Ascertaining Gulika and Mandi in Horoscope

Before getting into the computation of these 2 Saturnian Upagrahas Gulika and Mandi, it is good to know a few basics. There are 7 weekdays beginning from Sunday and ending with Saturday. Each of these weekdays are further divided into 2 halves viz Day time (Sunrise) and Night time (Sunset). The day time and night time portion get further sub divided into 8 equal parts and each of these 8 parts are ruled by 7 planets and the remaining part is governed by Rahu.

The order of day time starts from the ruling planet of the particular weekday. For eg if it's a Sunday first part is always given to Sun since it lords Sunday and the second part is Moon, third is Mars, fourth Mercury, fifth Jupiter, sixth Venus, seventh Saturn and 8th portion will be blank and given to Rahu. For night time, the first part happens to be ruled by the 5th planet from the lord of the weekday. Taking same Sunday as eg, night time starts from the 5th planet of the lord of the weekday which in this case is Jupiter followed by Venus, then Saturn, blank (Rahu) followed by Sun, Moon, Mars and Mercury respectively.

Computation of Gulika and Mandi in a Horoscope Chart:

1) Ascertain whether a person was born during day time (sun rise to sun set) or during night time (sun set to next day sun rise)

2) If day time born, note the sun rise and sun set time of the day and if born in night time, note the sun set time and next day sun rise time.

3) Next check the week day in which the native was born which could be any day between Sunday to Saturday.

4) See the portion ruled by Saturn which will be one among 8 equal parts (Saturn never rules 8th part)

Sunday - Day Time 7th part, Night Time 3rd part

Monday - Day Time 6th part, Night Time 2nd part

Tuesday - Day Time 5th part, Night Time 1st part

Wednesday - Day Time 4th part, Night Time 7th part 

Thursday - Day Time 3rd part, Night Time 6th part

Friday - Day Time 2nd part, Night Time 5th part

Saturday - Day Time 1st part, Night Time 4th part

5) Figure out the time frame period ruled by Saturn which will be an average approx 90 minute time period.

6) Mark the start time, middle time and end time of this time slot ruled by Saturn.

7) Cast the horoscope for all these 3 time slots and note where the Ascendant (Lagna) falls.

8) Gulika rises at the beginning of Saturn's portion and Mandi at the middle of Saturn's portion.

P.S : There are different opinions with regard to Gulika and Mandi. Some opine that they both are one and the same. Another belief is that they happen to be 2 different son's of Shani Devata (Planet Saturn). Also, opinions are divided on when Gulika and Mandi rise and there are varied views supporting beginning, middle and end point of Saturn's ruling time period.

Illustration 1 : Day time birth

Native born on Sep 13th 2018 in Chennai, India at 9.30 AM. Find position of Gulika and Mandi

1) Person born time : Day time

2) Since day time born : Sun rise time 6:01 AM and Sun set time 6:08 PM

3) Check weekday : Thursday

4) Part ruled by Saturn : 3rd part

5) Figure time period ruled by Saturn : 9:10 AM to 10:41 AM

6) Mark start time, middle time and end time : Start time 9:10 AM, Middle time 9:56 AM, End time 10:41 AM

7) Check Ascendant for all three times : Start time - Libra 12 degrees, Middle time - Libra 23 degrees, End time - Scorpio 3 degrees

8) Establish Gulika and Mandi position : Gulika in Libra 12 degrees and Mandi in Libra 23 degrees

Computation Notes:

Time between sun rise to sun set = 12 hours and 7 mins = 727 Mins

Divide 727 into 8 parts = 90.875 mins rounded to 91 mins per part

Time of Saturn is 3rd part and computed as below;

First part = 6:08 AM + 91 MINS = 7:39 AM

Second part = 7:39 AM + 91 MINS = 9:10 AM

Third part = 9:10 AM + 91 MINS = 10:41 AM

Alternatively since we know 3rd part is end of 2nd part to end of 3rd part, start point is 6:08 AM + 182 mins (91 mins * 2 parts) = 9:10 AM and end point is 6:08 AM + 273 mins (91 mins * 3 parts) = 10:41 AM.

