Jyotish is actually a Sanskrit word which originates from the word ‘Jyotis’ which means light or heavenly body. As we know Hinduism is considered to be one of the oldest religion in the history of human civilisation itself, and when it comes to the study of Hinduism, no one can attain the last mark till they have had a little bit of knowledge about the Hindu Astrology. In recent times this kind of astrological study has been given a new name of “Vedic Astrology. It is believed that the documentation on which the Hindu Astrology or the Vedic Astrology is based has actually been passed on since the ages of the sages, who had in their scriptures depicted about the “Jyotish” line of study. As mentioned earlier Jyotish means the heavenly light, and so the study the deals with the astral lights and their patters, and it is believed that these are the lights that determines the destiny of a human being. Indian astrology is actually based on the Hellenic influences, and has been widely divided into three main branches and they are: · Siddhanta which is the branch talking about the Indian astronomy. · Samhita which is the Mundane Astrology, and predicts important events related to the countries, now this can be of war, natural disasters, any kind of political events, the financial position of the country. It even talks about the house and its construction matters, which in the Hindu religion is very important and is known as the “VastuShastra”. It also talks about animals, various omens and many other things. · Hora which is actually the predictive astrology. There are several branches that stem out of this form of astrology, such a Phonetical astrology, Numerology etc. When you open any page that is related to Hindu Astrology, the first feature that will surely catch your eyes is the chart, and it is in fact the main ingredient of this kind of astrology. This chart is more than a circle and lines, it is majorly a map that shows the positions of the planets which are in the form of the signs of the Zodiac. A chart is drawn based on the time you were born and also the place that you are born in, it is known as your birth chart or the natal chart, which will help the astrologer to read the planetary positions and how are they going to affect you as a person and also predicts about the happenings in your life. The study of Hindu astrology or in the Sanskrit format the study of Jyotisha actually one of the six auxiliary disciplines which support the Vedic rituals. There is a basic difference between the Western astrology and the Hindu Astrology is that one is based on fixed Zodiac whereas the other is based on the moving Zodiac. Therefore when you ask a Hindu about their sun sign most of them will depict a different sun sign as per their Kundali, which is based on the Indian Astrology and the natal Chart drawn based on their date and time of birth and also the place that they were born in, and will give probably say that as per the Western Astrology their sun sign is actually different. This is because of the relationship of the sun with the earth which is the major focus of Vedic Astrology, that there are changes seen on the sun signs. An in depth knowledge of the Vedic Astrology can preach about the real and actual relationship of life and its surroundings, how the revolution and the evolution of the earth around the sun affects the daily lives, and also decides about the turn of events in our lives.
