1. May the Sun give us speech, who by his light illumines the Moon,(a) who is the path of those who have no rebirth, who is the Atma of those who know the Atma, who is the Deva worshipped in sacrificial rites, who is the Lord of the Devas and of the Lights of the sky, who is the Author of the origin, growth and annihilation of the worlds, who is sung in the Vedas in various ways, who is possessed of many rays and who forms the Lamp of the three worlds.

Notes

(a). In connection with this we would draw the attention of the reader to what the author says on the subject of the Moon receiving light from the Sun in Stanza 2 of Chapter IV (On Nisheka Kala Or The Time Of Conception) of his Brihat Samhita, which runs as follows:

"The rays of the Sun falling on the watery Moon remove the darkness of the night (on Earth) just in the same way as light reflected from a mirror (placed in the Sun) removes the darkness (from) within a room,"

And in the Vedas we find the (visible) Moon briefly defined as follows:

"Surya rasmischandramah." The Moon is the rays of the Sun.

2. Though various well written works on Astrology (a) the productions of able men exist for the enlightenment of intelligent students (of horoscopy), I begin to construct (this) small boat (consisting) of stanzas (written) in various metres and of several meanings for (the benefit of) persons of broken attempts to cross the vast ocean of horoscopy.

Notes

(a) Such works as those of Parasara, Garga, Badara-yana, Satyacharya and others.

3. According to some, the word hora is a corruption of the word Ahoratri the first and last letters (syllables) being dropped. The science (of horoscopy) treats of the effects of the good and bad deeds (karma) of nun in their previous births.

4. The (twelve) signs of the Zodiac, commencing with the first point of Aries and of (the asterism of) Aswini, and consisting, each, of nine stellar quarters and forming a circle, are respectively the head, face, breast, heart, belly, navel, abdomen, genital organ, two thighs, two knees, two ankles and the two feet of Kalapurueha. (The terms) Rasi, Kshetra, Graha, Riksha, Bham, Bhavana, are synonymous terms.

Notes

The following table will be useful for purposes of ready reference:-

The twenty-seven asterisms are:-

These asterisms or lunar mansions are divided each into four equal parts known as Nakshatrapadas. 1 here are therefore 108 such parts in the ecliptic, and each sign contains nine such parts or 2 1/4 stellar divisions. The first asterism, Aswini, commences at the first point of Aries, which is the star Revati, about 20° to the east of the Vernal Equinox - (Vide Introduction), so that the second quarter of the asterism of Krittika commences at the first point of Taurus. The third quarter of the asterism of Mrigasirsha commences at the first point of Gemini and the fourth quarter of the asterism of Punarvasu commences at the first point of Cancer, and so on.

Bach of the terms Rasi, Kshetra, Graha, etc., means A sign of the Zodiac, which is a twelfth part of the heavens or 80° of the ecliptic.

5. Sign Pisces is of the shape of (a) two fish; sign Aquarius is of the shape of a man with a (water) pot; sign Gemini is of the shape of a man and woman, (the former) with a stick and (the latter) with a lyre, both seated in one seat; sign Sagittari is of the shape of a man who in his lower parts is a horse; sign Capricorn is of the shape of a crocodile with the face of a deer; sign Libra is of the shape of a person with scales (in his hand); and sign Virgo is of the shape of a virgin in a boat with crops (in one hand) and a light (in the other). The other signs resemble in shape (b) the different creatures denoted by their names. The dwelling places of the several signs are places appropriate to the several creatures.

Notes

{a) Sign Pisces is of the shape of two fish lying side by side, the head of the one being near the tail of the other.

(b) That is, Aries (Mesha) is of the shape of a ram; Taurus (Vrishabha), of the shape of a bull; Cancer (Kata-ka), of the shape of a crab; Leo (Simha). of the shape of a lion;and Scorpio (Vrischika), of the shape of a scorpion.

This stanza as well as stanza 4 are chiefly useful in questions connected with horary astrology - in the discovery of stolen property and the like.

6. Mars, Venus, Mercuiy, the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Saturn and Jupiter are respectively the lords of the Signs, and of the Navam-sas and Dwadasamsas; and the several signs (of the Zodiac beginning from Aries) commence respectively with the Navamsas of Mesha, Makara, Tula and Kataka.

Notes

Six modes of division of the ecliptic (360°) for horo-scopic purposes known as the Shadvarga are mentioned (vide stanza 9). These are Rasi (sign) in which the ecliptic is divided into 12 equal parts of 30° each (vide stanza 4); Hora in which each sign is divided into two equal parts of 15° each (vide stanzas 9 and 11); Drekka-na in which a sign is divided into three equal parts of 10° each (vide stanzas 11 and 12); Navamsa in which a sign is divided into nine equal parts of 3° 20' each; Dwada-sama, in which a sign is divided into twelve equal parts of 2° 30' each; and Trimsamsa, in which a sign is divided into thirty equal parts of a degree each (vide stanza 7).

The Navamsas: Each sign being divided into 9 equal parts and there being 12 such signs, there are in all 12 x 9 or 108 such divisions in the ecliptic. We have already (vide stanza 4) seen that the ecliptic contains 27 x 4 or 108 stellar quarters or Nakshatrapadas; it follows therefore that a Navamsa is a Nakshatrapada, that is onefourth of a lunar mansion. The 108 Navamsas beginning from the first point of Aries bear the same names as the twelve signs of the Zodiac counted over and over again: the first Navamsa of Mesha is Mesha itself; that of Vri-shabha is Makara; that of Mithuna is Tula; and that of Kataka is Kataka itself. The same order holds for the 4 signs from Simha to Vrischika and for the 4 from Dhanus to Meena. In other words the four sets of Trikona or triangular signs begin with the same Navamsas: that is, the Trikona signs of