Solving a mystery of Nadi astrology.

By

Jayasree Saranathan.

(Article published in the April 2012 issue of The Astrological eMagazine, Bangalore,
India.)

The wisdom of ancient sages enshrined in the Nadi manuscripts still remains astounding and
non-decipherable to a greater extent. In this write-up I wish to focus on the physical
description of the home surroundings of the native about which most Nadi scripts have
something to say.

Traditional wisdom gained from standard books does give us some idea about the place of
birth, whether born in father’s or mother’s house and such other factors. But they do not
always satisfy the Nadi aphorisms thereby making us search for more information. One such
information is related to Shashtyamsa position of the lagna about which Dr BV Raman has
already written in The Astrological Magazine (Dec 1997). The same lagna in Rasi, with lagna
position in different shashtyamsa gives different predictions with regard to the physical
surroundings of the native.

This can be tested in the horoscope of Mahatma Gandhi. The Satya samhita gives the
description of Gandhi with a noting on his place of birth that he was born in a holy city near
the ocean. The classical texts contain clues to identify the places near water bodies. They can
be listed as follows.

Taurus – Field filled with water

Cancer – Canal

Libra – river-side

Scorpio – river

Sagittarius – Pond or tank

Capricorn – River stream

Aquarius –Well

Pisces – Ocean

Birth in own city and near or inside temples must have Saturn and Sun connection to lagna or
moon. The native is identified by lagna and/or moon sign. I would also add Jupiter and Venus
to this list because Jupiter is considered as Jeeva karaka for men and Venus for women.
Saturn signifies native town and Sun signifies temple. Seen from this perspective, we can
justify Gandhi’s birth in a holy city near an ocean. His Shashtyamsa position is shown here.

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Shashtyamsa lagna is Libra with its lord posited there. This shows birth in own place / city
which was near a watery place. Moon is in Pisces, in the sign for ocean and is joined by
Saturn. Pisces stands for the ocean. Thus both the lagna and the moon sign are connected
with an watery area which was an ocean. The 9th house (paternal) is occupied by Sun in
mutual aspect with Jupiter which is a signfactor for temples and deities.

This writer tested this in many horoscopes and found that this works with 70% of the
horoscopes. But the planetary position is not completely text-bookish to be true. There are
mild variations that have to be interpreted. For example, for birth in mother’s place which
was located at a short distance from the ocean, the conditions varied a little but decipherable
as found in the chart given below.

Shashtyamsa lagna is in Cancer, signifying a watery location. Saturn aspects the Shashtyamsa
lagna while moon, the lagna lord is posited in the 3rd from lagna showing a little distance to
the waters. The birth was at night time and Moon was exalted in both Rasi and Navamsa
showing birth at mother’s place.

Moon must be powerful for night- time birth and Venus must be powerful for day- time birth
if the birth were to happen in mother’s place. Though most births take place in hospitals
nowadays, in accordance with the tides of time, we can say that the birth is supported by

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maternal relatives / at mother’s home town with the above mentioned planets for birth at
mother’s place. For birth at father’s place, sun must be powerful for day-time births and
Saturn for night-time births.

The above shashtyamsa is that of a female born in her mother’s place which was right behind
a Vishnu temple in a city near sea coast. Shashtyamsa lagna was in Pisces, signifying ocean
in the nearby area. The birth was at night time and Moon was in debility in the Rasi chart.
However Venus is posited in the sign of Saturn in opposition to Sun and mercury occupying
Cancer owned by Moon. This indicates birth in mother’s place which was behind a Vishnu
temple. Like this we can test the shashtymsa position to have better grasp of the Nadi
aphorism on birth near water ways.

Another intriguing information that we often come across is the direction of the house and the
direction of the street where the house is situated. The shashtyamsa names given in some
texts are not easy to decipher as they do not tally with the shashtyamsa that we know.
Alternatingly, I tried to analyse the aphorism from the Rasi itself. The following is the chart
given in Dhruva nadi (explained by Dr B.V. Raman in his article)

The native was born in his father’s place near a river. The house was facing east and the
street was in the North- south direction. The birth was in Taurus and moon was in Pisces both
signifying the place of birth to be near a water body. Jeeva karaka Jupiter is in Aquarius, a

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watery sign aspected by Saturn showing native place of the father. For knowing the
directions, we can construct the chart in the following way.

