CONTRIBUTION OF JAINS & JAINISM TO THE VEDIC ASTROLOGY

Surya Pragyapti Granth This epic mainly contains facts related with Sun, the motion of Sun, Yuga, Ayana and Muhurta. Chandra Pragyapti Granth Chandra Pragyapti Granth contains facts about Sun and Moon This epic mainly contains the description of Chaya Sadhan astrology. It contains the description of 25 kinds of shadows. The main shadow among these shadows is Keelak shadow or Shanku shadow. We can calculate the duration of a day by a shadow with the help of this epic. But, the complete form of this epic is not available today Rishabha Deva of Vedic period is thought to be first teerthankara (enlightened guru) and originator of Jain stream of spiritual thought. It was traditionally believed that there were 24 teerthankaras (enlightened gurus), and the 23rd Parswanadha and the 24th Vadhamana Mahaveera. In the ancient past the teachings of enlightened masters like Rishabha Deva were also considered to be part of Veda-Vedanga teachings itself, but later gradually it became a separate stream. The Jain stream of spiritual thought form the clear shape of a religion by the period of Mahaveera, and therefore he is thought to be the originator of Jain religion. We have nothing to do with these enlightened masters of spirituality, but are more interested in the astrology they cherished. Garga The first guru in the Jain school of astrology is thought to be Brahma. In Garga hora it is said that, Garga Rishi got this knowledge from Brahma. I will quote the sloka for you- Swayam swayambhuva srishtam chakshurbhootam dwijanmanam Vedangam jyotisham brahmaparam yejncha hitavaham Maya swayambhuvaH praptam triyakala prasadhanam Devanamuttam sastram trilokya hitakarakam Mattaschanyanrisheen praptam paramparyena pushkalam Tistada srishtibir booyo grandhaiH swaiH swirudahritam (Garga hora) [(Garga Rishi tells) This system of knowledge is created by lord Brahma, and became visible to the people who took second birth with true knowledge. This system of astrology is part of Vedic knowledge, and helps to become enlightened, and is useful in Yaga (for determination of Yaga timings etc). I got this system of knowledge from lord Brahma. (In other Rishi horas it is told that, Skanda taught astrology to Brahma, and that the text written by lord Brahma is known as Skanda Hora) The knowledge of astrology is appreciated even by devas (heavenly beings) and is useful in all 3 worlds (past-present-future). The other Rishis learned this knowledge from me, and thus the tradition flourished. They have also created astrological texts of their own] This essentially means that by the time of Garga many astrological texts existed, probably closely related to Rishi names. The Rishi kulas were like universities, were every enlightened new master would be known by the name of the originator of the kula. It is similar to the Sankaracharya tradition of today where every new person coming in charge would be termed Sankaracharya. Similar was the case with all Rishi kulas like, Garga, Vasishta, Kousika, Atri, Chyevana, Agastya, Parasara etc. The head guru was like the chancellor of the university, and his designation was the name of the originator of theKula. We should remember this fact while learning the knowledge taught by Rishi Paramparas. Otherwise we may confuse many individuals who held the same designation as one and the same person. (For e.g. Parasara Kula was another such tradition) Garga wrote books on all the 3 branches of astrology, namely, Sidhanta, Samhita and Hora. That means the 3 popular texts written by Rishi Garga are – Garga Sidhanta, Garga Hora and Garga Samhita. Many slokas from Garga hora and Garga Samhita is available but not anything from Garga Sidhanta. In Hridyapadha, Brihat Samhita etc we could see many quotes form Garga Hora and Garga Samhita. There are many more ancient texts that quote from these age old texts by Garga Rishi. All the texts written by Garga Rishi are in Sanskrit language. Garga Samhita is said to be available even today in some manuscript libraries. The language of this text (Garga Samhita) is a mix of Prakrit and Sanskrit, Astrology texts not only by Garga, but Gargi and Gargya are also available. These names either indicate other acharyas of Garga Kula, or the son of Garaga, and the son's son of Garga. Many texts which ascribe their authorship to Garga, Gargi and Gargya are available (e.g. Garga Jataka) – but it seems that we can not be sure about the authenticity of these texts. Garga Rishi was also known as `Jainarshi' (Jain Rishi), indicating that he followed Jain religion. A sloka quoted in the text `Bharateeya Jyotish' (by Nemichandra Sastri) supports it. Vridha Garga This is another famous scholar of Garga Kula. Two texts are known by his name – Vridha Garga Sidhanta and Vridha Garga Samhita. Of these Vridha Garga Sidhanta is available even today, but only some slokas of Vridha Garga Samhita is available. Like all the Rishis of Garga Kula he was also a reputed Jain Rishi. Rishiputra Rishiputra is the son of Garga Rishi. He too wrote texts on all three branches of astrology, such as Sidhanta, Hora and Samhita. He was well versed in Sanskrit and Prakrit. From Prakrit only Sanskrit originated. Prakrit was the common mans use of Sanskrit, but later it became a separate language, and due to continuous use it deviated very much from the organized, systematic, and clearly grammatical use of Sanskrit. This deviation from Sanskrit was evident even from the period of Rishiputra. Almost all the teachings of Jain gurus are in the common mans language, i.e. Prakrit. Rishiputra is also no exception to this, even though he wrote some book in Sanskrit as well. Rishi putra was never known as Garga which might mean that he deviated from the original stream of astrological knowledge taught by Garga Rishi or it could also be that he never