Astronomical Definitions

ASTRONOMICAL DEFINITIONS This section will introduce the basic terms in Jyotish, which oft times seems frightening because of the many Sanskrit expressions which may have no initial meaning for the novice. I plan to develop a dictionary later on, comprising all possible Jyotish terminology. Janma Kundali The chart drawn with the planetary positions in the twelve signs of the Zodiac for the time and place of someone's birth is called his Janma Kundali, or birth chart. As Jyotish deals with the changing quality of time, the moment of birth is considered to be the primary determinating factor of the course of events in one's life. The correct time to be taken for erecting a Janma Kundali is the time of Nadi Sodhanam, or cutting of the umbilical chord, as this finally separates the body of the child from that of the mother. Ravimarga

-the Ecliptic, or the Sun's course over the sky.

Bhacakra -the Zodiac, or the belt of stars on each side of the Ecliptic extending for 9 degrees of arc. Nakshatras

-the constellations of stars comprising the belt of Zodiac.

The two basic divisions of the Zodiac is the Rasi Chakra consisting of 12 Rasis or Sun signs, extending 30 degrees each; and the Nakshatra Cakra consisting of 27 Nakshatras or Moon signs, extending 13°20' each. The group of heavenly bodies called Nakshatras has the common quality that they don't move relative to each other, they just blink, i.e. their brightness change with time. Grahas

-the other group of heavenly bodies, which are distinct from the Nakshatras in the sense that they move

relative to each other and the Nakshatras as well. The nine planets or Navagrahas of Jyotish are Surya or Ravi (Sun), Chandra or Soma

(Moon), Mangala or Kuja (Moon), Budha (Mercury), Guru or Brihaspati (Jupiter), Sukra (Venus), Sani (Saturn), Rahu (Dragon Head) and Ketu (Dragon Tail ). The last two planets are the North and South Nodes of the Moon. They are also called Chaya-Grahas or shadowy planets, as they are more subtle and can't be observed in the sky, only during the times of solar and lunar eclipses when they shadow over the luminaries. They are located at the intersection points of the elliptical apparent courses of the Sun and the Moon.

Rahu and Ketu are always in the exact opposite points of the Zodiac, forming a

karmic axis in the horoscope, and always move into retrograde direction, as they are the karmic control planets. Some astrologers consider the so-called True Nodes which try to exactly follow these intersection points, thus sometimes for short periods becoming direct. But according to Parasara's definition, they should always be retrograde, therefore the application of Mean Nodes is advised.

Upagrahas Rahu and Ketu are sometimes listed within the category of Upagrahas, although actually they have more significance than the rest of the shadowy planets. There are two categories of them: The first category includes five Upagrahas, the position of which is relative to the Sun's position in the Zodiac. Their names and calculation is as follows: Sun's position + 4 signs 13°20’ = Dhuma Pisces 30° - Dhuma = Vyatipata Vyatipata + 6 signs = Parivesha Pisces 30° - Parivesha = Indrachapa Indrachapa + 16°40 = Upaketu Upaketu +1 sign = Sun. The second category of Upagrahas consist of five (according to some, eight) Upagrahas, which rise at the different portions of the day or night of birth. First divide the duration of the day from sunrise to sunset (or of night from sunset to the next sunrise if birth is at night) into 8 parts of equal length. Each part will be ruled by a planet in the order of weekdays, beginning with the lord of the week. The part after Saturn is lordless. For night births the first part is ruled by the lord of the 5th day from the day of birth. The following table shows the lords of different portions for different days of the week: Table 1.0 for lords of the portions of the day for day births: Day of Week

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Sunday

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Monday

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

----

Tuesday Wednesday

Mars Mercury

Mercury Jupiter

Jupiter Venus

Venus Saturn

Saturn ----

---Sun

Sun Moon

Moon Mars

Thursday Friday Saturday

Jupiter Venus Saturn

Venus Saturn ----

Saturn ---Sun

---Sun Moon

Sun Moon Mars

Moon Mars Mercury

Mars Mercury Jupiter

Mercury Jupiter Venus

---Sun

Table 1.1 for lords of the portions of the night for night births (Note: a day in the Vedic calendar is from sunrise to sunrise, so the whole night will belong to the previous day): Day of Week

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Sunday

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

----

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Monday

Venus

Saturn

----

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

Saturn Sun Moon

---Moon Mars

Sun Mars Mercury

Moon Mercury Jupiter

Mars Jupiter Venus

Jupiter Venus Saturn

Jupiter Saturn ----

Saturn ---Sun

Friday Saturday

Mars Mercury

Mercury Jupiter

Jupiter Venus

Venus Saturn

Saturn ----

---Sun

Sun Moon

Moon Mars

There is an Upagraha assigned to each planet’s portion, and it will rise in the beginning of the portion, i.e. the Upagraha’s position will be identical with the Lagna’s position at the beginning of the portion. The list of planets and their corresponding Upagrahas is the following:

Planet Sun

Upagraha Kalavela

Moon

Paridhi

Mars Mercury Jupiter

Mrityu Ardhaprahara Yamaghantaka

Venus

Kodanda

Saturn

Gulika

According to some astrologers, the portions of Moon and Venus do not have Upagrahas, so they don’t take them into consideration. Most of the authors also take Mandi and Gulika to be identical planets, but Venkatesha Sharma makes

distinction between them in his Sarwartha Chintamani. According to him, Mandi rises at the middle of Saturn’s portion, and Gulika rises in the beginning, similarly to all other Upagrahas. Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, Phala Deepika and other classics describe the effects of Upagrahas in different houses in detail.

©Gauranga Das 2001