Vedic Astrology

Jyotisha, Vedic astrology, is worked from the sidereal zodiac rather than the tropical zodiac Western astrology uses, so its signs usually differ from the Western section by roughly one whole sign. A reading covers the nine grahas and their dignity, the drekkanas (a divisional chart), the nakshatra the Moon falls in, and the gem and herb remedies the tradition prescribes for a difficult placement.

History

The tradition's earliest textual layer is the Vedanga Jyotisha, a calendrical text belonging to the Vedic corpus concerned chiefly with timing ritual correctly rather than with personal character reading; its date is genuinely disputed among scholars, with estimates commonly falling somewhere in the middle of the first millennium BCE, a range this page states rather than asserting a single settled year. The systematic, chart based astrology practiced today rests on later foundational texts, principally the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, traditionally attributed to the sage Parashara at a legendary rather than historically documentable date, and the work of Varahamihira, a court astronomer and astrologer of the sixth century CE whose Brihat Samhita and Brihat Jataka are historically well attested and remain standard references.

The central technical difference from the Western tradition is the choice of zodiac. Jyotisha uses the sidereal zodiac, nirayana, fixed against the actual visible constellations, where Western astrology uses the tropical zodiac, sayana, fixed against the seasons and the equinox point. The two coincided roughly two thousand years ago; because the earth's axis slowly precesses, they have since drifted apart by an amount called the ayanamsha, currently on the order of twenty four degrees, which is why a birth that falls in one sign under the Western tropical system commonly falls in the adjacent sign under the sidereal system Jyotisha uses.

The Nine Grahas

Surya (Sun), Chandra (Moon), Mangala (Mars), Budha (Mercury), Guru (Jupiter), Shukra (Venus) and Shani (Saturn) are the seven visible grahas; Rahu and Ketu, the lunar nodes, the points where the Moon's path crosses the ecliptic rather than physical bodies, complete the nine and are treated with full planetary weight in Jyotisha's own system, unlike their comparatively minor role in most Western astrology.

Rashis And Nakshatras

The twelve rashis are Jyotisha's sidereal counterpart to the Western zodiac signs. Layered underneath them is an older and in some tellings more foundational measure, the twenty seven (in some traditions twenty eight, counting Abhijit) nakshatras, or lunar mansions, dividing the ecliptic by the Moon's roughly twenty seven day sidereal orbit rather than the sun's year; the nakshatra the Moon occupies at birth is one of Jyotisha's central readings, distinct from the Moon's rashi.

How A Reading Is Constructed

A reading places the nine grahas into the twelve sidereal rashis, judges each by traditional dignity (own sign, exaltation, debilitation and planetary friendship), and finds the nakshatra the Moon falls in as a further, finer grained reading beneath the rashi. Divisional charts called vargas, the drekkana (a threefold division of each rashi) among them, recompute the whole chart at a different resolution for a specific life area, and the tradition's own remedial layer, gemstones and herbs assigned to strengthen a weak or afflicted graha, is named as part of the reading rather than administered as instruction.

Where To Read More

• SuryaMalefic (Mild) GrahasSurya, the Sun.
• ChandraBenefic (Waxing) GrahasChandra, the Moon.
• MangalaMalefic GrahasMangala, Mars.
• BudhaBenefic (Mutable) GrahasBudha, Mercury.
• GuruBenefic GrahasGuru, Jupiter.
• ShukraBenefic GrahasShukra, Venus.
• ShaniMalefic GrahasShani, Saturn.
• RahuMalefic GrahasRahu, the north lunar node, treated with full planetary weight.
• KetuMalefic GrahasKetu, the south lunar node.
• MeshaMesha, the sidereal counterpart to Aries.
• VrishabhaVrishabha, Taurus.
• MithunaMithuna, Gemini.
• KarkaKarka, Cancer.
• SimhaSimha, Leo.
• KanyaKanya, Virgo.
• TulaTula, Libra.
• VrishchikaVrishchika, Scorpio.
• DhanuDhanu, Sagittarius.
• MakaraMakara, Capricorn.
• KumbhaKumbha, Aquarius.
• MeenaMeena, Pisces, the twelfth rashi.
• AshwiniThe Ashwini KumarasAshwini, the first of the twenty seven (or twenty eight) nakshatras, or lunar mansions.
• BharaniYamaBharani, the second nakshatra.
• RashiRashi, the whole-sign, undivided divisional chart, the D1.
• DrekkanaDrekkana, a threefold division of each rashi, the D3.