Somanāth Horā

Horā II Somanāth Horā

Sun-Moon Factor

Previously we have noticed one major shortfall in the Parivṛtti Horā where the method of mapping did not account for the Sun and Moon ownership of the horā. This is one fundamental requirement of Parāśara and to that extent the Parivṛtti Horā cannot take into account the emotional content and such personal matters related to the second house like health and life. All it does is show the manner in which we fulfill our dharma related to family affairs and such suffering when this is not amenable due to serious adharma perpetuated by the nodes. It is without emotion and with staid logic. The Varāhamihira Horā (IA) fails even further in meeting this requirement.

When we learnt the calculation of Varṇada lagna, Parāśara taught that the count is direct from “Aries to Lagna or Horā lagna, if they are in odd signs” and reverse “from Pisces, if they are in even signs”. This is the method used to determine the Somanāth Horā. There is a huge emphasis on the oddity of the sign and this not only takes care of the Sun-Moon factor of the horā as required by BPHS śloka 5 but takes it further to define direct (savya) and reverse (apasavya) count for odd and even signs. The genius of Somanāth is seen in the manner this horā is defined using all the criteria listed by Parāśara in addition to taking savya-apasavya movement.
{tab=Mapping}
Somanāth Horā Mapping

Consider the six odd signs together and assign the twelve horā from Aries to Pisces to these signs in regular zodiacal reckoning. The first horā of Aries is in Aries itself. The next horā of Aries maps to Taurus the second house from Aries. The first horā of Gemini maps to Gemini itself and the second horā of Gemini maps to Cancer, the second house from Gemini. And in this manner we find that for odd signs the first horā is in the same sign whereas the second horā is in the second sign from it. You can check Aquarius, odd sign, where the first horā maps to Aquarius and the second horā maps to Pisces. In this manner Somanāth ensures that (1) Sun-Moon oddity of a particular horā is maintained in odd signs with first horā in same sign and second horā in its dhana bhāva reckoned zodiacal and (2) the horā are in direct regular reckoning i.e. Aries, Taurus, Gemini…etc.

Now consider the six even signs starting from Pisces. The first horā of Pisces maps to Pisces itself and the second maps to Aquarius which is the second house counted in the anti-zodiacal order. And in exactly the same manner as the odd signs we find that the first horā of the even signs maps to the same sign and the second horā maps to the dhana bhāva counted in the reverse.

This method of counting regularly from Aries and Pisces for the order of the horā for odd and even signs indicates the use of this horā chart primarily for health, career related finances, professional family and everything related to the Varṇada. The varṇada lagna plays a very important role in this horā chakra.

Human beings are social creatures and for success in their activities, the yogas in their charts must play out through other human beings that are yoked with them to pull the cart of their enterprises to its destination. The number of planets involved in the yoga normally indicates the people. How do we identify such people who will cooperate with our enterprise? What roles will they play and which planet in our chart shows them? All this is known from charts like D2-S (Somanāth horā), D10 (dasāṁśa) and every other divisional chart.
{tab=Illustration}
Illustration: Standard Nativity
Simple clue to drawing the Somanāth horā (D2-S) Chart. When planets are in the first horā (0°-15°) of both odd and even signs, they continue to occupy the same sign. If they are in the second horā (15°-30°), then for odd signs, they move to the 2^nd sign (succeeding) whereas for even signs they move to the 12^th sign (preceding).

For example, Lagna is 14°09’Pi = 1^st horā Pi = continues in Pi. Whereas Jupiter is at 26°07’Pi = 2^nd horā Pi = moves to preceding sign Aquarius. You can visually place all planets in the signs of the Somanāth horā by simply checking degree.

• less than 15° = stays in same sign, or
• more than 15° = moves to next or previous sign (for odd/even sign)

The above chart is the Somanāth Horā (D2-S) of the standard nativity. Now see the horoscope of his wife Sarbani. Without her huge organisational skills and effort all these courses may never have seen the light of the day.

{tab=Politics}
Nehru and Gandhi

Look at the chart of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. Lagna, Moon, Mercury and Jupiter are more than 15° and in second horā of the sign. They will shift to adjoining signs in the Somanāth horā. Lagna and Moon being in an even sign shift to the preceding sign Gemini; Mercury being in Libra shifts to the next sign Scorpio and Jupiter in Sagittarius shifts to Capricorn. The D2-S Somanāth horā chart is drawn with these positions of the lagna and navagraha.

