A Textbook of Varshaphala Vedic Technique of the Tajika or Annual Horoscopy (Vedic Astrology Series)

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Preface to the Third Edition

A Textbook of Varshaphala has been acclaimed the world over as the most systematic, lucid and comprehensive work on the subject of Varshaphala. It has over the years also established the authenticity of this highly charming branch of Vedic astrology. The highly scientific approach adopted in the treatment of this subject has aroused the interest of many a student of Vedic astrology in this field where only a select few used to tread earlier.

The book is now in its third edition. It has been completely revised and updated. The chapter on 'Yogas' has been enlarged and some new material added to it. The general format of the book, however, remains unchanged. Vinay Aditya has made useful suggestions which have been incorporated in the present addition. Y S Rawat has done a wonderful job by presenting it in its present form.

Preface to the First Edition

Ever since I started teaching astrology in the Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, I felt the need to systematize my own knowledge and to organize it lesson by lesson for the students. Since I have been doing various branches of astrology now for over twenty years, I have gone through numerous books on the subject, reading and re-reading many of them, ad find one essential difference between our method of teaching astrology and the style of writing in the books available. Since we face students with a high educational background (doctors, engineers, businessmen, lawyers, bureaucrats, retired officials, etc.), it becomes absolutely necessary for us to illustrate through actual horoscopes all the astrological points being taught, clarified and elaborated. To do it regularly, as we have to in the Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, is a much tougher task than reading a paper in a seminar, answering some questions and later forgetting all about it. The available astrological texts are sadly deficient in actual horoscopic illustrations.

The subject of this book, the Tajika or the annual horoscophy, has been rather overwhelmingly dominated by the natal horoscopy. Recently, however, the need to resort to annual horoscopy has been increasing in our industrial society where career planning, travel planning, work planning and job planning are done within a specified time-table of one to, say, five years. In which of the next five years it would be more fruitful to start a venture is a question many people ask. This question is generally answered on the basis of the birth horoscope, the dasha periods and transits. The question is, whether such pinpointed guidance and counseling can be further refined and put in sharp focus astrologically? As a doctor, I am accustomed to employing series of tests for the diagnosis of a disease. As an astrologer, it appeals to me to foresee the same event by employing different astrological techniques to the birth chart, like the Vimshottari dasha, the Jaimini Chara dasha and, where necessary, even the Ashtakavarga. I have not seen a single instance where what is promised in the birth chart is not more clearly reflected in the Tajika concerned.

The Tajika takes care of all those areas that are covered by the natal horoscopy. Thus it can reveal about health and disease, marriage, child birth, income, expenditure, promotions, transfer, travel, rise and fall in career, imprisonment, death, etc. it is true to say that the Tajika cannot give what the birth horoscope does not promise. It is truer to say that the Tajika reveals, with greater clarity, the year in which the promise of the birth horoscope will be fulfilled. The Tajika is thus complimentary, supplementary and confirmatory in nature. What the Tajika reveals is vital not vast as the birth chart does, pivotal though not a plethora of details; and all this within the rigid time-frame of one years. It is an astrologer's precision instrument. The Tajika should be invariably made use of for giving important predictions though only after a thorough examination of the birth chart.

An incidental advantage of the Tajika could sometimes be to correct someone's birth time marginally.

While this book has been planned as explained in the summary at the end, it is relevant to pint to a couple of ticklish areas, among others, which had to be tackled. The first was to explain the sixteen well-known Tajika Yogas without which the entire edifice of the annual horoscopic reading collapses. These yogas have been dealt with in two ways: first, through definition, illustration of all these in a chart form for an easy and clear understanding. No serious student of annual horoscopy can afford to miss these yogas as they reveal remarkably the nature of results that can be expected. Needless to say that this calls for a correct casting of the annual chart. If in a particular year, the annual lagna falls on the borderline between two rashis, one has to be extra careful. Similarly, where the correct degrees of planets indicate a happy Ithasala, any miscalculation may make it look otherwise.. While there are some computer programmes that provide accurate annual horoscopes, one must be cautious in accepting any computer-cast chart as there are numerous computers while have been incorrectly programmed, and provide wrong data.

Another difficulty was to obtain the right horoscopes with specific events of specific years for illustrations. Fortunately our individual collection and mutual sharing of data helped overcome this problem.

This book covers all the relevant aspects of annual horoscopy and, at places, suggests areas of further research. It has been profusely illustrated. It is hoped that it effectively fills a long-felt void in the field of annual horoscopy. The list of illustrations appended in the beginning may be profitably gone through only after going through the relevant text.

The quotations for the various chapters have been taken from The Vedic Experience by Raimundo Panikkar, and The Flute Calls Still by Dilip Kumar Roy and Indira Devi.

About the Book

The first book on annual horoscopy or Varshaphala (the Tijika system) which is fully illustrated.

The sixteen Tajika yogas which form the backbone of successful predications on the basis of annual horoscopy have been most clearly explained.

Such specialized areas of the Tajika system as the Muntha, the Varshesha, the Tri Pataki Chakra, the Sahams, etc., have all been dealt with in details.

