Describing the astrological conditions of the birth of King Yudhisthira, the Mahabharata says, starting from 114.4:
muhUtrte ‘bhijite ‘zthame
divaa madhya-gate sUrye
tithau puNye ‘bhipUjite
The first line means Yuddhisthira was born, “at the moment of abhijit / eighth.”
Abhijit is never considered the 8th nakshatra (it is counted as the 22nd or sometimes the 20th to the best of my knowledge) so “eighth” must refer to another subject – probably the lunar phase. So I believe we are being told that Yudhisthira was born when the Moon was in the 8th phase (a half moon, very auspicious) in the stellar section ascribed to the constellation of Lyra/ Vega (Abhijit).
The next line says “brightness/daytime, to the middle portion went the Sun.”
Now, this may mean that the daytime sun got to mid-day, highnoon. OR it may mean that the 8th lunar phase was in the “bright” half – the waxing half,and the sun was at noon. I favor the later because the former is a redundant phrasing – and good authors avoid immediate redundancy.
The third line clarifies that the previous descriptions have pertained to the “tithi” – the lunar phase. And that overall this tithi was most auspcious and respectable.
From this seed “Half waxing moon, in Abhijit, at noon.” The following elaboration can be extrapolated:
- Yudhisthira was born in the month of Kartik, for the bright half-moon of Kartika falls in Abhijit. (this could be confirmed to be sure)
- He was born at a simultaneous Moonrise and Noon – for the waxing halfmoon is always 90 degrees progressed from the Sun.
- Thus he was born with the Sun in the 10th house
- Moon in the first
There is no information given regarding rashis. Without knowing the ayanamsha current for the year, it is not possible to calculate the rashis. We can estimate that the birth was approximately 5,000 years ago. Which, I believe means that the ayanamsha would have been around negative 30 degrees. Which would mean that the rising Moon would have been near the end of Scorpio / beginning of Sagittarius, and the Sun near the end of Leo/ beginning of Virgo. However, information about natal rashis simply is not recorded in this ancient Vedic astrological description – so we can only extrapolate the information.
– Vic DiCara
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Vic DiCara's Astrology 