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India and the
Heavens
"The Lunar Mansions of Vedic Astrology"
By Julie Gillentine
"What is night
for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled;
and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective
sage."
— The Bhagavad-gita
The Hindu Vedas
The Vedas are the
sacred literature of India and form the tradition of what is known
as Hinduism. The Bhagavad-gita is considered to be the essence of
Vedic knowledge and is one of the most important Upanishads in Vedic
literature. The Vedas are attributed to several divinely inspired
poets, or Rsis. Scholars believe they were written about three thousand
years ago although their mythical origin stretches back into prehistoric
antiquity. The Rsis, or seers, were men and women who were believed
to distill spiritual truths, recording and transmitting them for
posterity.
The Vedic hymns
reflect a great wonder and awe at the majesty of nature. Even today
the culture of India is largely agricultural and therefore still
consciously linked to the sky and the changes which cyclically occur
there.
Four separate Vedas
were passed down by oral tradition through generations of families
of Brahmin priests. The oldest is the Rig Veda (Rgveda),
the Veda of hymns. The Yajurveda, the Veda of prayers, and
the Samaveda, the Veda of chants are largely variations of
the Rig Veda. The Atharvaveda was the last of the
four to be recorded. The Atharvaveda displays a detailed
interest in the celestial motions of the heavenly bodies. At the
time this Veda was written the system of the naksatras, or Lunar
Mansions, had already developed in India.
Lunar Mansions
The Vedic naksatras
are twenty-seven groups of stars through which the Moon journeys
each month. The original sequence of mansions began with the Pleiades,
called Krttika, but has since shifted to the stars of Aries. This
may mark a point in time when these stars rose at spring equinox.
The Pleiades are also one of the most recognizable groups of stars
close to the ecliptic.
The Lunar Mansions,
or naksatras, of Vedic (Hindu) Astrology are part of a legacy of
knowledge that predates the incorporation of the Greek zodiac into
Indian Astrology and are believed to be very ancient. The Lunar
Mansions were known and used in the west until about a century ago.
Although this component of Astrology fell out of use, the study
of Vedic Astrology, including the naksatras, is experiencing a resurgence
among western astrologers. In my Father's house are many mansions
Like the Egyptian
Thoth, Candra, the Moon in India, is perceived as a male god. He
is depicted clothed in white, holding two water lilies (which open
at night) and is drawn across the sky in a chariot pulled by ten
white horses. The origins of the name Candra mean shining or bright
but also stem from a root which means "to measure." The regular
movement of the Moon has been linked to measurement from ancient
times.
The Lunar Mansions
are envisioned as dwelling places, possessing individual character.
Each mansion is ruled by a god, and the mansion's quality corresponds
with the nature of the deity. We might imagine stars residing in
stellar palaces which are in turn ruled over by a god. As each month
passes the Lunar Mansions imbue each day with a quality. People
can choose their endeavors based on whether they will be helped
or hindered by the quality of the day. The Moon's presence in a
particular mansion endows a person born on that day with certain
qualities. This is a distinct influence from the interpretation
of the Moon in a sign of the Tropical zodiac.
Circle of Stars
The Lunar Mansions
contain stars which are close to the ecliptic where the Moon moves.
In her book The Circle of Stars, Valerie Roebuck states that
"other stars were important, some of them being thought of as forms
of the Vedic Rsis (sages). The bright star Canopus (alpha Carina)
was identified with the sage Agastya, who is believed to have taken
Vedic teachings to South India. His star rises only in the more
southerly parts of the subcontinent. The seven brightest stars of
the Great Bear were called the Seven Rsis, after a prestigious group
of Seers."
Other Cultures
China also uses
a similar system known as the twenty-eight sieu, meaning "night
inns." This system began with the star we call Spica, alpha Virgo.
The Chinese called this star Kio, the Horn. Valerie Roebuck believes
this may point to a time when Spica marked the autumn equinox.
Arabic astrology
also uses twenty-eight manazil, meaning "stations" or "houses."
The Arabic system, like the earlier Vedic, begins with Al Thurayya,
the Pleiades. During the Renaissance, after the Dark Ages in Europe,
astrologers absorbed the Arab system of lunar stations into Western
Astrology. In THE ART OF MEMORY, Frances Yates relates how Giordano
Bruno, the noted philosopher of the sixteenth century, created a
sophisticated mnemonic system based on images of the lunar mansions,
planets, houses and decans designed to enable an adept to order
and recall all knowledge.
