The Moon's Company, the Lunar Yogas

Chapter 13 · Part of our series on the Brihat Jataka of Varahamihira

Of all the planets, the Moon is the closest to us and the quickest to change. In the body of Time she is the mind. And like the mind, she is shaped by the company she keeps. This short chapter of nine verses looks at the Moon in relation to the planets around her, and at what that company means for a life.

The Moon and the Sun

The first verse measures the Moon from the Sun (13.1). Count the signs from the Sun to the Moon. The Moon may stand in an angle from the Sun (the 1st, 4th, 7th or 10th sign from it), in a house after an angle (the 2nd, 5th, 8th or 11th), or in a falling house (the 3rd, 6th, 9th or 12th). Then:

The distance between the Sun and the Moon is also what makes the Moon's phase, so this verse ties a person's gifts to the shape of the Moon's light at birth.

The second half of the verse adds that a person will be wealthy and happy when the Moon stands in her own navamsha or in that of a close friend, and is looked upon by Jupiter in a day birth, or by Venus in a night birth.

The Adhi yoga

The next verse describes one of the most celebrated combinations in all of jyotish (13.2):

सौम्यैः स्मरारिनिधनेष्वधियोग इन्दोस्तस्मिंश्चमूपसचिवक्षितिपालजन्म । सम्पन्नसौख्यविभवा हतशत्रवश्च दीर्घायुषो विगतरोगभयाश्च जाताः ॥

saumyaiḥ smarārinidhaneṣv adhiyoga indos tasmiṃś camūpasacivakṣitipālajanma | sampannasaukhyavibhavā hataśatravaś ca dīrghāyuṣo vigatarogabhayāś ca jātāḥ ||

When the gentle planets stand in the seventh, sixth and eighth from the Moon, it is the Adhi yoga of the Moon. Under it, a commander, a minister or a king is born. Those born under it have happiness and wealth in full, their enemies overcome, long life, and freedom from illness and fear.

The gentle planets here are Mercury, Jupiter and Venus. When they gather in the three houses opposite the Moon, they surround the mind with support. The three grades of the result, commander, minister and king, are traditionally linked to the strength of these planets: the stronger they are, the higher the rise.

The Moon's neighbours

The heart of the chapter looks at the signs on either side of the Moon: the sign just after hers (the 2nd from the Moon) and the sign just before (the 12th). The Sun is not counted. Only Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn are (13.3):

हित्वार्कं सुनफानफादुरुधुराः स्वान्त्योभयस्थैर्ग्रहैः शीतांशोः कथितोऽन्यथा तु बहुभिः केमद्रुमोऽन्यैस्त्वसौ । केन्द्रे शीतकरेऽथवा ग्रहयुते केमद्रुमो नेष्यते केचित्केन्द्रनवांशकेषु च वदन्त्युक्तिः प्रसिद्धा न ते ॥

hitvārkaṃ sunaphānaphādurudhurāḥ svāntyobhayasthair grahaiḥ śītāṃśoḥ kathito 'nyathā tu bahubhiḥ kemadrumo 'nyais tv asau | kendre śītakare 'thavā grahayute kemadrumo neṣyate kecit kendranavāṃśakeṣu ca vadanty uktiḥ prasiddhā na te ||

Leaving aside the Sun: with planets in the second from the Moon, in the twelfth, or on both sides, the yogas are Sunapha, Anapha and Durudhura. Otherwise, many call it Kemadruma. Some do not accept Kemadruma when the Moon is in an angle or is joined by a planet. Others apply these yogas to the angles or to the navamshas; but these views are not established.

So there are four possibilities:

The names are among the oldest Greek words in jyotish. Scholars trace sunaphā to the Greek synaphē, "a joining", and durudhurā to doryphoria, "a guard of spear-bearers", the image of the Moon escorted on both sides. Kemadruma comes from kenodromia, "running through emptiness". It is a vivid image: the Moon, the mind, travelling alone through an empty stretch of sky, with no companion on either side.

The verse also records a debate. Some teachers held that the lonely Moon is not truly alone if she stands in an angle or is joined by another planet in her own sign, and so the Kemadruma does not apply. Varahamihira notes the view, and notes that some other variations are not well established.

How many ways

The fourth verse adds a small exercise in counting (13.4). The five planets can fill the sign after the Moon in 31 different ways: one at a time, two at a time, and so on, up to all five. The same is true of the sign before. When planets fill both sides, there are 180 ways. Varahamihira's interest in counting combinations runs through the whole book.

Which planet keeps the Moon company

The nature of the yoga also depends on which planet forms it (13.7 to 13.8):

When more than one planet forms the yoga, their results combine.

The eighth verse adds a note on the Moon's place above or below the horizon. In a day birth, a Moon in the visible half of the sky tends to bring difficulty and one in the hidden half brings good. In a night birth, the reverse.

The gentle planets in the houses of growth

The chapter closes with a rule about wealth, and an important claim about its power (13.9):

लग्नादतीव वसुमान्वसुमाञ्छशाङ्कात्सौम्यग्रहैरुपचयोपगतैः समस्तैः । द्वाभ्यां समोऽल्पवसुमांश्च तदूनतायामन्येष्वसत्स्वपि फलेष्विदमुत्कटेन ॥

lagnād atīva vasumān vasumāñ chaśāṅkāt saumyagrahair upacayopagataiḥ samastaiḥ | dvābhyāṃ samo 'lpavasumāṃś ca tadūnatāyām anyeṣv asatsv api phaleṣv idam utkaṭena ||

When all the gentle planets stand in the houses of growth from the rising sign, the person is very wealthy; from the Moon, wealthy. With two of them, moderately so; with fewer, of small means. And this result prevails strongly, even when other results are unfavourable.

The houses of growth, as we saw in the second article, are the third, sixth, tenth and eleventh. When Mercury, Jupiter and Venus all stand there, wealth grows steadily.

The last line matters most. This yoga overrides other difficult combinations in the chart. Even the lonely Moon of the Kemadruma does not bring poverty when the gentle planets stand in the houses of growth. In this way the chapter that names the Moon's loneliness also gives its remedy within the chart itself.

Reading this chapter

The Moon is the mind, and this chapter is about the mind's companions. A Moon flanked by planets is supported and engaged. A Moon left alone in empty sky struggles. A Moon with the gentle planets gathered opposite her, in the Adhi yoga, is held up on every side. Every one of these ideas comes down to the same simple picture: how much good company surrounds the Moon at birth.

Verses are from Varahamihira's Brihat Jataka, chapter 13. English renderings are our own, made from the Sanskrit and checked against the public-domain translation by N. Chidambaram Aiyar (1885; second edition 1905) and against the word-by-word analysis in Michael D. Neely's edition.