A STR OLOGY: BELIEVE IT OR NOT? A book on Astrology by Dr. S. Balachandra Rao
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PREFACE Science and technology are advancing very rapidly in great strides, even beyond one's imagination. Mankind is indeed reaping the rich harvest of this rapid progress in improving its lifestyle. World is shrinking fast in transport and communications. But ~ave these mind boggling advancements in science and technology resulted in a corresponding growth in human values, love of peace and the much-needed scientific temper ? Although man has set his foot, not just once but several times, on the moon and even planted sophisticated equipments there for several scientific investigations, he has not freed himself from the demons Rahu and Ketu who gobble the fullmoon, for him, on the occasion of a lunar eclipse ! Among us Indians, a total belief in astrology is almost a truism. For all our activities and happenings - at the individual, national and even international levels planets' intluences are held responsible. In the present book, deliberations on this all-pervasive astrology (Phala Jyotisha) are attempted at. The ' basic concepts and technical terms of astronomy, on which astrology is allegedly based, are explained. Some of the main tenets of astrology are discussed. Around 1985-86, I wrote computer software based on modern astronomical algorithms and formulae to compute planetary positions ~U1d eclipses for past as well as furture dates. Using this software it has been possibJe to verify and investigate the references in our ancient astronomical, historical and literary texts as also in stone and copper inscri pti ons.
In the preparation of this book, the members of the Editorial Board of the .Navakarnataka Publications. Pvt. Ltd., more particularly Sri K. L. Gopalakrishna Rao, have frequently advised me on improvements in my manuscript, made several corrections and greatly softened my occasionally intemperate language. I am highly grateful to them all as also to the Managing Director Sri R. S. Rajaram for periodically reminding me of my assignment. I have used several books, magazines and newspaper reports in Sanskrit, English and Kannada. I express my indebtedness to their authors and publishers. BangaLore July 16 2000 CD ta l Lunar Eclipse Day)
S. Balachandra Rao
CONTENTS Introduction
Ol. Mathematics and Astronomy in ancient Ind ia 02. Origins of Indian astrology 1) Omens and Nakshatra vidya 2) Horoscopy or J aataka 3) Greek influence and zodiacal signs (raashis) 4) Mention of planets 5) Week days 03. Ayanaamsha muddle Zero-precession year: 285 A. D. ? Contrad ictory predictions Dasha-Bhukti chaos
04. 05 . 06. 07. 08. 09.
to. It. 12. 13. 14 . 15. 16. 17.
Zod iac and constellations What is panchanga ? Indian Natitma l Calendar Planetary system Roman calendar Gregorian calendar Indian traditional caJendar Fi nding weekday given the date How are weekdays named? W hat is a horoscope? · Horoscope of Lord Rama Is Lord Rama 's horoscope g~nuine ? Characteristics of Raashis (S igns) Characteristics of planets Sun sign predictions (Ravi Raashi Bhavishya)
07 14 25 25 27 29 31 33 36 38 39 40 41 51 58 59 61 63 65 67 70 71 77 79
80 82 88
i) According to Indian astrology ii) According to Western astrology
88 90
18. Lagna in different Raashis 19. Important combinations (Yogas) - Good combinations An impossible combination in Brihat Jaatakam Bad combinations
93 97 97 lO2 lO6
20. Scienti sts' objection to astrology 21. Psychologists oppose astrology
lO9 111
22. Astrology illegal
112
23 . 24 . 25. 26 . 27. 2
II3 115 119 122 126 127 129 129 132 133 134 134 136 137 137 139 140 141 143 144 150
Astro logers lost the 1971 elections Astrologers' squibs go damp Astrologers amuse again "This week for you-"
i cla im er for columns . 1 es ts disprove astrological claims 2 . Tim La shun astrology i) onsp iracy against common sense ii) oll cocted iii) N Co mmon mode iv) Preposterous beliefs v Wro ngly oriented vi) N verifica tion vi i) Ta ll claim viii [n s apab le past i ) A::; l.rology in universities An i 'I1t sc ience
Murri n 's and astrology J, T wi S " If clipse 2. 3 . '""i sm
