and the end of this chapter on omens related to crows’ inthis text of `Hanuman Jyotish”. In the last but one sloka of thischapter is as follows:

“Dharopari Trimsavid khande `aava aava’ swaram punaHYeda ratati kakastada dukhavarta kathayati”

Meaning (During Prasna) if in the 3rd Khanda of a day crowcries that would sound ‘aava aava’, then the astrologer should thinkthat some danger is going to happen for that individual.

I am not much interested in this bit of info, since I am not anexpert in animal behavior, or understanding and interpreting thebehavior and sounds of birds and animal. ;) But notice the fact thatabove quoted, Nagarjuna slokas is in Sanskrit. After this slokatwo versions of “Chhaya Prasna” are mentioned by the compilerof the book Hanuman jyothis (pramod sagar).

1) Chhaya Prasna – 1st Version

As an extension to the above sloka the compiler (of the book‘Hanuman Jyotish’) quotes some local Hindi slokas that are re-lated to “Chhaya Prasna”. Look at what he quotes, after saying“Punar vaktavayam adhikokti” (Then I am going to say some ex-tra things that can be said along with) –

“Kaka jo bole apana man. Chhaya napike keeje dugane.

Sapta bhag se baki joyi. Bole kak pramane hai soyi.

Ek rahai to bhojanakari. Dooja lambi jaya savari.

Teeje mrityu yatra pavai. Choudha kalaha aag jalavai

Panch se mangal yatra kahai. Soonya aru chaH tij man ko lahai”

Notice that the language of this sloka is ancient Hindi, thatsounds similar to some doha of Kabir. ;) The meaning of the slokais – When the crow sounds like that, measure the shadow of thenative in angulas (an ancient unit of length). Then multiply thislength with two and divide it with seven. Take the remainder andbased on that (based on the planet indicated by that number?) givethe predictions. The predictions given should be 1- gain of food,2- birth of someone, 3-death of someone, 4-more troubles, 5-get-ting a good message, 6-no prediction, 7-no prediction. If six orseven is the remainder then think that the crow is speaking it ownlanguage and that it is not related to that Prasna.

Why it interests me? It seems that if we remove the crow fromthis slokas, then a new system of Prasna emerges. The advice wouldbe –

“Measure the shadow of the native in angulas (an ancient unitof length). Then multiply this length with two and divide it withseven. Take the remainder and the based on the planet indicatedby that number give the elaborate predictions. Take the sign inwhich the planet is placed as the Chhaya Arudha (Shadow Arudha).The simple predictions for the remainder number would be, 1-gain of food, 2- birth of someone, 3-death of someone, 4-moretroubles, 5-getting a good message, 6-no prediction, 0-no predic-tion. If six or seven is the remainder then think that the crow isspeaking it own language and that it is not related to that Prasna.And so if the remainder is 6 or 0 (7) then depend totally on theChhaya Arudha. Taking that sign as the starting point and consid-ering the planetary placement at the time of Prasna related to thatArudha, we can give the total predictions for that native”.

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Why such a conclusion?! Because there are already severalsimilar systems present as part of normal prasna system of astrol-ogy. To mention some – Tamboola Prasna, Akshara Prasna,Dinanadika Prasna etc follow a similar scheme. If this is the casethen it becomes clear that Chhaya Jotish or Chhaya Prasna is asub system (or local deviation) of the normal prasna system that isfollowed everywhere. And also that it is just part of the normalsystem of astrology. Nothing much new info is there related tothat, except the above quoted bit of info. The length of shadow ofthe native would be just used to determine the planet and thus(from the placement of the planet in any sign) to derive “ChhayaArudha”. Taking that sign as the starting point and consideringthe planetary placement at the time of Prasna related to that Arudha,we can give the total predictions for that native.

The above method is briefed by Nagarjuna in Sanskrit as –“Saptaguli parimita chhaya cha dwiguneekrita”. Meaning, Multi-ply the shadow length (of the native) by two and divide by seven.(and give predictions based on that). The total system of “ChhayaPrasna” is based on this sloka bit by Nagarguna that is part ofTantric school of astrology.

The author of the book “Hanuman Jyotish” gives one moreinterpretation to this bit, which is given below-

2) Chhaya Prasna – 2nd Version

Take a stick (pole) of 7 angula length and measure the lengthof the shadow of this pole at the time of Prasna. Multiply it by twoand divide the result by seven. Give the prediction based on theremainder number (as given above).

Here the difference in system followed is only that the insteadof the length of the shadow of the native, the length of shadow theseven angula pole is measured at the time of Prasna. Here also theabove sloka bit by Nagarguna forms the supporting base and noth-

ing else. Since there is no supporting indication for “Take a stick(pole) of 7 angula length” in the Nagarjuna sloka bit, I feel that thefirst version is slightly better than this one.

I think this clarifies what “Chhaya Jyotish” is or better, whatChhaya Prasna is. :) Thus to conclude “Chhaya Prasna” is an ex-tension of the normal system of Prasna by some local astrologers,based on some slight directions given by the Tantric guruNagarguna. May be it is also possible that this system is adoptedby astrologers who depend on “Hanuman Jyothish” of Tantricastrology than the followers of other streams. But I can not holdwondering how both these streams of “Nagarguna system of Tantricastrology” and “Hanuman system of Tantric astrology” are related.Is it that both are part of Tantric astrology, that holds the link?! Ican not also stop wondering – how and why when books andrelated slokas came to me from nowhere when I just gets inter-ested in them!

Thus, those “parchment-like leaves” (mentioned by ‘VargeesKuryan’) could be some manuscript of normal astrology (since,once the Arudha is determined based on shadow it is easy to makepredictions based on normal prasna system of astrology) or couldbe some special manuscript on “Chhaya Prasna”. This points tonecessity of further search for unique texts that deals with “ChhayaPrasna” alone or describes “Chhaya Prasna” in more detail. Butfor know I think we know what it is. :)

Therefore, as far as its accuracy is concerned “It can be ac-curate only as much as normal system of Prasna - nothing morenothing less”. :) Or better, It is just a small side stream of normalprasna system. This helps us to come out of wondering about themystery of this system - and get fascinated too much and errone-ously judging by mistake that it is better than normal system ofastrology. ;)

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What is Drishti?I am presenting my ideas and thoughts on Drishti. I hope that

the following will be helpful in search for the original system ofIndian Astrology.

View 1 :- Drishti is relative angles between planetsIn classics (Krishneeyam, BPHS, Varaha Hora, Yavana Hora)

it is said that the planets have partial Drishti towards some houses.It is said that-

3rd House - 1/4 Drishti

4th House - 3/4 Drishti


7th House - 1 Drishti




Here you can note that the Drishti is NOT increasing in agradual manner in the first half till 180 deg, SEEMS TO graduallydecrease after 180 deg. This lead somebody (like Sripati) to sug-gest that, Drishti should be calculated for ALL DEGREES in aShashtyamsa or Percentage bases. Thus the proposed suggestionby him would be-

90 deg = 25 %

120 deg = 75 %

150 deg = 50 %

180 deg = 100 %

240 deg = 75 %

270 deg = 50 %

300 deg = 25 %

But as you could understand, calculating Drishti for ALL DE-GREES becomes relevant only when we accept the “unequalhouse division system” (Bhava system) proposed by Sripati him-self!! Because then only the GRADUAL increment or decrementof a planet’s influence in a single house itself comes into consider-ation! But as we know already, the ancient Saints considered Houseand Sign as the same. And therefore no “unequal house divisionsystem” was prevalent as per ancient Indian astrology, but onlyequal signs/houses of 30 deg each.

Another pitfall this view leads into is “Associating Drishti withangles”. This concept leads to the view that “Drishti is nothing butrelative angles between planets”. If this was the basic concept thenthe saints could have arranged the Partial Drishti in the following

way -90 deg = 25 %

120 deg = 50 %

150 deg = 75 %

180 deg = 100 %

240 deg = 75 %

270 deg = 50 %

300 deg = 25 %

Which makes calculation easy, because then we could use thesimple formula,

(100/180) x Angle = Drishti %

But this not possible, since NO CLASSICS by saints supportneither this view, nor the concept of “unequal house division”.

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View 2 :- Drishti is relative signs the planets influence from thesign of their placement

As it happens in several other instances, the very good text“Krishneeya” gives as the clue to the original system followed bythe saints. In Krishneeya it is said that -

Shashtam dwiteeya bhavanam Dwadasamekadesam na pasyatiSwastanadweeshyante grahastadanyani bhavanani

[The planet does not look (Drishti) towards 2, 6, 11, 12 houses/signs from the house/sign they are posited in]

As we know well the word Bhavana means Sign as clearlystated by Mihira in the sloka, “Rasi Kshetra Griha Rksha BhaniBhavanm chikartha sampretyaye” [Rasi, Kshetra, Griha, Rksha,Bham, Bhavanam are words with same meaning] Thus it meansthat, the planets have 0% drishti towards 2, 6, 11, 12 signs fromthe sign they are posited in!

This also means that the concept of GRADUAL increment ordecrement of Drishti (proposed by Sripati) should be discarded! Ifwe follow the clear cut rule put forward by the saints, what we getis -

All planets have Drishti towards -

1st Sign from the sign (completely) from the sign they are pos-ited in - (Full)

2nd Sign from the sign (completely) from the sign they areposited in - Nil

3rd Sign from the sign (completely) from the sign they are pos-ited in - 1/2

4th Sign from the sign (completely) from the sign they are pos-ited in - 3/4


6th Sign from the sign (completely) from the sign they are pos-ited in - Nil

7th Sign from the sign (completely) from the sign they are pos-ited in - (Full)



10th Sign from the sign (completely) from the sign they areposited in - 1/4

11th Sign from the sign (completely) from the sign they areposited in - Nil

12th Sign from the sign (completely) from the sign they areposited in - Nil

Or in other words

All planets have Drishti towards -

1st Sign from the sign (completely) from the sign they are pos-ited in - 100 %

2nd Sign from the sign (completely) from the sign they areposited in - 0 %

3rd Sign from the sign (completely) from the sign they are pos-ited in - 50 %

4th Sign from the sign (completely) from the sign they are pos-ited in - 75 %



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10th Sign from the sign (completely) from the sign they areposited in - 25 %



If you feel that this concept of Saints about partial Drishti isprimitive and incomplete, then I would boldly say that, we shouldaccept their concept AS IS till we understand the original astro-logical system proposed by them, completely. We have NORIGHT to pour water into the system they proposed without clearlyunderstanding the system proposed by them. I reject Sripati (hiscorrupting of the original system) also in the same spirit. One morepoint we should remember - The saints of Arsha School (Skanda,Vasishta, Viswamitra etc), Garga School (Garga, Rishiputra etc)NEVER proposed any “Partial Drishti” system! They have onlytalked about “Full Drishti” (towards 7th House) and “SpecialDrishti” (of Ma, Sa and Ju) only and NOT about “Partial Drishti”!It is the Yavana School (Yevanewara, Meenaraja, Sphujidhwajaetc) that proposed partial Drishti. Probably it is from Yevanewarathat Parasara borrowed this concept of Partial Drishti. SinceParasara borrowed many concepts from Yavaneswara [An Indian(Afghanistan?) guru of an astrological school of thought who lived

far before Alexander’s invasion to India and before the period

of Parasara Hora, i.e. 1400 BC], many have even abused Parasaraas Yevana! So -

1) if you want to go by the original steam of Indian astrology,let us first discard the “gradually increasing or decreasing drishti”concept of Sripati and the idea that “Drishti is relative angles be-tween planets”.

