The Brihata Jatakam of Varaha Mihira (Sanskrit Text and English Translation)

The Brihata Jatakam of Varaha Mihira is considered as one of the best treatise on astrology. Jataka or horoscopy is one of the three branches of astrology. The subjects deals in the book are Zodiacal signs, the Planets, the manifold births, Impregnation, Birth matters, Early death, the Length of Life of a Child, Dasas and Antardasa, Astaka Varga, Avocation, Raja Yoga, Nabhasa Yogas, Lunar Combinations, Any two planets in any one Sign, Ascetic Yogas, the Moon and the Zodiac, the Planets and the Zodiac, Aspects, the Planets and the Twelve Houses or Bhavas, Asraya Yoga, Miscellaneous Planetary Combinations, Evils, Female Horoscopes, Death, Lost Horoscopes, the Decanates, and Conclusion. The book also includes an appendix and an Index to the verses.

Foreword

The Jyotisa sastra is counted as one of the six of the Vedas. All the religious rites and sacrifices of the Hindus are guided by Astronomy and Astrology, both of which are included in the Jyotisa sastra. Indeed, Astrology is considered as the eye of the Vedas.

Astrology is the oldest of all science. Its history is traced back to the Vedas whose wise Risis, by the expansion of their consciousness, could reach the Shining Oath. From India the belief in Astrology spread to China, Babylonia and Chaldea whence it spread to Egypt, Greece, Rome, and throughout the whole world. Once it taught the people to lift their aspirations by faith, hope, and reverence, through the stars and the planetary spirits to the One and Universal Self.

The hoary saints of the ancient ages, fraught with wisdom,- held that an affinity existed between the stars and the souls of men; that the eternal essence is Divi