This page groups rashis, the twelve signs of Hindu astrology, by the planet, deity or quality each one is traditionally associated with. Wikipedia notes Hindu astrology, or jyotisha, "is one of the six auxiliary disciplines in Hinduism that is connected with the study of the Vedas," a discipline that layers many such correspondences onto its signs. Browsing by associated-with lets a visitor find every rashi sharing the same association.
Facts
Overview
What Defines This GroupingThe twelve signs of the SIDEREAL zodiac, measured from a fixed point among the stars; the same twelve as the Western signs, displaced from them by the ayanamsa. 1 Size of the Traditional Set Status
Status TodayLiving tradition: the sidereal rashis remain the frame of chart reading in South Asia today. 4 Origins
Origin PeriodAdopted from Hellenistic astrology into India, c. 2nd-4th century CE 3 Comparison
Cultural OriginHellenistic / Greco-Roman 5 Learn More
The Twelve Signs of the Sidereal Zodiac
The twelve rashis are the signs of the sidereal zodiac used in Indian astrology, measured from a fixed point among the stars rather than from the moving equinox. They carry the same names and images as the Western signs (Mesha for Aries, Vrishabha for Taurus, Mithuna for Gemini), but because of the different starting point they fall at different degrees, typically about twenty-four degrees earlier than the tropical signs.
Each rashi has a ruling graha, an element, a quality and a body of signification, and the twelve are the basic frame of the Vedic chart, onto which the grahas, houses and divisional charts are read.
Sidereal against tropical
The gap between the sidereal rashis and the tropical signs is the ayanamsha, the accumulated difference between the two zodiacs due to the precession of the equinoxes, and it is the single largest technical difference between Indian and Western astrology. A person born under one tropical sign is often under the previous sidereal one.
The atlas gives each rashi its ruler, element, quality and significations, and notes its relation to the corresponding Western sign. The grahas that rule the rashis, and the divisional vargas built from them, are treated in their own categories.
Associated With
Filter Results4 entries
Sources
1. Jyotihsastra: Astral and Mathematical Literature
2. Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra
3. The Yavanajataka of Sphujidhvaja
4. Encyclopedia of Hinduism
Denise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.), Routledge, 2008s.v. AstrologyView the Source 5. Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
atlas entity-description, origin statementQuote, atlas entity-description, origin statement
They carry the same names and images as the Western signs, Mesha for Aries, Vrishabha for Taurus, reflecting Hellenistic transmission into India, but because the starting point differs a birth chart usually shows planets in different signs from a Western one.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.