2) If you are strong willed and a real puritan then, discard theconcept of partial drishti itself, since the Arsha School and theGarga School never propose such a thing!!

But I won’t suggest you to do the second thing, since we alsorespect the views of Yevanewara and Parasara as well. MoreoverKrishneeyam and Saravali also talk about Partial Drishti (prob-ably following Parasara). Saravali even goes to the extend of pro-posing some Rajayoga based on Partial Drishti in slokas like“Vrishe Sasi lagnagataH supoorno...” and “EkaH sweche subhaHsyachubha gaganagaH...” etc. So I won’t suggest discarding the“Partial Drishti” concept, but for sure we should discard the cor-rupting ideas put forward by Sripati, with the malicious intentionof giving a strong hold to his “unequal house division system”.

I don’find any statement in support of considering Rasi andBhava as seperate entities in texts before 10th century. But I dofind statements that supports considering Rasi and Bhava as oneand the same entities, with the only difference that Rasis statrsfrom Aries, and Bhavas starts from Lagna. (This subject is alreadydealt in detail in one of the earlier articles)

Qn:Do the special aspects of 4,8 for mars and 3,10 for saturn and

5,9 for jupiter have any logic behind them. if so, why venus, mer-cury, sun and moon do not have these special aspects.

Ans:I don’t know. May be the rational for this is present in lost part

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of the Rishi horas. The only thing I know is that all the differentschools of astrological thought such as Arsha school, Jain school,Yavana School support the concept of special drishti. I will supplythe available quotes below:

Triteeye dasame souriH jeevastad trikonageChaturasram dharasoonuH kalatre nikhila grahaHPoornam pasyanti sarvatra prayaschanti phalam tatha

(Surya hora)This is a text of the Arsha school. Although similar sloka is not

available from the other slokas we can see that Skanda Hora, Brihayprajapatya, Vasishta hora, Kousika hora and Sounaka hora alsosupports the concept of “Special Drishti” (Ma to 4th and 8th, Ju to5th and 9th, Sa to 3rd and 10th) These are all texts of the Arshaschool. Now considering the Jain school of thought –

Duschitkagan souristrikonastan brihaspatiHChaturthashtamagan bhoumaH seshaH saptama samstitanBhavanti veekshane nityam uktadhika phala grahaH

(Gargi hora)This is a text of Jain school of thought. Including Garga and

Rishiputra all the Rishis of this school as well support the conceptof special drishti as evident from the above sloka. Now coming toYavana school of thought –

Phalam visesham pravadamyathatoBhoumasay poornam chaturasrabhe syatPhalam cha jeevasya tatha trikonamPoornam saneH syad dasame triteeye

(Yevaneswara Hora)The scholars like Yevanacharya, Meenaraja, Sphujidhwaja etc

of this stream of thought also fully support the concept of special

drishti.Being the students of ancient Indian astrological system, we

are trying to understand this ancient system without violating the

basic rules put forward by them. Therefore even though we don’tknow the exact logic behind the concept of special drishti we haveto accept it. Yes, of course we can continue our search for thelogic behind this concept. When the time and effort is ripe thetruth will be revealed to us. Except Spujudwaja Hora andMeenaraja Hora all the texts mentioned above are lost and onlysome slokas are available. The available slokas does not discussthe logic behind this concept, so we presume that it would be therein the lost part of these texts. But yes, the concept of special drishtifor Ma, Ju and Sa is one of the age old, fundamental concept inastrology.

PS: I forgot to add, all those slokas mean, “all planets havedrishti towards the 7th house from the house it is placed. Sa hasspecial drishti towards 3rd and 10th house. Ju has special drishtitowards 5th and 9th house. Ma has special drishti towards 4th and8th house”

Qn (Arjun ji):Till date i did not get the answer to “why” these special aspects

for three planets? “why” the other planets do not have special as-pects?

Ans (Me):Me too is searching for the answer to that question. But the fact

remains that even when we find some logically correct answer[that ofcourse we can find ;) ] that may not be the true one!!! I willtry to provide (inventions!!) some possible EXPLANATIONS later(let me think about it), but be sure to remember that they may notbe the true ones. :)

Let us try some EXPLANATIONS:

Logic -1The special drishti is - “Charanabhi vridhita”, starts from legs!

:) Now consider kala purusha, let us alote leg to Sa, 10 th house

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indicates middle portion of legs. let us make it short -

Sa = 3rd and 10th = Throat (Sound - Air) and Legs.

Ma = 4th and 8th = Chest and Sexual organs (Courage andKama)

Ju = 5th and 9th = Belly and Thigh

So it is the Kalapurusha concept and the significance of bodyparts is there behind.

Logic -2 (Not perfect)The special drishti is - “Charanabhi vridhita”, one by fourth!

12/4 = 3. Meaning it increase by 3 signs in the order “RavijaAmaredhya Rudira pare cha” (Varaha hora), i.e Sa, Ju, Ma, oth-ers.

Count 3 from Lagna = 3rd hous = Sa.

Count 3 from 3rd house = 5th house = ju

Count 3 from 5th house = 7th house = Ma and others.

Count 3 from 7th house = 9th house = Ju

Count 3 from 9th house = 11th house(!) = Sa ?

[Here the logic fails and I stopped. :)) ]

Logic -3 (Not perfect)Let us do some maths -

3+10 = 13 ; 13-12 = 1 ; Lagna

4+8 = 12 ; 12th house

5+9 = 14 ; 14-12 = 2 ; 2nd house

Ju is the karaka for 2nd house. Any connection? ;)

Logic -4

Sa is karaka for 10th, Ju for 9th etc. So the Drishti may havesomething to do with (fixed) Bhava karakatwa assigned to planetsas well. But yes, it could be one of the reasons.

“Special Complete Drishti” is supported by “NO Rishi horas”of the Arsha Kula! They have approved only that, ALL PLAN-ETS have -

1/4th Drishti in 3rd and 10 house

1/2 Drishti in 5th and 9th

3/4th Drishti in 4th and 8th

The concept of Special complete Drishti is a concept by Jainschool of astrology, and is first given in Gargi hora. Even Varahamihira indicates that it is not his concept but of others!! In thesloka “Tri dasa trikona.......kila veekshanedhika”, He says that itis an openion of “kila”, some others (not mihira)! But yes, as youknow Laghu parasari supports this concept of Special completedrishti. (But now the question comes Laghu parasari is by Parasaraor some body else?) Ok, what ever that be, we can accept thatGargi and Parasara approves the concept of special Drishtis, and

it is extensively in use now a days as well. :)

— In [email protected],“panditarjun2004” <panditarjun2004@... wrote: dear sreenadh ji

Thanks for listing various logics which give new dimensions. Ipersonally believe the following logic: as per NASA, the order ofthe planets is as follows:

SUN MERCURY VENUS EARTH (MOON)

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============ MARS JUPITER SATURN

We find Mars, Jupiter and Saturn which are on the other side ofearth are assigned special aspects either due to their farthest fromsun or some technical scientific reason. i am not a scientist butbelieve there is some deeper meaning in this structure which cor-relates to the special aspects of these three planets.

Please throw more light from this angle or correct me if i amwrong.

with best wishes pandit arjun

(Ju) - Rudhira (Ma)- Pare cha (Others). So the order is:Sa-Ju-Ma-||(Earth)||-Others (Mo,Ve,Me,Su)

Listen to the word “Para”. The opposits could be “Apara”. Is itthat Sa, Ju, Ma are - Para grahas and (Mo),Ve,Me,Su - are paragrahas. Does it that Para and Apara indicates the two sides of earthas well?! ;) Don’t get confuced - the real meaning of the wordPara is “Others”. I was just excersising logic. :) Want some more?

Apara =A+Pa+ra. As per kapadayadi notation it would be 0-1-2. Writing in revese order (the standered method for kapadayadi),it becomes 210. 210/30 = 7. All the planets have full drishti in 7th

house. Any connection? :) Yes, All this concepts about “Specialfull Drishti” of Sa, Ju and Ma are openions of somebody (Gargaand Parasara) and not of the tradition followed by Mihira! Lookat the word ‘Kila’=somebody says!

It means that except the Gargi hora reference, Mihira couldn’tfind this concept in Skanda hora, Brihal prajapatya, Vasishta Hora,Sounaka Hora, Kousika hora etc.

Kunda - Birth time RectificaionIntroduction

Kunda Multiplication method can be used for Birth time recti-fication. The word ‘Kunda’ originated from Paralper system (As-signing numbers to Alphabets) of Kerala. In which Ka=1 and Nda=8. When alphabets are used to write numbers, digits should bewritten in reverse order. (Sankhayanam Vamatho gathi). There-fore, Kunda = 81. What is the importance of this number? 81 = 9x 9. It shows the Navamsa-Navamsa. (It is better to use the wordNavamsa-Navamsa/Nava-Navamsa to refer to Kunda. As the wordKunda has got a Kerala regional origin, and as it just notates anumber, I am not supportive to Chandrahari’s idea of relatingKunda to Kundalini) The questions to be answered are:

1) Where this method originated? (What is the authentic slokaconnected with this method?)

2) How it should be used? (How it should be applied?)

3) How much rectification can be attained with this method?

4) What are the demerits of this method?

Let us try to answer these questions.

Method

One of the authentic references we see about this method is onPresnamarga. It says,

“Kundanikhne pridhak legne prashtre thara na chethbhaveth

Kshipthva kaschith kalasthekthva(aa)neyam prashtrejenmabham”

‘If the resultant longitude, of Asc x 81 falls on the birth-star ofthe qurent, then the Asc is correct. If it doesn’t, increase or de-crease some minutes to the Asc and again multiply with 81, and

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see whether it falls on the birth-star of the qurent’.

According to the statement ‘Trikonagananam sarvathra yojyam’(You should consider trine stars always) in Desadhyani (a famousvyakhya of Varaha-hora) and Hridyapadha (another famousvyakhya of Vraha-hora), the astrologers consider the trine stars ofNavamsa-Navamsa as well. Asc shows the body, and Moon (birth-star) shows the mind. A combined effort of these two is necessaryfor a birth to take place. That is why the acharya says that both ofthem should be related to each other. (Another factor to be consid-ered is the rhythm of the day. That is where the Pancha-tatva comesinto play)

The Presnamarga acharya is asking us to apply this method inPresna. Can it be applied for birth-time rectification in Horoscope?From where Presnamarga acharya got this method? The root ofthis method lies in Varaha-hora. In the words of Mihira-

“Tathkalamindu sahitho dwirasamsako ya-

sthathulya rasi sahitho purathassasanke

yavanudethi dina-rathri samanabhaga-

sthavathgathe dinaniso prevadanthi jenma”

This sloka has many meanings. Kunda calculation is one of theinterpreted meanings from this sloka. ‘Rasas’ are 9 in number.(Nava rasa) Therefore ‘Dwiramsaka’ means 9 x 9 =81. Thereforeone of the meanings would be ‘If Asc x 81 is equal to the birth-starthen it is the birth-time’. Therefore, now we can say that this methodcan also be applied in horoscopes. But from where Mihira got thismethod? The root text is Sounaka hora. In the words of the greatsaint Sounaka -

“Yedrasi samjcha aadhane seethamso syannavamsaka

navamsaka navamso va soothi sthathsdhepi va vidhou”

This sloka has the same meaning as included by Mihira in hissloka. Now we are sure that it is an authentic method, put forwardby the great saints, for the rectification of birth-time.

