What the future holds? Is the question that has been obsessing the human mind, ever since the dawn of wisdom awakened the mankind? As humans watched the day and night skies, they realized periods or cycles in which celestial or heavenly bodies made themselves appear in the sky. The basic of these was of course the sun, which appeared all day long and disappeared in night. Other planets followed their own courses, which were not so simple. Then there were groups of stars or constellations, which first appeared to the human eye as stationary. However, observations over a longer period made humans aware that these too have their own cycles of appearance and disappearance. It was natural for the early humans to interpret these celestial cycles as some form of divine communication that would affect not only personal behavior, but also affairs of community or states. From this basic idea, the subject of astrology developed subsequently. Until the 17th century, astrology was considered a scholarly tradition. It actually led to the development of astronomy as a science and also helped in other branches of science such as meteorology and medicine. Only by the end of the 17th century, astrology lost its academic standing and became regarded as a pseudoscience. In the Indian context, we have a long tradition of astrologers or astronomers, who were also called mathematicians, because their work involved many new mathematical concepts. Some of these early mathematicians include Aryabhatta (आर्यभट्ट), Varahamihira (वराहमिहिर), Brahmagupta (ब्रम्हगुप्त), Bhattotpala (भट्टोत्पल) and Bhaskaracharya (भास्कराचार्य). Some of their works can be listed as Aryasiddhanta (आर्यसिद्धांत), Brahmasiddhanta (ब्रम्हसिद्धांत), Brhjjataka (बृहज्जातक), Brhatsamhita (बृहत्संहिता), and Lilavati (लीलावती). Besides these, another literary work stands out, because its author or the period, remains unknown. This work is known as Sooryasiddhanta (सूर्यसिद्धांत). The presently available transcript of this treatise is believed to be from the beginning of last millennium. The basis of all astrological observations has always been the path followed by the Sun around the earth (called as ecliptic) on a background that is full of constellations and asterisms. (Asterisms are group of stars that appear to follow certain patterns, which our fertile minds have managed to associate with figures and outlines of living or non-living things that we see on earth). For convenience of observation and measurement, Sooryasiddhanta divides the Sun’s path or ecliptic around the earth or ecliptic in following fashion. विकलानां कला षष्ठ्या तत्षष्ट्या भाग उच्यते तत्त्रिंशता भवेद्राशिर्भगसो द्वादशैव ते II २८ II “Sixty seconds (vikala) make a minute (kala); sixty of these, a degree (bhaga); of thirty of the latter is composed a sign (rashi); twelve of these are a revolution (bhagana)”. (Sooryasiddhanta 1. 28) For Astrology purposes, each of the “Rashi” of thirty degrees is associated or belongs to an asterism that is seen in the background of that “Rashi”. These asterisms are known as the “Signs of the Zodiac”. (The zodiac is an area of the sky that extends approximately 8° to north or south of the ecliptic). It may come as a surprise to many of us that this system of division of the ecliptic, or “Rashi” and the concept of association of prominent asterisms with a “Rashi” as a particular sign of Zodiac, is virtually identical in ancient Indian Astrology or “Jyotisha” as well as in western Astrology, which is based on ancient Greek Astrology. Some of the Astrologists believe that the “Rashi” concept was a purely Indian effort, copied first, by people of M...
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