Nakshatra Lagna

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Nakshatra Lagna

- Written by Sreenadh OG

We know that while the Nigama system (Vedic Aryans) used mainly Nakshatra Chakra, the Agama system (Saiva Agama, Tantra Agama, Jain Agama etc) used Rasi Chakra. When there was a mix-up of both these traditions, due to the Aryan invasion, the Nigama people (orthodox Vedic Brahmins) started using Rasi Chakra as well. Similarly the Agama people started using the Nakshatra Chakra as well. The period of this mix-up must be around BC 1400 to BC 200; from the period of sages such as Skanda, Parasara, Garga, Vasishta etc till the invasion of Alexander and the advent of Devanagari script.

When we speak about the mix-up of Nigama and Agama astrological systems, the following points should be remembered.

1) Nigama (Vedic Aryan Brahmanic) system was Tropical astrology based on four cardinal points (equinoxes and solstices) coupled with the use of a fixed framework â€" Nakshatra Chakra (the wheel of Asterisms). Lunar Months, Ritu, Muhurta, Nakshatra, Tithi etc was of much importance. Transit of planets through the Nakshatras played a major role in this system regarding result derivation.

2) Agama (Non vedic â€" Saivaite, Naga, Tantric, Jain etc) system followed Nirayana astrology based on a fixed Rasi Chakra (the wheel of Signs). Signs, Houses, Dasas etc was of much importance in this system. Transit of planet through the signs played a major role in the derivation of results.

The mixing of both these systems might have changed both a lot, but provided us with the rich Indian astrological tradition with numerous tools. During this evolution the Nirayana system based on fixed signs coupled with the use of fixed Nakshatras become popular and the tropical astrology based on cardinal points become less important except for the calculation of seasonal climatic changes (on which the agriculture depends). Even though this is the current state of affairs effort should be done to â€"

1) Revive the ancient stellar astrology, based on fixed stellar zodiac, that initially the Vedic people and later the non-vedic people adopted.

2) Revise ancient use of Vedic tools such as Ritu, Muhurta, Nakshatra, Tithi, Nitya yoga, Karana etc in prediction.

3) Revise the ancient tropical astrology and the use of the cardinal points â€" the equinoxes and the solstices.

Out of the above three points, the first point is of interest in this article. We will try to look in to this issue base on one quote provided by ancient author of Jyotisha Karandaka and another quote provided by the text Sukra Neeti.

Some of the major questions that arise regarding Stellar Astrology (system based on Nakshatra Chakra alone) is â€"

1) How the ancient people applied it in Natal Chart reading? What was the starting point?

2) How the different Nakshatras in Nakshatra Chakra, are co-related with the individuals, objects and events related to the native’s life (Similar to the significations assigned to various houses in Rasi Chakra based astrology)

If we have answers to these two fundamental questions, we can easily reconstruct the Vedic stellar astrology with ease, taking help from all the allied info available. But this crucial bit of info seems to be missing in all the available Vedic literature. But the following quote from the ancient Jain text ‘Jyotish Karandaka’ seems to solve the first doubt. It states â€"

Laggam cha dakkhina vasuve assa uttaram ayane

Laggam sai visuvesu panchasu vi dakkhine ayane

(Jyotisha Karandaka)

The above quote is in Prakrit language, and may not be intelligible to many. Converting it to proper Sanskrit will help us in understanding this quote better.

Lagnam cha dakshina vishuve asvam cha uttara ayane

Lagnam swati vashuveshu panchasu dakshine ayane

[During Dakshinayana, the lagna of the autumnal equinox will be Swati Nakshatra, while during Uttarayana the lagna of the vernal equinox would be Aswini Nakshatra. During all the five Dakshinayana within a five year cycle (Pancha varsheeya yuga), the lagna of the Autumnal equinox would be Swati Nakshatra itself (and the same would be true for Vernal equinox and Aswini Nakshatra)]. Here, Lagna means ‘rising Nakshatra’ (similar to ‘rising sign’).

From the above quote it is evident that during Jyotish Karandaka period, the vernal equinox was in Aswini Nakshatra and autumnal equinox in Swati. Aswini covers 0.00 â€" 13.00; Swati covers 186.40 â€" 200.00. The angular difference between vernal and autumnal equinox would be 180 degree always. Only 6.40 â€" 13.20 of Aswini Nakshatra lies opposite to Swati Nakshatra. Since currently the equinox is around 24 degree behind Aswinyadi (starting point of Aswini Nakshatra), the equinox must have move 24 + 6.40 = 30.40 at least from Jyotish Karandaka period till date. Taking approximate precession of 50 seconds, this much precession will take [(30 x 60 + 40) x 60] / 50 = 2208 years. This means that the text Jyotisha Karandaka must have been written at least 2208 years before the current year (2008). This means that this text was written in BC 2nd century or before. Since it would take around [(6 x 60 + 40) x 60] / 50 = 480 years for the precession to cover 6 degree 40 minutes, the period of Jyotish Karandaka could be anywhere between BC 680 to BC 200. It is good news to know that this ancient astrological treatise that may date back even to 6th century BC is available even today.