What are the propositions of this method?

The Navamsa-Navamsa (Kunda) takes 18 min to make a com-plete revolution of the zodiac. As we are considering the trine-stars, to cover 9 stars it takes 18/3 = 6 min. Therefore, the maxi-mum correction we can attain by using this method is half of 6min. i.e. (plus or minus) 3 min.

If we stick to the preposition that birth-star should come in thetrine-star of Kunda-sputa (Longitude of Navamsa-Navamsa), oneor two ideas comes to our notice. They are-

1) No two birth can take place within an interval of 6 min. Inother words, in the case of twins, there would be 6 min. differencebetween the birth times. (Only in the case of Siamese twins thislaw should be violated)

2) As the methods for sex determination from horoscopes aregiven in authentic texts (we can determine whether the child isboy or girl from birth-time/horoscope itself), it means that, Siamesetwins should be either both boys or both girls. No Siamese twinswith one of them boy and other girl would occur. (As it is a factwe know, it could be taken as a fact for the worth fullness ofNavamsa-Navamsa theory)

Such strong assertions pointed to by this method should be testedscientifically. If found false, we should drop this method, and searchfor more reliable/authentic/rational methods.

In Hari’s words, ‘It all points to a rhythmic correlation betweenthe revolution of earth (Asc) and the movement of Moon (birth-star)’. As the whole astrology is concerned with ‘the inter-con-nectedness of the rhythm of the universe with human/mundane

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destiny’, it is not only a possibility, but also a plausible researchfield.

What are the limitations of this method?

Some of the limitations of this method are -

1) It only helps for (plus or minus) 3 min. correction in birth-time. So if there is an error of more than 3 minutes, Kunda multi-plication method won't be of any use.

2) Authentic texts such as Skanda hora (by god Subrahmanya),Brihath prajapathyam (by Deksha prajapathi), Sounaka hora,Presna-rethnam, Presnamarga etc postulates the ‘Vargachathushtaya’ theory for birth-time rectification. The Varga-chathushtaya (4 Vargas) include -

a) Navamsa (Asc x 9)

b) Navamsa-Navamsa (Asc x 81)

c) Dwadesamsa (Asc x 12)

d) Navamsa-Dwadesamsa (Asc x 108)

According to this theory, of the above 4 vargas, the trine-star oftwo or more should coincide with birth-star. The Skanda-hora state-ment -

“Dridam dwi bahu samvadath sarvam vidhi dwijothama”

‘If two or more methods point to the fact that the birth-time iscorrect, then accept that as the correct time’, is supportive of this.Navamsa-Navamsa (Kunda) is just one of these methods.

Conclusion

If you are using JHora software, you will see that separate op-tions for Nava(msa)-Navamsa and Kunda are given. The longi-tudes arrived at by both are different, and both of them does notseem to be correct. It seems that PVR’s understanding of Kunda

(Navamsa-Navamsa) is clumsy. Otherwise, why should there betwo separate options for Kunda and Navamsa-Navamsa in JHorasoftware? Hope that PVR ji will come out with some sufficientexplanation.

We should always take the side of truth. This statement is espe-cially true in the case of astrological research. At times we mightbe on the side of wrong arguments, and when it reveals to us thatour arguments are wrong, we should be ready to revise our views.‘Saving face shouldn’t be by sacrificing facts’. That should be thespirit of the true astrologer, who is true to goddess Saraswathy.

Kunda is not an ultimate method for birth-time rectification. Ihave done some special research on the different methods avail-able for birth-time rectification available in ancient texts. Totally Icould find 12 methods (as per ancient texts) for birth-time rectifi-cation, and for verifying whether the Asc is correct. Of these‘Varga-chathushtaya’ and ‘Pancha-tatva methods’ are the best onesI feel. Varga-chathushtaya method gives importance to the com-bined effort of Body (Asc) and Mind (Moon), while Pancha-tatvamethod gives importance to the rhythm of day.

NB :- True doubts and criticisms are encouraged. I amalways ready to accept new methods if they are found effectiveand authentic. I humbly submit this article before the scholars.

"Ano bhadra krethvoyenthu viswatha" (Rig Veda)

[Let knowledge come to me from all directions]

PART - III

True Ayanamsa(A review of the views of chandra-hari as depicted in his book

Rasichakram published in Malyalam)

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Introduction

Chandra-Hari has written 3 books on Ayanamsa. 1) A smallbook in English with the name “True Ayanamsa” published around1994 when the idea originated. 2) A Book named “Rasichakram”in Malayalam published in 1996. 3) A very big book named“Hindu Zodiac and Ancient Astronomy” in English publishedaround 2003 (Sri Sabarigiri Publications, Kadapra PO,Kumbanadu, Kerala, India, Pin-689547 Price: Rs.600/-)

In book named Rasichakram he postulates: Zero Ayanamsa year- AD.238; Ayanamsa - 46| more than Lahari. But in his book “HinduZodiac and Ancient Astronomy” he modifies his arguments andpostulates: Zero Ayanamsa year - AD.231; Ayanamsa - 44| morethan Lahari.

I have tried my level best to compile his ideas in a system-atic manner, keeping the continuity of the mathematical conceptand the thought process involved. The mathematical portion ofthe ideas introduced by Chandra-Hari about the ayanamsa inher-ent in Surya-sidhantha and his ideas about the Rasi-chakra divi-sion is depicted.

Rasi-Chakram (Book by Chandra-Hari)

In this book Hari proposes that Zero Ayanamsa Year is AD.238and that his ayanamsa is more than that of Lahari by 46|.

Basic Rationale 1: The zodiac originated mathematically, con-sidering the revolution of the nodal points Rahu and Sikhi. ThusRa-Si chakra is an abbreviation for Rahu-Sikhi Chakra. The rota-tion of these nodes is in rhythm with the movement of equinox, ifwe consider the duration required for precession of 3600.

[i.e. 25758 years means 1385 nirayana revolutions of Rahu-Sikhi. i.e. Nirayana revolution period of Rahu = 6792.977 days]

Theoretically, or by intuition, he gives the following maths:

-

Rate of precession (of equinox) per year = 3600/25758 =1200/8556=50||. 31446541

He says that, this (the importance of these numbers) canalso be proved, considering the modern values of Nirayana andSayana years. For example:

Nirayana Year = 365.2563625 (Modern value)

Sayana Year = 365.24219 (Modern value)

The difference between 8586 sayana days and 8586nirayana days = -121.684 days

i.e. precession of equinox in 8586 years = 1190.56| = 1200

[This also indicates that the year length used in old-suryasidhantha is little different. The year-length considered in old-suryasidhantha is 365.25875 days. The “why” of it would be ex-plained in Rationale 4]

Using the above method we can also prove that 25758 nirayanayears is equal to 25759 sayana years.

Basic Rationale 2: The importance of yuga numbers is thatthey are precession seconds (in precession circle).

Kali-yuga = 432,000|| = 120 x 3600|| = 1200 = 8586 Years

This holds good if and only if, this period contains thecomplete revolutions of the 7 planets and the nodes (Rahu-Sikhi).To prove it he gives the following table. The importance of thenumber 8586 is emphasized.

Complete-revolution & Nirayana-revolution Period

Planet In Quarter Yuga In Maha Yuga KalpaNirayana rev. period

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(8586 years) (85860 years) (86546880 years)(Modern Value)

Sun 8586 85860 86546880

365.2563624 365.2563624 365.2563624365.2563624

Moon 114784 1147840 1157023263

27.32167486 27.32167486 27.3216620427.3216615

(27d07h43m11.6s)(27d07h43m11.55s)

Mars 4565 45650 46015614

686.9860082 686.9860082 686.9798274 686.97982

Mercury 35649 356498 359350528

87.97136 87.969389 87.9692559 87.969256

Jupiter 724 7238 7296284

4331.675 4332.8144 4332.5888 4332.589

Satern 291 2915 2938110

10776.94546 10758.46013 10759.22908 10759.23

Venus 13957 13567 140683961

224.6966488 224.7914787 224.7007998 224.70080

Rahu 461.5 4616 4653263

6795.430 6793.9582 6793.46934 6793.469

Vernal 1200 12000

Equinox (0.333...) (3.333...) (3360)

432,000|| 432,000,0|| 432,000,0|| x 1008

revolutions revolutions revolutions

Thus we see that, yuga numbers could actually mean pre-cession seconds. Therefore, now we could say,

Kali-yuga = 432,000|| = 120 x 3600|| = 1200 = 8586 Years

Dwapara-yuga = 864,000|| = 2400 precession = 17172years

Tretha-yuga = 1,296,000|| = 3600 precession = 25758years

Kritha-yuga = 1,728,000|| = 4800 precession = 34344years

Maha-yuga = 4,320,000|| = 12000 precession = 85860nirayana years

Manuvanthara = 864000 precession

Kalpa = 33600 precession

Theoretically all this means that, each yuga-pada (8586years) starts and ends in a new-moon day, and that at the start andend of each yuga-pada a solar eclipse occurs. (But it actually doesnot happen. The “why” of it would become clear when we seerational 4)

Basic Rationale 3: Kali-yugadi Ayanamsa is 460 40|

[He depends on the story that the birth of Brahma was in RohiniNakshathra. Rohini was also praised as Prajapathi, i.e. Brahma, inVedas]

i.e. Vernal equinox at the beginning of Kali-yugadi = 46040|

Therefore, Zero Ayanamsa years (elapsed) = 460 40| x

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(8586/1200) = 3339

Here a striking similarity attracts our attention. 3339 is anRig-vedic number. Rig-veda (3.9.9) says of “3339 devas who wor-ship Agni”. If Agni really means vernal equinox, then this couldmean, “the vernal equinox is 3339 years away from zero point”.

i.e. After 3339 kali years the sayana and nirayana zodiacssuper conjuncts. Whether depend on the above maths or on theRig-vedic statement, we arrive at the same conclusion.

Kali Yuga (Beginning) + 3339 = Zero Ayanamsa Year

3102 BC = - 3101 AD

i.e. - 3101 AD + 3339 = AD. 238

i.e. Zero Ayanamsa Year = AD.238.

Thus the definite formula for determining the ayanamsa of anyyear would be: -

Ayanamsa for the year (Y) = (Y-238) x (1200/8586)Degrees.

= (Y-238)/71.55Degrees.

Here another striking similarity attracts our attention. TheNumber of human heartbeat per minute is 71 or 72. It mightbe possible that 71.55 is the actual value of the heartbeat for aperson. If so, we could also prove that the rhythm of the uni-verse and the biological clock in humans are mutually related.The biological clock, circadian rhythm etc comes into consid-eration. Thus the author points out.

Example for calculating ayanamsa for any year: -

Hari Ayanamsa (1995) = (1995 - 238)/71.55 =24.55625437

= 240 33| 22||. 52

Lahari (Chithra-paksha) Ayanamsa of 1995 = 230 47| 30||

Difference = Hari Ayanamsa - Lahari Ayanamsa = 46|

i.e. Hari Ayanamsa is 46| more than that of Lahari. In otherwords if we subtract 46| from the sputa arrived at by using Lahariephemeris, we would get sputa based on Hari Ayanamsa.

