Hindu Astrology: Myths, symbols, and realities

By Anthony P Stone

An authoritative classic on Hindu astrology, this book has been out of print for decades. Now available in paperback for the professional astrologer and for the general public alike. Analyzing various models for the origin, development, and functioning of yugas, manvantaras, karma, and Hindu astrology as a whole, this book raises questions also about the role of the supernatural and synchronicity. The epilogue includes the author's reflections on astrology as a whole, religion, and science.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pippa Rann Books
• Release date: Apr 8, 2024
• ISBN: 9781913738143

Book preview

HINDU ASTROLOGY

HINDU ASTROLOGY

MYTHS, SYMBOLS, AND REALITIES

DR. ANTHONY P. STONE

An imprint of

Salt Desert Media Group Limited,

7 Mulgrave Chambers, 26 Mulgrave Rd,

Sutton SM2 6LE, England, UK.

Email: [e-mail]

Website: www.pipparannbooks.com

Copyright © Dr Anthony Philip Stone’s Estate 2024

Foreword copyright © Garima Garg 2024

First published in hardback in 1981 by Select Books, New Delhi, India

The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed in this book are the author’s own and the facts are as reported by him, which have been verified to the extent possible, but the publisher are not in any way liable for the same.

Astrology is a belief system and should be regarded as such. The interpretations and insights presented in this book are based on the author’s understanding of astrological principles and should not be taken as definitive or infallible. Readers are encouraged to exercise their own critical thinking and discretion when applying astrological concepts to their personal lives. The author and publisher disclaim any responsibility for any actions taken or decisions made by readers based on the information presented in this book. Astrological information is subject to interpretation, and the accuracy of astrological predictions may vary from person to person.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or otherwise be copied for public or private use – other than for ‘fair use’ as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews, without prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN 978-1-913738-13-6

Designed and typeset by Raghav Khattar (www.raghavdesign.com)

Printed and bound at Replika Press, Sonipat

CONTENTS

Foreword by Garima Garg

Abbreviations

List of Figures

List of Tables

1. Introduction

I. Astrology in Time

2. Historical Perspectives on Indian Astrology

3. Other Developments in Indian Astrology

4. Yugas, Manvantaras, and Kalpas

II. Origins of Astrology

5. Parasara, Jaimini, and the Origin of Jataka

6. Theory of Karma and Rebirth

7. Astrology, Karma, and Faith

8. Revelation, Yoga, and the Origin of Astrology

9. A Growth Model for Astrology

III. Science, Divination and Astrology

10. Science and Divination

11. Astrology and Science

12. Astrology as Divination

13. How Does Astrology Work?

14. Epilogue

Notes and References

Bibliography

Glossary

Index

Resources of Sanskrit Shlokas Wisdom Library

Can a believer ever be a sceptic?

Conversely, can there ever be a logical conclusion to the instinct behind questioning the nature of the cosmos in order to make sense of our lives?

Such questions are eternal and find a gentle as well as thorough discussion in this research on Hindu astrology by Anthony Philip Stone.

Trained in mathematics and Sanskrit, he undertakes a historical analysis of how Hindu astrological concepts like Karma, Nakshatras, and more, developed over time.

An average enquirer tends to take an astrologer’s brief at face value, but there can be a lot of merit in understanding the system of Hindu astrology from within. That is evident from this book. For instance, if Karma – i.e., the fruit of actions performed in previous births – is the basis of what we call fate in our current lives, then how do we begin to understand this Karma? How many previous births have we sailed through and how many more do we have to go through? Clearly, the answer here is infinity but then, once again, we’re tempted to ask— what is Karma in an individual context in a given time and space? That becomes a matter of analysis of one’s horoscope, and of whether and to what extent one exhibits one’s trust in it by acting in view of it. Few individuals ever really understand the mechanics behind any system of astrology, be it Indian, Hellenistic, or any other.

