Jyotiṣa in the Agni Purāṇa

Jyotiṣa is the study of the lights of the sky: astronomy and astrology. It is one of the six Vedāṅgas (the “limbs of the Veda”, the supporting sciences needed to understand and use the Vedas), and it is called “the eye of the Veda”. The Agni Purāṇa gives it in a short but full form across two chapters, 121 and 122.

Chapter 121 covers how to find a muhūrta (an auspicious time), how nakṣatras (lunar mansions) match, which tithis (lunar days) are favourable, and the rules for choosing good times for marriage, journeys and every important task. Chapter 122, the longer one, is called Kāla-gaṇana (“the reckoning of time”). It explains the methods of calculation for working out calendar units, the places of the planets, and the great cycles of time, from the smallest nimeṣa (the blink of an eye) up to the mahākalpa.

How the Agni Purāṇa Presents Jyotiṣa

The Agni Purāṇa introduces Jyotiṣa as a science of four lakh (four hundred thousand) ślokas (verses), here boiled down to its key principles. It is described both as the science of telling the auspicious from the inauspicious (śubhāśubha-viveka) and as the way a person gains all-round knowledge (sarvajñāna). The speaker is Agni-deva himself, talking to the great muni.

Marriage Compatibility and Nakṣatra Rules (Chapter 121)

The Agni Purāṇa begins its section on Jyotiṣa with the rules for matching bride and groom. These are measured by the distance between their birth-signs (rāśi, the sign of the zodiac in which the moon stood at birth). The following positions are declared inauspicious for marriage:

  • The groom’s rāśi is 6th or 8th from the bride’s rāśi (ṣaḍaṣṭaka doṣa)
  • The groom’s rāśi is 9th or 5th from the bride’s (nava-pañcama doṣa)
  • The groom’s rāśi is 2nd or 12th from the bride’s (dvirdvādaśa doṣa)

When the groom’s rāśi falls in the positions 4–10 or 3–11, or when the two signs are 7th from each other in a well-matched way (saptaka), the marriage is auspicious. And even where the numbers do not match well, the marriage is allowed if the rulers of the two birth-signs (rāśyādhipatis) are friends, or if both signs have the same ruler, or if the nakṣatras of bride and groom are friendly to each other. In such cases the pañcama-navama and dvirdvādaśa faults need not be counted.

Tithis, Nakṣatras and Choosing Auspicious Times

The thirty tithis of the lunar month are sorted into five named groups that repeat through the month:

  • Nandā tithis (1st, 6th, 11th): auspicious for festivals and for things tied to prosperity
  • Bhadrā tithis (2nd, 7th, 12th): good for steady, building work
  • Jayā tithis (3rd, 8th, 13th): suited to contests and forceful aims
  • Riktā tithis (4th, 9th, 14th): mostly inauspicious; avoided for new beginnings
  • Pūrṇā tithis (5th, 10th, 15th, new moon and full moon): auspicious for completing things, for pūjā and for major rites

The five vowels (a, i, u, e, o) match these five groups of tithis in order. The consonants from ka to ha match the planets in sequence: Sūrya and Maṅgala rule the ka group; Budha and Candra rule the ca group; Bṛhaspati and Śukra rule the ṭa group; and Śani and Maṅgala rule the ta group. These links are used in working out muhūrtas.

The twenty-seven nakṣatras rule the days of the lunar month. The Agni Purāṇa lays down that particular nakṣatras suit particular tasks. Some are good for travel (yātrā), some for sowing seed (bīja-nyāsa), some for starting to build, and some for war. The text also describes the yogas (twenty-seven periods formed by the combined longitude of the sun and the moon) and the karaṇas (the eleven half-tithis), each with its own effect on what one sets out to do.

Kāla-Gaṇana: The Reckoning of Time (Chapter 122)

Chapter 122 is given to the science of reckoning time by calculation (kāla-gaṇana). Agni-deva explains that this knowledge lets one work out the positions of the planets from any starting point: from the start of Brahmā’s day (brahma-dina), from the start of creation (sṛṣṭy-ārambha), or from the start of a historical śaka (era).

The Basic Method of Calculation

The steps for finding the present position in the calendar of the universe are:

  1. Take the total number of years passed since the starting point and multiply by twelve (to turn them into months).
  2. Add the number of months passed in the current year.
  3. Multiply the result by two and write it down in two places.
  4. In the first place add 4; in the second place add 865. The pair of numbers that results is called the sugumāla.
  5. Write the sugumāla in three places (sthānas). Multiply the middle value by eight.

Through further steps of this kind, multiplying, dividing and adding set numbers, the tithi, nakṣatra, yoga and karaṇa of any day can be worked out. The text gives the full set of multipliers and divisors for the motion of each planet.

Units of Time

The Agni Purāṇa lists the units of time from the smallest to the largest:

  • Nimeṣa: the blink of an eye, the smallest unit one can notice
  • Kāṣṭhā: 15 nimeṣas
  • Kalā: 30 kāṣṭhās
  • Muhūrta: 2 kalās (48 minutes in modern time)
  • Prahara (yāma): 8 muhūrtas
  • Ahorātra: a full day and night, 30 muhūrtas
  • Pakṣa: 15 ahorātras (a fortnight)
  • Māsa: 2 pakṣas (a lunar month)
  • Ṛtu: 2 māsas (a season)
  • Ayana: 3 ṛtus (half a year)
  • Varṣa: 2 ayanas (a solar year)
  • Yuga: 12,000 divine years (4,320,000 human years)
  • Mahāyuga: the four yugas together (Kṛta + Tretā + Dvāpara + Kali)
  • Manvantara: 71 mahāyugas
  • Kalpa: 14 manvantaras, one day of Brahmā

The Vedic Calendar and the Extra Month

The Agni Purāṇa deals with bringing the solar and lunar calendars into line. Twelve lunar months fall about eleven days short of a solar year, so an extra month (adhikamāsa) is added from time to time to keep the two together. The text gives the numbers needed to work out when an adhikamāsa should be added.

The year (saṃvatsara) is divided into six ṛtus (seasons): Vasanta (spring), Grīṣma (summer), Varṣā (monsoon), Śarad (autumn), Hemanta (early winter) and Śiśira (late winter). The sun’s passage through the twelve signs of the zodiac (rāśis) marks the solar months. Its northward course (uttarāyaṇa) and southward course (dakṣiṇāyana) mark the two ayanas. The winter solstice, Makara-saṅkrānti, when the sun enters Makara (Capricorn), marks the start of Uttarāyaṇa and is held to be the most auspicious saṅkrānti (the sun’s entry into a new sign).

Jyotiṣa in the Nārada Purāṇa (Chapter 54)

The Nārada Mahā Purāṇa (Chapter 54) presents Jyotiṣa as one of the five Vedāṅgas covered in its first half (Pūrvārdha). The chapter covers the astronomy and astrology needed for the Vedic calendar: working out auspicious times (muhūrta), the kinds and qualities of the nakṣatras, the movements of the planets, and finding favourable times for yajñas (sacred fire offerings) and saṃskāras (life-cycle rites). This chapter goes together with the Nārada Purāṇa’s chapters on Jātaka (Chapter 55), which covers birth charts, and Saṃhitā (Chapter 56), which covers choosing times for actions.

Sources

  • Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 121–122
  • Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapter 54