BHRIGU SAMHITA (part two): COMPILATION OF HOROSCOPES
V.S.Gopalakrishnan
In Part One, we saw how Mahalaxmi cursed Sage Bhrigu which was to the effect that Brahmins would not have wealth given by her. However, it is further said that Laxmi tried to reduce the gravity of the curse by saying that Bhrigu and the Brahmins, his pupils, should compile horoscopes and thus earn some livelihood, and thus also help people to overcome obstacles in their lives and achieve happiness (ananda) and spiritual upliftment (moksha).
It is said that Maharishi Bhrigu was from the Treta Yuga, the second Yuga. It is not clear to me how a Prajapati would not have belonged to the Satya Yuga, the first of the Yugas, as the human beings followed only after the Prajapatis came into being. The duration of the Satya-yuga is 1,728,000 years. The duration of the Treta-yuga is 1,296,000 years. The duration of the Dvapara-yuga is 864,000 years. And the last, the Kali-yuga, is 432,000 years in total (Srimad Bhagavatam 3.11.19). These 4 yugas follow a timeline ratio of 4:3:2:1.
It is said that Sage Bhrigu was the only Sage who had the extraordinary powers to look into the past and into the future. He compiled 5 million horoscopes out of which only 5 lakhs have survived. The horoscope of each individual mentioned the past lives and future lives besides the current life. The law of “Karma” was taken into account to essentially guide in the predictions over many janmas. The influence of nine planets, namely Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Shani, Rahu and Ketu were reckoned while formulating each horoscope. The horoscopes were meant to be revealed to the people so that they could be aware and take precautions and try to overcome obstacles in their lives, and to an extent get around the karma through appropriate spiritual practices.
It is stated that the permutations and combinations make it possible to prepare 45 million types of horoscopes. The art of casting the horoscopes was taught by Maharishi Bhrigu to his son Shukra and other pupils. It is also stated that Bhrigu dictated horoscopes to his son Shukra. This is apart from the fact that he took Ganesha’s help too early on in this venture.
It is said that the charts were put into a compilation (samhita) and it formed the first astrological predictions in the world. However, the original compilation is not available now. The Muslim invaders and rulers of India, in the 12th and 13th centuries, destroyed a good quantity of the horoscopes, and a large number of brahmins had to flee from the Uttar Pradesh area and got dispersed across India. Bakhtiyar Khilji destroyed the Nalanda University Library in 1193 which resulted in the destruction of thousands of Bhrigu horoscopes maintained therein. I have earlier mentioned in Part One that during the time of Aurangzeb’s rule when he persecuted brahmins, they fled to Hoshiarpur, Punjab, with their horoscopes, and took refuge under the Sikh kings , and thus today we witness Hoshiarpur as the primary centre in India of the Bhrigu horoscopes. Benaras and Pune are said to be smaller centres for them.
METHOD OF CURRENT BHRIGU PREDICTIONS:
Brahmin families with names like Sharmas and Tewaris practice Bhrigu predictions in Hoshiarpur. Where they are related and live in different houses, they still keep the granthas (charts) in a single central place for common access, usually a part of an elderly relative’s house. The art of prediction has been handed down from one generation to the other and that is the beautiful and useful aspect of the varna system, I believe.
It is amazing that some of the Brahmins bought tons of the granthas in loose papers from scrap dealers ! This happened centuries ago. It is said that such Brahmins came across their own horoscopes from the scraps and they had received even divine instructions to undertake astrology! The divine “leela” is inexplicable! Years of training are required by the Brahmin youngsters to learn the art of prediction from their elders. Whether this art will continue for centuries or will slowly fade like the art of puppetry is a matter of speculation.
Let us assume that you want to know the Bhrigu predictions for you and so you go to a Pandit. The Pandit will ask you for your own horoscope showing the ascendant (lagna) and the planets. The date and time of birth and the place of birth should also be conveyed to the Pandit. The Pandit will then go to his library of collections of horoscopes in very many bundles arranged in some order depending on the ascendant and other aspects. One relevant bundle will be opened and he would compare the chart you gave him with the paper collection of Bhrigu charts with him. When the charts match in the planets and ascendant, he stops the matching and brings over to you the Bhrigu chart predictions. As I stated earlier, the palm leaves and bhoj patras are now replaced by papers.