held the position of head guru of Garga kula. Mihira in Brihat Samhita quotes extensively form the Samhita by Rishiputra. A text called `Madana Ratna' mentions `Rishiputra Samhita', which proves the existence of Rishiputra Samhita. Rishiputra Samhita is a text written in Sanskrit. Rishiputra is thought to be the originator of the study of Omens (Nimitta). A text on Nimitta Sastra (Ancient advice on Omens) in his name is also available. Brihat Samhita quotes Rishiputra extensively. The ancient and famous Jain sidhantic texts on astrology Surya Prajchapti and Chandra Prajchapti are also thought to be the works of this great astrologer. These texts are in Prakrit. (Prakrit language is considered divine by the followers of Jain religion, since most of the teachings of Mahaveera and other gurus of this religion is in Prakrit). There is another trend that should be kept in mind while studying Jain school of astrology. Prakrit was the revered language of Jain religion and the common man's language at that time. So the astrologers of Jain school of astrology almost invariably resorted to Prakrit while writing texts. But the side effect of this is that, almost all the texts written in Prakrit was later considered to be part of Jain school of astrology, which is a wrong interpretation. (I too can not escape from this pit fall, while trying to locate the teachers and texts of Jain school of astrology. Please keep it in mind) Jyotish Karnadaka This is an ancient text of Jain school of astrology. We don't know who wrote this book. It is in Prakrit. In this text, we encounter slokas which considers `Nakshatras like Swati and Aswini as lagna of equinox'. Does it give any indication about the period of this text? Learned one's can think about it. This ancient Jain astrological texts mentions Rishiputra as guru, and thus it is part of the Jain school of astrology. Anga vidya It is ancient text about predictions related to the touching of various body parts by the qurent. This is a text on omens (Nimitta). It speaks elaborately about the body language of the qurent. It is a very large text containing 60 chapters and is in Prakrit. Kalakacharya He is well known among the gurus of Jain school of astrology. He was the son of King `Vayara singh' who was the king of `Dharavas' city. His mothers name was Surasundari and sister's name `Saraswti'. He was the student of Jain Muni `Gunakar' who wrote `Brihat Katha'. Kalakacharya was also known as `Kalaka Suri', meaning the knowledgeable person with the name `Kalaka'. Kalkacharya is first guru of Jain school of astrology who mixed this ancient knowledge with the systems of Yavana, and thus originated the system of astrology known as `Ramala vidya' or `Ramala Jyotish'. The Ramala system of astrology originated from the mix of Pharsi (Parsi) and Indian system of astrology. (So the word Yavana means Pharsi or Persian in this context). This also gives some indications about the period of Kalakacharya. Kalakacharya has written a Samhita text as well. [The text known as `Ramala vidya' written by `Bhojsagar Gani' mentions the name of Kalakacharya as the originator of this system] His period was before, Varaha Mihira. Mihira mentions `Kalakacharya Samhita' in Brihat Samhita. Mahaveeracharya This acharya lived after the period of Brahmagupta, the famous astronomer. He wrote 2 texts with the names – Jyotish Patala and Ganita Sarasamgrah. He was also the follower of Jain system. But the texts are in Sanskrit. Both these texts deal with astronomy. Karnataka, the southern state of India, seems to have developed some strong relation with the Jain school of astrology in later years. Sridharacharya who wrote the texts like Ganitasar, Jyothirjchana Kalanidhi, Jatak Tilak etc and many more reputed later astrologers of this stream were the natives of Karnataka. Bhattavesari (also known as Damanandi acharya) who wrote the text Aya jchana tilak in Prakrit was a follower of Digambara Jain religion, and is thought to be a native of Karnataka. In this text he mentions an ancient acharya of astrology called `Sugreeva Rishi' as the originator of Prasna system giving importance to 8 directions (Dwajadi Yoni). He calls it `Aya' and that is why the name `Aya Jchana Tilak' (the texts which tells about the use of Aya in prediction).. Other Jain astrologers Durga dev who wrote astrological texts like Ardha Kand and Rishta Samuchaya, Mallishena who wrote `Aya sadbhava', Ballala sena who wrote the Samhita text called `Adbhuta sagar' etc are the followers of Jain school of astrology. Actually this list is very long and you can have a list of it from the text `Bharateeya Joytish' by `Nemichandra Sastri'. The text `Adbhuta Sagar' demands special mention, because this text is a collection of slokas by great ancient acharyas such as, Garga, Vridha Garga, Mihira, Parasara, Devala, Vasanta raja, Kasyapa, Yevaneswara, Mayoora chitra, Rishiputra, Brahma gupta, Maha balabhadra, Poulisa, Surya (Surya sidhanta), Vishnu Chandra and the like. It contains more than 4000 slokas. Existence of texts like this also means that the whole astrological knowledge taught by the Rishis is not yet totally lost, and if someone is willing to selectively collect Rishi slokas from such texts, and present it before all in asystematic manner, the original stream of ancient Indian astrology can be restored. One thing I should mention here is that, there were many astrologers who followed the Jain religion. But it may not be necessary that all of them were the followers of Jain school of astrology. This truth also should be kept in mind while trying to study the astrological system of thought taught by the Jain school of astrology. The ancient language Prakrit is a vast store house of ancient astrological knowledge and ancient Rishi hora slokas. It is another treasure house where too we should concentrate our search upon