Hari does not stops here - he goes on to prove how thezodiac was divided into Rasis (Signs) and Nakshathras (Stars),based on the fiducial star Moola (2400), 108 divisions ofNakshathras (30 20| each), and the above said actual position ofvernal equinox at Kali-yugadi (460 40|). For this, two new ideasare introduced, and he dives deep into old-suryasidhantha to provethem.

Basic Rationale 4:

(i) Zodiac is considered and presented as a mathematicalmodel in old-suryasidhantha, trying to comprehend the perfectrhythm of the universe.

(ii) Even though the creator of Surya-sidhantha (i.e.Mayan), knew about the actual vernal equinox at Kali-yugadi (i.e.460 40||), Kali-yugadi-Ayanamsa was considered as 600 (in Surya-sidhantha), for the perfection of this mathematical model.

According to the precession considered in old-suryasidhantha:-

Precessional Cycle = 21600 years (instead of 25758 years)

If we relate this to yuga years -

432000 (Kali-yuga) = 21600 x 20

4,320,000 (Maha-yuga) = 21600 x 200

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Maha-yuga = 200 x 3600 = 72000 years

1200 precession = 4320000/600 = 7200 years (instead of8586 Years)

If we divide the number of revolution of planets in amahayuga with 600, we could get the number of revolutions ofplanets per 7200 years. Thus we get -

Sun = 4,320,000/ 600 = 7200.00

Mars = 296824/600 = 3828.04

Jupiter = 364200/600 = 607.033

Venus = 7022388/600 = 11703.98

Mercury = 17937000/600 = 29895.00

Rahu = 232226/600 = 387.0433

Here the results are very near to whole numbers. That meansin 7200 years the mean values for planets complete, whole num-ber of revolutions. If we consider little bigger period, for exampletake, 7200 x 25 = 4320000/24 = 180000 years, we could provethat it contain whole number of revolutions.

[The above mentioned proof, is not given in Hari's book namedRasi-chakram. But I think anybody could verify it, as the logic isstraightforward. About not giving the number of complete revolu-tion for Moon and Satern in mahayuga also Hari gives some rea-sons, which I could not grasp]

As according to old-suryasidhantha, all the revolution num-bers of planets are whole numbers and multiples of 24, this meansthat, in 180000 years, the mean positions of planets conjuncts atzero-point. This is a concept fundamental of vedic astronomy.Surya-sidhantha relates the imaginary mean positions of planets atthe start of yuga with the actual planetary positions that will occurafter 3600 years.

As Surya-sidhantha takes 4320000 as Maha-yuga the Pre-cessional Cycle (i.e. for 3600) becomes 21600 years. Thus it ne-cessitates vernal equinox to be at 600 in the beginning of Kali-Yuga (instead of 460 40|). If you compare with the actual data, youmay feel that it is an error. But in reality it is precious mathematicalmodel. The Precessional Cycle is a Mathematical model put for-ward by the creator of Surya-sidhantha. What was the need ofsuch a model? It was to relate the yugadi mesha-sankranthi withthe new moon day that all these mathematical exercise was done.For this, the mesha-sankranthi at the beginning of yuga, was con-sidered to happen, 9 days and 37 nadis before (90 37|). For thatonly nirayana year with length 365.25875 was chosen. It was notbecause that he doesn’t know the actual nirayana year length. Theactual precession according to Surya sidhantha was 50||.

How can we know that the year length used in Surya-sidhantha is 365.25875 days? According to Old-Suryasidhantha-

The Average Number of days in a Maha-Yuga =1577917800 days

One Maha-yuga means = 4,320,000 years

Therefore Year-Length = 1577917800/4320000 =365.25875 days

This calculation is approved by almost everybody, includ-ing the calendar reform committee headed by Saha.

[Really I couldn’t figure out how he got that “the actual preces-sion considered by Surya-sidhantha is 50||”. There might be a suf-ficient reason. But I don’t know what it is]

All this means that first stellar division (first star) is Jyeshtathat falls between the line joining the hypothetical Equinox line ofold-Suryasidhantha (the line joining 600 Vernal equinox and 2400

85


fiducial star Moola) and the line joining the actual Equinox line atYugadi (line joining 460 40| and 2260 40|). The first rasi divisionis (sign - Cancer) falls between the line joining the hypotheticalSayana Rahu-Sikhi (line joining 3000 Sayana-Sikhi/planetaryconjunction point and 1200 Sayana Rahu) and the hypotheticalEcliptic (line joining 3300 and 1500) of Old-Suryasidhantha. Thusforms the Zodiac with stars 130 20| each and Signs with 300 each.

Why Hari Jumped to Thanthra and Proposes that Zodiac isThanthric?

When the thoughts of Chandra-Hari traveled up to this,and bombarded with these concepts such as Mooladhara Rahu-Sikhi Chakram and Rhythm of the universe (music of the stars orbiological clock - what ever you name it), some other striking simi-larities came to his mind. Some examples would be: -

(i) Moola is the base of zodiac division - Mooladhara is thebase point from where yoga starts.

(ii) Horoscope is also called Kundalini - In yoga also Kundalini(serpent power) is important.

(iii) Rahu-Sikhi (Serpents - Kalasarpa) is the underlying factorof Rasichakra - Kundalini in yoga is also symbolized as serpent.

(iv) Kalapurusha is a concept in astrology - Sankhya and Yogaalso speak about purusha.

(v) The universe is Rhythmic - The human body is also inrhythm with universe. [This needs further clarification. Prana means4 seconds. According to yoga and upanishads one day of a humanbody means 21600 prana. 3600 x 60 = 21600|. Also consider theabove said importance of the number 71.55]

All these similarities prompt him to dive deep into con-cepts such as Tanthra/Yoga and Circadian-rhythm/Biological-clocketc.

Let Hari’s concepts be right or wrong - shouldn’t we ap-preciate his efforts?

Conclusion:

In the view of Chandra-Hari: -

(i) The yuga concept is nothing but a deep-seated theory onayanamsa. That is why it was given this much importance by Old-Surya-sidhantha (By Mayan, Included in Pancha-sidhantika byVaraha-Mihira), New-Surya-sidhantha (By Aryabhatta I), the Ep-ics and Puranas.

(ii) Rasi-chakram (Zodiac) is a mathematical model, put for-ward by Rishis, which postulates the existence of a Sidereal(Nirayana) Zero-point (Meshadi or Aswinyadi), as well as theconjunction of 8 planets at this zero-point in the beginning of ev-ery yuga.

(iii) The Sayana-Nirayana division is deep seated in Hindu my-thology and the Vedas gives ample proof of this. (This point isclarified at the end of this article) Both the Sayana and Nirayanasystems existed in Vedic period. (Mayan the creator of Surya-sidhantha was only a genius compiler of the then prevailing knowl-edge)

Let me mention one more point as well (taken form thebook Rasichakram). In the first hymn of purusha-suktha, i.e.,“sahasra seersha purusha sahasraksha sahasra path.....”, a manwith 1000 heads and 1000 eyes and 1000 legs is mentioned. Butreally, as everybody knows, 1000 heads needs 2000 eyes and 2000legs. i.e., the meaning of the word Sahasra = 1000, does not fitwell. (We may escape the confusion by saying that Sahasra means‘many’) Based on sathapatha brahmana some scholars (I will sendthe name of the scholar in the next mail), say that Sahasra means‘circle’. This is note worthy. Then suddenly we become awarethat many astronomical terms are used in the hymn. The follow-

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ing picture clarifies this point. (This picture is taken from Chandra-Hari’s book Rasi-chakram). Now we could see that:-

Seersha Circle (Sahasra seersha purusha) = Prime merid-ian

Aksha Circle (Sahasraksha) = Celestrial Equator

Patha Circle (Sahasrapath) = Nodal Circle

Bhoomi Circle (Sa-Bhoomim) = Horizon

Viswa Circle (Viswatho vrithva) = Ecliptic

Now, if this interpretation by Hari is right, we gets ampleproof for the fact that, Vedic Knowledge is really amazing.

Note: - Hari is a genuine genius, who argues vigorously aboutthe concepts he believes in. We should admit his true dedicationtowards astrological research. We are all searching for the truth ofastrology, and are trying to be sincere as much as possible. I amnot trying to become an advocate of Chandra-Hari. But, I feelpassionate towards his mathematical concepts.

Some passing thought that occur in my mind: -

Based on any point on the zodiac circle, a truly dedicatedperson (to astrology) can create a system that gives accurate re-sults for a short period (KP system, Different ayanamsas all comesto my mind). But if that should hold true for a long time (i.e., evengeneration after generation - up to thousands of years), it shouldbe based on some point in the zodiac circle that has some uniqueimportance. Only Zero-point proposed by the Nirayana (Sidereal)Zodiac and Vernal/Autumnal Equinox of the Sayana Zodiac holdstrue in this situation. That is why only these two systems i.e.,

(i) Nirayana (Sidereal) predictive astrology and

(ii) Sayana predictive astrology

Prevailed in the Vedic period. We should also go-back andre-invent the same. Both of them are valid (with a vedic founda-tion) and useful in predicting human destiny.

(Hari is not supportive of this idea and all his argumentsare in favor of just the sidereal zodiac)

Ayanamsa -Zero Ayanamsa Year(Views of Chandrahari as per the book ‘Hindu

Zodiac’)

Introduction

This article is an effort to compile the mathematical concepts ofChandrahari, related to Zero ayanamsa year as presented in hisbook ‘Hindu Zodiac’. I have tried my level best to keep the conti-nuity of the mathematical concepts and thought process involved.

The following are some of the constants used in the derivation.

Y = 365.258756 days (Solar year of Suryasidhantha)

Ys = 365.256450 days (Modern sidereal year - AD.500)

Y| = 365.24219 days (Modern tropical year) // It changes al-ways

[The tropical year-length undergoes constant change. What isthe formula to find Tropical year length?]

Words used

Zodiac = The fixed stellar background. The substratum overwhich the Calendar phenomena occurs. The fixed reference againstwhich movements are validated.

Calendar phenomena = Many movements such as movementof equinoxes, moon phases, movements of Sun and Planets etc.All this helps to assess time (calandaram), and that is why the

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word Calendar. (People used to mix-up the above two. Zodiacand Calendar phenomena are entirely different things)

Meshadi/Aswinyadi = Starting point of Aris/Starting point ofthe stellar division Aswathi (Both of them coincide)

Ahargana = Number of days counted from Kali-yugadi.

Moola = The fiducial star located at 2400 (λ-Scorpi)

Ayanamsa = Distance from Vernal-equinox to Meshadi

Kaliyugadi = Beginning of Kaliyuga. (K0 = 17/

18 February 3102

BC)

Precession = Movement of Vernal-equinox

Sexagesimal system = The division of a circle in to multiples of60.

Tropical (Sayana) months = Madhu, Madhva,... etc.

Sidereal (Nirayana) months = Chaitra, Visakha,... etc

Basic concepts

In his book ‘Rasichakram’ itself Hari has given sufficient evi-dence for the following two concepts. Therefore in the book ‘HinduZodiac’, he jumps to the next issue to be solved, i.e. Fixing of theZero ayanamsa year, in which anomalies pops up. The Basic con-cepts are -

1) Moola is the fiducial star used for zodiac division, and stellardivision. The starting point of Aris is 1200 away from the fiducialstar Moola.

