The Vexed Question of
Ayanamsha
Choosing the Rate of Equinoctial Precession
What is "Ayanamsha"?
"Ayanamsha" means "precession rate" or "precessional distance" regarding the precession of the equinoxes.
Ayana = "progress or "forward movement";
Amsha = "portion" or "section".
The precession of the equinoxes means that the four equinoctial points (spring, summer, autumn, and winter equinoxes) are constantly moving. They will rotate (backwards) through all 360 degrees and return to their starting point every 25920 [solar] years.
There are several viable choices available regarding precessional (1) start year and (2) rate of movement. The discussion about these choices makes the question of correct “Ayanamsha” a thorny professional issue for practitioners of Jyotisha vidya.
About Lahiri:
Lahiri ayanamsha is sanctioned by the Government of India and is very popular. However, keep in mind that Lahiri ayanamsha was determined by a committee (of which Lahiri was the chair). You know how they say, a camel is a horse designed by a committee? :)
Lahiri works generally fairly well in practice. However, many Jyotishi use Lahiri because it is popular – not because they have rigorously tested it against other options.
Also, consider that one may find several different versions of "Lahiri".
Goravani Jyotish software sets a conventional Lahiri ayanamsha at 50.2719 seconds/year rate of precession, starting from the year 285 CE.
However there are practicing Jyotishi who use numbers both higher and lower than 50.2719, and/or different start years, who still claim that they use "Lahiri ayanamsha".
I use a Lahiri ayanamsha at a precession rate of 50.27 from year 285.
B.V. Raman
Of the numerous non-Lahiri ayanamsha options, most are very esoteric and used only by special lineages or research interests.
Krishnamurti and Raman ayanamshas are probably the two most popular non-Lahiri choices.
Dr. B. V. Raman's ayanamsha was published by him, during his lifelong research into the scriptural and technical foundations of the Vidya of Jyotisha. Shri Raman published his research extensively in English, in the famed Jyotisha periodical "Astrological Monthly" over a period of fifty plus years.
Dr. Raman wrote dozens of clear books in English. Many English-educated Jyotishi were influenced by his scientific attitude; his grasp of the ancient Sanskrit, Tamil, Mayalam, and other historic sacred literatures; and most importantly his research into astronomical and mathematical foundations of Jyotisha calculations.
Dr. Raman's reputation for thoroughness in his research convinced many readers of the validity of his ayanamsha and its superior results. Raman's ayanamsha is by far the most used after Lahiri.
Shri Yukteshwar
Followers of Paramahamsha Yogananda in the West often prefer the ayanamsha of Paramahamsha Yogananda’s guru Shri Yukteshwar.
Shri Yukteshwar's ayanamsha is significantly out of the range of conventional precession rates, and is used by only a very small minority of working astrologers.
I myself was attracted to Shri Yukteshwar’s ayanamsha after reading the very inspiring account of Vedic time cycles in The Holy Science [Kaivalya Darshanam] by Swami Shri Yukteswar.
Unfortunately, in my practice with real people's lives in mundane earth time, I have found that Shri Yukteshwar's ayanamsha does not test out too well compared with Raman or Lahiri.
Although I normally use Lahiri ayanamsha, I am always open to using the ayanamsha favored by the person's spiritual lineage. If you have a psychic connection to Shri Y or another jyotish guru, I will happily use Shri Y's ayanamsha for your reading.
Additional ayanamsha options
Other ayanamsha options include Krishnamurti, the American Rick Houck (who pioneered intensive Jyotisha research using computers), and various western “sidereal” positions.
Here are the mainstream precession rates, as taken from Jyotisha software programmer Das Goravani:
Ayanamsha
Precession rate
Start year
Lahiri:
50.2719
285 CE
Krishnamurti
50.2388475
291 CE
B.V. Raman
50.33
397 CE
Fagan-Bradley [western sidereal]:
50.25
221 CE
Yukteshwar
53.9906
499 CE
Ayanamsha Question from a Website Reader:
I'm learning Astrology both Vedic and Western. I'm reading the Vedic Astrological Books of One of the Great Astrologer of present time Late Dr. B.V.Ramanji for 4-5 years. I've a great respect for him. I've a problem Barbara regarding Ayanamsha- when I searched the web for "which Ayanamsha to use "-I got your Article there-written about all the hindu/vedic Ayanamsha-It was very informative-Thank you!
Though I'm a follower of Ramanji and I should use his Ayanamsha without any doubt but since I'm a North Indian and we use Lahiri's Ayanamsha (by Default Software also selects it.) I was using Lahiri's Ayanamsha for preparing any Chart for a long time. For me it's Dasha -Pratayantar Dasha all were seem to be correct.....But now I'm in a doubt. When I use Raman's Ayanamsha-The Navamansha Chart I got-I think is very Correct. And Dashamansha Chart is also right I think. and This Navamansha explains my Nature very correctly.
