| In
astrology we study the good and
reverse effects of the planets over 12 zodiac houses
i.e., on our health, finance, co-born, mother,
education, diseases, marriage, longevity, luck, career
and profession, income, in-laws, expenditures,
litigations etc. and proper ways and remedies to get rid
of the evil or malefic effects. There are so many ways
for remedial measures being practiced by different
countries. In India and especially in Assam we have also
different procedure of remedies for malefic effect of
the planets on us. Some of these are Traditional and
some are modern and researched. To judge a horoscope the
ascending sign is much more important as well as moon
sign are very much important. Apart from this the moon’s
degree, minutes, seconds are also important for deciding
and calculating dasha (period) of particular planet.
Even, for calculating and judging match making for
marriage purpose. We receive seven colours (visible)
i.e. VIBGYOR and
two invisible colours i.e. Infra Red and Ultra violet
which have much impact in human life. These two rays
stand for Rahu and Ketu which are also invisible
planets. These two planets torture much in human life
rather than other seven planets. Even Saturn does not
affect our life as much as done by Rahu and Ketu in
conjunction with other planets. For example it causes
Kal Sarpa Yoga, Guru Chandal Yoga, Shani Ketu Yuga, and
Rahu Shani Yoga etc. etc. So, these two planets and
their calculation should be done by any Astrologer very
very carefully to accumulate perfect result acquiring by
any yoga created by these two planets. Apart from these,
there are thousands of yoga formed by aspects,
conjunction, position on one seventh, exchange of abode
etc. |
What
is Panchanga (Panjika)?
Indian sages were very good in
astronomy, astrology, spirituality, medical science and
other fields. They used to closely monitor the movements
of the earth (the Sun with respect to the earth), the
moon, and other planets. They (have) set up
observatories with the help of wealthy kings, and they
used various yantras (machines) to measure time. The day
was measured from sunrise to sunrise. The calendar they
made was based on the daily movements of the sun and
moon at the time of sunrise. This knowledge has been
carefully passed down to us from generation to
generation and this calendar is commonly known as the
‘Panchangam’.
Panchangam means “pancha” (five)
and “anga” (elements). These five elements are: Vaar
(Day), Tithi (Date), Nakshatra (Star), Yoga, and Karana
(Half-Tithis). This is what is known as panchangam,
panchangamu, panchang, jantri and various other names.
They holy sages used this panchangam to find good and
bad times during the year. A modern panchangam also
lists the daily planetary positions. It is impossible to make a astrology calculation prediction without Panchangam calculation.
How
panchangam is caluculated?
The panchangam
calculation requires two important heavenly bodies – the
sun and the moon, and will be as accurate as how these
heavenly bodies are calculated. In ancient times, there
were many methods of calculating them. The most ancient
one is Surya Siddhanta, another is the Vakyam Siddhanta
and the later one is the Driga Ganita (Thirukanitha).
The Vakyam is an ancient system where planetary motions
are described in simple sentences (hence the vakya). The
author of Surya Siddhantha mentions that one should
observe the sky and make necessary corrections to
planetary formulae (Bija samskar) in order to make an
accurate panchangam.
The
difference between Thiruganita, Vakyam and Surya
Siddhanta
This has not been done in 1500
years! The last update was done in the fifth century.
Bhaskaracharya, Maharishi Vashistha and Varahamihira
have said to make the panchangam as per Drika ganita
(which means the results that can be observed using your
eyes). If you calculate Venus and Saturn using Vakyam
and look in the sky to try and measure the angle between
them, it’s not the same result as the Vakya Siddhanta
gives you). Now the question is - if you were to buy
curtains for your windows, you’ll take measurements and
get them accordingly. We will not buy something that is
shorter or longer. The very same way, if you use an
algorithm to make the panchangam where you cannot
observe the position of the moon and sun in the sky,
would you even use it? The moon’s motion is very erratic
and needs lots of corrections to arrive at accurate
readings. How can you define the moon’s motion in one
simple sentence where modern astronomers make pages and
pages of corrections? The Moon requires corrections in
the algorithm every 72 years. The Surya Sidddhantam has
not been updated in 1500 years and the Vakyam Siddhanta
has not been updated either. The eclipse calculations in
the Vakya panchangam and others are copied from the
Drika ganita calculations. This has created great
confusion in people’s mind. Which one is accurate? The
Drika Ganita relies on modern calculations using
spherical trigonometry or NASA’s JPL. The inaccuracies
in the Vakyam and Surya Siddhatam calculations can have
errors of up to two - four hours in thithi and
nakshatra, yoga, and karana end times, along with
planetary positions.
The Vaar (Day) is measured
from one sunrise to the next sunrise. There are seven
vaars: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday, and Saturday. The Tithi (we also know them as
the phases of the moon) is merely an angle between the
sun and the moon to increase by 12 degrees. Unlike the
western calendar, tithi or vaar can never be exactly 24
hours in length. Tithis begin at varying times of the
day and vary in duration from approximately 19 to
approximately 26 hours. There can be more than one tithi
during the day. These thithis are known as Prathama,
Dwitiya, Tritiya, …etc ….. Pournima, Amavasya. There are
fifteen tithis in the bright half (Shukla pakasha)
ending with the full moon or Pournima and fifteen tithis
in the dark half (Krishna paksha) ending with Amavasya.
