An Update on Jataka Sara Sangraha

Om Namah Sivaya

Dear Friends,

Here is a small update on “Introduction to Jataka Sara Sangraha”. When I was writing my first article “Jaimini Navamsa” for Saptarishis Astrology On-Line magazine, I culled out the combinations given by Krishna Mishra for devotion towards various sects in Hinduism. I thought it was research work by Krishna Mishra since the combinations are not found in Jaimini Sutras. For example, a combination of Moon and Venus in 12th house from Karaka leads the person to do upasana for worldly purposes. In the present scenario, may it the person works as a priest in temples or if afflicted with a malefic like Rahu or Saturn, and then doing some tantric pujas for others. Let us see one more example. Whenever these malefic combinations like Saturn with Rahu or Ketu with Mars occurs in malefic sign, then the person definitely becomes either a Mantrik or doing such bad kinds of worship. Yet, Krishna Mishra mentions the whenever this combination aspected by Jupiter or occurs in the Jupiter’s sign, then it will be obstructed, that is the person will not involved in such things. Of course, these combinations are yet to be extensively tested.

Now comes the real surprise. When I read the last part of the manuscript of Jataka Sara Sangraha, I found these combinations again got mentioned by Raghava Bhatta exactly matching with Phalaratnamama of Krishna Mishra. Is not a big surprise?

 

Of course, may not be. Raghava Bhatta usually explains the concepts first and then lists out the sutras of Jaimini.. He usually writes thus “तथाच सुत्राणि” (tathāca sutrāṇi) and lists the exact Jaimini sutras pertaining to the concept. He explained all the combinations of for devotion of various deities as in Jaimini Sutras and then listed the 8 sutras starting from

रवि केतुभ्यां शिव भक्तिः

ravi ketubhyāṁ śiva bhaktiḥ. You can have a look at these 8 sutras in this blog “Krishna Mishra Navamsa” and of course we can find them in any Jaimini Sutras commentary.

 

Now, after these all sutras, he explained the other combinations as listed in Phalaratnamala by Krishna Mishra. Again, he gave the exact sutras for these combinations. For example, he writes

तथाच सुत्राणि

tathāca sutrāṇi

शशि गुरुयोगे शुद्ध ब्रह्मज्ञानि

śaśi guruyoge śuddha brahmajñāni

 

शशि शुक्रयोः ऐहिकार्थ देवीमंत्रोपासकः

śaśi śukrayoḥ aihikārtha devīmaṁtropāsakaḥ as they were original Jaimini Sutras. I haven’t found these sutras in any other Jaimini works but the results of these sutras got mentioned in both Phalaratnamala and Jataka Sara Sangraha. Some of these specific combinations, I have used in my Jaimini Navamsa article, which you can find at www.saptarishisastrology.com . Yet the results of the combinations like Moon with Venus, Jupiter with Saturn and Mars etc. are not found in any contemporary Jaimini Sutra commentaries except the ancient ones.

 

Are we missing some sutras in the commentaries available in print? It looks so since these are very specific sutras mentioned by Raghava Bhatta for devotion towards base deities, Lord Hari Hara Suta (May be Lord Ayyappa ?), Vaishnava, Vaidika, Veera Saiva sampradaya etc.

 

Authenticity of Ancient Works:

 

The other day, one serior scholar argued as how far can we believe the authenticity of this Phalaratnasmala, Vriddha Karika etc.? My humble submission to him is the taste of pudding is in eating. He believes in interpreting the Jaimini Sutras with logic. I believe in understanding them with the aid of both grammar and logic. Grammar and Logic are not contradictory to each other but are cooperative and cohesive.

 It was clearly instructed by Sage Jaimini that the results should be announced by consulting all the sources and taking the majority.

 Sage Jaimini writes

संवादात् प्रामाण्यं

saṁvādāt prāmāṇyaṁ

 

Hora Lagna Calculation according to Jataka Sara Sangraha:

 

Hora Lagna is very important lagna in Jaimini School. Sage Jaimini instructed to use this in Raja Yoga and Longevity purpose. For example, if a planet aspects Janma Lagna (Asc.), Hora Lagna (HL) and Ghatika Lagna (GL) becomes Yogada. Sage writes

 

जन्म काल घटिकास्वेक दृष्टासु राजानः

janma kāla ghaṭikāsveka dṛṣṭāsu rājānaḥ.

Janma = Natal Asc., Kala = Hora Lagna, Ghati = Ghatika Lagna.