INTRODUCTION Astrology - scope and basis Among the 'Shastras' (branches of knowledge) that have come down to us in our Indian tradition lyotisha is one. The chief object of astrology is to predict the various happenings in one's life beforehand based _ on the movement of planets. Now the claim for the validity of astrology pre-supposes essentially two aspects: one is phi~osophical and the other scientific. We shall briefly examine the former before discussing at length the latter. According to the Vendanta philosophy one's life is determined and governed by one's past action ("Karma"). The accumulated past actions that have started giving their fruits, good and bad, go by the name "praarabdha karma". However, there is ample scope for fresh actions in this birth that will be subsequently yielding their fruits. To this extent there is provision for free-will. Now the "praarabdha kanna", being the natural and inevitable consequences of aUf past deeds, is just inescapable. It is what is usually known as "fate" . This in brief is the Karma theory providing the foundation for the rebirth theory as a natural sequel. The claim of astrology is that the workings of fate in one's life is determined by the positions of planets, say, at the time of one's birth. A doyen of Hindu astrology explains this position in the following words : "The relationship between the planets and Karma may roughly be compared to the relationship between a thermometer and one's body temperature. The 7/ Astrology: Believe it or Not I .
thermometer just records the temperature. It does not bring about the fever. Similarly planets do not cause the events to happen even though they just show the burden one has to bear in life's pilgrimage due to causes generated by him in his previous lives i.e. his past karma. "
PART 1 We shall investigate rationally and impartially to what extent astrology is scientific. In this effort two important questions arise: I. What is, scientifically, the correlation between the objects of our solar system (viz. the sun, the moon and the planets) and the routine happenings is one's li fe such as birth, education, marriage, children, job, wealth, death etc.? U. In case it has not been possible as yet to provide a satisfactory answer to the above question, then to what extent (percentage) the lUles given in the standard astrological treatises come true? The answers demanded in the above two questions may be called physical and statistical respectively. To our first question, the usual answers given by the reputed astro Logical scientists are: l. Just as a planet exerts gravitational forces on any piece of matter, it also subtly causes its influence on one' life through infra-red, ultra-violet and cosmic rays. 2. very individual emits electrons at different rates at different times and the planets possess electromagnetc fields around them. Hence the interaction between the two results in various experiences at different times in one's life. 8/ Astrology : Believe il or Not!
Besides these "scientific" arguments astrologers adduce the following ones in support of astrology ; 3. The horoscope of a person at the time of his birth is cast according to scientifically established formulae of astronomy. Hence the predictions based on such a scientifically cast horoscope are also perfectly scientific. 4. The astrological predictions may sometimes go wrong on account of its avoidable lapses shown below; i. The time and date of birth of a person might not have been reported correctly. ii. There will be differen.ces in the position of a planet at a given time according to different panchangas or almanacs (ephemerides) .Therefore the mistakes in a panchanga chosen contribute to the wrong predictions . iii. Many practising astrologers do not have a correct or adequate knowledge of astrology; or for the sake of earning money they may predict whimsically. Thus, quacks in the field are to blame and not at all the "science" of astrology. 5. The traditionalists who do not want to "defile" their ancient wisdom with scientific and rational thinking take for granted the validity of astrology for the simple reason that the shastra was propounded and developed by great seers like Parashara, laimini and great mathematicians and astronomers like Varahamihira. 6. Many a western "scientist" has vouchsafed the scientific nature of astrology and has strj ven for its developmen t. 7. Many a prediction made by reputed astrologers has 9/ Astrology: Believe it or Not!
7.
