1. When a person is ignorant of the time of his conception or birth, the time of birth shall, when duly, questioned about, be determined from the Prasna Lagna (a). If the 1st half of the rising sign be cut by the horizon, the month of birth will be in the Uttarayana (b) and if the 2nd half be cut by the horizon, the mouth will be in the Dakshinayana (c).

Notes

(a) Prasna Lagna the rising sign at the time of query.

(b) Uttarayana: the 6 months from Capricorn to. Gemini.

(c) Dakshinayana; the 6 months from Cancer to Sagittari.

2. If at the time of query the first Drekkana of a sign begin to rise, the sign occupied by Jupiter at the time of birth will be the Prasna Lagna itself. If the 2nd

Drekkana of a sign begin to rise at the time of query, the sign occupied by Jupiter at the time of birth will be the 5th sign from the Prasna Lagna; if the 3rd Drekkana of a sign begin to rise at the time of query, the sign occupied by Jupiter at the time of birth will be the 9th sign from the Prasna Lagna (a). The year of birth shall then be determined from the appearance of the person (b). If the Sun occupy the Prasana Lagna or if the Drekkana of the Sun rise at the time of query, the Ritu (a period of 2 months) of birth will be Greeshma (when the Sun passes through Gemini and Cancer); and in the case of other planets, their Ritus have been mentioned elsewhere (c). If the Ritu thus determined do not happen to be the Ritu of the Ayana already determined, the correct Ritu shall be determined as explained in the next stanza (d).

Notes

(a) In other words, if the rising Dwadasamsa at the time of query be the first, the sign occupied by Juptier at the time of birth will be the Prasana Lagna itself; if the rising Dwadasamsa be the 2nd, the sign occupied by Jupiter at the time of birth will be the 2nd sign from the Prasna Lagna and so on.

(b) As Jupiter takes 12 years to go round the heavens, if the number of circuits passed through by Jupiter from the time of birth be known, the age of the person can be at once determined. For instance, suppose Jupiter to occupy sign Scorpio at the time of query and sign Taurus at the time of birth, and suppose him to be in his 4th circuit. The age of the person will be 3 x 12 + 6 or 42 years. The cycle of Jupiter can be determined from the appearance of the person - from a rough estimate of his age. In the instance cited above, the age of the person should be either 6, or 12 + 6 - 18, or 24 + 6 - 30, or 36+ 6 = 42, and so on. If, however, the cycle of Jupiter cannot be 29 easily ascertained from the appearance of the person, the number of the cycle shall be determined from the part of body touched by a person at the time. In Stanza 24 of Chapter 70 of the Brihat Samhita, the human body is divided into ten parts, each part corresponding to a Dasa period of 12 years.

(1). Feet and ankles.

(2). Shanks and knees.

(3). The thighs and genital organ.

(4). The loins and the navel.

(5). The belly.

(6). The breast and the bosoms.

(7). The shoulders.

(8). The neck and lips.

(9). The eyes and brows.

(10). The forehead and the head.

So that if the belly be touched, it may be determined that at the time of query Jupiter is in his 5th round. So that the age of the person will be 4 x 12 or 48 years, plus the number of years taken by Jupiter to move from the sign occupied by him at the time of birth to the sign occupied by him at the time of query. .....

(c) So that, if the Sun occupy the Prasna Lagna or if the Drekkana of the Sun rise at the time of query, the Ritu is Greeshma.

If Venus occupy the Prasna Lagna or if the Drekkana of Venus rise at the time of query, the Ritu is Va - santa (when the Sun passes through Aries and Taurus), In the case of Mars and his Drekkana, the Ritu is Gree - shma (Gemini and Cancer)., In the. case of the Moon and her Drekkana, the Ritu is Varsha (Leo and Virgo). In the case of Mercury and his Drekkana, the Ritu is Sarat (Libra and Scorpio). In the case of Jupiter and his Drekkana, the Ritu is Hemanta (Sagittari and Capricorn). In the case of Saturn and his Drekkana, the Ritu. is Sisira

(Aquarius and Pisces). If two or more planets occupy the, Prasna Lagna, the Ritu of the most powerful planet will be the Ritu of birth.

(d) Suppose the Ayana determined from Stanza 1 to be the Uttarayana, so that the month of birth is between Capricorn and Gemini. Suppose the Prasna Lagna to be occupied by the Moon whose Ritu is Varsha (Leo and Virgo). In such a case, the Ritu of Venus, the alter* native planet of the Moon, viz., the Vasanta (Aries and Taurus), shall be determined as the Ritu of birth as explained in the 3rd stanza.

3. If the Ritu do not agree with the Ayana, then, the Ritu of the alternative planet shall be determined as the Ritu of birth of a person (a). The Moon and Venus are alternative planets. So are Mercury and Mars (b), and so are Jupiter and Saturn. If the first half of the rising Drekkana should rise at the time of query, the month of birth will be the first of the two months of the Ritu; and: if the second half should rise, then, the 2nd month of the Ritu will be the month of birth. The date of birth shall be determined from the portion of the half Drekkana that has risen above the horizon (c).

Notes

(a) This point has been already explained, vide note (d) to the last stanza.

(b) According to the Commentator, Mercury, Mars and the Sun are alternative planets.

(c) As the half Drekkana which may be rising at the time of query represents all the 30 days of a month, if just one half of it should have risen above the horizon, the birth must have occurred just after 15 days of the month.. In other words, the date of birth may be determined, from the portion of the half sign that has risen above the horizon by proportion. A Drekkana is 10 degrees; the half of a Drekkana is 5 degrees and a thirtieth part of it is 10 minutes, so that every 10 minutes of the rising half Drekkana represents a day. It will be convenient if the Lagna Sphuta, i.e., the exact longitude in signs, degrees and minutes of the point of the ecliptic cut by the horizon be determined in the first instance (Vide Appendix).