Start time = 9:10 AM

End time = 10:41 AM

Middle time = Start time 9:10 AM + 46 mins (Part of 91 mins divided by 2 = 45.5 rounded to 46) = 9:56 AM or End time 10:41 AM - 45 mins = 9:56 AM

Illustration 2 : Night time birth

Native born on Sep 11th 2018 in Bangalore, India at 8.45 PM. Find position of Gulika and Mandi

1) Person born time : Night time

2) Since night time born : Sun set time 6:20 PM and next day Sun rise time 6:12 AM

3) Check weekday : Tuesday

4) Part ruled by Saturn : 1st part

5) Figure time period ruled by Saturn : 6:20 PM to 7:49 PM

6) Mark start time, middle time and end time : Start time 6:20 PM, Middle time 7:05 PM, End time 7:49 PM

7) Check Ascendant for all three times : Start time - Aquarius 24 degrees, Middle time - Pisces 8 degrees, End time - Pisces 21 degrees

8) Establish Gulika and Mandi position : Gulika in Aquarius 24 degrees and Mandi in Pisces 8 degrees

Computation Notes:

Time between sun set to sun rise = 11 hours and 52 mins = 712 Mins

Divide 712 into 8 parts = 89 mins per part

Time of Saturn is 1st part and computed as below

First part = 6:20 PM + 89 MINS = 7:49 PM

Start time = 6:20 PM

End time = 7:49 PM

Middle time = Start time 6:20 PM + 45 mins (Part of 89 mins divided by 2 = 44.5 rounded to 45) = 7:05 PM or End time 7:49 PM - 44 mins = 7:05 PM

Note: It should be noted from this that at no point exact time of birth is taken for computation of Gulika and Mandi. In essence, any person born on a particular day and place at whatever time but within the day time portion or night time portion will end up having Gulika and Mandi in the same position in the horoscope chart.

Also, for Mandi computation, the classics opine a method based on Ghatika's (1 Ghatika=24 minutes) elapsed from sun rise/sun set time to arrive at the Mandi time for which the corresponding Lagna degree should be ascertained. This method will tally almost exactly to what has been computed above. The order given is as above:

Sunday - 26 Ghatikas after sun rise, 10 Ghatikas after sun set

Monday - 22 Ghatikas after sun rise, 6 Ghatikas after sun set

Tuesday - 18 Ghatikas after sun rise, 2 Ghatikas after sun set

Wednesday - 14 Ghatikas after sun rise, 26 Ghatikas after sun set

Thursday - 10 Ghatikas after sun rise, 22 Ghatikas after sun set

Friday - 6 Ghatikas after sun rise, 18 Ghatikas after sun set

Saturday - 2 Ghatikas after sun rise, 14 Ghatikas after sun set

Explaining this method with the same illustrations as listed earlier, for Illustration 1 we find that for day birth Thursday, Mandi is 10 Ghatikas after Sun rise. 10 Ghatikas = 240 minutes (10 Ghatika*24 minutes per Ghatika). Sun rise time is 6:01 AM. Adding 240 minutes to it, we get 10:01 AM which will fall in around 23-24 degrees of Libra similar to what we have witnessed above. In Illustration 2, for night birth Tuesday, Mandi happens to be 2 Ghatikas after Sun set. 2 Ghatikas = 48 minutes (2 Ghatika*24 minutes per Ghatika). Sun set time is 6:20 PM. Adding 48 minutes to it, we get 7:08 PM which will fall around 8 degrees in Pisces as seen above as well.

This working is only for Mandi and does not hold good for Gulika unless of course they both are reckoned as one and the same. Whether we employ the method 1 or method 2, the most sensitive point happens to be at the mid point of time frame ruled by Saturn or the respective end Ghatika time marked after Sun rise or Sun set as the case maybe. 

Inauspicious Time Period Computation!

Many of us would have been alerted about un-favourable time periods during a day and not to perform any auspicious activities during these time periods. The time frames commonly highlighted happen to be the Yama Ghanta, Gulika Kaala and Rahu Kaala. All these stem from the panchang and attributed to specific planets assigned.

The Panchang element that needs to be seen is the 'Vara'. The Vara is basically the solar day transiting which starts at sun rise time and ends when the next day sun rise commences. There are 7 Vara's obtained from the 7 week days and each of them are represented by a particular planet as seen below:
Sunday - Sun
Monday - Moon
Tuesday - Mars
Wednesday - Mercury
Thursday - Jupiter
Friday - Venus
Saturday - Saturn

Now, every day of week comprises of two parts viz sun rise (day time) and sun set (night time). It is generally presumed that most important activities take place only during the day and hence only sun rise viz day time portion is considered for computing inauspicious time period.

Hence let us take the sun rise portion of the day which runs from when the sun rises till the time it begins to set. This portion is divided into 8 equal parts and it is believed that one of the parts is headless. Remember there are 7 weekdays and 8 parts, hence 7 of these parts will be assigned to a particular planet with the 8th given to Rahu.

