The Kalaprakasika: choosing times for every part of life · Chapter 6 of 6

#The faults of time and their remedies

Kalaprakasika, chapters XXXIII–XLV

#The faults (XXXIII)

The following are the delineations of the evil influences of the many planetary and stellar positions which should be avoided in starting anything calculated to bring profit or happiness (XXXIII).

#The nine taras in three rounds

Counting from one's birth star, the first nine stars are: Janma (birth), Sampat (wealth), Vipat (danger), Kshema (well-being), Pratyara (obstacles), Sadhaka (help), Vadha (slaughter), Maitra (friend) and Parama-Maitra (great friend). The 10th to 18th and 19th to 27th repeat the same qualities in a second and third "round" (paryaya) (XXXIII).

The book refines this:

• in the second round, the 10th star has half the force of the first; the 3rd, 5th and 7th are less bad — only a particular quarter of each is to be avoided;
• the third round "as such, has no adverse qualities".

#Other faults

• Vainashika: the 22nd star from the birth star "indicates ruin"; also the 88th nakshatra-quarter from the birth quarter.
• Chandrashtama: the Moon in the 8th sign from the birth Moon — "nothing auspicious or important ... should be started during that period".
• The 27th star from the birth star is unfavourable for certain rites.
• The Sun's ingresses: the 30 ghatikas before and after each, and longer around the ingress into Libra, are inauspicious; the three days around the ingresses into the four movable signs should be avoided.

#The daily periods (pp. 175–176)

The day is divided into eight periods of an hour and a half. The weekday's lord rules the first and last; the others follow in weekday order.

• Gulika: Saturn's period. The book's own note says it "is not considered inauspicious, though included in this chapter".
• Ardhaprahara: the 4th period of Sunday, the 3rd of Monday, the 2nd of Tuesday, the 1st of Wednesday, the 7th of Thursday, the 6th of Friday, the 5th of Saturday.
• Yamaganda: the 5th of Sunday, the 4th of Monday, the 3rd of Tuesday, the 2nd of Wednesday, the 1st of Thursday, the 7th of Friday, the 6th of Saturday.
• Kala: the Sun's period.

The three periods Ardhapraharam, Yamagandam and Kalan should be rejected as inauspicious (p. 176).

And, in a separate short paragraph:

Rahu Kalam: this is also inauspicious. It occurs only during the day-time on the following days: Sunday 4.30 to 6; Monday 7.30 to 9; Tuesday 3 to 4.30; Wednesday 12 to 1.30; Thursday 1.30 to 3; Friday 10.30 to 12; Saturday 9 to 10.30 (p. 176).

This paragraph is the earliest source found for Rahu kalam in the research behind this website. It gives no planetary basis for it, and it appears in no older classical text found (The Study of Jyotisha, chapter 39). The planetary hours (hora) follow: the first hour belongs to the day's lord, each next to the planet sixth in order from the previous one (p. 176).

#The remedies: combinations that cancel the faults (XXXIV)

I proceed to delineate the stellar and planetary combinations that counteract the exterminative yogas detailed in the preceding chapter (XXXIV).

For example: the Moon well placed in the 9th or 10th and aspected by benefics counteracts the faults of the birth star and the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th and 19th stars from it; the Sun, Jupiter or Venus in the 3rd, 6th, 10th or 11th, or the Moon in a good house, does the same (XXXIV). As throughout the tradition, the faults come with cancellations.

#The good and bad yogas of the weekdays (XXXV)

Each weekday combined with each nakshatra forms a yoga: for Sunday, Siddha (success) with the Uttaras, Hasta, Revati, Shravana and Mula; middling with many others; Nasha (destruction) with Ashvini, Magha, Vishakha, Anuradha and Jyeshtha; and for Monday, Amrita ("nectar") with Rohini, Mrigashira, Swati, Shravana and others; and so through the week (XXXV). These are the "amrita-siddhi" and similar yogas printed in many almanacs.

#The later chapters (XXXVII–XLV)

The book ends with chapters on:

• the Vimshottari periods, counted from Krittika (XXXVII);
• a review of the system (XXXVIII);
• the significance of each month for a person, counted from the birth star to the Sun's nakshatra (XXXIX);
• the lords of the year: "the lord of the day on which the Sun enters the first point of Aries is the king of that year" (XLI);
• particular festivals and observances (XLIV–XLV).

#Summary

• Nine taras in three rounds, weakening in the second and harmless in the third; the 22nd star, the Moon in the 8th, the 27th star, and the ingresses are faults (XXXIII).
• Gulika ("not considered inauspicious"), Ardhaprahara, Yamaganda and Kala; Rahu kalam in a short daytime-only paragraph — the earliest source found (pp. 175–176).
• Combinations that cancel the faults (XXXIV); weekday–nakshatra yogas such as Siddha, Amrita and Nasha (XXXV).
• Later chapters on Vimshottari, months and the year's king (XXXVII–XLV).

#Exercises

1. Which three taras are bad, and what happens to them in the third round?
2. What is Chandrashtama?
3. What does the book say about Gulika?
4. When does Rahu kalam fall on a Monday, according to the Kalaprakasika?
5. Who is the "king of the year"?

Answers: 1. Vipat (3rd), Pratyara (5th) and Vadha (7th); in the third round they have no adverse quality. 2. The Moon in the 8th sign from the birth Moon. 3. That it is not considered inauspicious, though included in the chapter. 4. 7.30 to 9 in the morning. 5. The lord of the weekday on which the Sun enters Aries (XLI).