To be able to see with clarity how a particular year will be for you is to see the lines along which you should plan your activities, postpone some of them, get more deeply involved in some of them.

What you need is a clear direction, clarity of vision and planning the shifting priorities year after year. This is what an accurately cast annual chart can do to you.

The Varshaphala, or the Annual Horoscopy as it may be called, is one of the scores of techniques of Vedic astrology employed to understand the occurrence of future events. While the Parashari system, which is more prevalent, is of relatively more recent origin. The Parashari system found its origin with the rishis of yore, those marvels of human beings whose intellectual excellence the best of present day computers cannot match. There from, this system found its way to the King's court or the durbar, and eventually shrank into the family tradition as the kingships gradually waned. The Varshaphala originated in the durbar itself. It was developed as an offshoot of the Parashari system to provide a more spontaneous and quick answer to the usual problems of the kings, like conquests, prosperity, succession, etc. The Prashna, or the horary astrology, is closely related to the Varshaphala and appears to have a similar origin and utility. The Varshaphala is more popular in northern India though it is used everywhere. The Urdu word Tajika for Varshaphala too signifies its popularity in northern India where Urdu has been the dominant language.

Inherent to the Vedic astrology is the construction of a chart of the heavens, with the placement of the grahas, poorly translated as planets, in different houses and signs in the chart. In the annual, or the progressed, horoscope (or the Varsba-Kundali) too, a chart is constructed and the special principles of Varshaphala employed to forecast events. The annual horoscopy differs from the rest in the fact that it picks up one particular year of a native's life and examines it in more minute details. Going into greater minuteness, each month of a particular year, and further, each day or half-a-day during a month, may be subjected to astrological scrutiny for the clearest view of events and their closest timing possible. Such a calculation would naturally demand greater labour on the part of the astrologer. The Varshaphala is thus capable of providing a magnified view of one particular year of a native's life, from one birthday to the next.

The usual horoscope is generally cast for the time of birth of a native. The Varshaphala, however, is solar-based. In other words, it is the position of the Sun that is of significance here. The solar year for a native begins every time the Sun returns to the same longitude as it had at the time of the natives birth. Between this time and the next solar return is the period covered by one annual chart or the Varsha-Kundali. The time of solar return is technically called Varshapravesha, which literally means 'entry of the year'. A Varsha-Kundali is a chart constructed for the Varshapravesha determined for a particular year of life. Such an annual chart is meant to be constructed for every year, and examined in details in order to derive maximum benefit from astrological foresight.

The Tajika System
There are three major systems of astrology as applied to individual charts.
(a) The Parashari
(b) The Jaimini
(c) The Varshaphala or the annual horoscopy.

The first two are called as the Jataka or the Hora Shastra. The last one is known as the Tajika Shastra (or the Tajaka Shastra). The most popular of these is the Parashari system which forms the background against which the other systems are studied and evaluated. The Tajika or the annual horoscopy resembles the Parashari system in numerous ways. Thus, the houses and planets in the annual chart have the same significance as they have in the Parashari system. The detailed method involved in the casting of the horoscope, and constructing of the vargas or the divisional charts, like the Navamsha, the Drekkana, the Hora, the Saptamsha, the Dwadashamsha, the Trimshamsha, etc., is the same. The Tajika, like the Parashari, also has an elaborate system of 'dashas' or operational periods so necessary for the timing of events. These dasha systems are a remarkable feature of Vedic astrology.

Special Features of the Tajika
The Tajika system has certain special features which make it distinct. These may be briefly described below.

1. Specified duration: One Varshaphala or annual chart applies to a specified period of one year only, and extends from one solar return to the next, thus covering one solar year. For any subsequent year of life, another Varsha-Kundali has to be prepared.

2. A transit chart: The annual chart is basically a transit chart. What is considered here is the transit of various planets at the exact moment of solar return. This moment of solar return is higWy significant. The position of various planets at this moment of time holds sway over events for the next one year.

Being a transit chart in essence, the Varshaphala does not apply independent of the birth chart. Any attempt to prognosticate events on the basis of the annual chart without first taking into consideration the analysis of the birth chart is, therefore, doomed to failure. It is mandatory to analyse the birth chart thoroughly before proceeding to analyse the annual chart. What is not promised in the birth chart is not likely to materialise whether or not the annual chart indicates it. The proper use of the Varshaphala is to see more clearly and more definitely the events promised in the birth chart. The special feature of this transit chart is that it holds true for a period of one year.

The Varshaphala is, however, also an improvement over a simple transit in that it involves the use of certain operational periods or dashas as are employed in relation to the birth chart for the timing of events. There are various dasha systems used in the Varsha chart, and these understandably apply to the one year in question. While the Mahadasha (MD), the Antardasha (AD) and the Pratyantar-dasha (PD) in the birth chart help in the timing of events fairly closely, the dash as in the Varshaphala ensure a still closer timing, reaching upto the nearest day an event is likely to take place.