The order starts from the ruling planet of the particular Vara (weekday). For eg if it's a Sunday first part is always given to Sun since it lords Sunday and the second part is Moon, third is Mars, fourth Mercury, fifth Jupiter, sixth Venus, seventh Saturn and 8th portion will be blank and given to Rahu. In case it's a Thursday it starts from Jupiter, second part will be Venus, third will be Saturn and 4th will be Rahu. 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th will be Sun, Moon, Mars and Mercury respectively.

One disclaimer I would like to mention here is that it is generally presumed in most panchangs and calendars that sun rise always starts at 6 AM and the sun set begins at 6 PM. Hence the day time comprises of 12 hours divided into 8 parts with each part occupying a space of 1 hour and 30 minutes (1.5 hours). But in reality in many places sun rise can be much later or earlier causing the calculations to go for a toss.

However for convenience sake, the respective times of Yama Ghanta, Gulika Kaala and Rahu Kaal is explained with reference to the sun rise day time comprising of 12 hours in the range of 6 AM to 6 PM.

Yama Ghanta:
This is represented by planet Jupiter. For every day of the week, check the part that is owned by Jupiter and this will be the time frame occupied by Yama Ghanta. For eg on Wednesday Jupiter rules the 2nd part from 7.30 AM to 9 AM and that is the Yama Ghanta time and likewise on Friday it'll be 4.30 PM to 6 PM which is the time represented by Jupiter. For easy reference, all of the Yama Ghanta time parts owned by Jupiter is coloured in Yellow in order to quickly spot it. Also some food for thought, if you closely check Jupiter rules all parts in different days except for the 6th part from 1.30 PM to 3 PM.

Gulika Kaala:
This is represented by planet Saturn. For every day of the week, check the part that is owned by Saturn and this will be the time frame occupied by Gulika. For eg on Thursday Saturn rules the 3rd part from 9 AM to 10.30 AM and that is the Gulika time and likewise on Saturday it'll be 6 AM to 7.30 AM which is the time represented by Saturn. For easy reference, all of the Gulika time parts owned by Saturn is coloured in Blue for quick navigation. Also like Jupiter, Saturn rules all parts except for the 8th part spanning from 4.30 PM to 6 PM.

P.S : For horoscope purposes, even sunset time will be taken and this also has a say in determining as to where Gulika will be placed in the vedic rasi chart.

Rahu Kaala:
This is represented by planet Rahu but the computation differs. Here time slots are put forth for each day of the week and Rahu Kaala is obtained based on the same. It must be remembered however that the first part of the day can never be Rahu Kaala. Also in addition to Rahu, other planets such as Sun, Moon and Mars also have a say in determining the Rahu kaal portion. They are marked in Red in the table to quickly catch attention. Listed below are the time parts assigned for Rahu Kaala in each of the days.
Day 1 Sunday - 8th part - Rahu
Day 2 Monday - 2nd part - Mars
Day 3 Tuesday - 7th part - Sun
Day 4 Wednesday - 5th part - Rahu
Day 5 Thursday - 6th part - Moon
Day 6 Friday - 4th part - Sun
Day 7 Saturday 3rd part - Sun

Colour Code:
YAMA GHANTA - YELLOW - JUPITER
GULIKA KAALA - BLUE - SATURN
RAHU KAALA - RED - RAHU, SUN, MOON, MARS

Note: You might be wondering as to why other planets also come into the equation when deducing Rahu Kaala. This is because Rahu Kaala is propounded based on the theory of ultraviolet rays falling on earth during specific time intervals on each day of every weekday which is considered to be highly inauspicious. This also ends up scrambling the usual week day order and hence you find other planets also coming in the fray when figuring out the Rahu Kaala time period. This can however be avoided if the Kaala order is followed which is practised especially in Kerala. Here planets are assigned numbers and they follow the same order with the first part beginning from the weekday lord. The order given is as below:
Sun - 1
Mars - 2
Jupiter - 3
Mercury - 4
Venus - 5
Saturn - 6
Moon - 7
Rahu - 8

Adopting this order based on the running weekday, you'll always end up with Rahu falling in the 8th part if it's a Sunday, 2nd if Monday, 7th if Tuesday, 5th if Wednesday, 6th if Thursday, 4th if Friday and 3rd if it's Saturday. However I wouldn't advise to follow this order as this methodology can get jumbled and would not work when finding out Yama Ghanta and Gulika Kaala. However it would make sense to just remember the number coding 8275643 as each of the digits signify the parts during which Rahu Kaala takes place from Sunday to Saturday.