The Secret of Hindu Zodiac (AP)

Dr. Arastu Prabhakar is a well known Astrologer of India having advanced skills in horary astrology. He was awarded Doctorate by Vikram Shila University, Bhagalpur, Bihar for his research work in Astrology. He is widely read author of many books on Astrology. He is also contributor of research oriented articles to various Astrological Magazines like The times of Astrology and Modern Astrology.

The secret of Hindu Zodiac” is a unique presentation. There have been a number of books written about Jyotish and how to practice it, there have been hardly any efforts on attempting to understand the reasoning and the probable cause of Jyotish prescription. Fundamental question like why a planet is exalted, why the vimshottari dasha, why the Ayanansh have rarely been addressed. This book is a well researched, highly creative and ambitious effort to answer these and several other relevent questions about Jyotish.

Shri Arastu Prabhakar has been practicing Jyotish for more than three decades. He has delved deep in ancient scriptures to bring out Jyotish related material. He has extensively studied the contemporary works of Shri S B Dixit and others. He has also made sincere efforts to co-relate the text to astronomical parameters. All these make a fascinating reading. Rarely has there been a book which has also looked into the mathematical aspects and tried to link mathematical calculations in understanding the basics of Jyotish.

Shri Arastu has gone to the extent of proposing an Aarastu Ayanansh. They say that taste of pudding lies in its eating. It is now incumbent on the readers to attempt Jyotish readings through these proposed Ayanansh.

In particular, the linkages of the Nakshatras and their nature are intresting and would encourage readers to try and make a better utilisation of impact of Nakshatras in horoscope reading.

I would like to congratulate the Author for this excellent contribution to Jyotish literature and recommend that this book be read by all interested in understanding the basics of Jyotish. May there be many such more books.

Preface300

Jyotisha, often wrongly translated as astrology, is far more comprehensive than what its English equivalent conveys. It is comprised of three sections, namely, Ganitha or mathematics including Gola or spherical astronomy, Samhita or the study of connections between celestial motions and terrestrial phenomena such as national and international developments, natural calamities, weather and agriculture as also wars and migrations and the last branch being Hora or predictive astrology related to individual births and which branch is an integral part of the social life of our country. The last few decades have seen, thanks to the life-long efforts of the Father of Modern Astrology Dr.B.V.Raman, a spurt in the field of literature on Jyotisha, but it has been largely confined to the Hora branch or predictive astrology.