The Horoscope of Women

Chapter 24 · Part of our series on the Brihat Jataka of Varahamihira

This chapter is devoted to the charts of women. It was written in sixth-century India, where a woman's life was framed almost entirely around marriage and family, and the chapter reflects that world closely. Much of it judges a woman by her conduct and her chastity, and some of its language is harsh by any modern standard.

It is presented here faithfully, as part of the text, with that context in mind. The chapter also contains things that may surprise a modern reader: a verse on women of learning who are famous for their knowledge of many sciences and of the highest philosophy, and a verse on women who take up the life of renunciation.

How a woman's chart is read

The first verse sets out the method (24.1):

यद्यत्फलं नरभवे क्षममङ्गनानां तत्तद्वदेत्पतिषु वा सकलं विधेयम् । तासां तु भर्तृमरणं निधने वपुस्तु लग्नेन्दुगं सुभगतास्तमये पतिश्च ॥

yad yat phalaṃ narabhave kṣamam aṅganānāṃ tat tad vaden patiṣu vā sakalaṃ vidheyam | tāsāṃ tu bhartṛmaraṇaṃ nidhane vapus tu lagnendugaṃ subhagatāstamaye patiś ca ||

Whatever results given for the birth of a man are fitting for women should be declared for them, and the rest applied to their husbands. For a woman, the husband's death is judged from the eighth house; the body from the rising sign and the Moon; and her fortune in marriage, and the husband himself, from the seventh.

So a woman's chart is read with the same tools as a man's. The difference lies in what the text expected a woman's life to hold: the body is read from the rising sign and the Moon, marriage and the husband from the seventh house, and the husband's life from the eighth.

Temperament

The second verse looks at the rising sign and the Moon's sign (24.2). When both are even signs, the text calls the woman's nature truly feminine; looked upon by gentle planets, she is of fine character and adorned with virtues. When both are odd signs, her form and nature are "like a man's".

The next verses go through the signs and their trimshamshas, the five unequal parts we met in Article 2, and give a short portrait for each (24.3 to 24.6). Most of these portraits are moral judgements about conduct in marriage, in the language of their time. Some are warmly positive. A woman whose rising sign or Moon falls in a trimshamsha of Jupiter is almost always described as virtuous and of fine qualities. One in a trimshamsha of Mercury is often skilled in the arts or learned. One in a trimshamsha of Venus in Taurus or Libra is famous for her many good qualities. With Jupiter in Leo, she becomes the consort of a king.

One verse also describes, in the language of its time, women whose desire is for other women (24.7).

The husband

A large part of the chapter describes the husband, read from the seventh house and its navamsha (24.8 to 24.12). When the seventh house is empty, the planet that rules its sign or navamsha describes him:

The chapter also describes difficulties in marriage. A weak, empty seventh house with no gentle planet looking at it points to an unworthy husband. A movable sign there points to a husband who travels far. Harsh planets in the seventh or eighth house point to separation, to remarriage, or to the loss of the husband (24.8 to 24.9, 24.14). Where the text speaks of a husband's death, it notes that the timing is shown by the planet ruling the navamsha of the eighth lord.

Gifts and fortune

Some verses describe gifts. When the Moon and Mercury rise together, the woman is skilled in the arts, happy and of many virtues. When Venus and Mercury rise together, she is beautiful, much loved and skilled in music. When three gentle planets rise together, she has great wealth, happiness and many good qualities (24.13).

The woman of learning

The most remarkable verse in the chapter describes a woman of learning (24.15):

सौरे मध्यबले बलेन रहितैः शीतांशुशुक्रेन्दुजैः शेषैर्वीर्यसमन्वितैः पुरुषिणी यद्योजराश्युद्गमः । जीवारास्फुजिदैन्दवेषु बलिषु प्राग्लग्नराशौ समे विख्याता भुवि नैकशास्त्रनिपुणा स्त्री ब्रह्मवादिन्यपि ॥

saure madhyabale balena rahitaiḥ śītāṃśuśukrendujaiḥ śeṣair vīryasamanvitaiḥ puruṣiṇī yady ojarāśyudgamaḥ | jīvārāsphujidaindaveṣu baliṣu prāglagnarāśau same vikhyātā bhuvi naikaśāstranipuṇā strī brahmavādiny api ||

When Saturn is of middling strength, the Moon, Venus and Mercury are weak, the others are strong, and an odd sign is rising, the woman has a masculine nature. But when Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury are strong and the rising sign is even, the woman is famous on earth, skilled in many sciences, and a speaker on Brahman.

A brahmavādinī is a woman who teaches and debates the highest knowledge, the nature of Brahman, the ultimate reality. The Upanishads remember such women, like Gargi, who questioned the sage Yajnavalkya in the court of King Janaka, and Maitreyi, who asked him about immortality. This verse gives the combination under which such a woman is born.

The renouncer

The last verse describes a woman who takes up the life of renunciation (24.16). When a harsh planet stands in the seventh house and another planet stands in the ninth, the house of dharma, the woman takes up the spiritual path belonging to the planet in the ninth, just as for men in the chapter on renunciation (Article 15).

The verse ends by saying that everything in this chapter applies not only to birth charts, but also to the moments of betrothal, of the giving in marriage, and of the wedding itself, and to questions asked about them.

Reading this chapter today

This chapter is a record of how one ancient society saw women's lives: through marriage, family and conduct. Much of it cannot be read today without that context. But it also preserves something easy to overlook: that the same tradition knew women of great learning and spiritual depth, and gave their births a place among the stars.

Verses are from Varahamihira's Brihat Jataka, chapter 24. 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.