The most amazing and remarkable thing, I believe, is that the date and time of your approaching the Pandit to know your future from him is already incorporated in the Bhrigu horoscope! This almost sounds like some magic! And the Bhrigu chart contains the name of your forefathers, your grandfather, your father etc! And of course your own name too! And that chart contains details of your past lives and future lives which won’t be part of your own self-owned chart. And all these are written in Sanskrit. Sometimes you would be welcome to take your Bhrigu chart away with you since the Pandit would no longer need it. There can be only one Bhrigu chart for each person. Many people are born at the same place, date and time and although the planetary aspects will be similar for them it is said that their horoscopes will differ in certain aspects and there are separate Bhrigu horoscopes for them carrying their different names etc.
The Bhrigu charts show the ups and downs of the current life which are explained in Karmic terms. The Pandit advises on aspects of mitigating some negative or nuisance aspects in life by appropriate remedies or “parihaaraas”. The remedies are in two ways (1) Daanam (giving charity) (2) Dhyanam (meditation) and spiritual worship. It is here that sometimes the Pandit could fleece the unwary client by asking for huge payments for the rectificatory kriyas. Some clients, dazzled by the magic revelations and contents of the Bhrigu chart fall a prey to this. This is not to deny the general honesty of the overall practice. The Pandit can predict even the precise time of death of the client. It is here that I would hesitate since my own mind refuses to want to know my future in terms of negatives and mortality!
Apart from the Life Chart, there is a Question Chart with the Pandit. The latter is used to answer very specific questions posed by the client. If a group of people approach the Pandit with questions, he could draw out a single Question Chart for them and give answers to the group or the individuals depending on the nature of the questions. It is said that the Pandits could give predictions of a general kind also like a coming natural calamity or death of a leader. There are claims that Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death was predicted and the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 was predicted. The Pandit could be charging an individual between Rs.300 to Rs.1000 as his prediction fees.
It is said that the contents of revelations on the paper leaf are in the form of a dialogue between Sage Bhrigu and his son Shukracharya.
Apart from Indians, several foreigners coming from abroad and driven by curiosity consult with the Pandits. Their place-origins are not mentioned in the granthas by countries but are indicated as Paataal Desh for the USA, Manu Desh for Europe, Yavan Desh for Middle East etc. I have shown the written and video testimonies of two foreigners in Part One. It is so astonishing that their foreign names and those of their forefathers are correctly written in Sanskrit in the granthas!
Personally I am mesmerized by such paranormal activities and see the divine hand somewhere. I believe that the divine reveals itself to an extent and helps us to an extent.
NAADI JYOTISHA IN THE SOUTH:
In the South, particularly in Vaideeswaran Koil, near Chidambaram, the Jyotishas practice what is called Naadi Jyotisha. Koil in Tamil means temple and Vaideeswaran means “God of healing” which is Shiva here. The jyotishas here are usually not Brahmins and are said to belong to the Valluvar Caste known for spirituality. The Valluvars are often hereditary priests and soothsayers. Tiruvalluvar of the Kural fame belonged to this community. Valluvars were in the Court of Pallavas before the Brahmins replaced them. The Valluvars practise astrology, astronomy and medicine.
Sage Agasthya who crossed the Vindhyas going from North to South where he settled finally is said to be the originator of the Naadi compilations. He existed thousands of years ago and he could, like the more ancient Bhrigu, see the past and future of the world and the inhabitants. His predictions for each person were noted in Sanskrit originally on palm-leaves. During the time of the Maratha rulers in the South, the Sanskrit contents were translated on palm-leaves into Tamil in what is called vattazhethu which is cursory writing. The Tanjore Saraswathi Mahal Library contains loads of Naadi leaves. Over time, many leaves were lost but the siddhars could replace and rewrite many of them. The Britishers in India took interest in palm-leaves that related to our ancient knowledge in Ayurveda, Astromomy, Alchemy etc and took most of them away but were not so much interested in the Naadi leaves which were taken over by the Valluvars.