2) The position of vernal equinox at the beginning of Kali-yuga = 460 40|

[This means that we can calculate the Ayanamsa of any yearby taking the point 1200 away from Moola star (λ-Scorpi) as thestarting point of Aris (Meshadi/Aswinyadi). So the question “What

is the ayanamsa to be used?” is already answered]

If these basic concepts are taken for granted, the remaining ques-tion to be answered is “Which is the Zero ayanamsa year?”. Letus try to answer this question.

The 3 Entities

While considering the rhythm of Equinox and sun, consideredby the saints and inherent in Yuga system 3 entities comes in toconsideration. They are -

1) Kali-year beginning - The technical term used to refer to thisis Chaitradi. That is the year begins in Chaitra-sukla-prethipada (Itmeans that not only Sun but Moon also should be there in Meshadi)

2) Meshadi (starting point of Aris)

3) Vernal Equinox

Only a year in which all these 3 entities coincided can be takenas the Zero-Ayanamsa year.

Concepts inherent in Suryasidhantha

The mean-equinox since the beginning of Kaliyuga as perSuryasidhantha can be expressed as,

Ahargana (Nth equinox) = NY+60 - N (Y-Y|) = 60+NY|

............................................(1)

Where Y| is the modern tropical year = 365.242371days (in AD.500)

Mean tropical-sun (Nth Kali year) = 3600 -600 + N (Y-Y|) =3000 + N (Y-Y|)...........(2)

Hari says that, both these equations can be shown to be true bycomputation. At the expiry of 3623 Kali years (1323332.5 days),N (N-Yt) = 60 days and hence the mean-sun of Kali year 3623(elapsed) coincided with the vernal equinox of K

3623 or AD.522.

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Taking the ayanamsa of K0 to be 460 40| for the sidereal zodiac

implicit in Suryasidhantha: -

Sidereal mean-sun = 3460 40| (Y| / 360) + N (Y-Y|) = 347d 21gh

+ N (Y - Ys)............(3)

Where Y|/360 converts 460 40| into days.

Coincidence of the sidereal and tropical zodiac requires to beequal at some year after Kali yugadi. Therefore equating (2) and(3), we get -

300+N (Y-Y|) = 347d 21gh + N..................................................................................(4)

i.e. N = 47d 21gh / (Ys - Y|) = 3339............................................................................(5)

That means, the sidereal and tropical longitudes of sun coin-cided at the expiry of Kali 3339.

AD.238

This is the year in which sidereal and tropical longitudes of suncoincided. This is the importance of the year AD.238 (K

3339). It is

the zero ayanamsa year, derived by a computation across 3339years from the epoch of Kaliyugadi.

But the Ahargana of 3339 Kali (elapsed) = [3339 x 365.258756= 1219598.986284] ≈ 1219599 days do not correspond to themean equinox, as 3339 (Y-Y|) = 55d 17gh only from Aswinyadi.

i.e., The sun reaches the zero point after 60d - 55d 17gh = 4 days43 ghaties, corresponding to the Ahargana for the mean equinoxof AD.238 (23rd March, Friday) that marked the coincidence ofsidereal and tropical zodiacs.

i.e. The Ayanamsa is roughly 46| more than that of LahriAyanamsa (Chitrapaksha ayanamsa).

[It means that of the 3 entities considered 2 and 3 coincides, butnot the one mentioned as 1. Why? There is some miner error. Anyone may stop here and say - “why bother? The calculationsmatches well for the year...an error of some days only...may becaused by the calculation mistake of ancient saints”. But Hari doesnot stop here. He searches for the root cause of that error.]

But why is it so? Why this exact coincidence of the 3 entities[1) Kali-year beginning (Chaitradi) 2) Meshadi (starting point ofAris) 3) Vernal Equinox] does not occur? We should find out howand why this error crept into their calculations. A similar problemcan be observed if we look at the years AD.499/AD.522.

AD.499/AD.522

[It is the period of Aryabhata, the author of new Suryasidhantha.Some say that he compiled the work in AD.499, and some saythat it was in AD.522. Some are of the opinion that these numbershave nothing to do with the year of birth or year of Aryabhateeyacompilation, but that it is the zero ayanamsa year]

The expiry of Kali year 3623 (Ahargana = 365.25875 x 3623= 1323332.451) coincided with the respective equinox of AD.522.

[It can be proved by considering the equation (2).

Mean tropical-sun of AD.522 (K3623

) = 3600 - 600+ N (Y- Y|) where N=3623

= 3000 + 3623(365.258756 - 365.24219)

= 3000 +60.018618 = 3600.018618 ≈ 3600

i.e. In AD.522 vernal equinox and Kali-year beginning coin-cided]

i.e. Of the above said 3 entities 1 and 3 coincided. As such this

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epoch could have represented coincidence of sidereal and tropicalzodiacs (If the 3rd entity also coincides). But it does not happen.We already know that for AD.238 (K

3339) the precession accounts

to 460 40|. Therefore in view of the 30 58| precession betweenK

3339 (AD.238) and K

3623 (AD.522) the total precession amounts

to 500 38|. To put it mathematically -

Total precession on AD.238 (K3339

) = 460 40|.

Precession for 284 years (AD.522 - AD.522) = 30 58|.

Total precession on AD.522 (K3623

) = 460 40| + 30 58| = 500 38|

As no such coincidence of points occur in AD.499, that year,even though represents the whole number K

3600 is not that rel-

evant.

[Then why the year AD.499 is given this article? It is only dueto some historical reason. According to popular belief it was K

3600

(AD.499) rather than K3623

(AD.522) that represented the epochof Aryabhata and led to the genesis of the solar year 365.25875days. But Kerala tradition as well as modern astronomical compu-tation supports K

3623(AD.522). The year AD.499 has another im-

portance. The almost zero longitude of Ravathi (Zeta Piscium)got incorporated in the Sidhantic tradition after the advent ofBrahmagupta in the 7th century AD. According to CRC report,the expiry of K

3600 (AD.499) very nearly coincided with vernal

equinox of that year. These are all just historical importance of theyear AD.499]

AD.285

What is the importance of this year? If we stick to the basicprepositions such as,

1) Moola is the base of Rasi and Nakshathra division.

2) Kaliyugadi position of vernal equinox = 460 40|.

Does any coincidence of earlier mentions 3 entities occur atthat time? No. According to CRC, the only thing of importance isthat in AD.285 vernal equinox was opposite Chithra star. [Thereis another point to be considered which will be revealed later]

AD.231

Even though the treatises like Aryabhateeya (Kalakriyapada-verse 11) declares Chaitra-sukla-prethipada (Chaitradi) as the be-ginning of the year and the greater divisions of time such as Yuga,Kalpa etc., neither of the Sidhantic epochs, say of Suryasidhanthaor Aryabhateeya satisfied this stipulation. It must be rememberedhere that even Vedanga-Jyotisa had a computational epoch begin-ning from Sukla-pratipada that coincided with the winter solstice.Obviously when the year beginning had a shift to the vernal equi-nox it must have taken place at a coincidence of the vernal equi-nox with the Chaitra-sukla-prethipada. In the absence of such atradition there was no reason for the Sidhantic astronomers to as-cribe a beginning for the year and Yugadi with the Chaitra-sukla-prethipada. It is apparent that the intricacy may be because of theredactions undergone by the Sidhantic treatises around AD.500 inwhich the original epoch of Sidhantic astronomy might have gotobliterated.

On examining the luni-solar configuration of the vernal equi-noxes around AD.233, the following astronomical data strikes ourattention. The vernal equinox of AD.231 precisely satisfied all theaforementioned astronomical factors that would have truly char-acterized the original Sidhantic epoch and year beginning withChaitra-sukla-prethipada.

Epoch: 21 March 231AD, Monday 15 30 UT (2033 UjjainLMT), Vernal Equinox coincided with Chaitra-sukla-prethipada.JD [TDT]: 1805510.22908. Moola (λ-Scorpi) precisely had a lon-gitude of 2390 58| ≈ 2400 from the vernal equinox. New moon

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took place on Monday at 1035UT or Ujjaini LMT for JD [TDT]= 1805510.0238655. Tuesday coinciding with the Sukla-pratipadamarked the beginning of Chaitra at Ujjain. The epochs K

0 and

K3332

corresponded to JD [TDT] of 588466.34939 and1805510.372718 respectively. In terms of UT the epochs wereseparated by 1217045 days = 1217045 days = 3332 x365.2596038 i.e. 3332 anomalistic years.

Notice the fact that this year satisfies the above said conditionof the coincidence of 3 entities.

[Still the reasons for the calculation deviation from AD.231 toAD.238 remain to be identified. We should also find out the anoma-lies that caused this deviation from AD.231 to AD.238]

AD.233 (Considering Moola’s fiducial role)

Moola has a fixed longitude of 2400 over the sidereal zodiac.As can be seen in Indian Astronomical Ephemeris the proper mo-tion of Moola can be taken as zero and accordingly Moola had it’ssidereal and tropical longitude equal to 2400 at the vernal equinoxof AD.233. (UT: 21 March 233, 03:23; JD [TDT] =1806240.72368). Ayanamsa as such may be computed either fromthe vernal equinox of AD.233 or by subtracting 2400 from themodern tropical longitude of λ-Scorpi. On 2nd July 2000 the tropi-cal longitude of λ-Scorpi is 240 35| 33.76||. Alternatively, if wetake the vernal equinox of AD.231 coincident with Chaitra-sukla-prethipada as marking the zero point the ayanamsa will be 240 37|.

i.e. The Ayanamsa is roughly 44| more than that of LahriAyanamsa (Chitrapaksha ayanamsa).

[The Chaitra-sukla-prethipada condition (entity 1) is not satis-fied when AD.233 is accepted] AD.231 is better than AD.233 asall the 3 entities coincide. If we consider Moola’s fiducial role aswell, Ayanamsa should be roughly 44| more than that of Lahariayanamsa.

Now let us go back to the original question. Why this exactcoincidence of the 3 entities does not occur in AD.238 (K

3339)?

Movement of Nirayana Zero-point

It is apparent from equation (2) that the mean tropical sun coin-cided with vernal equinox of K

3623 for the solar year-length of

365.25875 days. As a result of the continued use of this extra-longsidereal year the zero point had a progressive movement towardseast by 0.00239 days per year. Could it be the cause of error incalculation?

[The precession of equinox is approximately 50|| per year. Butthere is continuous change in precession speed. According tomodern science precession speed of AD.285 is 49.9049 and ofAD.2100 is 50.3132. It means that there is a change of 0.0222226||

in 100 years. Could it be cause?]

Earlier it was said that - ‘There is another point to be consid-ered which will be revealed later’. It will be discussed here. Theeastward progress of the Sidhantic zero point touched the pointopposite Chithra (or vernal equinox of AD.285), only towards theend of 19th century i.e., near about AD.1885. The Sidhanticpanchangas (ephemeris) of this period (for e.g. Vakya-panchangathat prevailed over South India) therefore had their zero point fall-ing opposite Chithra by accident and consequently the modernastronomical tropical longitude of sun and the correspondingSidhantic sidereal value had the difference equal to an ayanamsabased on Chithra’s opposite point.