Yet, there are two different variations of this Hora Lagna calculation in vogue. In Parasara method it known as Hora Lagna where as in Jaimini School it is known as Savayava Hora Lagna (SHL). I shall explain both below.

 

Hora Lagna in Parasara School:

In regular Parasara method, the time the birth time and the sun rise time is calculated and the Hora Lagna moves at a rate of a sign per one hour, where as the Janma Lagna (Ascendant) moves at a rate of one sign per two hours. So Hora lagna moves at twice the speed of Janma Lagna.

Here is the classic description of Hora Lagna.

Hora lagna is at the position of Sun at the time of sunrise. It moves at the rate of one rasi per hora (hour).  If sunrise takes place at 6:00 am and Sun is at 6s 4⁰47' then, Hora Lagna is at 6s 4⁰ 47' at 6:00 am, at 6s 19⁰ 47' at 6:30 am, at 7s 4⁰ 47' at 7:00 am, 8s 4⁰ 47' at 8:00 am and so on. Hora Lagna moves at the rate of 1/2⁰ per minute (i.e., 30⁰ per hour).

So, the Hora Lagna calculation in this Parasara School is based on the position of Sun at Sun rise and adding 1/2⁰ per minute to the position of Sun.

 

Savayava Hora Lagna in Jaimini School:

Jataka Sara Sangraha explains this and uses this Savayava Hora Lagna both in Raja Yoga and Longevity purposes. In this method, the Hora Lagna progresses from natal lagna itself rather than from Sun position based on Prakriti of natal lagna. The description is given below.

 

1. Calculate the duration of day time (Diurnal) and night time (Nocturnal) separately.
2. The diurnal is to be divided by 12 to get the duration of each Hora for day time.
3. Similarly, the nocturnal duration is divided by 12 to get the duration of each Hora for night time.
4. If the birth happens in day time, calculate the time elapsed from sun rise to the birth time. If the birth happened in night time, calculate the elapsed time from sun set to the birth time. This is called Ishta Kala.
5. Divide the Ishta Kala by the duration of each Hora, note the quotient (Q) and remainder (R).
6. The quotient (Q+1)th sign gives the Hora Lagna from Natal Lagna. If the Natal Lagna is odd, count (Q+1) signs zodiacally from Natal Lagna to get Savayava Hora Lagna. If the natal lagna is even, count (Q+1) signs anti-zodiacally from Natal Lagna to get Savayava Hora Lagna.
7. The exact longitude of Savayava Hora Lagna can be gotten by proportionately. Please follow the example below.

Example :

The Sun Rise time                              =          05:47:44 Hrs.

The Sun set time                                =          18:51:47 Hrs

The Diurnal Duration                        =          13:04:03 Hrs

The Birth Time                                   =          15:30:00 Hrs

Birth Time – Sun Rise                        =          09:42:16 Hrs (Istha Kala) = 09.705 Hrs

Duration of each Hora                      =          13:04:03 / 12   =          01:05:21 Hrs. = 1.0889 Hrs

The No of Hora elapsed (Q)             =          Istha Kala / Duration of Each Hora

                                                            =          09:42:16 / 01:05:21

=          09.705 / 1.0889           =          8.92

                                                            =          8

The remainder (R)                             =          0.99316

Therefore the Savayava Hora Lagna will be the 9th sign from the natal lagna.

 

Now let us find out the longitude of the Savayava Hora Lagna in the sign.

 

Each sign is of 30⁰ and the time taken by Hora Lagna to traverse each sign is 01:05:21 Hrs.

Then, how many degrees does it traverse for 0.99316 Hrs

 

01:05:21 Hrs   -----      30⁰

0.99316 Hrs    -----      (30 * 0.99316) / 01.088 = 27.3442

                                    = 27⁰ 20' 39''   

If natal lagna is odd:

For example, if natal lagna is Libra, then the Savayava Hora Lagna will be at 27Ge20, which is 9th sign (Q+1) from Libra counting zodiacally.

 If natal lagna is even:

If the natal lagna is Scorpio, then the Savayava Hora Lagna will be at 27Pi20 which is 9th sign (Q+1) from Scorpio counting anti zodiacally.

 

Problems in this calculation of SHL:

 It is apparent that there is some confusion in this calculation, which is shown below.

