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The most important point in the construction of a horoscope is the Ascendant. The ascendant is the point of cutting of the ecliptic by the eastern horizon of a place. The earth
spinning on its axis in a linear movement takes 24 hours to complete one rotation. But what exactly is the duration of a day? There are many types of days prevalent.
Sidereal day: The time taken by earth to spin one complete rotation of 360 degrees on its axis. Average duration of one sidereal day is 23 hrs, 56 min, 4.091 sec.
Savana day: The duration of time between one sunrise to another sunrise is a Savana day. For people living in northern hemisphere, from winter solstice day onwards, the
sunshine hours (dinamana) increases and night hours (ratrimana) decreases. As the sunrise every day is earlier than the previous day, the duration of the savana day is less
than 24 hours till the Sun reaches its maximum declination at summer solstice. After that the dinamana reduces and the ratrimana increases. Since the sunrise of every day is
later than the previous day, the duration of the savana day is more than 24 hours till it reaches the winter solstice again.
Mean Solar Day: The average of all the days of a year. Its duration is equal to 24 hours.
The Vedic system recognises a day as the duration of time from one sunrise to the next sunrise. This span, known as a Savana day, is measured in units of ghatis. One
Savana day is equal to 60 ghatis and each ghati is divisible into 60 palas or vighatis.The earth continuously spins on its axis in a west to east direction. For a person situated
on the surface of the earth, different signs of the zodiac appear to rise in the eastern horizon and set in the western horizon. With the completion of one rotation of the earth, all
the twelve signs of the zodiac rise and set during one sidereal day.
Table 1.
Time taken by different group of signs to rise at the Equator
Group
Signs
Rashimana in
Aries
Virgo
Libra
Pisces
1674 asus
1h51m36s
II
Taurus
Leo
Scorpio
Aquarius
1795 asus
1h59m40s
III
Gemini
Cancer
Sagittarius
Capricorn
1931 asus
2h08m44s
Rashimana values are calculated for Sayana signs and are measured in units of Asus. One unit of Asu is equivalent to 4 seconds of sidereal time. Rashimana values vary from
one latitude to another. These values once calculated for any place do not change from year to year.
gives the Charakhandas for I, II, and III groups of signs respectively. These Charakhanda values are in palas or vighaties. To convert these values to asus, multiply the
charakhandas by six.
Table 2.
Signs of Short and Long Ascension for Northern Hemisphere*
Signs of Short Ascension*
10 Capricorn
4 Cancer
5 Leo
11 Aquarius
12 Pisces
6 Virgo
7 Libra
1 Aries
8 Scorpio
2 Taurus
9 Sagittarius
3 Gemini
* For southern hemisphere short and long ascension rashis are reversed.
When the Sun is at summer solstice (zero degrees Sayana Cancer) during the daytime signs Cancer to Sagittarius spend the longest duration of time to rise and during night
signs Capricorn to Gemini take the shortest duration of time.
Sign which takes longer time in rising than the time taken by same sign at the equator, is the sign of long ascension and the sign which takes shorter time in rising is the sign of
short ascension. Signs Capricorn to Gemini are short ascension signs while Cancer to Sagittarius are long ascension signs for norther latitudes. Reverse is the case for people
living in the southern latitudes.
As the latitude of the observer increases, the duration of signs of long ascension become much longer while the duration of signs of short ascension become much shorter.
This identifiable point could be a star or a planet or the vernal equinox (zero degrees Sayana Aries point) of the zodiac. When we observe the passing of the Vernal Equinox on
the meridian of a place, it is zero hours Sidereal time for that place. Sidereal time at any given moment indicates the time elapsed since the vernal equinox crossed the
meridian of that place.
The Indian system makes use of the position of the Sun in the zodiac to establish a link between the earth and the zodiac. At the time of sunrise, the centre of the Sun is
touching the eastern horizon. Sunrise is considered to be the beginning to the day and that day remains in force till the next sunrise. The duration of this day is considered to
be equal to sixty ghatis. One ghati is roughly equal to 24 minues of time.
The longitude of the Sun is identical with the cusp of the sign rising at the time of sunrise. A track of the number of ghatis and palas passed since sunrise is kept and is called
Ishtakaala.
Since the rashimana values are for Sayana signs, the longitude of the Sun is also considered in Sayana values.
Table 3:
Length of the equinoctial shadow of a Shanku of 12 units at different latitudes
Lat.
Length
Lat.
Length
Lat.
Length
Lat.