Point of View
An exploration of
myth, and the stellar lore of ancient cultures, reveals issues of
viewing perspective of the sky based on variables of latitude, climate,
and ability to see the horizon. How the sky was watched depended
on the point of view of the observer. Chinese astrologers, for example,
use the celestial equator (extension of Earth's equator into space),
and chart the motions of stars around the pole. Indian astrology
uses the ecliptic (Sun's apparent path in the sky) like astrologers
in the west. Likewise Vedic and western systems both use the same
zodiac, inherited from the Greeks, which is divided into twelve
equal signs. The difference is the starting point of the cycle.
Sidereal versus
Tropical
Since the time of
Ptolemy most western Astrologers use what is termed the Tropical
Zodiac which places the beginning point of the cycle, zero degrees
of Aries, at the vernal point (spring equinox) where the Sun appears
to cross the equator on its annual northward trek. Indian astrology
utilizes the Sidereal Zodiac which places zero Aries at a certain
place among the backdrop of stars relative to the backward march
of precession. Neither system uses the actual constellations which
are of unequal size.
Ayanamsa
From the Vedic perspective
the stars remain fixed, but the equinox points slip backward at
the rate of fifty minutes of arc per year due to precession. As
a result, the planets, ascendant and house cusps have to be adjusted.
This adjustment factor is known as ayanamsa, a Sanskrit word which
does not really translate to an English equivalent. There is disagreement
among Indian astrologers as to the value of the adjustment, but
the correction requires subtracting around twenty-four degrees of
arc.
A division
problem
Perhaps the naksatras
fell out of favor because of arithmetic. The Lunar Mansions, are
based on the movements cycle of the Moon and denote the slice of
sky through which the moon moves in one night. The Moon's lunation
cycle, or Synodic motion, takes slightly more than 29.5 days to
move from New Moon to New Moon. The sidereal month (the Moon's return
to the same position relative to the stars) takes 27.3 days. Therefore
the Mansions have to divide the ecliptic by either twenty-seven
or twenty-eight, and either way the divisions will not be round
numbers.
The Lunar Mansions
are also distinct from the Moon's phases since the new and full
Moons occur in different Mansions each month. As the Earth moves
around the Sun the Moon's relative place in the sky also changes.
Arab, Chinese and
Renaissance astrologers used twenty-eight mansions since this conveniently
worked with a system of seven planets and four-week months. This
did not solve the problem of dividing the 360 degree circle of the
ecliptic by any multiple of seven.
The Indian system
generally uses twenty-seven mansions since this more closely corresponds
to the actual sidereal movement of the Moon (return to the same
place in the stars). Likewise this fits with a nine planet group,
including Rahu and Ketu, the Moon's nodes, which over time have
achieved nearly planetary status in interpretation.
Houses of the
gods
Following are three
examples from the twenty-seven Lunar Mansions and their influences.
Third Mansion -- Krttika, the Cutters. This mansion is comprised
of the six brightest stars in the Pleiades and is depicted as a
sharp-edged weapon or a flame. The Moon in Krttika is said to make
the person bright, full of energy, enjoying sensual pleasure and
likely to be famous.
Sixth Mansion
-- Ardra, the Moist One.
Pictured as a tear
drop this mansion corresponds with Betelgeuse, the alpha star of
Orion. The energy of this mansion is said to make one proud, ungrateful
and tending toward violence. This is a warrior star and as such
is likely to bring tears.
Eighth Mansion
-- Pusya, Nourishment.
This mansion is
marked by three stars in the constellation of Cancer. Perceived
as a beneficent mansion Pusya confers luck, peace, and wisdom. Those
born with the Moon in this mansion are said to walk in dharma, or
right relationship to all things. East or west?
Both systems work
because they seem to function on different principles and vastly
different cultural orientations. The Lunar Mansions are based on
influences which come from the stars themselves and which are likely
to be far older. The quality of the naksatras is imbued with the
archetypal force of gods from the Indian pantheon which correlate
with the stellar influences. The Tropical system is an interpretation
based on time and relative position in a repetitive cycle of manifestation
which begins with spring and moves through the seasons. The common
denominator in any archetypal system is a skilled and intuitive
interpreter of the symbols. In the final analysis it's the talent
of the astrologer, regardless of system, that makes the difference.
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