Varahamihira: the Brihat Jataka, the Brihat Samhita and the Panchasiddhantika · Chapter 2 of 22 · Part Two · The Brihat Jataka

#The signs, divisions and houses

Brihat Jataka, chapter I

The first chapter of the Brihat Jataka lays out the zodiac: the signs, their divisions and the houses. Everything later in the book depends on it.

#The opening (I.1–3)

Varahamihira begins with a prayer to the Sun — who lights the Moon, who is "the path of those who have no rebirth", "the lamp of the three worlds" (I.1). Then he states his purpose: though there are many good books on astrology, he builds "this small boat of verses in various metres" for those who have struggled to cross "the vast ocean of horoscopy" (I.2).

He reports one explanation of the word hora (horoscopy): "a corruption of the word ahoratra" (day-and-night), with the first and last syllables dropped. And he states the purpose of the science: it "treats of the effects of the good and bad deeds (karma) of men in their previous births" (I.3). For Varahamihira, the chart does not cause anything; it shows the fruit of past action.

#The signs as the body of Time (I.4)

The twelve signs, beginning from the first point of Aries and of the nakshatra Ashvini, each containing nine nakshatra-quarters, are the parts of the body of Kalapurusha, "the Person of Time": the head (Aries), face (Taurus), breast (Gemini), heart (Cancer), belly (Leo), navel (Virgo), lower abdomen (Libra), genitals (Scorpio), thighs (Sagittarius), knees (Capricorn), ankles (Aquarius) and feet (Pisces) (I.4).

Two facts are fixed here: the zodiac begins at Ashvini, and each sign contains exactly nine quarters of nakshatras — so each sign is 2¼ nakshatras, and the 108 nakshatra-quarters equal the 108 navamsas (Aiyar's note).

#The shapes of the signs (I.5)

Pisces is two fish; Aquarius a man with a water-pot; Gemini a man with a club and a woman with a lute, seated together; Sagittarius a man whose lower body is a horse; Capricorn a crocodile with a deer's face; Libra a person with scales; Virgo a maiden in a boat with grain in one hand and a lamp in the other; the others are the creatures their names describe. Each sign "dwells" in the places natural to its creature (I.5). Aiyar notes that these shapes are used especially in questions about lost property.

#The lords, and the navamsa (I.6)

The lords of the signs from Aries are: Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Saturn, Jupiter (I.6). The same lords rule the navamsas and the dvadashamsas of those names.

And the navamsas of the signs start, in turn, from Aries, Capricorn, Libra and Cancer: Aries from Aries, Taurus from Capricorn, Gemini from Libra, Cancer from Cancer, and so on round the zodiac (I.6). This is the rule used ever since.

#The trimsamsa and the knots (I.7)

Each sign is divided into five unequal parts, the trimsamsas: in odd signs, 5° of Mars, 5° of Saturn, 8° of Jupiter, 7° of Mercury and 5° of Venus; in even signs the order is reversed (I.7). The ends of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces — the last navamsas of the water signs — are the riksha sandhis, the "knots" where a sign and a nakshatra end together (I.7).

#The Greek names (I.8)

Kriya, Tavuri, Jituma, Kulira, Leya, Pathona, Juka, Kaurpi, Taukshika, Akokera, Hridroga, Antyabha are "other names for the signs" (I.8). They are Greek: krios the ram, tauros the bull, didymoi the twins, leon, parthenos, zygon, skorpios, toxotes, aigokeros, hydrochoos. They are a record, in Varahamihira's own vocabulary, of the Greek origin of horoscopy.

#The six divisions (I.9)

A planet is "in its own varga" when it is in its own sign, hora, drekkana, navamsa, dvadashamsa or trimsamsa — Varahamihira's six divisions (shadvarga) (I.9). "Hora" means both the ascendant and half a sign.

The horas and drekkanas are given in I.11: in an odd sign the first half is the Sun's hora and the second the Moon's; in an even sign the reverse. The three drekkanas of a sign belong to the lords of the sign, of the 5th sign and of the 9th sign. Varahamihira also reports a different rule "according to some" — horas ruled by the lords of the sign and of the 11th; drekkanas by the lords of the sign, the 12th and the 11th (I.12) — and does not adopt it.

