We wish to generate Sri Rama’s jataka chakram to see if it can be used in the astronomical determination of his period. We derive the jataka chakram from the balakanda slokas.
Then we note that, the data can help us generate a set of possible dates but not one unique date.
Even if very precise software is used, there is some debate as to the original position of the planets themselves as will become clear in the discussion below.
What do we use as the basis for Rama’s jataka chakram?
We use these slokas from the balakanda as the basis : These are the slokas in the balakanda which refer to the positions of the grahas at the time of Sri Rama’s Birth : (Source)
“ततो यज्ञे समाप्ते तु ऋतूनां षट्समत्ययु:।
ततश्च द्वादशे मासे चैत्रे नावमिके तिथौ।।1.18.8।।
नक्षत्रेऽदितिदैवत्ये स्वोच्चसंस्थेषु पञ्चसु।
ग्रहेषु कर्कटे लग्ने वाक्पताविन्दुना सह।।1.18.9।।
प्रोद्यमाने जगन्नाथं सर्वलोकनमस्कृतम्।
विष्णोरर्धं महाभागं पुत्रमैक्ष्वाकुवर्धनम्।
तत: then, यज्ञे when sacrifice, समाप्ते was completed, ऋतूनाम् of seasons, षट् six, समत्ययु: were spent, तत: then, द्वादशे मासे in twelfth month,
- चैत्रे in Chaitra month,
- नावमिके तिथौ on the nineth day of the rising Moon,
- अदितिदैवत्ये presided by Aditi as devata, नक्षत्रे when the star was ,
- पञ्चसु ग्रहेषु and the five grahas स्वोच्चसंस्थेषु in their own OR exalted places,
- कर्कटे लग्ने in Karkata Lagna,
- वाक्पतौ when the lord of speech – saptami vibhakti eka vacana – sati saptami prayoga- declination like sripati
- इन्दुना सह along with Moon, प्रोद्यमाने was rising,
कौसल्या Kausalya, जगन्नाथम् lord of the entire universe, सर्वलोकनमस्कृतम् bowed to by all the worlds, सर्वलक्षणसंयुतम् adorned with all the characteristics, विष्णो: Vishnu’s, अर्धम् facet, half, महाभागम् highly fortunate, ऐक्ष्वाकुवर्धनम् perpetuating the Ikshvaku race, रामम् Rama, पुत्रम् as his son, अजनयत् gave birth . “
Analysis of the problem :
- Moon’s position is certain to 3 degrees 20 min. This is because, Aditi Nakshatra is Punarvasu, only the fourth quarter (pada) of Punarvasu is in karkataka. Therefore Chandra is located in 0 to 3 deg 20 min of Karkataka.
- Jupiter is Vakpati, and was rising in karkataka with indu, the moon.
- Chandra is in his own house and Guru is in his house of exaltation.
- If we are speaking of suklapaksha navami, (we always celebrate Sri Rama Navami about 9 days after Ugadi Amavasya), then the moon has moved ahead of the sun by ~12*8 to ~12*9 days degrees approximately. So the sun is behind by 96 degrees to 108 degrees. This will put the sun in meena. Meena is neither uccha nor sva sthana for surya. (If however for some reason the exact calculation of degrees is less than 93 degrees, then Surya can be in Mesha, since 96 to 108 is an approximate calculation – there are no circular orbits…!)
- If Surya is near the end of Meena or the beginning of Mesha, Budha will be within 27.5 degrees of surya and sukra will be within 48 degrees of Surya. ie Budha can be in meena or mesha and sukra can be in kumbha, meena, mesha or vrishabha. Budha will be neither in sva nor uccha sthana. Sukra is exalted in Meena and owns Vrishabha., so it is one of the svoccha grahas. (At present around caitra masa, Venus is seen as an evening star setting after the sun, so by today’s patterns, we could assume that Sukra was in Meena in its ucca sthana).
- So we have chandra in sva, guru in uccha, sukra in ucca.