When you go to a Naadi Jyotisha, all you have to give him is your thumb impression (right thumb for male and left thumb for female). It is said that there are 108 general types of thumb impressions. Depending on the nature of your thumb impression, the astrologer will take out a bundle of palm-leaves from inside the sacred room where they are stored. The writings on the leaves are in Tamil. The astrologer will take one leaf after another and ask you questions which you have to simply answer in “yes” or “no”. For example the question could be “Were you born on a Sunday?” or “Do you have two sisters and one brother?” It is amazing that in a matter of 20 to 30 minutes he would most probably zero in on the correct leaf for you. There are times that the correct leaf is not readily available and he would ask for time to borrow some bundles from other astrologers! Sometimes you could go disappointed too. It is amazing that whether you are an Indian or foreigner, he could find a leaf containing your name, name of your spouse, name of your father and mother etc! Often the Tamil inscriptions are commentaries and sometimes they could be in the form of a dialogue between Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi. The oral reading of the astronomer is in a sing-song poetic Tamil and he gives English meaning too if you will. He can say your past lives and future lives apart from particulars of the present life. Eventually he would give you the predictions that he would write on a note book and he would give an English recording on a cassette too.
I give here links to two Youtube videos showing how two foreigners get to be amazed with the predictions of their names and the names of family members etc.
Again the karma theory governs the misfortunes in this life. The astrologer will tell you the remedies to avert future problems and pitfalls. Often you will be told to visit a group of temples and this perhaps enables the Supreme God to show you leniency! Nowadays you could send your thumb print by email if you are far away and get the predictions!
About ten years ago I personally visited a Naadi astrologer in Chennai. By asking me questions, he narrowed my wife’s name on which he was concentrating (which he did not know) to one amongst three. There are thousands of female names in India and I was perfectly amazed that one of the three names he mentioned was my wife’s! Further matching became difficult for him as he ran out of leaves and he wanted more time to get more leaves. I did not go again to him as I had to return to Mumbai.
You will see the Naadi astrologers to be simple persons leading a simple life. Their reception rooms will have huge pictures of any number of Gods. They do the reading only at their place and do not go to others’ or clients’ thouses. Their charges are limited. As they live simply the surpluses they make go to their common welfare measures. If Westerners had had such astonishing astrological ability, they would have been riding in Mercedes cars.
The Tamil vattazhuthu writings will not be readable for all Tamilians. I have discussed the mystery of the predictions with many persons. To me it appears that there is an outer Force that guides the astrologers’ readings when he correctly tells your name and the names of all your near relatives.
Lastly, when asked, the Bhrigu Pandits aver that the Naadi sastra was also envisioned by Sage Bhrigu given his extraordinary powers of seeing the future.
(end to this Topic).
==========================
V.S.Gopalakrishnan
In Part One, we saw how Mahalaxmi cursed Sage Bhrigu which was to the effect that Brahmins would not have wealth given by her. However, it is further said that Laxmi tried to reduce the gravity of the curse by saying that Bhrigu and the Brahmins, his pupils, should compile horoscopes and thus earn some livelihood, and thus also help people to overcome obstacles in their lives and achieve happiness (ananda) and spiritual upliftment (moksha).
It is said that Maharishi Bhrigu was from the Treta Yuga, the second Yuga. It is not clear to me how a Prajapati would not have belonged to the Satya Yuga, the first of the Yugas, as the human beings followed only after the Prajapatis came into being. The duration of the Satya-yuga is 1,728,000 years. The duration of the Treta-yuga is 1,296,000 years. The duration of the Dvapara-yuga is 864,000 years. And the last, the Kali-yuga, is 432,000 years in total (Srimad Bhagavatam 3.11.19). These 4 yugas follow a timeline ratio of 4:3:2:1.
It is said that Sage Bhrigu was the only Sage who had the extraordinary powers to look into the past and into the future. He compiled 5 million horoscopes out of which only 5 lakhs have survived. The horoscope of each individual mentioned the past lives and future lives besides the current life. The law of “Karma” was taken into account to essentially guide in the predictions over many janmas. The influence of nine planets, namely Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Shani, Rahu and Ketu were reckoned while formulating each horoscope. The horoscopes were meant to be revealed to the people so that they could be aware and take precautions and try to overcome obstacles in their lives, and to an extent get around the karma through appropriate spiritual practices.
It is stated that the permutations and combinations make it possible to prepare 45 million types of horoscopes. The art of casting the horoscopes was taught by Maharishi Bhrigu to his son Shukra and other pupils. It is also stated that Bhrigu dictated horoscopes to his son Shukra. This is apart from the fact that he took Ganesha’s help too early on in this venture.