It may, however, be added here that the annual horoscopy has been less often employed in the recent past. A lot of research needs to be done before some of its principles attain the same infallibility as those of the widely practised Parashari system. For example, our understanding of the Tajika dasbas and their application needs greater research before we obtain consistent results. Several other aspects of the Tajika are, however, better understood and provide dazzling results.

3. Aspects: Planets not only exert influence over the house where they are located, they also extend their influence over the houses and planets which they aspect. In turn, they are influenced, favourably or otherwise, by the other aspecting planets. In the Tajika system, the aspects are different from those in the Parashari system. The Tajika aspects are of three types:

(a)Friendly (Mitra Drishti): A planet exerts a friendly aspect on houses and planets placed in the houses 3, 5, 9, and 11 when counted from itself. In turn, it receives friendly aspect from planets located in these houses. In other words, planets placed in the houses 3, 5, 9, and 11 from each other become friends. The friendly aspect is further divided into two types:

(i) Very friendly (Pratyaksha Mitra): Between planets located in 5/9 from each other.

(ii) Semi-friendly or secretly friendly (Gupta Mitra): Between planets located in 3/11 from each other.

(b) Inimical (Sbatru Drishti): Planets become enemies of each other when they are located in kendras (houses 1, 4, 7 and 10) from each other. The inimical aspects are also of two types:

(i) Openly inimical (Pratyaksha Shatru): Between planets located un houses 1/7 from each other.

(ii) Secretly inimical (Gupta Shatru): Between planets located in houses 4/10 from each other.

(c) Neutral (Sama Drishi): Planets exert neural influence (or no influence) on each other when they are placed in houses 2, 12, 6 or 8 from each other.

Similarly, the houses 2, 12, 6 and 8 from any planet receive no aspect from the planet in question.

As an example, in the chart here, the Sun and Mercury, being located in the same house, are inimical towards each other. They are also inimical towards the Moon and Mars which fall in kendras from them. With Jupiter they are friendly since Jupiter is placed in the third house from them. They are neutral toward Venus and Saturn, respectively in the second and eighth from them. For the Moon, Venus and Saturn are friends, the Sun,

1. This is identical with the western method where Kendra aspects are held inimical. The great Varahamihira, however, gives special importance to the kendras without holding the planets located in them as overtly inimical.

2. See next chapter for orientation about the north Indian and the south Indian charts.

3. This also is a standard method of interpreting the Vimshottari dasha-antardasha of planets located together.

Mercury and Mars are enemies, while Jupiter is neutral. Similarly, other planetary relationships can be worked out.

4. Sex of planets: According to the Tajika system, the male planets are the Sun, Mars and Jupiter, while the female planets are the Moon, Mercury, Venus and Saturn. This is at variance with the Parashari concepts. The male planets gain strength during day time, ant in the masculine houses in the annual chart. The female planets gain feminine houses. This knowledge will be used in a subsequent chapter dealing with the strength of planets.

5. Lord of the year: One of the seven planets (from the sun to Saturn, excluding Rahu and Jetu) is supposed to hold rulership over the entire year. The events of the year are significantly influenced by the strength and disposition of this ruler, also called the Varshesha or the Varsheshwara. While analysing the special yogas in an annual chart, some authorities attach the same significance to the Varshesha as they do to the legna lord. The determination of the Varshesha involves horoscopy.

6. The sixteen yoga: A yoga in astrology s an specific disposition of one or more planets which attains the capability of producing a specific result. In any given horoscope, it is the nature and quality of the yoga that make or mar a horoscope. In the Tajika system, sixteen are described. These are different from the Parashari yogas in their formation and influence. In most of the Tajika yoga, the lagna lord is a significant constituent. As already mentioned, some authorities consider these yogas as also forming in relation to the Varshesha. The orbs of influence of the various planets, and the Tajika aspects as mentioned above, are the two cardinal principles encountered in the Parashari system are generally not applied to the annual chart.

An understanding of the yogas in the Tajka is the key to successful predictions based on the annual chart. These very yogas are also applicable to the Prashna Kundali or the Horary chart which also makes use of the Tajika aspects as mentioned earlier.

7. Sahams: A unique feature of the Tajika system is the determination of certain sensitive points or Sahams. Each such sensitive point or Saham is meant to shed light on one particular aspect of life suring the year in question. For example, there will be one Saham for marriage as there will be one for child birth. Similarly , there is a different Saham for each of the other such mundane events as love, sorrow, joy, success, foreign travel, education, monetary gains, disease, death and the like. Practitioners of Varshaphala pick up for study only such Saham in respect of a particular native during a particular year as relevant.

8. The Muntha: Another sensitive and generally auspicious point in the annual chart is the Muntha. The location of the Muntha in the annual chart and the planets aspecting or associating with it, as also its sign lord, are all important in influencing the events during the year for which the annual chart is being considered.

9. The Tri-Pataki map: The Tri-Pataki map is another special feature of the Varshaphala. In this, the twelve rashis or signs are labelled on the twelve points of the Tri-Pataki, and the various planets marked on these rashis after working out their progression since birth. In the Tri-Pataki, the benefice and malefic influences on the Moon are generally considered.