Karmic Astrology—a Study
by Sunita Anant Chavan | 2017 | 68,707 words
This page relates ‘Hora period of Jyotihshastra (Introduction)’ of the study on Karmic Astrology and its presentation in Vedic and the later Sanskrit literature. Astrology (in Sanskrit: Jyotish-shastra) is based upon perceptive natural phenomenon of cosmic light forms while the Concept of Karman basically means “action according to Vedic injunction” such as the performance of meritorious sacrificial work.
Part 2.2.10 - Horā period of Jyotiḥśāstra (Introduction)
[Full title: Classification of Jyotiḥśāstra (4): Horā period]
Horā branch of Jyotiḥśāstra developed later to the Vedāṅga period and with the additions of Greek elements. Horā chiefly works to forecast the life of an individual[1] Horā can be termed as a technique of voluntary divination by means of astronomical calculation of the birth point. In this sense horā is a combination of Saṃhitā and Gaṇita.
Meaning of term Horā
Horā means ‘lagna’[2] or ‘half a raśi’ (Bṛhajjātaka I. 9.) in its technical meaning. In simple terms horā is an ‘hour’, ‘mark’ or ‘line’.[3]
Horā branch has a claim of a foreign origin. ‘Horos’ is a Greek term meaning boundary. It was received by the Greeks from Babylonian sources.[4] It flourished in Hellenistic Egypt in 2nd c. B.C. and with Greek elements was introduced to India in 2nd. C. A.D. 181
Indian Development
Horā gelled with the Jātaka branch which earlier existed in the culture and which predicted the life of an individual with the aid of Nakṣatras. Sārāvali (II.4) mentions Horā ‘as a technical term for Jātaka.’[5] Horā also has other two subsections, Yātra (prognostications on starting a journey or a king’s invasion) and Vivāha (match making from horoscopy for the bride and the groom).[6] Garga acknowledges the influence of Yavanas on this branch.[7]
The seed of Jātaka branch existed at the end of the Vedāṅga period. Jātaka texts find mention atleast 800 years prior to Varāha.[8]
Earlier the Atharvaveda VI. 110.2-3 gives impending happenings of the life of a native by aid of the Nakṣatra of birth. The Jātaka system existing in the Atharvaṇa
Jyotiṣa which furnishes a pattern of the Nakṣatras unlike the present form of Horoscopy is not only predictive but came with a practical purpose in which actions were arranged on the nine sets of Nakṣatras three each in a set.
The later horoscopy relates the houses in a horoscope with the body parts of Kālapuruṣa identified with the twelve rāśis (Bṛhajjātaka. I.4). Aṅga in Aṅgaviniccaya (Bṛhat-saṃhitā of Varāhamihira I. 9) is body and denotes the sign just rising. The other term for the houses is Bhāva and Bhāva denotes ‘birth and growth’[9] or ‘being and becoming’.
The term Horā according to the Indian counterpart is derived from the term ‘Ahorātra’ by dropping of’A’ and’Ì’, the first and the last syllable of the term.[10] Elsewhere the term Ahorātra is employed to the thirty Muhūrtas of the day and night together and the meanings of the term Horā does not agree in the sense of an hour[11]
The Jātaka system in addition also include certain rectificatory measures along with predictions of life from the Nakṣatra at birth.[12]
A Synonym for Daiva
The most distinguishing feature of the Horā branch of Jyotiḥśāstra in comparison to its western counterpart is that it is ‘a synonym for consideration of Daiva’.[13] Horoscopy in its present form connected to the reading of Daiva or past actions has an exclusively Indian geneology.[14]
The Bṛhajjātaka[15] mentions that Horāśāstra manifests the fruits of actions done in previous lives. These past actions were perhaps believed to create certain characteristics in human which could supposedly be known by the Moon placed in the Nakṣatra at birth. Moon later was also connected through the Bhāva and Rāśi system of Horā branch to the Rāśi at birth and the Daśā system by Pṛthuyasha supposedly reveal the period of fruition of past actions in the present life of the individuals.
Also the Human body displays certain characteristics which are in accordance with the lagna and the planetary placements in the sky which can thus be an aid to predict about future.[16]
Other means of Jātaka
Jātaka branch includes other means then a horoscope[17] to look into the future. The Nāḍīgrantha and Ramala are a few of them. other means of Jātaka branch.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
[2]:
Lagna is the starting point of the Kundali which coincides with the point of birth. It specifies the zodiacal sign rising on the eastern horizon at the moment of birth of an individual. The term Lagna appears in Vasiṣṭha Siddhānta with a similar meaning as in Jātaka. Bhāratīya Jyotiṣaśāstra, p. 517.
[3]:
Apte, V.S., p. 644.
[4]:
History of Dharmaśāstra Vol. V.1, pp. 549-551.
[5]:
Sārāvali II. 4.
[6]:
History of Dharmaśāstra, Vol. V. 1, p. 479-480.
[8]:
Bhāratiya Jyotiṣaśāstra, p. 482.
[9]:
Ancient Sanskrit literature, Introduction, p. 42.
[10]:
Brhajjātaka. Also Sārāvali II. 2.
[11]:
History of Dharmaśastra, Vol. V. 1. p. 585.
[12]:
History of Dharmaśāstra, vol. V.1, p.597, ffn. 892.
[13]:
Sārāvali II. 4.
[14]:
Horoscopy believed to be borrowed from the Babylonians and Greeks had no (generally believed) doctrine of Karma and Punarjanma. History of Dharmaśāstra V.1, p. 546.
[15]:
Bṛhat-jātaka of Varāhamihira I.3. [...] [...] Laghujātaka I.3 quoted by Utpala on Bṛhat-jātaka of Varāhamihira I. 3.
[16]:
Such an instance is mentioned in Bhāratīya Jyotiṣaśāstra pp. 478-480. Dikshit concludes (of Sāmuḍrika Jyotiḥśāstra) from this that planets share a relation with human and his life.