Book Extract: Houses vs Rasis

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

I am currently writing a book titled " Vedic Astrology: An

Integrated Approach " , which captures MY understanding of

the basics of Vedic astrology. I am giving an extract from

the chapter on " Houses " . This consists of the first and

last sections of the chapter.

 

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© P.V.R. Narasimha Rao, 2000

!!!! Do not copy without author's permission !!!!

 

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7.1 Introduction

 

The zodiac consists of 12 rasis. Each rasi is said to form a

house. When we talk about houses, we always have a point of

reference. The rasi containing the point of reference is the

1st house. The next rasi is the 2nd house. The rasi after that

is the 3rd house. Suppose Moon is in Aquarius and suppose we

want houses with respect to Moon. Then Aquarius is the 1st

house, Pisces is the 2nd house, Aries is the 3rd house, Taurus

is the 4th house and so on. As we go around the zodiac, we

reach Capricorn when we find the 12th house.

 

In the same chart, Sun may be in Taurus. When we find houses

with respect to Sun, Taurus contains the 1st house, Gemini

contains the 2nd house, Cancer contains the 3rd house and so

on. If Ghati Lagna is in Virgo in the same chart, then the

1st, 2nd and 3rd houses with respect to Ghati Lagna are in

Virgo, Libra and Scorpio respectively.

 

Thus we can find houses with respect to different references.

The same sign may contain the 2nd house with respect to one

reference and the 6th house with respect to another reference.

If we mention houses without clearly specifying the reference

used, it means that the reference used is lagna (ascendant).

Lagna is the default reference when finding houses.

 

Different houses stand for different matters. The matters

signified by a house also depend on the reference used. Each

reference throws light on matters of a specific nature and that

colors the meaning of a house. For example, the 11th house from

lagna may stand for something and the 11th house from arudha

lagna may stand for something else. It depends on the kind of

matters shown by the two references – lagna and arudha lagna.

 

In addition, the matters signified by a house depend on the

divisional chart in which we are finding houses. Each divisional

chart throws light on matters of a specific nature. Again, that

colors the meaning of a house. The 4th house from lagna in D-16

may mean something and the 4th house from lagna in D-24 may mean

something else. We have already listed the areas of life seen

from various divisional charts in the chapter on " Divisional

Charts " .

 

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7.5 A Controversy

 

Houses are found with respect to lagna, special lagnas and some

planets. Houses are found in rasi chart and in all the divisional

charts. Some scholars ignore all these and take houses only with

respect to lagna and only in rasi chart. They prepare something

called " bhaava chakra " or " chalit chakra " , in which

houses

can start in one rasi and end in another. They take lagna's

longitude to be the mid-point of the first house and construct

all the houses accordingly. In the " equal house method " , they

take a 30º arc with center at lagna as the 1st house. The next

30º arc is taken as the 2nd house and so on. This method is

popular among Indian astrologers. Another method taught by

Sripathi is more complicated and it is also popular. However,

this author recommends neither. Each rasi is a house. The rasi

containing the reference point chosen is the 1st house and the

next rasi is the 2nd house.

 

Though there are some indirect references in BPHS suggesting

that Parasara supported house divisions placing houses in 2

rasis, there are quite a few direct references making it amply

clear that each house falls in one rasi. Parasara taught us to

find houses by counting rasis from the reference chosen.

Moreover, only this approach is logical as we go to divisional

charts. Parasara's treatment does not differentiate between rasi

and divisional charts, as far as the basic techniques go.

 

So readers are advised to ignore all the discussions found in

other textbooks on house division methods, " bhaava chakra " and

" chalit chakra " . It may do good to follow the instructions in

this chapter.

 

May Jupiter's light shine on us,

Narasimha