Length
01
0.21
16
3.44
31
7.21
46
12.42
02
0.42
17
3.66
32
7.50
47
12.87
03
0.63
18
3.90
33
7.79
48
13.33
04
0.84
19
4.13
34
8.09
49
13.80
05
1.05
20
4.37
35
8.40
50
14.30
06
1.26
21
4.60
36
8.71
51
14.82
07
1.47
22
4.85
37
9.04
52
15.35
08
1.69
23
5.09
38
9.37
53
15.92
09
1.90
24
5.34
39
9.72
54
16.52
10
2.11
25
5.59
40
10.06
55
17.13
Table 3:
Length of the equinoctial shadow of a Shanku of 12 units at different latitudes
Lat.
Length
Lat.
Length
Lat.
Length
Lat.
Length
11
2.33
26
5.85
41
10.43
56
17.79
12
2.55
27
6.11
42
10.80
57
18.46
13
2.70
28
6.38
43
11.19
58
19.20
14
2.99
29
6.65
44
11.58
59
19.97
15
3.21
30
6.93
45
12.00
60
20.78
The length of the shadow at Gurdaspur (32 degrees latitude) from the above table is 7.5 units. Now multiply this figure with 10, 8, and 10/3 respectively to get the Charakhanda
values in palas or vighatis.
Group
Charakhanda in palas
7.5 x 10
= 75 palas
II
7.5 x 8
= 60 palas
III
7.5 x 10/3
= 25 palas
Group
Charakhanda x 6
Charakhanda in asus
75 palas x 6
= 450 asus
II
60 palas x 6
= 360 asus
III
25 palas x 6
= 150 asus
The derived values of 450, 360 and 150 are the charakhandas for I, II and III groups of signs respectively.
Signs
Rashimana
1, 6, 7, 12
1674 asus
II
2, 5, 8, 11
1795 asus
III
3, 4, 9, 10
1931 asus
To the above rashimanas we apply the Charakhanda corrections as worked out above to obtain the rashimana for different signs at the latitude in question. Add the
Charakandas to their respective groups for signs of long ascension and subtract the Charakhandas from their respective groups for signs of short ascension.
Group
Signs
Rashimana in
Short Ascension
Asus
hr-mn-sc
Group
Signs
Rashimana in
1, 12
1674 450
= 1224
1:21:36
II
2, 11
1795 360
= 1435
1:35:40
III
3, 10
1931 150
= 1781
1:58:44
Long Ascension
4, 9
1931 + 150
= 2081
2:18:44
II
5, 8
1795 + 360
= 2155
2:23:40
III
6, 7
1674 + 450
= 2124
2:21:36
Ishtakala is the time elapsed since the time of sunrise to the time of birth. Traditionally the time of birth is recorded in ishtakala only. Since in our example the time of birth is in
hours-minutes, etc., it can be converted to ishtakala by subtracting the time of sunrise from the time of birth.
Time of birth : 12h:00m:00s
Sunrise time : 06h:20m:40s
Ishtakala in hrs. : 05h:39m:20s
= 0s112022
= 183938
= 1h:21m:36s (Step 2)
= 0h:50m:45s
After 50m:45s of sunrise (i.e. from 7h:11m:25s onwards), the sign Taurus will start and last for 1h:35m:40s (i.e., upto 8h:47m:05s). The next sign Gemini (with a duration of
1h:58m:44s) lasts until 10h:45m:49s. Cancer (duration of 2h:18m:44s) lasts until 13h:04m:33s which includes our time of birth (12 noon). Thus we have Cancer rising at 12
noon.
Time elapsed from the onset of Cancer lagna upto the time of birth
(12:00:00 10:45:49)
= 1h:14m:11s
= 30
= 160230
Thus we get the cusp of ascendant at 12 noon as Cancer 160230. This is the Sayana value. Reduce the ayanamsha from this value to obtain the cusp of the ascendant in
nirayana value. Thus the nirayana ascendant would be: 3s160230 234906 = 2s221324 or Gemini rising at 221324.
It is a human tendency to refer to other things in relation to oneself. Sitting in a moving train, we see things passing by the train trees, farms, hutments, etc. A common
question arises in our mind which is the station coming next? At the back of our mind we do know that it is not the station which is going to come, it is the train which will
reach the next station. Similarly we refer to the rising and setting of the Sun. But we do know that it is not the Sun which is rising or setting, it is the spin of the earth which
makes it appear so.
Because we feel stationary on the solid earth, the sky seems to spin around us in complicated ways. In our quest to understand what we see, our ancients had evolved a most
innovative and powerful tool.