Initially a form of cosmology and religion in ancient civilizations around the world, astrology was quite indistinguishable from what we now understand as astronomy. Our sense of time, calendars, and many festivals like Christmas, Diwali, Dussehra, and Holi comes from the heavenly bodies up above—sun, moon, planets, and stars. Changes in their movements meant something to us and so, human civilizations began to order their lives accordingly. As above, so below was the stargazer astrologer’s dictum. So, if a comet was seen in skies, it portended an assassination of a king or similarly important individual. After all, it’s not for nothing that William Shakespeare penned the immortal words— When beggars die, there are no comets seen; the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes— in Julius Caesar, right before he was stabbed in an ambush. It is also noteworthy that when Queen Elizabeth passed away in 2022, a comet-like orb streaked across the sky in the UK region the night she died. The sceptic might say that was merely a SpaceX Starlink satellite or space debris. But what impresses believers in astrology is the timing.

Whether one thinks of instances like these as coincidence or something worth investigating depends entirely on the worldview of the individual. But the fact of the matter is that humans have always been fascinated, terrified, and uncertain about the skies and what they mean for us. It is for this reason that astrology continues to survive well into 21st century, despite this being the age of international space stations and telescopes that explore deep space and black holes.

Stone is a Christian and starts from wanting to understand astrology as a belief system and why people often submit to it. Reading through his research, one may inevitably muse if one can ever truly know or believe anything. However, just as all belief systems have faith at their core, sceptics rely on their spirit of questioning. Stone does that sincerely and brings out many facets of Hindu astrology and indeed, astronomy, that are not commonly known to a layman. His discipline as a scholar shines through as he goes through many Hindu texts and works of Indian scholars in putting together a factual narrative. In the end, there are no final answers to this debate. Perhaps even this eternal dance between faith and scepticism is destined to keep us enthralled forever.

– Garima Garg,

author of Heavens and Earth: The Story of Astrology through Ages and Cultures (Penguin, 2022)

Note: In Sanskrit words the letter c is pronounced ch (e.g., spelling Caitra, not Chaitra)

I first became interested in astrology during my teens, when a family friend staying with us for a few weeks turned out to be a person who allowed her life to be ruled by astrology. This made me conscious of the fact that astrology can be a very serious matter. That was the case for an individual.

But, in 1956, having taken a degree in mathematics and doing some research in theoretical physics, I came to India, and discovered that astrology can also be taken very seriously by groups, and indeed by societies and cultures. Intrigued, I started reading about Indian astronomy and astrology. One of my first journeys in India was to visit the 18th century observatories built by Maharaja Sawai Singh II in Jaipur and Delhi.

Working as a college teacher of mathematics in Bengal, Kerala, and then Delhi, gave me a chance to understand the contributions of different parts of the country. I discovered that the way astrology had developed in India was a story still largely untold. Many important facts were lying around on the surface, waiting to be picked up.

I began reading Sanskrit with the help of colleagues in the Sanskrit department of St Stephen’s College, Delhi. For the earliest stages of Indian astrology and astronomy I read a number of Vedic works in English translation, starting with the Rig Veda. I also went through the Rig Veda, and later the Taittiriya Brahmana, in the original Sanskrit, looking for key words and passages.

With increasing material at hand, it became clear that, initially at least, Tantric astrology formed a separate school. Also, there were hints that the well-known astrological system of Ashtottari dasa was of Tantric origin. It was therefore with great excitement that I found in the Kalacakra Tantra the earliest account I had seen of this system.

Step by step the various stages in the development of Indian astrology began to fall into place. But why this interest in historical details? Does not this divert one’s attention from timeless truths to irrelevant fluctuations? That is not so here. If one wants to know, as I did, what sort of a subject astrology is, that is at least one question which can never be answered properly without invoking history. Recent philosophy of science, associated with the name of Professor Sir Karl Raimund Popper, has shown us that the question of whether something is a science, is decided by looking at the way it develops in time. (Science develops by trying to refute its own theories.) So, there is no escape from considering the history of astrology.

This does not mean that we shall have to concentrate in this book on minute details of dating. Some astrological writers have mentioned or left good clues, in their work, about their own date and perhaps the dates of other astrological writers, and this is helpful; but for our present purposes, even the century to which Varahamihira belonged (for example), although not unimportant, is certainly less important than his position in time relative to other writers.

Similarly, the question whether certain systems of Indian astrology originated outside India or not, is less important for the present book than their place within Indian astrology.