In a similar way, look at the chart of Mahatma Gandhi. Six planets are more than 15° (2^nd horā) and need to be shifted to adjoining signs. Venus and Mars shift to the second house Scorpio while Saturn moves to the preceding sign Libra. Sun is also shifted back to adjoining Leo from Virgo as Moon shifts to Gemini. Jupiter moves to the next sign Taurus. Now draw the Somanāth horā D2-S for Mahatma Gandhi.

Compare the Rāśi chart of Gandhi with the D2-S horā chart of Nehru to determine the important roles that Gandhi will play for Nehru in the matters of his varṇada (career, professional family etc.). The only “common” placement we find is that of Venus in Libra. Venus forms Mālavya mahāpuruṣa yoga for Nehru (rāśi chart) and is in the fifth house of power, authority, children and subordinates in D2-S.

Political Power (5^th house): Gandhi must play a crucial role in bringing Nehru to power, a well-known fact in the independence struggle of India. Gandhi outmanoeuvred everyone to ensure that Nehru becomes the first Prime Minister of India and leader of the Congress party which was leading the freedom struggle.

Daughter (Venus): When it became evident that Indira Priyadarshini Nehru was going to marry Feroze Jehangir Khan against the wishes of her father, Jawaharlal approached Mahatma Gandhi to save him from a political disaster as most of India was still quite orthodox and would not take well to this marriage between a Hindu-brahmin girl and Parsi boy. The political genius of Mahatma Gandhi is seen in the fantastic solution in which, in the first stage, Gandhi adopted Feroze Khan who became “Feroze Gandhi” and then Indira Nehru married Feroze Gandhi (Feroze Khan) to become Indira Gandhi.  In this way Indira Nehru could inherit the political legacy of the Gandhi-Nehru combine which led India to independence as Indira Gandhi to make history.

The next step is to compare the D2-S charts of both Nehru and Gandhi to find out the “common objective” for which they collaborate. For this we need to look at planets in same sign in the D2-S horā chart as it shows a common varṇada. Moon in Gemini is the common planet for both charts and shows social goals and objectives. For Gandhi the Moon symbolises his highest karma yoga (10^th lord) and is placed in the 9^th house (dharma) showing a great leadership as father (9^th house) of the nation. For Nehru, this is clearly political fame (Lagna) as it conjoins the amātyakāraka Rāhu in lagna. Rāhu is co-lord of the 9^th house showing that gradually the social goals will be strongly influenced by foreign thoughts and principles. Nehru achieved his position as Prime Minister of India in Moon daśā.

Sakaṭa yoga: Sakaṭa yoga is defined in two ways – (1) equal number of planets in the lagna and 7th house [also from Moon to make it worse] or (2) Jupiter placed in duṣthāna (6th, 8th or 12th) from the Moon [and lagna to make it worse]. Sakaṭa yoga is bad enough and when we add the nija-doṣa (own fault, flaw, sin) of the eighth house, it can become vicious. It shows many challenges in life and the native is always “attacked” and has to defend himself. If the Moon is in kendra then he is sue to emerge successful just as the lion tames the wild elephant. The secret to success is in the word ‘lion’ in sanskrit – “Hari”.

Both Nehru and Gandhi have Jupiter in 8^th house from Lagna and either 12^th or 8^th house from Moon. Jupiter can also indicate sons or son-in-laws. Readers can study more about the children of M.K.Gandhi but Nehru did not have any sons and his only son-in-law Feroze Gandhi was a firebrand politician.

Shashi Bhushan[1] states “Feroze Gandhi exposed the first ever scam in India on the Life Insurance Corporation’s shabby deal with a businessman Haridas Mundhra. Feroze exposed with all documents, how Mundhra manipulated the LIC to purchase shares in his little known companies. This first scam in India is now known as ‘Mundhra deal, which resulted the resignation of the Finance Minister, termination of the Finance Secretary and imprisonment of Mundhra.” He quotes Feroze Gandhi “A mutiny in my mind has compelled me to raise this debate. When things of such magnitude, as I shall describe to you later, occur, silence became a crime…..” As you can see, any planet in the 8^th house is terrible in the Somanāth horā as the Moon (Soma) is depleted in this house. What then to say about Jupiter in the 8^th house. Gandhi fell when Nathuram Godse, a brahmin (Jupiter) shot him on religion-political grounds. A negative Jupiter gives rise to battles on grounds of religion and god.
{/tabs}
Further intricate details of usage with illustrations can be learnt in the Jaimini Scholar Program where we study the Jaimini upadeśa on varṇada.