At this point I think it won’t be irrelevant to present a statementHari made in a letter to me. “When you don’t know about thesecular variation rate of precession, accept what others say? Forayanamsa how you are concerned about the year AD.231 orAD.238. Do you know that Chithra-paksha is no longer based onAD.285? AD.285 is the value of zero year based on the astro-

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nomical knowledge of AD.1956 or so. Till the advent of the newtheories, when ever precession was accounted a few years differ-ence for zero value (of year) was normal. AD.238 is the valuederived by a computation across 3339 years from the epoch ofKaliyugadi. But there the Chaitradi (Kali-year beginning) doesnot coincide with zero. Zero coincidence of Chaitradi is in AD.231.These are all intricacies related to ancient Calendar. Unless youread thoroughly about ancient Indian astronomy and its computa-tions, you may not grasp the intricacies. Continue the study; keepthe doubts in mind and as you progress in your studies you willunderstand. Everything cannot be made simple by correspon-dence.”

I truly agree with those statements. An unending search for thetruth of astrology, and its true foundations is necessary, for theacceptance of astrology as a science. Chadrahari’s search for cor-rect zero ayanamsa year also continues. We will wait for worthyknowledge that would be revealed by this scholar in his search fortruth of astrology.

[What ever be the zero ayanamsa year, one should also remem-ber that - “The zero ayanamsa year is not the year in which astrol-ogy originated”. Fixed zodiac with Moola as fiducial star,Ayanamsa, Zero ayanamsa year etc are all mathematical conceptsand therefore the origin of astrology could be either before or afterthe zero ayanamsa year such as AD.231. But the stellar divisionsare mentioned in Vedas, and as every historian agrees that Vedasare written before BC.1500, we can be sure that the Zodiac was inuse far before the zero ayanamsa year. This was possible onlybecause of the fact that Zodiac is a mathematical concept (A fixedreference frame based on which movements could be evaluated).Chandrahari’s idea is that the formation of Sidereal zodiac origi-nated in BC.4137 among the Tantric cults of Pre-Aryan (Pre-Vedic)origin (Sarawathy River Valley Civilization/Sidhu Civilization).

This idea of Hari is not discussed here; at it is not relevant forunderstanding Ayanamsa and Zero-Ayanamsa year].

Is there any empirical testable method to ascertain theaccuracy of Hari’s Ayanamsa?

In the words of Einstein - “In order to be able to consider atheory a physical theory, it is only necessary that it implies empiri-cally testable assertion in general”. Is the Ayanamsa of Chandraharisuch a one? Yes, it is. In the astrological context -

1) In Mrithyubhaga research ayanamsa is very important.

2) Sputa (Nirayana planetary longitudes) of all planets, Birthtime rectification, Desa systems, Varga Systems etc all depend onthe accuracy of Ayanamsa, and is affected by any change in it.

3) But the best possible assertion could be the testing of thehypothesis “Rhythm of the Universe is in tune with the rhythm ofbreath pattern”. (The equivalence of Microcosm and Macrocosm)

Although this Ayanamsa hypothesis has very good mathemati-cal and theoretical foundation, to verify the trustworthiness of thisAyanamsa, we need to concentrate our studies in the above-men-tioned 3 areas.

[That is why Chandrahari jumped into studies such as -

1) Mrithyubhaga Research

2) Microcosm - Macrocosm equivalence concept in Tanthra.

3) Biological - Circadian rhythm etc]

Conclusion

Hari is calling for the support of every learned astrologer, whois searching for the truth of astrology. Why he needs help? In hisown words - “To strikeout a new path in this labyrinth is a difficulttask and no single author however resourceful he may be unable

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to adequately support each and every one of his sentences or ar-guments by quoting appropriate authorities”.

It is said that once you catch the tail of a tiger you cannot leaveit!! I would elaborate. It revealed to Chandrahari that there aresome fundamental mathematical concepts behind the Nirayanazodiac. (He started studying the subject). Then there came thenecessity of refining those mathematical concepts (Again throughstudy of the connected subjects became a necessity). Now comesthe stage of giving empirical proof for the trustworthiness of hismathematical theory on Ayanamsa. (The study continues - and healways comes out with some fruitful results!)

This man is a true learner. A truth seeker!... Let this man con-tinue his studies... This is the research path by which astrologymay get accepted as a science one day. So encourage this personand say - “Go on...thousands are behind you...”

PART - IV

About the Gospel of Eve I happen to read something about the ‘Gospel of Eve’ (form

GnosticGospels Yahoo group). The Gospel of Eve is known onlyfrom one or two short quotations from the words of Epiphanius(310/20 - 402), bishop of Salamis*. He tells us that certain Gnos-tic sects used it. As per Epiphanius, these are the words of ‘Jesus’as collected by ‘Mary’ (probably Magdalene). As per this sect,Jesus himself was the first teacher of the ritualistic practices andtechniques they followed. The quotations are as follows-

“I stood upon a high mountain and saw a tall man, and an-other of short stature, and heard something like the sound of thun-der and went nearer in order to hear. Then he spoke to me andsaid: I am thou and thou art I, and wherever thou art, there am I,and I am sown in all things; and whence thou wilt, thou gatherest

me, but when thou gatherest me, then gatherest thou thyself.[Epiphanius, Panarion,26.3.1]”

This is beautiful! Jesus standing at the hill, and Mary listeningto his words. It is a conversation between a guru and his disciples.The guru is reflecting his revelation, and is not speaking to any-body in particular. See the beauty of these words- “I am thou andthou art I, and wherever thou art, there am I, and I am sown in allthings; and whence thou wilt, thou gatherest me, but when thougatherest me, then gatherest thou thyself.”

Jesus is just reflecting his revelation - “I am god and I am thecreation of god, where ever is the creation of god there I am, I ampresent in all things, and when god takes them back, he is collect-ing me, but when he is collecting me, he is collecting him himself(because I am one with god)”

Jesus is expressing his consciousness. The experience of thereality where the Creation, Creature, The action of creation be-comes one; Where the Law, Law giver, and those that are gov-erned by the law becomes one. All enlightened men speak on similarterms – let it be Krishna, Buddha, Christ, Mahaveera, Osho orJiddu.

The soul (Microcosm) and the Brahma(Macrocosm) are oneand the same. Whether in this subtle spiritual sense or in the mate-rialistic sense. It cannot be the other way round! The soul is scat-tered and is present everywhere – it is the feeling of Union – onewith the universe! “They say that the same soul is scattered aboutin animals, beasts, fish, snakes, humans, trees, and products ofnature. [Epiphanius, Panarion, 26.9.1.]”

This is Tantra, This is Veda, This is Upanishad, and This isZen. ‘Prenja’ (Consciousness) and the total experience of con-sciousness – always being in consciousness - (enlightenment) wasthe same for the whole humanity from staring of human evolution

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to till date. The experience is the same. But the description, ex-pressing it in words may differ as per the articulation capabilitiesof the individuals. ‘Vistaram Vastu saktita’ – elaboration dependson the capabilities and knowledge of the individuals.

I loved and was greatly impressed by the above quote, andtherefore thought to share it with you all. One more observation ofEpiphanius attracted my attention. He says that details of theology(which depends on the knowledge of non-experienced people) ofthese Gnostic sects varied from one sub-sect to another. As per thesect that used the ‘Gospel of Eve’- “In outline the material worldwas ruled by an evil “archon” or intermediate deity. The bodilyflesh belonged to this archon, and would not be raised up.” Theinfo that attracted my attention is the word ‘archon’ which is stillused in south Indian Dravidian languages which means ‘King’. Itis spelled archon or arachan and finds its root in the Sanskrit word‘Rajan’ (King). This suddenly makes sense, and helps us in deci-phering the observation of Epiphanius. So the translated meaningof the above words would be – “The material world was and is,ruled by an Evil** King or Government. Our body and worldlyactions belonged to, controlled by, ruled by, them. We are forcedto obey them. The Government or any other moralistic law giver(e.g. religious authorities) is the immediate ruler. But worshippingor obeying such materialistic rules and laws and the ethics framedby them or the rituals will not help us in spiritual upliftment. Thelaws of spiritual upliftment are entirely different and comes fromwithin. The law of the divine is entirely different and is beyondthe classifications such as good or evil”.

[Seek not the law in your scriptures, for the law is life, whereasthe scripture is dead. I tell you truly, Moses received not his lawsfrom God in writing, but through the living word. The law is liv-ing word of living God to living prophets for living men. In every-thing that is life is the law written. You find it in the grass, in the

tree, in the river, in the mountain, in the birds of heaven, in thefishes of the sea; but seek it chiefly in yourselves. For I tell youtruly, all living things are nearer to God than the scripture which iswithout life. God so made life and all living things that they mightby the everlasting word teach the laws of the true God to man.God wrote not the laws in the pages of books, but in your heartand in your spirit. They are in your breath, your blood, your bone;in your flesh, your bowels, your eyes, your ears, and in every littlepart of your body. They are present in the air, in the water, in theearth, in the plants, in the sun beams, in the depths and in theheights. They all speak to you that you may understand the tongueand the will of the living God. – Jesus says in ‘Gospel of Peace’]

Isn’t that beautiful? He was a real rebel! [he taught quite oth-erwise than the priests and scribes - ‘Gospel of Peace’] By theway the study of Gnostic Gospels (Gospels of Philip, Thomas(Brother of Jesus), Eve, Judas, the Gospel of Peace etc) will re-veal that the path followed by Jesus is more related to the ‘Tantric’system followed by many people in ancient and modern India.Know that in ‘Gospel of Judas’ Jesus speaks about the Calendarsystem related to Yugas (72 Manuwantaras) and the division ofZodiac (12 Signs). The understanding of the mutual correspon-dence of external Wheel of Time (Kala-chakra = Zodiac) as re-flected in sky (21600 min) and internal Wheel of Time as reflectedin human body (21600 breaths per day) is arrived at and reveledby the ‘Tantric Yoga’ path, which stresses on meditation & Yogato have the experience of union with the universe (enlightenment).

Note:

* Note that Epiphanius was the bishop of Salamis (A personafter power), who wanted to spread Christianity. Therefore ex-cept the (original looking) quotes he provides, don’t believe inany other info he provides, because the intention of de-gradingthe worship methods followed by any other sects other than his

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own, would be there fore sure. As per his own description, whenthe people of this sect, in which man and women were free, andequally participated in the worship of the divine, invited Epiphaniusto participate in their rituals “Epiphanius prayed to God, resistedthe women, and freed himself from the sect. He then reported themto the bishops, who drove eighty of them from the city.” So hewas the destroyer of this sect, (into which Jesus himself belonged)rather than a supporter of it.

** Let it be King, Government, religious authorities; peopleafter power is without exception, evil.

The accounts and texts related to ‘Gospel of Eve’ are from:Wilhelm Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrypha, JamesClarke & Co-Westminster/John Knox Press, Cambridge and Lou-isville, 1990, and Philip Amidon, The Panarion of St Epiphanius,Oxford University Press, 1990.

The accounts and texts related to ‘Gospel of Pease’ are from:The Original Hebrew and Aramaic Texts. Translated and editedby EDMOND BORDEAUX SZEKELY MCMLXXXI. INTER-NATIONAL BIOGENIC SOCIETY, 1981.