Many a prediction made by reputed astrologers has come true. 8. Astrology or Jyothisha is a "Darshana" and a branch dealing with "great transcendental knowledge" (extrasensory and suprarationa1!) which is far above the ordinary and wordly sciences. Hence the worth of · astrology cannot be judged by the standards of science or just reasoning. Apart from the above arguments there may be a few more such in favour of this subject. However, it is certainly interesting and rewarding to investigate the above mentioned arguments one by one. 1. Among the nine planets - navagrahas - mentioned in Indian astrology, four of them are not planets at all; the sun is a star, the moon is only a satellite of the earlh and Rahu and Ketu are but only imaginary geometrical points being the ascending and de cendi ng nodes of the moon. Regarding the claim that different types of rays emitted by the planets influence men's lives, there are absolutely no reports confirming experimental verification that planets emit such rays. So, the emission of cosmic rays from the planets is only a figment of imagination. 2. Now coming to the claim that individuals emit ele trons and that planets are surrounded by electromagnetic fields, well, in fact there are sophisticated instruments and counters in physics to detect em i . ions of particles like electrons. Have the modem savants of a trology conducted experiments using theinstrul11ents to confirm their claims ? Further, what relati n hip can there be between the electrons supposed to be emitted by the planets and the occurences in one's life such as marriage, offspring, 70/ Astrology: Believe it or Not!
employment etc? It is too farfetched. Certainly there Calmot be any such relationship. 3. It is true that a horoscope is cast for a given time (time of birth) using the scientifically established astronomical formulae. This methematical aspect of it is certainly laudable. But so far as the predictive part is concerned, nowhere is the astronomical science used. For example, for one born in Mesha lagna (Aries on the ascendant) there may be Jupiter in the fifth house i.e. in Simha (Leo). This is no doubt found out using the established astronomical calculations. But using this position of Jupiter, predicting about one's offspring is the predictive part in which astronomy or science has no place at all ! In fact, the predictive astrology is based only on certain "rules" prescribed in the ancient astrological treatises like those of Parashara and Varahamihira. Even among these rules there are many which often clash and contradict each other. 4. Even after casting correct horoscopes basing on exact birth-times of persons, and on accurate modern ephemerides (navina driksiddahanta panchanga), no "astrological scientist" has ever predicted events which are at least 70% to 75% correct among thousands of such predictions made by him. 5. The ancient savants of lyotisha shastra like Parashara, Jaimini and Varahamihira are, no doubt, great scholars and their works are highly respectable. The achievements of some of them in Indian Astronomy are indeed a matter of pride for us. But when it comes to the predictive side of astrology the rules set by these savants very much require testing on the anvil of scientific verifiability. 11 I Astrology: Believe it or Nor!
6.
It may be true that some westem scholars have striven to uphold the cause of astrology and attempted to elevate this subject to the level of a science. But we should not fail to notice that these western "scientists" of astrology have not published their authentic findings in any respectable scientific journal of international repute. 7. The failures of the predictions made by the astrologers very much out-number the successes. Examples are too many and too well-known to need any mention here. 8. As regards the use of such respectable adjacti ves as "transcendental" etc. for astrology, we may point OUt that the works of Parashara or Varahamihira nowhere cont,ti n anything dealing with transcendental or extrasensory or supra-rational. If the protagonists of astrology honestly concede that it has not been possible as yet to provide an acceptable rationale for astrology, they can launch a meaningful project which is definitely worth a trial in the interest of astrologers themselves and their favourite field. They can collect thousands of correct horoscopes and get pred ictions from enlightened and reputed astrologers and then verif y to what extent (percentage) the predictions (whi ch must be well-defined and verifiable and not el usive or vague 1) come true. If the findings are encouragi ng - say, validity upto 70% to .80% - they must be pubJished in leading newspapers and journals. Then further investigation, coding and classification can be pursued. Th i can raise astrology to the level of a statistical science thou gh not of a physical science. Without takin g up any such investigation it is no use rushing to adduce p udo-scientific arguments in favour of 12/ Astrology; Beli eve it or Not
I
astrology, and claim its supenonty over a rather less developed and recent science like meteorology. Since astronomy deals with positions of planets and predictive astl:ology uses these data, we shall briet1y consider the relevant astronomical concepts 111 the subsequent chapters.
"You live in Time as well as Space. You are descended from the ancient Rishis of India; but you . live nOI in their age now, do you? Your struggle is with the twentieth centu/y scientists.. .. {f you are not willing and ready to assimilate the new light (science), .. " go and live in Pitruloka with your fore -fathers. Why tarry here? Goodbye!" - Swami Rama Tirtha
13/ Astrology: Believe it or Not!
