Skyscript Astrology Forum

This thread was started to point out a variant reading on Vimshottari Dasa.

Namely, an important Samhita text, the Lomasha Samhita has a view of Vimshottari as being a conditional dasa.
Vimshotari according to Lomasha S. applies to half the population. I'll specify the reasons a bit further down.

I also showed that the translator and editor to an english rendering of Lomasha S. (Chandrashekar S.) has a translation of Parasara that supports this Vimshottari Dasa being a conditional Dasa.

I wrote to Chandrashekhar about the origin on his Parasara text on his web site but he never answered, perhaps he never received it

It was shown that the complement to Vimshotari exists, a dasa that applies to the other half of the world, that is Shodasottari Dasa

I ve been working for the last few months with real life examples on that idea and it is really working well.

Now it turns out that P.S. Sastri in his Scientific textbook of Hindu Astrology, his last book I think, holds exactly that view, so of course I was not the first one to mention it. VImshottari contrary to popular belief, according to PS Sastri is not a dasa for everyone, it applies to half of the people with Shodasottari taking up the other half.
Sastri is quite adamant about it being the view of Parasahra. He explains that ALL Dasas mentionned by Parasara ARE conditional.
This shows that he is not using the Parasara text that westerners have access to, IE the Santhanam of Sharma translations. In his own chart he says, Vimshottari does not apply and Shodasottari works better.

Presumably one of the reasons for Vimshottari being for everyone comes from current english translations of Parasara which do now have the subtlelties in alternate texts, which appear only in some Hindu or Telugu or Sanskrit etc... versions. In English we do not have the whole tradition at our disposal. But of course there are other reasons, like the regions in India where Vimshottari was the main dasa in use are the ones where the texts where used for translations. In other parts of India Ashtottari is in wide use, or Yogini, etc

Now the technique :
Vimshottari applies if you are born with Asc in Sun's Hora with waning moon, or with Asc in Moon's Hora with waxing moon.
Count the nakshatras starting at birth nakshatra from Krittika, divide the total by 9 and count remainder from the sun.

Shodasottari applies with Asc in Moon's Hora with waning moon, or Asc in Hora of Sun with waxing moon.
Count the naksahtra starting at birth from Pushyami and divide the total by 8 and count the remainder of that division from the Sun.

Lastly, Lomasha Samhita mentions another variation to Vimhottari, whre in some cases it should be counted from Ardra and not Krittika, I programmed this in my software Winvega,

Pierre

Pierre wrote:

Now it turns out that P.S. Sastri in his Scientific textbook of Hindu Astrology, his last book I think, holds exactly that view, so of course I was not the first one to mention it. VImshottari contrary to popular belief, according to PS Sastri is not a dasa for everyone, it applies to half of the people with Shodasottari taking up the other half.
Sastri is quite adamant about it being the view of Parasahra. He explains that ALL Dasas mentionned by Parasara ARE conditional.
This shows that he is not using the Parasara text that westerners have access to, IE the Santhanam of Sharma translations. In his own chart he says, Vimshottari does not apply and Shodasottari works better.

Pierre, could you please give the page number in Sastri's book that you are referencing so we can read his comments in context? It is helpful to give page numbers when we are quoting from another person's text. Thank you.

Yes, Sastri's Scientific Textbook of Hindu Astrology is his last book, published in 2004. We don't know Sastri's date of death, but we know he no longer was alive in 2004. We don't know if this book is one hundred percent Sastri or if parts might have been edited by the publisher. (This is a general note, not necessarily in reference to dasas being discussed here.)

Hi Therese,
this is as expected in the Chapter 23 about VImshottari and other dasa, page 487 vol. 1.
He mentions all 10 (nakshatra) dasas being conditional as per Parashara.

The copy I received (after 2 months wait) is the 2004 edition, and does not mention another editor nor anyone else but PS Sastri. If there was one meddling in the text it would have been written.. I would think Like Verma meddling with the PS Sastri translation of Jaimini Sutram.

Text Book of Scientific Hindu Ast is a great book by the way covering so many aspects in elegant, subtle writing !
Take it easy

Therese Hamilton wrote: Pierre, could you please give the page number in Sastri's book that you are referencing so we can read his comments in context? We always need page numbers when we are quoting from another person's text. Thank you.

Yes, Sastri's Scientific Textbook of Hindu Astrology is his last book, published in 2004. We don't know Sastri's date of death, but we know he no longer was alive in 2004. We don't know if this book is one hundred percent Sastri or if parts might have been edited by the publisher. (This is a general note, not necessarily in reference to dasas being discussed here.)

Pierre wrote:

This is as expected in the Chapter 23 about VImshottari and other dasa, page 487 vol. 1. He mentions all 10 (nakshatra) dasas being conditional as per Parashara.

The copy I received (after 2 months wait) is the 2004 edition, and does not mention another editor nor anyone else but PS Sastri...

Text Book of Scientific Hindu Ast is a great book by the way covering so many aspects in elegant, subtle writing!

Even with a wait of two months, Sastri's book is worth having. The book is getting more difficult to find and more expensive. I think there was only one published edition in 2004.

Sastri finished this final book when he was in his 80s, and it contains a long lifetime of experience and research. At 950 pages in two volumes there will probably never be a more complete look at India's astrology. The book is interesting because it not only covers all of India's astrological techniques, but Sastri also offers his experience and opinion on various topics, often with example charts. In many ways reading the book is like sitting at the feet of a grand old master.

P.S. Sastri was very open to western concepts as well, and claims that Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are mentioned in ancient tests (but under other names). So the book is very entertaining to read, not a dry textbook at all. The print job is also exceptionally attractive in two hardback books of fine quality. This is very unusual for India. I expect if the book is re-published, it will be in paperback.

And yes, Sastri's strong opinion is that we should be considering dasas other than Vimshottari, which raises the question of using KP, which is based on Vimshottari major and sub-periods. I've had Sastri's book for several years, but had never read his chapters on Dasas.