Discussing the contents of this great ancient Jain astrological work is quite another subject. The fact we are interested in here is that the above text calls ‘Nakshatra as Lagna’. Thus it becomes evident that instead of ‘Rising Sign’ (Rasi Lagna), ‘Rising Nakshatra’ (Nakshatra Lagna) was in use during those days! Possibly based on this valuable info we can safely assume that ‘prediction was done considering the 27 Nakshatras starting from Lagna Nakshatra’.

Another revered ancient text called ‘Surka Neeti’, can supplement this argument with the following quote.

Nakshatra graha gamanaiH kalo yena vidheeyate

Samhitamischa horabhir ganitam jyotisham hi tat

(Sura Neeti)

[Astrology is that branch of knowledge that tries to calculate time based on the transit of planets through Nakshatra Chakra. Astrology has three branches viz. â€" Samhita, Hora and Ganita]

Please note that even though refers to Nakshatra Chakra and the three well known branches of astrology, Sukra Neeti does not mention Signs (Rasi) anywhere in the whole text. As per Sukra Neeti, astrology is all about ‘movement of planets through Nakshatras’. The concept of signs must have been unknown to him during that period. we may assume.

What period? This seems to be a confusing question as the dating o this ancient text is not yet calculated/understood in a proper way. I trust and value this text much due to the following reasons.

1) In Santi Parva of Mahabharata, it is said that - “abbreviating Visalaksha Neetisastra by God Siva containing 10000 slokas Devendra wrote Bahundantaka sastra having 5000 slokas; abbreviating this into 3000 slokas Brihaspati wrote Brahaspatya Neetisastra. Sukracharya abbreviated this Brahaspatya Neetisastra into 1200 slokas in the text named Sukra Neetiâ€. This not only pints to the fact that the text Sukra Neeti is very ancient and as old as Mahabharata, but also clarifies that the original text contained exactly 1200 slokas. The currently available Sukra Neeti text also has exactly 1200 slokas, pointing to the fact that, most possibly this itself is the original Sukra Neeti text which Mahabharata is referring to!

2) Even though Sukra Neeti is a text that falls into the Aryan stream of literature (due to the affinity it shows with Vedic literature, Neeti Sastra knowledge stream as that of Manu Smriti etc), this text differs from the opinions expressed in texts like Manu Smriti in several instance, and has its own unique identity, beauty and value â€" this text is much informative. Manusmriti says ‘Janmana Jayate Sudra’ [Every child is Sudra (low cast) by birth], while Sukra Neeti says ‘Brahmanastu Samutpanna’ [Every child is Brahman (high cast) by birth] and so on. We can see similar difference of opinion at numerous places. [With the commentary of Acharya Ramananda Saraswati this text is available in market currently. The publisher is Manoj Pocket Books]. Just look at the following definition for the word ‘Yavana’ (Ionian) given in this book to know how interesting and informative the book is.

Eeswaram karanam yatradrisyo(a)sti JagataH sada

Sruti-smriti vina dharmo(a)dharmostastaccha yavanam

Srutyadi bhinna dharmo(a)sti yatra tat yavanam matam

(Sukra Neeti)

[The stream of knowledge that considers God as the root cause of creation, the stream of knowledge that discusses right and wrong (dharma-adharma) without considering Veda and Smriti â€" that stream of knowledge is called Yavana (Ionian). All the religions different from Vedic religion is termed Yavanam (Ionian)]

I am sure such definitions would be of much interest to many. Any way all this is not our major point of concern. What I wanted to point out was that â€"

1) Even at the period of Sukra Neeti and Maha Bharata, the astrological branches of Siddhanta-Samhita-Hora was present in Aryan (Vedic Brahmin) literature, as evident from the given Sukra Neeti quote. They mainly depended on the use of Nakshatra Chakra and not Rasi Chakra. Transit of Planets through Nakshatras (starting from Nakshatra Lagna) was the prime tool and method under use.

2) Even the Non-Aryan Jain texts at this period (i.e. BC 680 â€" BC 200) refers to the use of Nakshatra Lagna (possibly borrowed from Vedic literature)

 

What is that we have achieved with this article? As mentioned earlier, definite answers to two major questions (mentioned earlier) is required to reconstruct the ancient system of Stellar Astrology. This article provides a definite answer to the first question. To be brief â€"

Qn: While using Nakshatra Chakra alone for result derivation, what should be considered as the starting point?

Ans: Even though at the Nakshatra Purusha level Aswini is the staring point, in the individual horoscope level Nakshatra Lagna (Rising Nakshatra) should be considered as the starting point. Then based on the 27 Nakshatras there onwards, results should be predicted.

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