The Study of Jyotisha · Chapter 25 of 54 · Part Five · Timing

#Annual charts

#A chart for each year

Dashas and transits time events across a whole life. Indian astrologers also use a chart for each year of life: the varshaphala ("fruit of the year"). Its method comes from a different tradition, called Tajika.

Tajika means "of the Tajiks", that is, of the Persians and Arabs. It is the branch of Jyotisha that came from Arabic astrology, which itself had inherited Greek astrology. Modern scholarship (Martin Gansten's studies of the aspect and dignity doctrines) traces Tajika's core to the 9th-century Arabic astrologer Sahl ibn Bishr, and the earliest surviving Sanskrit Tajika work to Samarasimha in the 13th century. The standard text is the Tajika Nilakanthi of Nilakantha, written in 1587, when he was court astrologer to the emperor Akbar.

So the annual chart is a striking example of how Jyotisha has always absorbed ideas from outside: first from the Greeks (Chapter 48), later from the Arabs and Persians.

A note on sources. No public-domain English translation of the Tajika Nilakanthi exists, and this course has not checked the Sanskrit editions verse by verse. What follows is the method as it is generally taught, with the points that have been checked marked. A student who wants to go deeper should read the Sanskrit or a scholarly study.

#The solar return

The annual chart is cast for the moment each year when the Sun returns to the exact sidereal longitude it had at birth. This is the start of the person's astrological year. In Western astrology the same chart is called the solar return.

The moment shifts by about six hours each year (because a year is about 365¼ days, plus a little for the difference between the sidereal and calendar years), and the chart is usually cast for the place where the person is living at the time.

The example chart. At birth the Sun was at 28°23′ Cancer. In 2026 the Sun returned to that point on 15 August 2026 at 15:54 IST. Cast for Hyderabad, the annual chart has:

This chart governs the person's 37th year, from August 2026 to August 2027.

#The Muntha

The Muntha is a point that moves one sign per year from the birth ascendant. At birth it is in the ascendant's sign; after one completed year it is in the next sign; and so on:

Muntha sign = birth ascendant sign + number of completed years (counting round the zodiac)

Its house in the annual chart, and the condition of its lord, are read as an indication of the year's main concerns. It is generally held to be good in the 9th, 10th and 11th houses of the annual chart, and difficult in the 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 12th.

Example. The person completed 36 years in August 2026. The birth ascendant was Libra. 36 signs is exactly three times round, so the Muntha is back in Libra. In the annual chart (Sagittarius ascendant), Libra is the 11th house — a favourable placement. Its lord, Venus, is in Virgo, its debilitation sign, in the 10th house: the year's gains (11th) come through work (10th), but with Venus weak, perhaps with less ease or pleasure than hoped.

#The year's lord

Tajika chooses a lord of the year (varsheshvara) from five candidates, the "five office-holders" (panchadhikari):

1. the lord of the birth ascendant;
2. the lord of the annual chart's ascendant;
3. the lord of the Muntha's sign;
4. the lord of the "three-sign" (tri-rashi) of the annual ascendant, taken from a fixed table that depends on whether the return is by day or by night;
5. the lord of the sign of the Sun (for a day return) or of the Moon (for a night return).

The year's lord is the strongest of these that aspects the annual ascendant (by Tajika aspect, below), with strength judged by the Tajika rules. This course does not complete the selection for the example, because the Tajika strength rules need the Sanskrit text.

Example, the candidates: (1) Venus, lord of the birth ascendant Libra; (2) Jupiter, lord of the annual ascendant Sagittarius; (3) Venus, lord of the Muntha in Libra; (4) from the table; (5) the return is by day, and the Sun is in Cancer, so the Moon.

#Tajika aspects

Tajika uses different aspects from the rest of Jyotisha, inherited from Greek and Arabic astrology. Every planet aspects the same houses, and the aspects are classed as friendly or hostile:

These are the familiar Western aspects: sextile, trine, square, opposition (and the conjunction).

#Tajika yogas

Tajika also has its own yogas, which are about planets moving towards or away from exact aspects. Each planet has an orb of influence (deeptamsha), in the usual table: Sun 15°, Moon 12°, Mars 8°, Mercury 7°, Jupiter 9°, Venus 7°, Saturn 9°. These are the orbs of medieval Arabic astrology.

The two most important yogas:

• Ithasala ("application"): a faster planet is moving towards an exact aspect with a slower one, within their orbs. The matters of the two planets will come together during the year: the thing will happen.
• Isharapha ("separation"): the faster planet has just passed the exact aspect and is moving away. The matter has passed, or will not come to completion.