Rama calls Buddha a ‘Thief’!In Valmiki Ramayana there is a sloka in which Rama calls the

great-enlightened one ‘Buddha’ a ‘Thief’! The sloka helps us verymuch in locating the period of Ramayana and also in understand-ing how and when who undertook ‘the task of manipulating an-cient scripts’ available at that time. The sloka is given below. Ramathreatens Jabali -

ÊxÉxnùÉ¨ªÉ½Æþ Eò¨ÉÇ EÞòiÉÆ Ê{ÉiÉÖºiÉnÂù ªÉºi´ÉÉ¨ÉMÉÞ¼hÉn Ê´É¹É¨ÉºlÉ¤ÉÖËrù*¤ÉÖnÂùvªÉÉxÉªÉè´ÉÆÊ´ÉvÉªÉÉ SÉ®úxiÉÆ ºÉÖxÉÉÎºiÉEÆò vÉ¨ÉÇ{ÉlÉÉnù{ÉÉäiÉ¨ÉÂ**ùªÉlÉÉ Ê½þ SÉÉä®ú& ºÉ iÉlÉÉ Ê½þ ¤ÉÖrùºiÉlÉÉMÉiÉÆ xÉÉÎºiÉEò¨ÉjÉ Ê´ÉÊrù*iÉº¨ÉÉÊrù ªÉ& ¶ÉCªÉiÉ¨É& |ÉVÉÉxÉÉÆ ºÉ xÉÉÎºiÉEäò xÉÉÊ¦É¨ÉÖJÉÉä ¤ÉÖvÉ&

ºªÉÉiÉÂ**(´ÉÉ±¨ÉÒÊEò ®úÉ¨ÉÉªÉhÉ, +ªÉÉävªÉÉEòÉhb÷, ºÉMÉÇ 109, ¶±ÉÉäEò 33-34)

[How could my father do the big mistake of appointing you as theMinister - I have great disregard for his intelligence. Your intelli-gence is not in the right direction (You are mad!) - You have adoptedthe path that is against the Vedas. You are a non-believer and milesaway from the path of Dharma. (I hate you and doubt the intelli-gence of the King, my father, who appointed you as Minister)Like a thief should be punished, in the same way, Buddha, whodoes not believe in gods, should be punished. (He is also a Thiefand Nonbeliever). To those non-believers, to whom the king isable to give punishment, the same (cruel) punishment like the onegiven to a thief should be given. But if that non-believer is outsidethe reach (country, control and ability to punish) of that king thenthe learned ones should never talk to him]

Thieves were usually Jailed, Chained, Amputated or Killedusing various cruel methods - Manusmriti, Chapter 8, Sloka 310.Rama is mentioning that the same treatment should be given toBuddha! Or in other words is he is threatening Jabali (a Buddhistmonk) that the same treatment would be given to him (similar tothe treatment that should be given to all Buddhist monks)! Look atthe fanatic nature reflected in that statement! Rama says that if thatBuddha or Buddhist is outside the reach of the King, the learnedone (the king) should never even talk to him! He does not haveany logical answers to their questions, but wants to silence themby killing! Why Rama becomes this much violent? What did Jabalitold him? Jabali was simply trying to advice Rama for his owngood -

ºÉÉvÉÖ ®úÉPÉ´É ¨ÉÉ ¦ÉÚiÉÂ iÉä ¤ÉÖÊrù®äúË´É ÊxÉ®úlÉÇEòÉ*|ÉÉEÞòiÉºªÉ xÉ®úºªÉä´É ÁÉªÉÇ¤ÉÖräùºiÉ{ÉÎº´ÉxÉ&**Eò& EòºªÉ {ÉÖ û¹ÉÉä ¤ÉxvÉÖ& ÊEò¨ÉÉ{ªÉÆ EòºªÉ EäòxÉÊSÉiÉÂ*

95


BEòÉä Ê½þ VÉÉªÉiÉä VÉxiÉÖ®äúEò B´É Ê´ÉxÉ¶ªÉÊiÉ**iÉº¨ÉÉx¨ÉÉiÉÉ Ê{ÉiÉÉ SÉäÊiÉ ®úÉ¨É ºÉVVÉäiÉ ªÉÉä xÉ®ú&*=kÉ¨É B´É ºÉ YÉäªÉÉä xÉÉÎºiÉ EòÎ¶SÉÊrù EòºªÉÊSÉiÉÂ**ªÉlÉÉ OÉÉ¨ÉÉxiÉ®Æú MÉSUôxÉÂ xÉ®ú& EòÎ¶SÉnÂù ¤ÉÊ½þ´ÉÇºÉäiÉÂ*=iºÉÞVªÉ SÉ iÉ¨ÉÉ´ÉÉºÉÆ |ÉÊiÉ¹ äöiÉÉ{É®äú(+)½þÊxÉ**B´É¨Éä É ¨ÉxÉÖ¹ªÉÉhÉÉÆ Ê{ÉiÉÉ ¨ÉÉiÉÉ MÉÞ½Æþ ´ÉºÉÖ*+É´ÉÉºÉ¨ÉÉjÉÆ EòÉEÖòiºlÉ ºÉVVÉxiÉä xÉÉjÉ ºÉVVÉxÉÉ&**

(´ÉÉ±¨ÉÒÊEò ®úÉ¨ÉÉªÉhÉ, +ªÉÉävªÉÉEòÉhb÷, ºÉMÉÇ 108, ¶±ÉÉäEò 3-6)[Dear Rama why do you talk meaningless things? How came youthink in the wrong direction? You are a well-educated person andtherefore you shouldn’t think like the uneducated, uncultured vil-lagers. The sages with enlightened intelligence shouldn’t talk likethis! In this world who is the relative? What anyone has to gain?Everybody takes birth alone and dies alone. If someone becomeattached to others thinking that ‘it is my father’, ‘it is my mother’,‘these are my relatives’ etc, he is like a mad person with an unbal-anced intelligence. Because here in this world nobody belongs tonone; none is the relative of anybody else (everybody is alone,and spirituality is the path one should travel alone). Like an indi-vidual going from one village to other spends a night in a lodge,and the next day leaving that place resumes his journey, all thesebelongings such as mother, father, house, property etc are all tem-porary. Dear Rama, the knowledgeable ones do not become at-tached to all these things. (you too shouldn’t get attached to allthese worldly things)]

After advising Rama in the words of a truly intelligent and en-lightened one, Jabali says-

ºÉ xÉÉÎºiÉ {É®úÊ¨ÉiªÉäiÉiÉÂ EÖò¯û ¤ÉÖËrù ¨É½þÉ¨ÉiÉä*|ÉiªÉIÉÆ ªÉiÉÂ iÉnùÉÊiÉ¹`ö {É®úÉäIÉÆ {ÉÞ¹`öiÉ& EÖò¯û&**

(´ÉÉ±¨ÉÒÊEò ®úÉ¨ÉÉªÉhÉ, +ªÉÉävªÉÉEòÉhb÷, ºÉMÉÇ 108, ¶±ÉÉäEò 17)[Oh! Intelligent one! Think with your own intelligence, which

other world is there except this world we see and live? (No hell orheaven exists). In the current situation what ever you find apt forthe moment do it (Live in the moment; Here and Now!)] Then heproceeds to advice Rama that as Bharata requests accept therulership of Ayodhya - there is nothing wrong in it.

But Alas! Those words were falling on deaf ears! It was theretort of Rama to these words we were reading in the beginning ofthis article! Jabali must have felt that there is no use talking to thisfool; there is no use talking to one who can’t see the reflection ofdivine in his on inner self, and who is just after bookish ethics andafter gaining public respect. Rama was trying to make a deposit(bank balance of Punya) in heaven through Yenjas and obeyingand worshiping the words of caste brahmins! He believed heavenexists and following the rituals and books help him reach there,and gain public respect! Jabali was practical and keen enough tosave his own head from being cut down with the following wordsand end the conversation-

xÉ xÉÉÎºiÉEòÉxÉÉÆ ´ÉSÉxÉÆ ¥É´ÉÒ¨ªÉ½Æþ xÉ xÉÉÎºiÉEòÉä(+)½Æþ xÉ SÉ xÉÉÎºiÉËEòSÉiÉÂ*ºÉ¨ÉÒIªÉ EòÉ±ÉÆ {ÉÖxÉ®úÉÎºiÉEòÉä(+)¦É´ÉÆ ¦É´ÉäªÉ EòÉ±Éä {ÉÖxÉ®äú´É xÉÉÎºiÉEò& (´ÉÉ±¨ÉÒÊEò ®úÉ¨ÉÉªÉhÉ, +ªÉÉävªÉÉEòÉhb÷, ºÉMÉÇ 109, ¶±ÉÉäEò 38)[I am not an atheistic, nor did I told the words of atheists. It is notmy opinion that the other worlds do not exist. Seeing the (current)situation, I have became a Theist, and in future when the situationarises I can again become an Atheist]

See how tactfully he jokes at the ignorance and lack of under-standing of Rama!

The same attitude of Rama is evident when he kills Vali withan arrow hiding some where, when discards Seeta in forest just tokeep his own public respect etc. The same attitude get reflectedwhen he kills ‘Sambhuka’, the sudra sage, after asking him ‘Are

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you a caste brahmin, khetriya, or Vaisya?’. When Sambhuka saysthat he is Sudra by caste Rama draws his sword and cuts down hishead! It is evident that Ramayana was written in a period whenthe Brahmanic priest hood was in its full power.

Here what we are interested in is the reference to Buddha andcalling him ‘Thief’. This could happen only after the downfall ofthe great Buddhist religion after the reign of Asoka and when theBrahmanic religion started the onslaught of Buddhist monks. Thissloka is ample evidence for that fact that Ramayana was writtenafter the period of Buddha (BC 500) and also after the downfall ofBuddha religion (After the period of Asoka the Great AD 200).Note that Arthasastra by Vishnugupta (BC 3rd Century), atheisticreligion called Lokayata (proposed by Sage Charvaka), Chaityas(Buddha Temples) etc are all mentioned in Ramayana. By thattime Buddha religion has reached even Srilanka derivable fromthe fact that Chaityas in Lanka gets mentioned.

This text must have been created when some fanatic brahminor supporter of brahmin cast was in power and the Brahmanicscriptures got revived, projecting their upper hand, above all theothers. Is there such a period? Yes! After Asoka (Maurya dynasty)the north came under the ‘Sungas’ a Brahmin coming to power bykilling the king and taking up the task of ‘reviving’ (read ‘creat-ing’, ‘manipulating’, ‘interpolating’) the scriptures! This tread isfollowed to a certain extend in the ‘Gupta period’ as well. Bud-dhists and others where slaughtered and people were forced con-verted to Hindu religion - the Vishnava Brahmanic cult becamepopular. It is the political scenario in which the text Ramayanaoriginated and revised. Naturally the text calls all the south Indi-ans ‘Monkeys’ and Buddhists ‘Thief’ - the two major forces thatstood against Sunga caste Brahmin kings and their beliefs. Onecute thing to note is that the Eastern countries such as Anga, Vangaetc (Bengal, Orissa region) consider themselves as the descen-

dants of Vali, and the same Vali is depicted too as a ‘Monkey’ inRamayana! So in short all the Eastern and Southern people out-side the ‘Sunga Kingdom’ is ‘Monkeys’ (read uncultured ones)and all the people who does not believe in ‘Vishnava cult’ ofbrahmins are ‘Thieves’ who should be killed or amputated! Thusit turns out that “Ramayana is a Political text”, originated with apolitical purpose in 3rd Century AD in Sunga Kingdom with castebrahmin king! Trying to trace its origins to BC 5000 or so or de-pending on the slokas provided by it forgetting this scenario andreality would be futile efforts!