#The natures of the signs (I.10–11)

• Night and day signs: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Sagittarius and Capricorn are night signs; the others are strong by day (I.10).
• Rising: the night signs except Gemini rise "with their feet" (backwards); the others rise "with their heads"; Pisces with both (I.10).
• Alternation: from Aries, the signs are by turns malefic and benefic, masculine and feminine; and by turns movable, fixed and dual (I.11).
• Directions: Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer, with their trines, belong to the east, south, west and north (I.11).

#Exaltation, vargottama and moolatrikona (I.13–14)

The exaltation signs of the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn are Aries, Taurus, Capricorn, Virgo, Cancer, Pisces and Libra, with the deepest exaltation at the 10th, 3rd, 28th, 15th, 5th, 27th and 20th degrees. The 7th signs are the debilitation signs, at the same degrees (I.13).

In each sign, the first navamsa of a movable sign, the middle of a fixed sign and the last of a dual sign is vargottama — the navamsa of the sign's own name; "planets in such positions will produce good effects" (I.14).

The moolatrikona signs of the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn are Leo, Taurus, Aries, Virgo, Sagittarius, Libra and Aquarius (I.14). (Varahamihira gives them by sign; the later books add degree ranges.)

#The twelve houses (I.15–20)

The houses from the ascendant signify "the body, family, brothers, relations, sons, enemies, wife, death, deeds of virtue, avocation, gain and loss" (I.15). The 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th are the upachaya, improving, houses — "but not so according to some" (I.15); Aiyar's note says Garga's school denied it when malefics or the lords' enemies occupy or aspect them, and that Varahamihira, Satyacharya and Yavaneshvara disagreed with Garga.

Names of the houses (I.16, 18–19): Kalpa (power), Sva (wealth), Vikrama (prowess), Griha (dwelling), Pratibha (intelligence), Kshata (wound), Manmatha (desire), Randhra (hole), Guru (father or teacher), Mana (honour), Bhava (acquisition), Vyaya (loss). The 4th and 8th are chaturasra; the 7th dyuna and jamitra; the 10th ajna, meshurana and karma; the 4th also hibuka, ambu, sukha, vesma; the 3rd dushchikya; the 9th tapas and tritrikona.

Groups (I.17–18): the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th are kendra (or kantaka, chatushtaya); the next ones panaphara; the next apoklima. Kendras are strong if they hold biped, water, many-footed and four-footed signs respectively (I.17).

Strength of the ascendant (I.19): "If the lord of the ascendant or Jupiter or Mercury should either occupy it or aspect it, the ascendant would become powerful, and not by other planets." Biped signs are strong by day, four-footed signs at night, many-footed signs at twilight.

Colours and other terms (I.20): Aries red, Taurus white, Gemini parrot-green, and so on; the 2nd sign from the Sun is called vesi.

#Summary

• Horoscopy shows the fruit of past deeds (I.3); the twelve signs, from Aries and Ashvini, are the body of Time (I.4).
• The signs' shapes (I.5), lords and the navamsa rule (I.6), trimsamsas and the knots (I.7), Greek names (I.8).
• The six divisions (I.9, 11–12); night and day signs, rising by head or feet, alternating natures and directions (I.10–11).
• Exaltation and debilitation degrees (I.13); vargottama and moolatrikona (I.14).
• The twelve houses, their meanings, names and groups; the strength of the ascendant (I.15–20).

#Exercises

1. What does Varahamihira say horoscopy shows?
2. From which sign do the navamsas of Taurus begin? Of Gemini?
3. List the trimsamsas of an odd sign.
4. Which signs are night signs?
5. When is the ascendant "powerful" (I.19)?

Answers: 1. The effects of good and bad deeds of previous lives (I.3). 2. Taurus from Capricorn; Gemini from Libra (I.6). 3. Mars 5°, Saturn 5°, Jupiter 8°, Mercury 7°, Venus 5° (I.7). 4. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Sagittarius and Capricorn (I.10). 5. When its lord, Jupiter or Mercury occupies or aspects it (I.19).