Saravali (Vol II) by Manoj Kumar

(Sanskrit shlokas are in corrupted texts – perhaps for font settings – good for english text only; Distorted tables at few places)

Hindu Astrology is sidereal. The zodiac is divided into twelve sectors on the basis of certain fixed stars. It is true that even the fixed stars show some motion, but this being very, very slow, infinitesimal, they are for all practical purposes treated as fixed stars. There are millions, rather trillions of stars in the sky. It is not possible to count or catalogue all of them. In astrology we are however concerned only with the stars which lie in the zodiacal belt. Zodiac is the belt comprising the apparent path of the Sun. The Sun completes one full revolution in one year. The path through which Sun appears to travel is called the ecliptic. Why did we say ‘through which the Sun appears to travel’? Why did we not say ‘through which the Sun travels’? Because, the Sun does not travel, it only appears to travel. In fact, it is the Earth which travels round the Sun and pursues a particular path — the same path, year after year, century after century. This path of the Earth is called the ecliptic. We, the inhabitants of the Earth move with it round the Sun and although it is the Earth which moves, it appears to us that the Sun is moving. The ecliptic (the Earth’s path) is not circular in shape. It is elliptical or egg-shaped. Zodiac is a belt of the heavens limited by lines of about 8° from the ecliptic on each side. While the Sun’s path is along the ecliptic, why should we then have another belt extending to about 8° on either side of the ecliptic and call it the zodiac? This is because the Sun moves along the ecliptic, but the exact path of the Sun; their paths are sometimes along the ecliptic, sometimes North of the ecliptic and at others South of it. However, they do not swerve to the North or the South
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of the ecliptic beyond 8°. The distance North of the ecliptic line is called Northern latitude, while the distance South of it is known as the Southern latitude. When a planet has neither a Northern latitude nor a Southern latitude, but is exactly on the ecliptic, it is said to have zero latitude or no latitude at all. In the Ephemeris, readers will see a column where latitude of planets has been given for each day. But no latitude is ever given for the Sun. This is so because it is the real motion of the Earth which is given as the motion of the Sun. As explained earlier, it is the Earth which moves. But as the Earth moves, according to the variation in the angle of the Earth or the observers’ place, the Sun appears to be in a different direction. So, since the Earth confines itself to the ecliptic, the Sun also appears on the ecliptic. As the Earth does not move North or South of the ecliptic, the Sun also does not appear to move North or South of the ecliptic. The Sun, therefore, does not ever have any latitude, Northern or Southern. In other words, the Sun always has zero latitude. In astronomy distances are measured in degrees. A circle has, 360 degrees. One degree is divided into parts, and each part is called a minute. A minute is further sub-divided into 60 parts, and each sub-division is called a second. This is the division in space. The directions are as usual East, West, North and South. The Sun has no latitude as said above. But what about the other planets—Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn? We have not included Herschel, Neptune or Pluto in the above list of planets because they were discovered only lately and there is no mention of them in ancient Hindu Astrology. But Hindu Astrology is a complete system in itself and provides detailed guidelines for future predictions. The rules of Hindu predictive astrology are easier to learn and have been found to be more precise in application and capable of yielding more accurate results than other methods of prediction. The latitude of a planet is important in Hindu astronomy.

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