9: 01: Lagna. The Ascendant is also known as the Rising Sign is the degree of the Rasi and Nakshatra that was rising on the eastern horizon at the exact time of the native’s birth.
9: 02: Everyone know what Lagna means and one doesn’t even have to be an astrologer to know that it is the ‘first house’ in a birth chart.
In the Kalapurusha’s chart, the first house is Mesha/Aries Rasi.
9: 03: But what does it really mean? We all know that the data we need to draw a birth chart : Date of birth, Place of birth and Time of birth.
It is the Time of Birth that determines where the Lagna falls in a chart.
9: 04: The Moon moves one Rasi house everyday. The Sun moves one Rasi house every month. We call the entry of a graha into a Rasi house, “Sankaranti”. Jupiter moves one Rasi house every year. Every graha has its transit time determined by its orbit around the Sun. Please refer to older lessons that explains how the Panchang is drawn to understand this. We should know the transit periods of all grahas.
Assignment: make a table and write down all the transit times for all 9 grahas. What is the next upcoming transit? How many grahas are moving Rasi Houses this year 2022? From which Rasi to which Rasi are they moving?
9: 05: All grahas move in a clockwise direction when depicted in a South Indian jyotish chart. I will be teaching according to the South Indian chart in our Bootcamp. You will have to learn with a North Indian chart also. Both of them are the same but the way to read them is slightly different. But we will start with South Indian Chart and we will also with the North Indian chart soon.
Questions: Which grahas move counter clockwise in a jyotish chart during transit? Why? What does it mean when a graha moves backwards in the chart?
9: 06: A zodiac chart has:
12 Rasis
360 degrees
30 degrees per Rasi
27 Nakshatras
4 padas per Nakshatra
2 1/4 Nakshatras per Rasi
9 padas within a Rasi
3 degrees 20 minutes per pada.
All this means is that every Graha moves from rasi to another..from one nakshatra to another and from one pada to another according to their transit periods.
9: 07: Below are the time taken by each planet to cross one nakshatra pada:
Moon - 0.3 days or ~ 6.6 hrs
Sun - ~ 3.3 days
Venus - ~ 3.3 days
Mercury - ~3.3 days
Mars - ~ 6.6 days
Jupiter - ~ 40 days
Saturn - ~ 101 days
Rahu - ~60 days
Ketu - ~60 days
9: 08: What does this mean?
Each nakshatra counts 13 degrees and 20 minutes which consists of 4 padas. So each pada measures 3 degrees and 20 minutes. Now lets consider moon, Moon takes ~28 days to complete one revolution around the earth, so moon will be viewed in same constellation for ~2.3 days. Each Rashi or Sign consists of 9 pada adding to 30 degree. If Moon take ~2.3 days to cover 9 pada then it would take 2.3/9 days to cross one pada.
Apply the same calculation for each planet, for example Saturn takes ~29 years to complete one revolution around the Sun. So it will be in same sign for ~2.5 years. So if Saturn take ~2.5 years to cover 9 pada, it would take ~2.5/9 years or 101 days to cross one nakshatra pada.
Etc.
Assignment: work this out for all grahas.
9: 09: What does all this have to do with Lagna? Well..the house that the Lagna occupies is the first house. Lagna is based on the date and time of birth. The place of birth is vital as a change of longitude will change the Lagna.
When two babies are born on the same day and at the same exact time of the day , but one is born in Chennai, India and the other in California, USA…their horoscopes and dates would be entirely different even though the closest/fastest graha, Moon will likely not change Rasi for almost 24 hours.
This is due to the different longitudinal degrees of their respective places of birth. It will change the Lagna.
To put in very simple terms and eliminating the complicated math and astronomical calculations: Lagna moves from one Rasi house to the next one every 2 hours.
In other words, A lagna has to finish traveling the 12 Rasis or 360 degrees in 24 hour solar day. So it has to cover 30 degrees in 2 hours or 120 minutes.
This translates to moving from one degree to another within 4 minutes. And since every Nakshatra is 13 degrees 20 minutes, Lagna’s Nakshatra changes every 53 minutes and 20 seconds. And passes through each Nakshatra pada every 13 minutes 20 seconds.
In other words, every 13 minutes and 20 seconds, Lagna Nakshatra pada changes.
9: 10: Of course, this begs the question: will those who are born at the same minute or within the same 13 minute 20 seconds and hence sharing the same lagna Nakshatra pada share the same fate?
The short answer is NO. The slightly less shorter answer is NO. Because. Divisional or Varga charts will change even within a minute. The longer answer will have to wait till we finish all the basic lessons to move on to the more intricate chapters of Astrology.
All we need to know at this point is that EXACT TIME OF BIRTH is very important for a Vedic horoscope because Lagna Nakshatra Pada changes fate even for babies sharing the same birthday and born in adjacent hospital beds.
This will lead to some very interesting and thought provoking line of questioning. We will discuss this on CH.
Assignment: Find online or via family/friends, charts that share the same birth date and location but different times. What are their Lagnas according to the chart? Are these two individuals different? If not, how are they similar? Do this for at least 5 pairs of birth charts.
9: 11: Now we are getting to the fun part of Jyotish. We have established that Lagna is the same as a chart’s ‘First House’. Every other Rasi House in the chart will be studied from the point of view of the first house.
Assignment:
Sita’s Lagna is Taurus. What is her seventh Rasi House? Libra or Scorpio?
Gita was born in the same hospital as Sita at the exact same time. They will have identical lives as they are one soul split into two. Do you agree? Why? Or. Why not?
Nita was born a day after Gita in the same hospital bed and at the same time. Gita, Sita and Nita’s horoscopes will obviously be identical even upto their Lagna degree. Except there is bound to be one difference. What is it?
Lagna is the same as the degree of where the Sun is in the eastern horizon sky. Yes or No?
When a baby is born after sunset, then Lagna is based upon the degree of Moonrise. Which direction should the Moon rise?
If a baby is born on an Amavasya night, the birth chart is drawn without a Lagna. Yes or No?
Uranus cannot be a lagna because it’s not a recognized Graha. True or False?
Rahu and Ketu cannot be Lagnas because they are shadow nodes of the Moon. Yes or No. Give reasons.
Lagna can never be retrograde. True or False?
Upcoming: More on Lagna!