- Kuja and Sani must be in sva or ucca sthanas. That means that Kuja can be in Mesha/Vrischika (sva), or in makara (uccha) and sani can be in Makara/Kumbha (sva) or in tula (uccha).
- To eliminate an ambiguous definition in the sloka, we take kuja in makara and sani in tula., both as ucca.
My casting of Sri Rama’s Horoscope :
Chandra, Guru : Karkataka (Lagna also) , Kuja : makara , Sani : tula , Sukra : meena
Surya : meena (might be mesha if more exact tithi calculations are used taking more things into account)
budha : meena/mesha
Some Related Calculations :
- Navami Tithi is the 9th sunrise of the moon.
- The sun and moon are in line every amavasya. The duration between two new moons is 29.53059 solar days.
- The moon must complete 390 degrees in this time, between 2 amavasyas. This is because, the moon only needs 27.3 days to cover the 360 degrees of the zodiac. In the extra 2.2 days, it must cover approximately an additional rasi or 30 degrees more.
- The sun itself moves through approx 30 degrees during this time.
- On Chaitra Amavasya, the Sun and Moon were on the same longitude. We assume Chaitra Sukla Paksha Navami and a masa start date of Amavasya.
- On each day from there for 8 days, the moon moved ahead by 13 deg and the sun by one deg. The difference between them increased approx 12 deg per day, till they reached the morning of Navami. That gives us 8*12 = 96 degrees.
General Footnotes Not Related to calculations :
Nakshatradhipatis shifted from Vedic deities to Grahas, after Valmiki’s Ramayana : Contemporary Hindu Astrology ascribes the adhipatyam (lordship) of the Nakshatras to Grahas. The vimsottari dasa calculations are based on this. This probably happened when the brihat parasara hora sastra gained more popularity.
- Raja Janaka said that the second of the two days of PoorvaPhalguni and Uttara Phalguni where the Bhaga (deity) was Prajapathi, was recommended by the wise for marriage. (See : Sita Devi सीता देवी)
- ब्रह्मन् O brahmin! फल्गुनीभ्याम् उत्तरे दिवसे on the latter day of the two Phalgunis, यत्र in which day, प्रजापति: Prajapati, भग: Bhaga, वैवाहिकम् to perform marriage, मनीषिण: wise people, प्रशंसन्ति are praising.
- Similarly Raja Dasaratha selected the Pushya Nakshatram of Chaitra Masam for Rama’s coronation. (See : Arrangements were made for Sri Rama’s coronation as a crown prince and Dasaratha sent for Rama to tell him about his coronation.)
- There are references to rasis in the balakanda as seen above.
- Dasaratha, Kausalya and their sons were always compared to Vedic Deities such as Indra, Aditi, Yama, Varuna etc.
Another Note: The muhurta selection, in the Ramayana was done by the kings themselves and not their priests and the muhurtam was sun-rise in both cases. Nowadays, the muhurta is selected any time of the day or night. It may also be noted that then a muhurta was a time unit of 48 min duration, but many modern Hindu weddings have to be performed at an exact instant, which is labelled the muhurtam.
- Rasis were in usage before the MahaBharata War Itself right in the time of Veda Vyasa”s father, Parasara.
- Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra, explained Rasis. It was told by Parasara to Maitreya, .
- Parasara himself quotes Garga on ‘Bhavas’. (Houses.) So this knowedge was prior to Parasara himself. Garga’s son played a part in Bharata’s conquest of Gandhara, Garga named Sr Krishna.
- The Baalakanda sloka refers to कर्कटे in Karkata Rasi: Karkataka is not only the Sanskrit name for Cancer, it MEANS Cancer. (This is one more factor that supports that the hypothesis that Ancient Greeks Learned about rasis (zodiac signs) from Indians.)
- Sri Rama’s date was only 3-4 generations away from Krishna’s date, Please See: Generations between Rama and Krishna.
One more Note :
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