It is said that the charts were put into a compilation (samhita) and it formed the first astrological predictions in the world. However, the original compilation is not available now. The Muslim invaders and rulers of India, in the 12th and 13th centuries, destroyed a good quantity of the horoscopes, and a large number of brahmins had to flee from the Uttar Pradesh area and got dispersed across India. Bakhtiyar Khilji destroyed the Nalanda University Library in 1193 which resulted in the destruction of thousands of Bhrigu horoscopes maintained therein. I have earlier mentioned in Part One that during the time of Aurangzeb’s rule when he persecuted brahmins, they fled to Hoshiarpur, Punjab, with their horoscopes, and took refuge under the Sikh kings , and thus today we witness Hoshiarpur as the primary centre in India of the Bhrigu horoscopes. Benaras and Pune are said to be smaller centres for them.
METHOD OF CURRENT BHRIGU PREDICTIONS:
Brahmin families with names like Sharmas and Tewaris practice Bhrigu predictions in Hoshiarpur. Where they are related and live in different houses, they still keep the granthas (charts) in a single central place for common access, usually a part of an elderly relative’s house. The art of prediction has been handed down from one generation to the other and that is the beautiful and useful aspect of the varna system, I believe.
It is amazing that some of the Brahmins bought tons of the granthas in loose papers from scrap dealers ! This happened centuries ago. It is said that such Brahmins came across their own horoscopes from the scraps and they had received even divine instructions to undertake astrology! The divine “leela” is inexplicable! Years of training are required by the Brahmin youngsters to learn the art of prediction from their elders. Whether this art will continue for centuries or will slowly fade like the art of puppetry is a matter of speculation.
Let us assume that you want to know the Bhrigu predictions for you and so you go to a Pandit. The Pandit will ask you for your own horoscope showing the ascendant (lagna) and the planets. The date and time of birth and the place of birth should also be conveyed to the Pandit. The Pandit will then go to his library of collections of horoscopes in very many bundles arranged in some order depending on the ascendant and other aspects. One relevant bundle will be opened and he would compare the chart you gave him with the paper collection of Bhrigu charts with him. When the charts match in the planets and ascendant, he stops the matching and brings over to you the Bhrigu chart predictions. As I stated earlier, the palm leaves and bhoj patras are now replaced by papers.
The most amazing and remarkable thing, I believe, is that the date and time of your approaching the Pandit to know your future from him is already incorporated in the Bhrigu horoscope! This almost sounds like some magic! And the Bhrigu chart contains the name of your forefathers, your grandfather, your father etc! And of course your own name too! And that chart contains details of your past lives and future lives which won’t be part of your own self-owned chart. And all these are written in Sanskrit. Sometimes you would be welcome to take your Bhrigu chart away with you since the Pandit would no longer need it. There can be only one Bhrigu chart for each person. Many people are born at the same place, date and time and although the planetary aspects will be similar for them it is said that their horoscopes will differ in certain aspects and there are separate Bhrigu horoscopes for them carrying their different names etc.
The Bhrigu charts show the ups and downs of the current life which are explained in Karmic terms. The Pandit advises on aspects of mitigating some negative or nuisance aspects in life by appropriate remedies or “parihaaraas”. The remedies are in two ways (1) Daanam (giving charity) (2) Dhyanam (meditation) and spiritual worship. It is here that sometimes the Pandit could fleece the unwary client by asking for huge payments for the rectificatory kriyas. Some clients, dazzled by the magic revelations and contents of the Bhrigu chart fall a prey to this. This is not to deny the general honesty of the overall practice. The Pandit can predict even the precise time of death of the client. It is here that I would hesitate since my own mind refuses to want to know my future in terms of negatives and mortality!
Apart from the Life Chart, there is a Question Chart with the Pandit. The latter is used to answer very specific questions posed by the client. If a group of people approach the Pandit with questions, he could draw out a single Question Chart for them and give answers to the group or the individuals depending on the nature of the questions. It is said that the Pandits could give predictions of a general kind also like a coming natural calamity or death of a leader. There are claims that Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death was predicted and the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 was predicted. The Pandit could be charging an individual between Rs.300 to Rs.1000 as his prediction fees.
It is said that the contents of revelations on the paper leaf are in the form of a dialogue between Sage Bhrigu and his son Shukracharya.
Apart from Indians, several foreigners coming from abroad and driven by curiosity consult with the Pandits. Their place-origins are not mentioned in the granthas by countries but are indicated as Paataal Desh for the USA, Manu Desh for Europe, Yavan Desh for Middle East etc. I have shown the written and video testimonies of two foreigners in Part One. It is so astonishing that their foreign names and those of their forefathers are correctly written in Sanskrit in the granthas!