Their end times are shown in the panchangam. The moon
completes a full rotation around the earth in roughly 27
to 29 days, visiting every constellation around the
earth. There are 27 constellations or Nakshatras and the
position of the moon gives us the daily nakshatra
(star). Each 13 degrees and 20 minute division of the
zodiac is called a Nakshatra. The moon’s movement is not
constant, hence giving us the varying lengths of time it
spends in each nakshatra. This could be, again, from 19
to 26 hours. The Yoga is the sum of all the longitudes
of the sun and the moon. This sum is divided into 27
equal parts and each part is known as one Yoga. The
Karana are the half tithis. There are 11 Karanas. Four
of them are fixed and the other 7 are repeating karanas.
Why
do we require panchangam for different
cities?
Most people buy the
Panchangam from India and use it everywhere in the
world. This is a wrong practice and one could lead to
people observing festivals on wrong days and at wrong
times abroad. Each festival has a different set of rules
about when to observe them. Hindu festivals are
generally based on the Thithi and/or Nakshatra as per
the lunar calendar (& some as per the solar
calendar). For example, Ganesh Chaturthi is Bhadrapada
Shukla Chaturthi Madhyahna purvavidha vyapini. Each
thithi begins and ends at the same instant all over the
world. After correcting for the time zones, the thithi
will begin/end at different local times in different
parts of the world. The next thing is to decide if the
tithi is visible during the specified time. This is done
by using local sunrise, local sunset and local moonrise
times. Since India has little variation in terms of
sunrise/sunset, a panchangam computed for one area of
the country is generally usable throughout the country.
For example - on a given day if Chaturthi end time is
2:30 PM in India. Hence, UK will observe the chaturthi
end time of 9:00 AM. This clearly indicates in the
United Kingdom that the Chaturthi tithi is not
prevailing during madhyahana kala (noon time) but it
does prevail in India. Hence, the UK will celebrate
Ganesha chaturthi on the previous day, as the chaturthi
prevails during the noon on the previous day (chaturthi
start time is 9:30 am in the UK.) What is important is
to observe the festival at the right time in your
location. If you blindly use the Indian calendar
published in India, it won’t be any good to you as the
festival observance dates might change due to local
sunrise, sunset, moonrise, time differences etc. The
panchang available in India only prints end times in
Indian standard times. You need to convert them to your
local standard time and use local sunrise and sunset to
find out when it can be observed. Most common mistakes
people do is observing pradosha and ekadashi vrata on
wrong days by following the Indian panchangam printed in
India.
Panchangam
and Festivals
Ekadashi has two
rules: Smartha and Vaishnava. The Smarta rule is simple
– ekadashi should be visible at the time of local
sunrise. The vaishnava follows ekadashi that is not
contaminated by dashami thithi. That means, ekadashi
should be prevailing two hours before sunrise. Now, if
you follow the Indian panchangam abroad, and apply
standard time differences, ekadashi might fall (in some
cases) a day before India. Hence, people end up fasting
on dwadashi rather than on ekadashi. Likewise for
Pradosha Vratam, Trayodashi might be prevailing on the
previous day in the United Kingdom when compared to
India. Now, if you use the Vakya panchangam or the Surya
Siddhanta panchangam, then their tithi end times are off
by a couple of hours. Hence people could observe
festivals on wrong dates. The bottom line is to follow
Drika panchangam for your location. Just using any
panchanga published in India for abroad isn’t a good
idea!
Panchangam
and Muhurtha
Muhurtha is another thing
alltogether. Which requires combination of Vaar, Tithi,
Nakshatra, Yoga, Karana, Local sunrise, local Lagna
(rising sign on the eastern horizon -- which keeps
changing every couple of hours as earth rotates on it's
own axis it cuts ecliptic on eastern horizon -- This is
the first house), etc.... This lagna is always specific
to given longitude and latitude. Hence you can't
subtract time difference from lagna time in india to
arrive the lagna time in foreign country. Timings of
lagna will change even in India from place to place and
using it in foreign country is out of question even
after subtracting time difference. Sun will be always in
the first house during the sunrise, during the noon sun
will be always in the 10th house, during the sunset
always in the 7th house and during midnight sun will be
always in the 4th house. So you cannot subtract time
difference to arrive at lagna (the 1st house). It will
be completely wrong.
Thiruganita
and Horoscopes
Most
people will cast their loved one's horoscope using
thiruganita panchangam. Now I've a hard time
understanding the argument that "For festival one should
use vakyam because it's divine". The problem is the
formulae used in Vakyam are very old and known to rishis
at that time. If we use them for festivals then we get
error. They say because thithis are apratyaksha
(non-visible) and that's why have to use vakyam or surya
siddhanta. But if Full moon (Purnima) and the New moon
(Amavasya) is the real thing and visible then why to use
pambu / vakyam / surya siddhanta panchanga saying tithis
and nakshatras are non-visible?
H |