As nothing is stationary in the universe, whether it is a satellite or a planet or even a star, it is convenient to imagine our position in the universe the earth as its centre and
the whole of the universe moving around us in constant motion. Thus considering the relative positions and movements of all heavenly bodies with respect to the earth is the
Geo-centric system. On the other hand, when we consider the relative position of planets (including the earth) in respect of the Sun, it forms the basis of the Helio-centric
system. Vedic astronomy and astrology are essentially geo-centric in their concept.
The Earth
The earth is spherical and rotates from west to east around its axis. The axis of the earth is an imaginary line which, passing through its centre, connects its two poles, the
north pole and the south pole. Another imaginary line running across the largest circumference of the earth, equidistant from its poles and running in an east-west direction, is
called the equator.
Zodiac
The earth takes one year to complete its rotation around the Sun. From the earth, it appears that the Sun moves around the earth. This apparent path of the Sun is known as
ecliptic. An imaginary belt of 18 degrees width with ecliptic in its centre is known as the zodiac. Many groups of stars appear to have been studded on this imaginary belt. Vedic
astrology recognizes 27 such groups of stars called nakshatras.
The zodiac encircles the earth like a circle consisting of 360 degrees. If this circle is divided into 27 equal parts, each part will be of 13 degrees and 20 minutes arc, known as a
nakshatra. Each nakshatra is further divided into 4 quarters (padas or charanas), of 3 degrees and 20 minutes arc each.
Twelve divisions of the zodiac will have an arc of 30 degrees each, known as rashis (or signs).
The above figure shows rising of the Sun in the eastern horizon. The line passing through the centre of the Sun is the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun created by its
revolution around the earth during its annual journey. The group of stars, referred to as the nakshatras, are the fixed reference points in the zodiac used to locate the position
of the Sun, the Moon and other heavenly bodies. All the planets considered in Vedic astrology for the purpose of interpretation, do not decline beyond the belt of the zodiac.
They may be on the ecliptic or towards the north or sourth of the ecliptic depending on their latitude with reference to the ecliptic.
For example, the orbit of the Moon is inclined at an angle of 5 degrees to the ecliptic. The Moon does not go beyond 5 degrees on either side of the ecliptic. The orbit of the
Moon cuts the ecliptic at two point. In its orbit, when the Moon is on the ecliptic while moving from south of ecliptic to north, this point is known as Rahu or the ascending node
of the Moon and when the Moon is on the ecliptic while moving from north of ecliptic to south of ecliptic, this point of intersection is known as Ketu or the descending node of
the Moon.
The point of sunrise with respect to the observer keeps changing during the year. If A is the point of sunrise when the Sun is at vernal equinox (around March 21 every year),
the point of sunrise will appear to move northwards till it reaches the summer solstice (B) on or around June 21. from this point it will start its southernly journey (Dakshinayana)
during which it reaches the autumnal equinox (again A) around September 23 and further until it reaches winter solstice (C) around December 22. At this stage it starts its
northward journey (Uttarayana).
Tropical Zodiac
The most crucial point in the division of a circle is to know the starting point of the circle. The point where the ecliptic cuts the celestial equator is known as equinox. There are
two such equinoxes the vernal equinox and the autumnal equinox. When the Sun is passing from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere, it cuts the equator at
vernal equinox. When the division of the circle of the zodiac is with reference to vernal equinox as its starting point, the zodiac is referred to as the Sayana (or tropical) zodiac,
the divisions of this zodiac into twelve equal parts are the Sayana rashis, and the positions of planets in this zodiac represent the Sayana longitudes of the planets.
Sidereal Zodiac
The Vedic system does not depend on this shifting zodiac and relies on a fixed point on the zodiac as its starting point. There is no clear cut demarcation of this starting point in
the zodiac. Some consider this point to be 180 degrees opposite to the Chitra nakshatra. Some consider it to be slightly to the east of the Revati nakshatra, while still others
opine differently.
When the division of the circle of the zodiac is with reference to the Vedic starting point, the zodiac is referred to as the Nirayana (or Sidereal) zodiac, the twelve equal parts
are the Nirayana rashis, and the positions of planets in this zodiac represent the Nirayana longitudes of the planets.
The angular difference between the vernal equinox and the Vedic starting point of the zodiac is known as the Ayanamsha. When the Vedic starting point is with reference to
Chitra nakshatra, the Ayanamsha is refered to as the Chitrapaksha Ayanamsha. According to this system the first point of Sayana zodiac and Nirayana zodiac coincided in the
year 285 A.D. The corresponding value of this Ayanamsha on January 1997 is 234856.