Jupiter is in the west and faces the east signifying the direction faced by the house. This
makes the street to be north-south in orientation.

A similar explanation was feasible in another chart given in Agasthya Nadi.

The lagna was in Cancer with sun placed in it. The native was a male and there is no
information on the place of birth being father’s or mother’s. But the sign being that of moon
with Venus posited there, getting the 10th aspect of Saturn, it is deduced that the birth
happened at mother’s place. The manuscript says that it was a south facing house in a street
running east-west. The directions can be analysed in the following way.

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In this I have taken lagna as the east and deduced the directions accordingly. This is different
from the previous chart. This is done to draw logical connections for the given aphorism.
Testing them in a number of horoscopes is needed to get a better idea.

The native being a male, I have take in to consideration the Jeeva karaka for male, namely
Jupiter as it occupies the same direction of Moon. This combine is placed in the North, thus
can be said to be facing the southern direction. The house in which the native was born was
facing south and it is automatically taken for granted that the street ran in east-west direction.

In this context, some inputs from Jathaka Jambhunadheeyam are of use. They can be tested in
the horoscopes to get a better grasp of Nadi verses on physical surroundings of the house
where the native lives.

Some relevant ones are given here:-

 On determining the size of the house, the sign and planetary size must be considered.
Among the signs, Aries, Taurus, Aquarius and Pisces are short. Among the planets
Moon, Saturn and Rahu are short. If the 4th lord is associated with any of these planets
in any of these signs, the house of the native will be small and not high. The same
logic is to be used for other signs which are tall and misra. Association of other
planets with the 4th lord in tall signs will give tall houses and in misra signs will give
medium sized houses.

 If the lagna falls in tall signs (From Leo to Scorpio) and gets associated with planets
other than the ones designated as small ones will make the native live in a big house
having good vastu combinations.

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 In the above combination, if the lagna lord happens to be Sun, the native’s house will
be near a temple of Shiva or Bhairava. If the lagna lord is Mars, it will be near
Subramanya temple, for Mercury and Venus, the nearby temple will be that of
Vishnu. If the lagna happens to be owned by Jupiter, then also there will be a temple
nearby even though the signs happen to be misra by height.

 If Moon and Venus cast their aspect on any of the above mentioned lagnas or their
lords, the native would have lived at first near a temple and later shifted to a distance
from the temple.

 On waterways near the house of the native, some combinations are given. If the lagna
falls in cancer, Libra, Scorpio, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces and also happens to be
a female sign, there will be a waterway near the house. This excludes Libra and
Aquarius indicating that the waterway may not be a substantial one but a small one.

 In the above combination with female signs, if the lagna lord is aspected by Jupiter or
moon or Venus from a watery sign, the house will be near a famous and sacred river.

 If there is a benefic in the 7th house, there will be temple in the south side of the
house.

 If benefics are there in the 11th and 12th houses, there will be a temple on the left side
of the house.

 Jathaka Jambhunadheeyam also gives us clues on the trees to be found near the
native’s house. If moon joins Jupiter in Jupiter’s house, there will be plantain trees
and trees of value in his house.
 If Venus or Moon or Jupiter gets associated with the 4th lord or 4th house, there will be
scented plants in his house.
 If Sun and Moon with Moon having crossed the sun’s disc are found in the 4th house,
strong and tall trees will be there in the house.
 If Jupiter and Venus join in the 4th house, there will be jackfruit trees in the house.
 If Moon and Venus join in the 4th house, mango trees will be there in the house.
 If Sun and Saturn join in the 4th house, there will be tamarind trees or plants that grow
sour fruits will be seen in the house of the native.
 If sun and Mars join in the 4th house, bamboos will be grow in his garden.
 If Saturn, Mars and Moon join together in the 4th house, amla trees will grow in the
garden of the native.
 If Sun, moon and Saturn are together in the 4th house, there will be a neem tree in the
house of the native.