You said that you use Lahiri's Ayanamsha-Since you're a professionaI Astrologer and you're practicing it for quite a long time so I want to know from you-Don't you think The Chart prepared by using Raman's Navamansha gives right Reading than Lahiri's? As we know that we're handicapped without Navamansha Chart-and without seeing it we can't give any prediction very correctly. It is the most important Sub-Chart.
(and please tell me For Rahu-Ketu-Which Value do you use-True or Mean?) Thanks.
Answer:
Namaste,
I too am a grateful student of Shri Raman. I used Raman's ayanamsha for several years, out of respect for Shri Raman's status as a writer, practitioner, and teacher. I met B.V. Raman in 1993 when he was already quite elderly, and I was impressed with his sharp mind as well as his deep humility.
However, I had much frustration when using Raman's ayanamsha, which was not relieved until I stopped using it! In fact, it took me a long time to start testing Lahiri ayanamsha, because Shri Raman had convinced many of us that he had considered every scriptural option and had achieved his ayanamsha after many years of testing & reflection...
I presumed that the trouble I was having with Jyotisha was due to my own failings and not the ayanamsha. It was hard to give myself permission to consider alternatives. (Devotees of Shri Yukteswar also have trouble considering other ayanamshas because of their deep respect for their mahaguru.)
However, after I overcame my resistance to using Lahiri, my testing of Lahiri versus Raman ayanamsha did demonstrate that Lahiri works much better for predicting and explaining events in the Vimshottari dasha.
The type of events which I have researched are:
- birth of children (especially the first child)
- timing of first and second marriage
- timing of divorce
- education events like university diploma received
- health crisis like cancer or crippling accident
- death of native and his parents.
I find that using Raman ayanamsha I get poor coordination between the real-life events and Vimshottari periods of the expected house-lords. However, when I use the Lahiri ayanamsha, the events which Parashara predicts will occur, do occur, in the period of the expected house lord.
For example, with correct birth data and Lahiri ayanamsha, I find:
- Birth of the first child always occurs in the mother's Vimshottari period of radix L-5, L-9, or Guru.
- Educational diploma in period of L-4, L-7, or Budha.
- Death in periods of L-2, L-7, or Shani. Death of father in period of L-2/L-7 from Surya. Death of mother L-2/L-7 from Moon.
- Health crisis in periods of L-6, L-11, or Mars/Shani.
And the other associations stated by Parashara, work properly the great majority of the time using Lahiri ayanamsha.
Marriage timing is, in my view, a good test of ayanamsha - because timing of marriage comes not from radix but rather from navamsha.
Using Raman's ayanamsha, I get very poor event-timing results.
However, when using Lahiri I find that marriage occurs reliably in the bhukti of the lords of the first or seventh *navamsha*, or any of the karakas: Shukra, Shani, or Rahu-Ketu.
Also, with timing of marriage, a second condition must be fulfilled: gochara Rahu-Ketu must be transiting through one of five axes: lagna of radix or navamsha, natal nodal axis in either radix or navamsha, or the axis of radix Moon.
With Lahiri ayanamsha, if the radix chart does not offer a lagna, Moon, or nodal axis to satisfy the condition, then the navamsha nodes or lagna will be found to be in the right place to support the timing of marriage.
With Raman's ayanamsha, if the radix chart does not supply the necessary nodal axes, Raman's rendering of navamsha lagna and navamsha Moon will not always supply it either - which leaves us unable to predict timing of marriage, or confirm timing of a marriage which has already occurred.
I appreciate how emotionally attracted people are to the poetry of their navamsha patterns, when they think - as you say - "this explains my nature very correctly".
Navamsha is the field of one's true dharma more fully articulated; D-9 shows our secret strengths, subconscious expectations, and inherent wisdom - our "better self". So, if Raman's ayanamsha creates a more intriguing or flattering navamsha, it might be tempting to honor the poetic image of nicer planets.
My own Jyotisha practice is focused on the tasks of (1) making sense of the order of past events while (2) attempting to offer reliable predictions of future events.
I am less inclined to the typically western psychological or poetic style, and more inclined to predictive accuracy.
I am sure that there are some legitimate uses for the western poetic-psychological-archetype approach to astrology (such as in Jungian psychotherapy), but my personality is more research-oriented.
Therefore my own test results have cemented my decision to stick with Lahiri ayanamsha into the foreseeable future.
However another Jyotishi who might be researching other types of events - perhaps political or economic events, or other non-personal/national/global level phenomena - might use different tests and get different results. I can only report on the research I have done myself.
I look forward to the day when Jyotishis worldwide can contribute peer-reviewed research to scholarly journals and present their results at (electronic?) conferences, so that a wider basis of understanding can be established in the international Jyotisha practice community.
(BTW: I use "mean" positions for Rahu-Ketu.)
Hope this is helpful,
Barbara Pijan Lama
updated: 22 August 2008
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