There are about sixteen such yogas in all (with names like Induvara, Nakta, Yamaya, Kamboola, Radda), describing more complex situations: a third planet transferring the light between two others, an aspect being blocked, and so on.

Example. In the annual chart, Mercury (15°50′ Cancer) is 4′ behind Jupiter (15°54′ Cancer) and faster: an Ithasala of conjunction, about to become exact. In the annual chart, Jupiter rules the 1st (Sagittarius) and 4th houses, and Mercury the 7th and 10th. So the yoga joins the self with partnership and career: a year in which a significant work or partnership matter comes together.

#Sahams

Tajika has a long list of sahams: sensitive points calculated by adding and subtracting longitudes — the "Arabic parts" or "lots" of Western astrology. Each stands for one matter of life (fortune, marriage, work, illness, and dozens more).

The first and most important is the Punya saham, the Lot of Fortune:

by day: Moon − Sun + ascendant; by night: Sun − Moon + ascendant

Example (day return): Moon 153°34′ − Sun 118°23′ + ascendant 255°41′ = 290°52′, which is Capricorn 20°52′, in the 2nd house of the annual chart (wealth). Its lord, Saturn, is in the 4th.

#Mudda dasha

Tajika also uses a compressed Vimshottari for the year (mudda dasha): the nine periods of Chapter 22, scaled so that the whole 120-year cycle fits into one year. A 20-year Venus period becomes about 61 days; a 6-year Sun period about 18 days.

#How to use an annual chart

Tajika astrologers stress that the annual chart is read together with the birth chart and its dashas, never alone. A year's promise cannot exceed the birth chart's (the same principle as Varahamihira's rain and cup, Chapter 24). In practice:

1. Note the running dasha and sub-period of the birth chart.
2. Cast the annual chart. Note its ascendant and the houses of the important planets.
3. Find the Muntha's house and its lord's condition.
4. Find the year's lord and its strength.
5. Look for Ithasala yogas involving the lords of the important houses.
6. Check the transits through the year (Chapter 24).

For the example's 37th year (August 2026 – August 2027): the birth chart's Jupiter–Venus period begins in October 2026; the Muntha is in the 11th; a Mercury–Jupiter Ithasala joins the self, career and partnership; and the transits are mixed but with a favourable ashtakavarga for Jupiter. These agree: a year of gains through work and partnerships.

#Summary

• Tajika, the annual-chart system, came from Arabic and Persian astrology; its standard text is the Tajika Nilakanthi (1587); scholars trace its doctrine to Sahl ibn Bishr (9th century).
• The annual chart is cast for the moment the Sun returns to its sidereal birth longitude.
• The Muntha moves one sign a year from the birth ascendant; good in the 9th, 10th or 11th of the annual chart.
• The year's lord is chosen from five office-holders, the strongest that aspects the annual ascendant.
• Tajika uses Greek-style aspects (3/11, 5/9 friendly; 1/7, 4/10 hostile) and yogas of application (Ithasala) and separation (Isharapha), with orbs.
• Sahams are calculated points like the Arabic lots; the Punya saham is Moon − Sun + ascendant by day.
• Read the annual chart only together with the birth chart and its dashas.

#Exercises

1. A person born with a Gemini ascendant has just completed 25 years. In which sign is the Muntha?
2. Two planets are 120° apart. Is this a Tajika aspect, and of what kind? What about 30° apart?
3. In an annual chart, Venus is at 10° Leo and Saturn at 12° Aries, and Venus is moving faster. Is there an Ithasala? Between which aspect?
4. Work out the Punya saham for a day return with Moon at 10° Aries, Sun at 20° Pisces, ascendant at 5° Cancer.
5. Why is the annual chart said to be "read only with the birth chart"?

Answers: 1. 25 years = 2 full rounds (24) plus 1 sign: Cancer. 2. 120° is a trine (5th/9th): a friendly, open aspect. 30° (2nd/12th) is no aspect. 3. Leo to Aries is 9 signs counted forward (a 5th/9th relation), and the exact trine would be at 12° Leo for Venus; Venus is 2° short and moving faster, within the orbs (Venus 7°, Saturn 9°): yes, an Ithasala of trine. 4. Moon 10° − Sun 350° + ascendant 95° = −245°, plus 360° = 115°: Cancer 25°. 5. Because the annual chart can only bring out what the birth chart promises; the birth chart and its dashas set the limits.