HISTORY OF VEDIC ASTROLOGY

Vedic culture is extremely ancient, at least 5000 years old by conservative estimate. For thousands of years many Rishis (sages) maintained the tradition of Vedic astrology on a parallel track with the Vedas. Portions of these have been extracted at various times and put into the Vedanga Jyotisha. Many Rishis such as Vashistha, Bhrigu, and Garga were masters of astrology and taught it to their disciples in the Guru parampara. Before the beginning of the present Kali-yuga, which began in 3102 B.C., Parasara Rishi milked the essence of the various schools of Vedic astrology present at his time and distilled it into his text known as the Brhad Parasara Hora Sastra. Parasara Rishi dictated this text to his disciple Maitreya Rishi, and Maitreya taught it to his disciples and it was passed in this way through the ages. Thus, the basic school of Vedic astrology practiced in India is called the Parasara school of astrology. Parasara was among the last of the MahaRishi(great sages) of the Vedic age. After him it was humans who preserved the line of Vedic astrology. Notable amongst them was Satyacharya and in particular Varaha Mihira who wrote several important texts on astrology. After them several other texts were composed which are also considered "classics" of Vedic astrology, such as Saravali, Jataka Parijata, Sarvartha Cintamani, and Horasara.