A Look At The Calculation of Varnada Lagna by Abhishekha

Article by Abhishekha, USA

Table of Contents

1.0  Introduction…………. 2

2.0  Verses…………..        3

3.0  Popular Views…………….   7

3.1  Dr. B V Raman………….  7

3.2  R. Santhanam……………. 8

3.3  GC Sharma ……………….8

3.4  Pandit Sanjay Rath…………….   9

3.5  Pandit Sitaram Jha…………….   10

3.6  Professor Ramchandra Pandey……… 11

4.0  My Views……………   13

4.1  Inference # 1………………  14

4.2  Inference #2………………  15

4.2.1  Dr. Raman……………….. 15

4.2.2  Pandit Sanjay Rath…………… 16

4.2.3  R. Santhanam & GC Sharma…….17

4.3  Inference # 3………………  17

4.3.1 Pandit Sitaram Jha and Prof     Ramchandra Pandey …….      17

5.0   Jyotish Softwares ……………….    18

6.0  Conclusion ……………….     18

1.0  Introduction

While I was teaching my course on Lagna Vishesha with my small group of students in Chicago, I stumbled upon some material on Varnada Lagna which differed from my learning from my Guru. This is not an uncommon phenomenon in the jyotish world where viewpoints often differ on interpretations of Sanskrit verses. However, this case was very different. I could see very distinct differences and wanted to dig in deeper into each interpretation. It is only for this academic research purpose that I thought of penning my ideas down in an article and share with the world.

Again, the reader of the article should note that the views expressed in this article are of a technical nature and would primarily cater to the taste of advanced students of jyotish and not beginners. The views are also my personal analysis on this subject and anyone is free to differ from them.

Vishesha Lagna of Parasara is a cryptic portion of the published book Brihat Parasara Hora Shastra and hence often a subject of debate among scholars. Many scholars believe that this portion is later induction into the original pure Parasara Hora by students aligned with the Jamini School of jyotish. I wish not to comment on that portion of the subject. My views and thoughts along with the model that Parasara wanted to present for Vishesha Lagna is clearly shared with my students. My personal opinion is that if understood, applied and analyzed in real charts, this knowledge can reveal facts which would otherwise be difficult to decipher in a person.

Also, I wish to indicate that in BPHS, Parasara talks about Varnada Dasa and not just about Varnada Lagna. However, my article would only be focused on the calculation of Varnada Lagna. Analysis and use of Varnada Dasa would be out of scope for this article.

Analysis and interpretation of the Varnada Lagna is also out of scope of this article. I have used some works of Jamini for reference to show viewpoints of other authors on this subject.

2.0  Verses

The relevant verses of the Varnada have been provided below –

Varnada-khya-dahsam bhanaam kathayam-atha te-agratah

I now begin the tale of a Dasa system called Varnada

Yasya vigyana-matrena vadeda-ayur-bhavam phalam

Comprehending the science behind this, one can estimate the life expectancy of a native.

Oja-lagna-prasutanam meashade-ganayet-kramat

If the ascendant is in an odd sign, then count directly from Aries to the ascendant

Sama-lagna-prasutanam meende-pasa-vyataha

If the ascendant is in an even sign, then count from Pisces to the ascendant in the reverse

Meshameenadito janmalagna-antam ganayet sudhih

just as the ascendant is calculated from Aries and Pisces to obtain the corrected ascendant,

Tathaiva hora-lagna-antam ganayitva tatah param

use similar calculation to find the corrected hora lagna from hora lagna

Oja-tvena samtvena sajateeye ubhe yadi
if both the obtained ascendants [lagna and hora lagna suddhi] are odd or even

Tarhi sankhye yojayeet vaijatye tu viyojayet
 add both the outcome, if one is odd and the other even, and then obtain the difference between the two ascendants

Meshameenaditah pashchatyo rashih sa tu varnadah

If the final product if odd or even, then counting that many rasis from Aries or Pisces in direct or reverse order will arrive at Varnada lagna

Etatprayojanam vakshye srunu tvam dwijapungavah

Now listen to the use of the above, O superior of Brahmins

Hora lagnabhayot ya sabalat varnada dasha

Varnada dasha starts from the stronger of the two hora lagna and janma lagna

3.0  Popular Views

3.1  Dr. B V Raman

Reference – Studies in Jamini Astrology, Page 13 -14

Dr. Raman gives stress on the fact that Janma Lagna determines if the final count is forward from Aries or backwards from Pisces.

3.2  R. Santhanam

Reference – Brihat Parasara Hora Shastra, Volume 1, Page 65

1. Santhanam believes that the final product in the last step of the calculation itself determines if the rasis are counted forward from Aries or backwards from Pisces.

3.3  G.C. Sharma

Reference – Brihat Parasara Hora Shastra, Volume 1, Page 94-95

GC Sharma is in agreement with R. Santhanam on his views on the calculation.

3.4  Pandit Sanjay Rath

Reference – Jamini Maharishi’s Upadesha Sutras, Page 372-373

3.5  Pandit Sitaram Jha

Reference – Brihat Parasara Hora Shastra, Page 19

Translation from Hindi to English – Pandit Sitaram Jha’s commentary

If Lagna is odd, count from Aries to Lagna. If Lagna is even, count from Pisces to Lagna in reverse. Keep this number.

If Hora Lagna is odd, count from Aries to Hora Lagna. If Hora Lagna is even, count from Pisces to Hora Lagna in reverse. Keep this number

If both the numbers obtained are odd or even, add them.