 

• Here, the starting point is Lagna sign, not the exact longitude of natal lagna in the sign, which is mathematically incorrect. Adding so many Horas to the exact longitude of the Ascendant is more technically correct. It makes a lot of difference, but the method given in this write up is easy to mentally calculate the Hora Lagna.
• It is said that Hora Lagna be calculated anti zodiacally for an even sign. Then, what will be the exact longitude of the Hora Lagna in that sign? Whether shall it be calculated from the end of the sign?  The experts in this system explain that the longitude shall be calculated based on the remainder and from the staring of the sign only, not from the end of the sign. But, it looks not very convincing to me.
• Here the diurnal and nocturnal durations are calculated and the rate of travel of Hora lagna is determined equally for each sign. But, in reality there are Deergha Ascending signs and a Hrasva Ascnding signs, that is each sign doesn’t take equal time to ascend. This reality is not taken care in this method.
• Yet, it should be understood here that Jaimini School is different from Parasara. Parasara System focuses mostly on mathematical aspect, which is technically correct. In that School, we find the concepts like exact strength of the aspect like Pada Drishti , Artha Drishti based on the longitude of the planets.
• In Jaimini a planet in a sign, whatever longitude it is placed in, aspects the other signs with full aspect.
• IMHO, in Jaimini the exact longitude doesn’t play much important role. Most advanced planet in a sign, for example, 29th degree, becomes Atma Karaka which may be treated ineffective in Parasara System.
• There were attempts like, Savayava Arudha, by taking exact degrees of the ascendant, which was not successful.

 

 

Application of this Savayava Hora Lagna:

This SHL shall invariably used in calculating the exact longitude of the native after determining the exact Longevity Kakshya.

 

Longevity must be ascertained from the following pairs

1. Lagna Lord and 8th Lord (Use Vriddha Karika 8th house)
2. Lagna and Moon. Some scholars use Moon and Saturn by interpreting Manda as Saturn, which was not used by any ancient commentary since the Katapayadi numeric gives Lagna. It shall be borne in mind that Saturn is not Ayush Karaka in Jaimini, he is Karaka for Kakshya Hrasa i.e; decreasing longevity compartment.
3. Lagna and Savayava Hora Lagna (SHL)

 

If any two of the above pairs indicate same longevity, that will be final

If three pairs indicate three different, then longevity indicated by Lagna and Hora Lagna is final

If Moon is placed in either Lagna or 7th house, use that pair

There are many more factors to be considered like Kakshya Vrisshi and Kakshya Hrasa, which I will show later.

 

The following formulae may be effectively used to calculate the longevity of the native:

 

• For a Full longevity:                  66 + (30 – D) * 1.1 Years
• For a Medium longevity:                  33 + (30 – D) * 1.1 Years
• For a Short longevity:                       12 + (30 – D) * 1.1 Years

 

The D in above formulae denotes the longitude of the decisive factor.

 

For example, if Savayava Hora Lagna and Lagna decides the longevity, then SHL at 27⁰ and Lagna at 20⁰, and the longevity compartment is medium

 

Longevity by SHL =             33 + (30 – 27) *1.1      = 36.3 Years

Longevity by Lagna =          33 + (30 – 20) *1.1      = 44 .0 Years

So, the total longevity will be (36.3 + 44.0) / 2.0      = 40.15 Years

Hence, the 5th Niryana Sula Dasa sign will be fatal for the native.

 

I end this blog by giving a classical reference from Deva Keralam which shows calculation of Hora Lagna below. I have shown this reference for some scholars arguing without referring the available literature and trying to prove their own theories and questioning the authenticity of ancient works.

 

Next blog, I will show you the commentary by Sri Venkatesa on Jaimini Sutras as how to calculate the Atma Karaka. Yes, you read correctly, Sri Venkatesa was one of the excellent commentators on Jaimini Sutras.  Learned Scholars may use this reference to understand the concept better.

दिवामानं रात्रिमानं ज्ञात्वा प्रत्येकं द्वादशधा विभज्य ओजयुग्मानुसारेण

जन्मलग्नस्योजक्रमेण युग्मे व्युत्क्रमेण इष्टजन्मकालघटिका यल्लग्नां भवति

divāmānaṁ rātrimānaṁ jñātvā pratyekaṁ dvādaśadhā vibhajya ojayugmānusāreṇa

janmalagnasyojakrameṇa yugme vyutkrameṇa iṣṭajanmakālaghaṭikā yallagnāṁ bhavati

 

I thank the friends who introduced the Jaimini concepts in Deva Keralam to me.

Regards,

Shanmukha