Anybody who wants to know more about the clear and correctadvices the Buddhist Monk Jabali gives to Rama and his retortcan refer to Vatmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda. Jabali, the Bud-dhist Monk, was a Minister of Rama. It would be worthy to notethe list of Ministers of Ayodhya -

Vasishta - A caste brahmin born in Vasishta Kula (Vedic Brah-min)

Vamadeva - A Tantric born in Vamadeva Kula who followedthe Vama Tantic cult (Tantric)

Jabali - An Buddist monk (Buddhist)

Bharadwaja - A caste brahmin born in Bharadwaja Kula to-tally involved in ‘reviving’ ancient texts projecting their ‘advancedscientific foundation’ (Vedic Brahmin)

Yes, we doubt whether it is Ayodhya or Sunga Ministers thatgets reflected in Ramayana. In another angle let us have a look atthe lineage of Rama -

Vishnu -Brahma - Kasyap - Vivaswan - Manu - Ishvaku -Kukshik - Vikukshik- Ban - Aranyak - Pridhu - Trisanku -Dudhumar - Yuvanasv - Mandhata - Susandhi - Druvasandhi -Bharat - Asita - Sagar - Asamanj - Amsuman - Dilip - Bhageerath

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- Kakusth - Kanmashapad - Sankhan - Sudarsan - Agnivarn -Seekhrag - Maru - Prasusruv - Ambareesh - Nabhag - Aj - Dasaradh- Rama.

A bit description of some people in this lineage is given below:

Vishnu - God Vishnu (indicating Vishnava Cult)

Manu - The author of Manusmriti

Trisanku - Lost the kingdom and became a Chandala (Swapacha= Dog eater)

Asita - The author of Asita Hora, an astrological treteise men-tioned in plenty by many including Mihira. Asita does not haveany children.

Sagar - Son of the wife of of Asita born to Sage Chyevana(Ref. Ramayana)

Kanmasha pada - Lost the kingdom and became a Chandala, itis said. (Swapacha = Dog eater)

Rama - The son of Kausalya born to Rishyasringa (Rishyasrigawas a fanatic brahmanic priest. Ref. Ramayana)

Ramayana is an admixture of politics and imagination. It is fu-tile to search real history in it - due to the prime fact that it is a textrevised or created on 3rd century AD, with an intent to projectBrahmanic Vishnava cult, and to spread the belief that theRamayana story took place as far back as Tretayuga (thousands ofyears earlier)! If you search history in such texts, search like adetective, as if you are searching for a proof left by the criminal bymistake; otherwise for sure the criminal will cheat you and willescape after misguiding you in wrong direction.

Siva Sankalpa Sukta[The hymn for knowing Siva]

This hymn is found both in Rig and Yajur Veda. Recite thishymn and feel the eternal bliss within and outside.

+ÎMxÉ¨Éæ ´ÉÉÊSÉ Ê¸ÉiÉ&* ´ÉÉM¾þnùªÉä* ¾þnùªÉÆ ¨ÉÊªÉ* +½þ¨É¨ÉÞiÉä* +¨ÉÞiÉÆ ¥ÉÀÊhÉ**´ÉÉªÉÖ¨Éæ |ÉÉhÉÉä Ê¸ÉiÉ&* |ÉÉhÉÉä ¾þnùªÉä* ¾þnùªÉÆ ¨ÉÊªÉ* +½þ¨É¨ÉÞiÉä* +¨ÉÞiÉÆ ¥ÉÀÊhÉ**ºÉÚªÉÉæ¨Éæ SÉIÉÖÊ¹É Ê¸ÉiÉ&* SÉIÉÖ¾ÇþnùªÉä* ¾þnùªÉÆ ¨ÉÊªÉ* +½þ¨É¨ÉÞiÉä* +¨ÉÞiÉÆ ¥ÉÀÊhÉ**SÉxpù¨ÉÉ ¨Éä ¨ÉxÉÊºÉ Ê¸ÉiÉ&* ¨ÉxÉÉä ¾þnùªÉä* ¾þnùªÉÆ ¨ÉÊªÉ* +½þ¨É¨ÉÞiÉä* +¨ÉÞiÉÆ ¥ÉÀÊhÉ**Ênù¶ÉÉä ¨Éä ¸ÉÉäjÉä Ê¸ÉiÉ&* ¸ÉÉäiÉÆ ¾þnùªÉä* ¾þnùªÉÆ ¨ÉÊªÉ* +½þ¨É¨ÉÞiÉä* +¨ÉÞiÉÆ ¥ÉÀÊhÉ**+É{ÉÉä ¨Éä ®äúiÉÊºÉ Ê¸ÉiÉ&* ®äúiÉ& ¾þnùªÉä* ¾þnùªÉÆ ¨ÉÊªÉ* +½þ¨É¨ÉÞiÉä* +¨ÉÞiÉÆ ¥ÉÀÊhÉ**{ÉÞÊlÉ´ÉÒ ¨Éä ¶É®úÒ®äú Ê¸ÉiÉ&* ¶É®úÒ®ú& ¾þnùªÉä* ¾þnùªÉÆ ¨ÉÊªÉ* +½þ¨É¨ÉÞiÉä* +¨ÉÞiÉÆ ¥ÉÀÊhÉ**+Éä¹ÉÊvÉ´ÉÇxÉº{ÉiÉªÉÉä ¨Éä ±ÉÉä¨ÉºÉÖ Ê¸ÉiÉ&* ±ÉÉä¨ÉÉÊxÉ ¾þnùªÉä* ¾þnùªÉÆ ¨ÉÊªÉ* +½þ¨É¨ÉÞiÉä*+¨ÉÞiÉÆ ¥ÉÀÊhÉ**<xpùÉä Éæ ¤É±Éä Ê¸ÉiÉ&* ¤É±ÉÆ ¾þnùªÉä* ¾þnùªÉÆ ¨ÉÊªÉ* +½þ¨É¨ÉÞiÉä* +¨ÉÞiÉÆ ¥ÉÀÊhÉ**{ÉVÉÇxªÉÉä ¨Éä ¨ÉÚvÉÇÊxÉÊ¸ÉiÉ&* ¨ÉÚvÉÉÇ ¾nùªÉä* ¾þnùªÉÆ ¨ÉÊªÉ* +½þ¨É¨ÉÞiÉä* +¨ÉÞiÉÆ ¥ÉÀÊhÉ**

(+lÉ´ÉÇ´Éänù&, ªÉVÉÖ´Éænù&)For those who can’t read sanskrit, the same is given below in

english alphababtes -

Agnir me vachi sritaH. Vag hridaye.Hridayam mayi. Ahamamrite. Amritam brahmani.Vayur me prano sritaH. Prano hridaye.Hridayam mayi. Ahamamrite. Amritam brahmani.Suryor me chakshushi sritaH. Chakshur hridaye.Hridayam mayi. Ahamamrite. Amritam brahmani.Chadrama me manasi sritaH. Mano hridaye.Hridayam mayi. Ahamamrite. Amritam brahmani.Diso me srotre sritaH. Srotam hridaye.Hridayam mayi. Ahamamrite. Amritam brahmani.Apo me retasi sritaH. RetaH hridaye.Hridayam mayi. Ahamamrite. Amritam brahmani.Prithvi me sareere sritaH. Sareera hridaye.Hridayam mayi. Ahamamrite. Amritam brahmani.Oshadhir vanaspatayo me lomasu sritaH. Lomani hridaye.Hridayam mayi. Ahamamrite. Amritam brahmani.Indror me bale sritaH. Balam hridaye.Hridayam mayi. Ahamamrite. Amritam brahmani.Parjanyor me murdhani sritaH. Murdha hridaye.

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Hridayam mayi. Ahamamrite. Amritam brahmani.(Adharva Veda, Yajur Veda)

The meaning of this beautiful hymn, as I could translate, isgiven below –

Fire is in my words. Words in heart. Heart is mine.I am the eternal wine. Eternity in Brahma.Air is in my breath. Breath in heart. Heart is mine.I am the eternal wine. Eternity in Brahma.Sun is in my eyes. Eyes in heart. Heart is mine.I am the eternal wine. Eternity in Brahma.Moon is in my mind. Mind in heart. Heart is mine.I am the eternal wine. Eternity in Brahma.Directions in my ear. Ear in heart. Heart is mine.I am the eternal wine. Eternity in Brahma.Primordial water in my sperms. Sperms in heart. Heart is mine.I am the eternal wine. Eternity in Brahma.Earth is in my body. Body in heart. Heart is mine.I am the eternal wine. Eternity in Brahma.The plants are trees in my hair. Hair in heart. Heart is mine.I am the eternal wine. Eternity in Brahma.Lightning is in my power. Power in heart. Heart is mine.I am the eternal wine. Eternity in Brahma.The rain in my head. Head in heart. Heart is mine.I am the eternal wine. Eternity in Brahma.

How blissful the thoughts are! A bliss that can’t be found intoday’s prayers! They – the vedic sages - must have been higherthan us, blissful than us – feeling the divine! Feeling the sky, oceanand universe as one, feeling the head and heart as one, feeling thebody and universe as one! To them, they are the eternal and theeternal wine that would be consumed, at the same time; to them,they are the Yajna (Creation), Yajnikas (Creators; doers) andBalimriga (the stuff; the sufferer; the one which would be destroyed,slaughtered and consumed) at the same time!! The law, lawgiver,

and the living/non-living universe obeying the law all becomesone!!! What a mind that is, which could visualize it all and feel itso strongly within!!!

This is a prayer beyond all prayers! Like a prayer the sage alive- Feeling the rhythm; being the rhythm; being one with the dy-namic eternal!!! Enjoy the eternal life!!!

Let us go through those blissful thoughts again – Fire in mywords, Air in breath, Sun in eyes, Moon in mind, Directions inears, Primordial ocean in sperms, Earth in body, plants and treesin hair, Lightning in power, Rain in head; All in heart (I am bliss-ful!); heart is mine; I am the eternal wine (drink me!), eternity is inknowing the ultimate, being in the ultimate!!! (You are eternal! Beit!)

This is Siva Sankalpa! Knowing Siva the bliss! Siva the ulti-mate! Siva, the bliss within, and the universe are one and the same!Fire, Air, Moon, Directions, Primordial Ocean, Earth, Plants, Light-ning, Rain all are Sakti (Power, Stuff – the female counterpart ofSiva the bliss within and without). But both are one – the ultimate(call it Brahma/Brahman)! Siva Sankalpa means knowing me andthe universe as ONE!!! Me the drop eternal and universe the oceaneternal. Siva, the bliss within, manifest for those who could feelit!! Descriptions of the ultimate fail to reach there, but the poeticexpression of ones own feeling can better express the inner truth –and so instead of resorting to descriptions let us feel –

Fire is in my words. Words in heart. Heart is mine.I am the eternal wine. Eternity in Brahma.……..Sun is in my eyes. Eyes in heart. Heart is mine.I am the eternal wine. Eternity in Brahma.Moon is in my mind. Mind in heart. Heart is mine.I am the eternal wine. Eternity in Brahma.……..

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Earth is in my body. Body in heart. Heart is mine.I am the eternal wine. Eternity in Brahma.……..The rain in my head. Head in heart. Heart is mine.I am the eternal wine. Eternity in Brahma.

Let that rain be the rain of Brhma Jnana………………..theeternal wine!! Amrita dhara…. And we all…. Amritasya putra…,the children of eternity….Ohm…

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