Personally I am mesmerized by such paranormal activities and see the divine hand somewhere. I believe that the divine reveals itself to an extent and helps us to an extent.
NAADI JYOTISHA IN THE SOUTH:
In the South, particularly in Vaideeswaran Koil, near Chidambaram, the Jyotishas practice what is called Naadi Jyotisha. Koil in Tamil means temple and Vaideeswaran means “God of healing” which is Shiva here. The jyotishas here are usually not Brahmins and are said to belong to the Valluvar Caste known for spirituality. The Valluvars are often hereditary priests and soothsayers. Tiruvalluvar of the Kural fame belonged to this community. Valluvars were in the Court of Pallavas before the Brahmins replaced them. The Valluvars practise astrology, astronomy and medicine.
Sage Agasthya who crossed the Vindhyas going from North to South where he settled finally is said to be the originator of the Naadi compilations. He existed thousands of years ago and he could, like the more ancient Bhrigu, see the past and future of the world and the inhabitants. His predictions for each person were noted in Sanskrit originally on palm-leaves. During the time of the Maratha rulers in the South, the Sanskrit contents were translated on palm-leaves into Tamil in what is called vattazhethu which is cursory writing. The Tanjore Saraswathi Mahal Library contains loads of Naadi leaves. Over time, many leaves were lost but the siddhars could replace and rewrite many of them. The Britishers in India took interest in palm-leaves that related to our ancient knowledge in Ayurveda, Astromomy, Alchemy etc and took most of them away but were not so much interested in the Naadi leaves which were taken over by the Valluvars.
When you go to a Naadi Jyotisha, all you have to give him is your thumb impression (right thumb for male and left thumb for female). It is said that there are 108 general types of thumb impressions. Depending on the nature of your thumb impression, the astrologer will take out a bundle of palm-leaves from inside the sacred room where they are stored. The writings on the leaves are in Tamil. The astrologer will take one leaf after another and ask you questions which you have to simply answer in “yes” or “no”. For example the question could be “Were you born on a Sunday?” or “Do you have two sisters and one brother?” It is amazing that in a matter of 20 to 30 minutes he would most probably zero in on the correct leaf for you. There are times that the correct leaf is not readily available and he would ask for time to borrow some bundles from other astrologers! Sometimes you could go disappointed too. It is amazing that whether you are an Indian or foreigner, he could find a leaf containing your name, name of your spouse, name of your father and mother etc! Often the Tamil inscriptions are commentaries and sometimes they could be in the form of a dialogue between Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi. The oral reading of the astronomer is in a sing-song poetic Tamil and he gives English meaning too if you will. He can say your past lives and future lives apart from particulars of the present life. Eventually he would give you the predictions that he would write on a note book and he would give an English recording on a cassette too.
I give here links to two Youtube videos showing how two foreigners get to be amazed with the predictions of their names and the names of family members etc.
Again the karma theory governs the misfortunes in this life. The astrologer will tell you the remedies to avert future problems and pitfalls. Often you will be told to visit a group of temples and this perhaps enables the Supreme God to show you leniency! Nowadays you could send your thumb print by email if you are far away and get the predictions!
About ten years ago I personally visited a Naadi astrologer in Chennai. By asking me questions, he narrowed my wife’s name on which he was concentrating (which he did not know) to one amongst three. There are thousands of female names in India and I was perfectly amazed that one of the three names he mentioned was my wife’s! Further matching became difficult for him as he ran out of leaves and he wanted more time to get more leaves. I did not go again to him as I had to return to Mumbai.
You will see the Naadi astrologers to be simple persons leading a simple life. Their reception rooms will have huge pictures of any number of Gods. They do the reading only at their place and do not go to others’ or clients’ thouses. Their charges are limited. As they live simply the surpluses they make go to their common welfare measures. If Westerners had had such astonishing astrological ability, they would have been riding in Mercedes cars.
The Tamil vattazhuthu writings will not be readable for all Tamilians. I have discussed the mystery of the predictions with many persons. To me it appears that there is an outer Force that guides the astrologers’ readings when he correctly tells your name and the names of all your near relatives.
Lastly, when asked, the Bhrigu Pandits aver that the Naadi sastra was also envisioned by Sage Bhrigu given his extraordinary powers of seeing the future.
(end to this Topic).
==========================
Sir James Prinsep