If numbers obtained are one odd and other even, get their difference.

If the final number thus obtained is odd, then count so many signs from Aries to obtain Varnada Lagna

If the final number thus obtained is even, then count so many signs from Pisces to obtain Varnada Lagna.

He recommended doing these calculations using degrees of Lagna and Hora Lagna.

3.6  Professor Ramchandra Pandey

Ex-Head of Department, Jyotish, Banaras Hindu University

Reference – Saptarishis Astrology magazine

4.0   My Views

All jyotishas I have mentioned in this article are stars in the word of jyotish for their contribution. They all have been Gurus to me in some way or the other and thus I stand in no position to pin point their flaws in their commentaries or analysis since I personally have never considered myself anything more than an eternal learner. However, I also felt the need touch upon this sensitive subject. When I was about to teach my small group of students this concept, I felt shocked to see that so many great stalwarts views on this differed from my own learning and it set me in motion in a journey of self-discovery and I must admit that I was truly blessed to have done so.

The conceptual, philosophical and case studies aspect of Varnada is beyond the scope of this article. I just wanted to stick to pure mathematical calculation of the Varnada Lagna and the share my views on the methods supported by various scholars I mentioned in the previous section.

First some simple mathematics –

Summation of two odd numbers is always even

Difference of two odd numbers is always even

If we don’t consider degrees of Lagna and HL and just consider rasis, the result will be as below

Let me give you a few examples –

Case 1

Case 2

Case 3

Case 4

4.1  Inference # 1

This is crystal clear from Parasara’s verses that the he explicitly mentions that the final number can be odd or even. However, in any way we do it, just considering Rasis without degrees of Lagna and Hora Lagna will always give us the final number as an Even number. Thus, only rasi consideration for Varnada Lagna doesn’t make sense.

Thus, the table should look like this –

Creation Point is taken as 0 degrees of Aries and the movement is forward or backward based on the final number being even or odd.

4.2   Inference #2

4.2.1   Dr. Raman

He suggested that the final rasi number obtained be counted in forward or reverse from Aries or Pisces based on the sign of the Janma Lagna.

Let us see this with an example –

Dr Raman’s suggestion –

Case 1

Case 2

Thus, based on Dr. Raman, Case 1 will have Varnada rasi as Cancer [4 counted forward from Aries] and Case 2 will have Varnada Lagna will be Leo [8 counted in reverse from Pisces]

Here’s the problem with this method –

For any person born in even Lagna rasi, the Varnada will be odd sign rasi.

For any person born in odd Lagna rasi, the Varnada will be even sign rasi.

This is the case because ∑ is always an even number.

Another issue with this method is that the translation of the Parasara verses doesn’t support this view.

This method is thus rejected.

4.2.2  Pandit Sanjay Rath

Pandit Sanjay Rath suggested that if the Lagna and Hora Lagna are different sign types [i.e. one is odd and the other is even], then although the suddhi Lagnas are odd, they should be subtracted from each other and then he recommends following Dr Raman’s method of obtaining the final Lagna rasi based on Janma Lagna.

This method is the same method as Dr. Raman’s with another layer of condition.

If Lagna is odd, Hora Lagna is even, then instead of adding two odd numbers, we subtract them getting an even number.

Thus, the generic rule will be –

If Lagna is odd, HL is even; the VL will always be even

If Lagna is even, HL is odd; the VL will always be odd

If Lagna is even, HL is even; the VL will always be odd

If Lagna is odd, HL is odd; the VL will always be even

As one can clearly see, the above rules are identical and have the same flaws as the rules of Dr. Raman’s just with a layer of complication involving the HL to implement the difference somewhere in the equation to satisfy the verse of Parasara.

Simply stated, this method is identical to Dr. Raman’s –

If Lagna is odd, VL will always be even

If Lagna is even, VL will always be odd.

Another issue with this method is that the translation of the Parasara verses doesn’t support this view.

This method is also rejected.

4.2.3   R. Santhanam & GC Sharma

Both R. Santhanam’s and GC Sharma’s methods suffer from the same flaw. Both are totally incorrect since they will always yield an odd Varnada Lagna since the Summation is Even and will be counted in Reverse from Pisces.

Thus according to their methods, every person will have only odd rasis as their Varnada Lagna.

This method is also rejected.

4.3   Inference # 3

4.3.1  Pandit Sitaram Jha and Prof Ramchandra Pandey

I pay my respect to Pandit Sitaram Jha and Prof Pandey to shower assurance to my learning of jyotish. When I struggling with some textual reference to validate my learning, it was their commentaries and comments that made me feel that I still had some support from the sages.

Their methods are the correct methods and the only method I ever learned to calculate Varnada Lagna.

I will show this with a few examples –

VL = 12 Li

VL = 28 Le

VL = 6 Ge

VL = 30 Le

5.0   Jyotish Softwares

As far as my knowledge goes, none of the jyotish software today calculates VL correctly. So, please do calculate your VL by hand to verify the calculations of the soft wares.

6.0  Conclusion

Once you calculate the VL correctly, please go through some of the wonderful dictums of Parasara and Jamini to see the VL working perfectly in real charts.

About Author: He was introduced to jyotish by his Kulguru at the age of eight. After the initial trigger early in life, he has pursued the study of jyotish with utmost passion ever since. He writes with the pen name Abhishekha and is the Editor/Publisher of AIAC Times, Chicago.