Mihira Horā

Call it Mihira Horā or Mṛtyu Horā, it’s D2M that deals with the māraka power of the 2nd house

Horā IA: Mihira Horā

Varāhamihira defines the horā in the first chapter of his classic Bṛhat Jātaka

के चित् तु होरां प्रथमां भपस्य वाञ्छन्ति लाभाधिपतेर्द्वितीयाम्।
ke cit tu horāṁ prathamāṁ bhapasya vāñchanti lābhādhipaterdvitīyām. 12½

Translation: The first horā of a sign is lorded by the sign itself while the second horā is the lord of the eleventh sign.

Commentary

This horā defined by Varāhamihira suffers from a worse problem than the Parivṛtti horā in that both the horā of a sign are in an odd sign (for odd sign) or even sign (for even signs). For example, the two horā of Aries are Aries and Aquarius whereas the two horā of Taurus are Taurus and Pisces. The Parivṛtti horā was slightly better off in that it at least had one odd and one even horā in every rāśi even though they did not exactly map correctly for the even rāśi.

This horā calculation is available in Jagannāth Horā software as Lābha-Maṇḍūka Horā named by the software author. We hope that this is changed to Mihira Hora in the future and Charts correctly designated as D2M or D2-M, whatever.

Suggestion

If instead of “lābhādhipaterdvitīyām” which recommends 11^th sign, Varāhamihira had used “dhanādhipaterdvitīyām” (second sign) or “vyayādhipaterdvitīyām” (12^th sign), it would have been very acceptable to the tradition and we would have surely accepted it as traditional. Such a strong deviation from Parāśara is not acceptable and the tradition does not accept this horā calculation. When we study the brilliant Somanāth Horā (next lesson), you will realise the value of this statement.

How do we study this chart? There is no clue available from the tradition which has ignored this D2M horā completely. However, it is our personal suggestion that this be used for longevity and death. The second house is also a “māraka bhāva” and the manner in which this horā chart is constructed from the Lagna (1^st) and Hara Bhāva (11^th) indicates that this is likely to be the only use of this.

Further, Varāhamihira received his high status as chief astrologer of the kingdom when he made a brilliant prediction about the death of the prince on a particular day and that the death would happen when he would be gored by a boar. All the guards of the king were stationed in the royal palace in three layers in three storeys. As the sun’s rays tilted towards sunset, the prince took a stroll on the balcony. A gush of wind toppled the stuffed-boar-head trophy on the wall which fell on him and gored him to death. Incredible but true! Mihira received the lifelong title of “Varāha” after this “boar prediction”. In Sanskrit boar is called varāha and is always referred to as Varāhamihira.

Illustration: Śrī Kṛṣṇa

Vimśottari Daśā (regular) Śrī Kṛṣṇa

Śrī Kṛṣṇa left this world in 3102BC aged 125 years at the onset of the second cycle of Mars daśā, in the first antardaśā itself. Mars is the lord of the 2^nd house (māraka bhāva) and is debilitated in 5^th house. It is conjoined the 12^th lord Rāhu forming a terrible battle yoga. He was disgusted with the members of his clan and retired to the forests before dropping the body. Note: Mars-Mars period of Vimshottari where Mars is 2nd lord of D2M Chart, is debilitated and conjunct Rahu. Prediction becomes easy with this D2M Hora.

Jawaharlal Nehru

Rahu-Budha: Nehru died in Rāhu daśā Mercury antardaśā in 1964. It may be a bit difficult to say this from the rāśi chart as they are the lords of malefic houses 3, 8 and 12, but using the Mihira Horā, it becomes easy as Rāhu is in the 2^nd house (māraka bhāva) and the 2^nd lord Mercury (mārakeśa) is in the 4^th in maraṇa kāraka sthāna afflicted by Saturn.

Mahatma Gandhi

Jupiter-Ketu: It maybe relatively easy to say that Mahatma Gandhi died in Jupiter daśā Ketu antardaśā as Jupiter is in 7^th house in rāśi chart and Ketu is co-lord of 2^nd house. However, using the Mihira horā, it becomes relatively better to predict as Jupiter is a malefic afflicted by 2^nd lord Mars from bādhaka sthāna and Ketu, the co-lord of the 2^nd house is in the 12^th from Jupiter.

Indira Gandhi

Mars-Mars: Dvisaptati Sama Daśā is applicable in the horoscope of Indira Gandhi. This is a special daśā taught by Parāśara which we learn in depth later. Indira Gandhi died in Mars daśā Mars antardaśā. In the rāśi chart Mars is a yogakāraka being lord of kendra (10^th) and koṇa (5^th) and is unlikely to kill. It has parivartana with the Sun thereby transferring its yoga power to the Sun and retaining the māraka power from the Sun.

However it would be easier to make a prediction if we glanced at the Mihira horā. The Lagna is Taurus with Mars a dire malefic placed in the 2^nd house (māraka) in the deadly piśāca yoga with Ketu in debility. It was like a ghost attack from her most trusted bodyguards, as if they were possessed. The carnage and communal riots that followed in Delhi is definitely indicated by this piśāca yoga when those who never cut their beard and hair (Ketu) were killed in the madness.

Must Note

We have shown the usefulness of this Mihira Horā, perhaps due to our deep love for that great vedic astrologer as he too was a great worshipper of Kaliñgeśa Koṇārka (Surya). This chart does not form one of the five main horā charts (other than the simplistic Sun-Moon horā) and is not taught in the tradition. It is possible that this may have flaws and for that please excuse our enthusiasm.

Greek Origin

Bala Bhadra (Horā Ratnaṁ) states the views of Yavanācārya (head of the Greek school) in Chapter-1, śloka 55.
“In every sign the first horā is ruled by its own lord while its second horā is ruled by the lord of the 11^th house”.

The horā and drekkāṇa used by Varāhamihira are of Greek origin and not accepted by the traditions stemming from the vedic seers. In jyotiṣa we need to be very careful in this regard and clearly mark what is from the very ancient eighteen seers. Every deviation needs to be studied for its consistency to the original principles. The problem with this horā lordship (and chart) is that it is inconsistent with the horā principle of day-night and sun-moon division. Therefore it cannot be used for the real purpose of the horā chart i.e. knowledge of wealth and professions.

Sūrya Deva (Sūrya Jātaka), Maharṣi Garga (Garga Horā). Maharṣi Kaśyapa,  Devarṣi Nārada, Satyācārya and all vedic seers are consistent in the fundamental division of the rāśi into two parts ruled by Sun and Moon, in that order for odd signs and reversed order for even signs. Parāśara has explicitly mentioned this as the ‘first condition’ for horā determination. Therefore, although we have shown the use of this Mihira-Yavana Horā, we cannot say that it is very useful as the real matters of the second house are not indicated by it.
Bala Bhadra explicitly states that this Greek horā of Yavanācārya (and Varāhamihira) must be rejected (śloka 57).