1 MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY IN ANCIENT INDIA * "Like the crests on the heads of peacocks, like the gems on the hoods of the cobras, mathematics (astronomy) is at the top of the Vedanga slwstras"
zrw ~mrr ~ ~ i1URlT zrw ~ ~lWfTUri dJitlrrf (~) ~Ufur ~. (Vedanga jyotisha, 4)
This is the supreme importance given to mathematics (astronomy) among the branches of secular knowledge ever since the vedic times. Evidently, therefore, the germs of Indian mathematics have to be traced back to the vedas.
i. Sulva sulcas The earliest first significant mathematical texts of the vedic lore we have are 'Sulva Sutra ' in which are given rules, with mathematical details, for constructing 'Yajna bhu.m.ikas' i.e. sacrificial altars. In this ancient text, we are remarkably introduced to surds of the type ff,.,JT, etc. Baudhayana and Apastamba sutras give very good rational approximation for the irrational number ff in the form. I + 1/3 + 1/3.4 .. 113.4 .34 which is correct to 5 decimal places.
wnui rrflitar qtfW( mrrc:!Uar a1lt-srd1~'~~iTofar Rfi:tm : (Apastamba I, 6 & Balldhayana 1, 61-62)
See Indian Mathematics and Astronomy .. Some Landmarks by the author, Jnana Deep Publications, 2000 141 Astrology : Believe it or Not!
Again, the welJ-known Pythagoras' theorem is beautifully stated by these authors far earlier than Pythagoras: "The diagonal of a rectangle produces both areas which its length and breadth produce separately." (Apastamba 1,4)
There is therefore a strong case to rename this theorem more justifiably as 'Sulva Theorem '. One of the greatest problems that had remained unsol ved for centuries in the history of mathematics was what is popularly known as 'squaring the circle' i.e. to construct - using only ruler and compasses - a square whose area is equal to that of a given circle. Surprisingly this problem was tackled by the authors of the Salva sutras and they gave practical methods for squaring a circle, as also for the converse. Their constructions involved approximating the value of Pi to 3.088 which is justifiable in the light of crude mathematical methods adopted thousands of years ago. However, in modern mathematics it is known that an extact geometrical construction, using ruler and compasses, to 'square a circle ' is impossible. Incidentally, it may be pointed out that the approx.imate value of Pi used in the Sulva-sutras i certainly better than the Biblical value Pi=3 (see:(l) ~ in gs vii. 23;(2) ehron. IY.2) given much later.
Ii. Aryabhata's value of Pi TII fa t the creclit of giving for the first -time in India valu of Pi correct of four decimal places as II . L41 s to Aryabhata I (476 A.D.). He mentioned thor 0 f diameter 20,000 has its circumference apl r xirn.atel l eq ual to 62,832; and of course Pi is the f th circumference to the diameter. rati Ih
15 / ASfro/ogy : Believe it or Not!
~ ~~ui (lQ1"1fQ:;>-mn ""6~~IOIIJ{ 3~ ~ 3m:rffi" 'it1q~oIl6 : II
(Aryabhateeyam, Gallitapaada, Sl. 10)
It is interesting to note that Arayabhata uses the word aasanna (meaning approximate) suggesting that the rational value of Pi given by him was only approximate since Pi is irrational (i_e_ cannot be expressed as a fraction, ratio of two integers)_ This achievement of Aryabhata in the 5th century is truly significant and admirable realising that it is only thirteen centuries later, in 1761, that Lambert proved that Pi is irrational and only in 1882 that Lindemann established the further fact that Pi is transcendentaL
iii. Concept of zero and decimal numerals The most remarkable achievement for which the entire world is beholden to ancient India, is the invention of the decimal numerals (with place values), zero and infinity_ "Of all mathematical discoveries, no one has contributed more to the general progress of intelligence than this (zero)" remarks Florian Cajori, the renowned historian of mathematics_ It can definitely be said that from the very earliest times ten (10) has formed the basis of numeration in India_ A list of numeral denominations in powers of ten, up to 10 raised to the power 12 (i.e_l followed by 12 zeros) called paraardha, is found in as ancient a text as the Yajurveda Samhita (Vajasaoeyi) while the highest power of 10 known to the Greeks of those times was 10 raised to power 4 which they called a myriad. It is recorded that Prince Gautama (Bodhisattva) was acquainted with the names of the different powers of ten up to 10 raised to power 53 which he called tallakshana_ -The concept of zero was used in metrics (chhandas) by 16 / Astrology : Believe it or Not!