This book, then, is not a book for scholars only, although its statements are backed up with references and Sanskrit quotations. Because astrology deals with basic human needs, and is of interest to the general public, the topics dealt with in this book have been selected with an eye both to astrologers and to the general interested reader.

After this introductory chapter, the next two chapters document some important changes which have appeared in Indian astrology over the centuries. My personal experience has been that historical studies of this sort throw a flood of light on the nature of astrology.

The fourth chapter explores the system of yugas, manvantaras, kalpas, and so on, which form the traditional Indian framework for viewing the past.

Chapter 5 begins a series of five chapters on various aspects of the origins of Indian astrology. These include questions such as:

Why do some astrologers achieve good success at some times but not at others?

Did the Vedic rishi Parasara write a definitive work on horoscopes?

Did astrology originate in divine revelation? Or perhaps in yogic experiences? Is there a difference between the two?

Does astrology show the effects of past karma?

The answers to all such question are approached historically and logically, keeping in mind all the authoritative writers that I have been able to find.

A particular model of how astrology developed (and still develops today) is outlined in chapter 9. And a possible model of how astrology works is explained in chapter 13. That chapter follows a discussion of the relationship between astrology and science, and a proposal on the nature of astrology (chapters 10-12). The discussion considers, among other things, the significance of modern scientific discoveries of celestial influence.

The technical terms used in the book have been kept to a minimum and are mainly astrological. They are explained in the Glossary. The author’s own views and conclusions are presented in the final chapter.

It is a pleasure to acknowledge the help and encouragement received from a good number of people, both in the preparation of this book and in the preceding research. The book does contain a certain number of new ideas, which (along with the older ones) are open to correction if sufficient evidence appears.

Although earlier translations, where they exist, have been a help, the translations given here are in the author’s own words.

We begin with the traditional Hindu view of the history of astrology, which is briefly this, that near the beginning of Dvapara yuga the astrology of horoscopes was definitively laid down by the Rigvedic rishi Parasara, son of Sakti, and is found in the Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra, (abbreviated here to Brihat Parasara). The variant Jaimini school of birth horoscopes, represented by the Jaimini Sutras, was developed from certain ideas of Parasara by Jaimini, a disciple of Parasara’s son Veda-Vyasa. Other branches of astrology mostly came through Parasara or other Rigvedic rishis such as Garga. Later writers have merely expressed the subject in a way suitable to their own times.

This way of looking at the history of astrology is not the only one possible; but before going into details, there are two basic principles that need to be discussed – first, the flow of time; and second, change.

1) Flow of time: History occurs in a succession of days, beautifully expressed by the ancient poet:

ईयुषीणामुपमा शश्वतीनां विभातीनां प्रथमोषा व्यश्वैत्॥

The last of countless ones gone by, the first of shining ones to come, dawn has brightened. (RV, 1.113.15)

The whole of history takes place in this linear succession of days. So, Indian independence from British rule comes after the Delhi Durbar of King George V, Nirad C. Chaudhuri produces his work as a writer later than Rabindranath Tagore, and so on.

The history of astrology is mainly a matter of books, authors, and methods, and it is important to try to put these in their actual historical order. This is sometimes difficult; but there is enough evidence available to make the attempt worthwhile. If the result is like looking at a row of trees from the side instead of from one end, then effort is justified.

2) Change: In the succession of days, we observe individuals growing and changing. Institutions and customs also grow and change. It is reasonable to look to see whether changes have taken place in Indian astrology, and if so, what the important changes are.

The way to trace the historical change and development of any subject is by ‘relative dating’ – that is, by determining which events are before which other events. If the dates of events are known, this is a simple matter, and the events can immediately be placed on the line of temporal succession. Independence in 1947 obviously comes after the Delhi Durbar of 1911.

If certain events can be placed in a single line, we have the maximum information about their relative dating. For example, suppose an event, A, is known to be before another event, B, and B is known to be before a third event, C. Then A, B, C, can be arranged as in Fig. la, and we can deduce that A is before C. In such cases, the ordering of events by relative dating may be called total, as in the (a) section of Figure 1.

Fig.1. Relative dating of events. (Note: arrows show the direction of time flow: The length of the line between two events has no relation to the time interval between them.)

When the dates of events are not all known, the available information is often insufficient to arrive at a single line. Suppose, for example, that