Hindu Dasa System [SP]

Hindu Dasa System

The antiquity of Indian Astrology is as remote as the Vedas. It forms one of the Angas of the Angas of the Atharva-Veda. The Jyotish Shastra (Astrology), as mentioned in the Atharva-Veda, consists of one hundred and sixty-five verses only. In fact, the whole of the Jyotish-Shastra then consisted, was on observing the movements of the Sun, the Moon, their passage through the constellations (Nakshatras) and assigning a certain significance to them, and was then made more applicable to a Mundane Astrology than to a judicial one. It will thus be seen that the origin of the present day Astrology is to be found in the Atharva-Veda-Jyotish, the probable date of which, according to Dixit and others, is 900 to 1500 B.C.

No mention is made in it of the signs (Rashis) of the zodiac. Signs had no existence then. It must not be supposed, however, that the division of the zodiac into twelve parts was not known to the Hindus in those times; but the twelve parts were then known by different names. The ancients wholly depended on the Nakshatras and their qualities.

As time went by, owing to the invasions of the Muslims and Greeks, and their association with our people, their science got mixed up with ours, and the present astrology, as it is studied and practiced, is a combination of Chaldean, Grecian and Egyptian Astrology. We are not entering here into a discussion of claiming priority of the science for Hindus. It is proved beyond doubt by Sankar Balkrishna Dixit, in his Bhar-tiya Jyotish Shastra (History of Indian Astronomy), a book written in Marathi, but now translated in English. This claim of priority is further supported by Sepharial; in his book “The Science of Foreknowledge” in the chapter on Indian Astrology.

As regards Directional Astrology (that part of Astrology which predicts the timing of events in life, indicated by the Natal Chart) of the Hindus (the Dasa Paddhati) is quite unique.