Pin gala (before 200 B.C.) in his Chhandah-sutra. The idea of expressing all quantities by nine figures (or digits) whereby imparting to them both an absolute value and one by position is so simple that this very simplicity is the reason for our not being sufficiently aware how much admiration it deserves! The earliest evi.dence, available so far, of a symbol for zero (viz., a dot) is found in the Bakshali manuscript (300 A.D.). Ancient Jains ' contribution to mathematics is really marvellous. Their mathematical achievements are recorded in famous Jain texts, dating back from 500 B.C. to 300 B.C., like lambudweepa prajnapti and Suryaprajnapti in which Pi is approximated to the square-root of 10 and calcu lated correct upeo 13 decimal places.
iv, Topics in mathematics India's contribution to mathematics was chiefly in the methods of arithmetic . and algebra. In fact, it is Indian arithmetic that is now used the world over. The topics discussed in the Hindu mathematics of early renaissance in clu ded the fOllowing: 1) Parikarma (the four fund amental operations), 2) Vyavahaara (, determination), . ) Raj;u (meaning rope referring to geometry), 4) Trairasi I h > ru le of three), 5) Yavat laval (simple equations), 6) Kal(l.so,varna (operations with fractions), 7) Varga and \In/'Rwl1ula (square and square-root), 8) Ghana aDd ghana1/1/1/(1 ( ub and cube-root) and 9) Prastarana and Vikalpa II r'lllU l/l ti ons and combinations). Moll lvirac harya (9th Cent A.D), a great Jain In Ith n111 tii an of Karnataka gave the well -known general f nnu la /l ,=nl/(n -r ) 1r1 for the first time in the history of w rid mnth m Ili es. But, this formula is wrongly attributed t Had J n ' (1 63 4 A.D). by Prof. D. E. Smith in his 17 / Astrology : Believe it or Not!
I-Iostory of Mathematics (Vol. II. p. 527) published in 1925 . Ironically, Mahavira 's Sanskrit work, Ganita Saara Sangraha (GSS) edited in 1912 by Prof. M. Rangacharya carries a fore word by Prof. Smith himself! In 1881, a manuscript - now popularly known as the Bakshali manuscript - was discovered at a village called Bakshali, about 70 miles away from the historically famous town of Taxila near Peshawar. This manuscript consi sting of 70 birch-bark leaves is rich in mathematical content of a very high order. The Bakshali manuscript is in the Gatha language (a refinement of old Prakrit) written in the Sharada script and is said to belong to the 3rd Century A. D. Interesting topics like arithmetic and geometric progressions, simple equations and rational approximation for the square-root of a number which is not a perfect sq uare are discussed in the Bakshali manusclipt.
v. Shape and rotation of the earth Aryabhata I (476 A.D.) is one of our greatest mathematicians and astronomers. In fact, Aryabhata was the first in India to develop these subjects systematically and he is lightly respected as the 'father of algebra'. In his famous book Aryabhateeyam, he has given the tables for the trigonometric ratio 'sine' (called jya in Sanskrit) for angles fro m 0 to 90 degrees at intervals of 3 3/ 4 degrees .iu t in one stanza. The same sine-tables can also be found in the ancient astronomical text, Surya Siddhanta. It is highly remarkable that Aryabhata was the first to declare that (i) the earth is round and that (ii) stars appear to move from east to west for an observer on the earth due to relative motion just as for one moving in a boat. stationary objects (like trees etc.) appear to move in the opposite dij·ection. 18 / Astrology : Believe it or Not!
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