Vedic Astrology Lesson 1
Vedic Astrology – Historical Perspective & Uses – Lesson 1
An Introduction
Vedic Astrology, the Science of Time, the Eye of Wisdom and the foremost among the branches of knowledge has come to us from 18 seers. While Varaha Mihira is hailed as the Father of Indian Astrology, Parashara is hailed as the Father of Indian Predictive Astrology. IndianAstro-Physics is divided into 3 major portions – Siddhanta (Astronomy ), Samhita ( Astro-Philosophy ) & Hora ( Astrology ).
The English word ” hour” is derived from the Sanskrit word Hora.
The Precession of the Equinoxes
While the Western astronomers compute everything from 0 degree Aries which is the beginning of the Tropical Zodiac, the Indian astronomers compute everything from 0 degrees Aswathi ( Beta Arietis ) , which is the beginning of the Sidereal Zodiac. Sidereal is derived from the Latin word “Sidereus” meaning the constellation of fixed stars. The Vernal Equinoctial Point was found to precede one degree in 72 years and hence 360*72 = 25920 years was fixed as the Precession of the Equinoxes or the Precessional Cycle.
Flamsteed anticipated
Long before Flamsteed fixed the beginning of Zodiac at 0 degree Aries, the Indian astronomer Brahmagupta fixed it at 0 degree Aswini ( Beta Arietis ). Another great astronomer-mathematician Aryabhata wrote treatises on Spherical Astronomy and Spherical Trignometry in his magnum opus Aryabhateeyam. It is said that Arabs acquired a knowledge of maths and astronomy only after Brahmagupta’s Brahmasphutasiddhanta was translated into Arabic ( As Sind Hind )! Albert Einstein rightly remarked ” We owe a lot to the Indians who taught us how to count without which no worthwhile