Timing Events using Gowri Panchanga and Hora!

There are two main metrics of time normally employed in the Hindu calendar. These times are also used astrologically in order to take a call regarding making some important decisions. At times there can be a overlap of one over another and hence these times need to be used judicially before arriving at a decision of figuring out the right time. The two methods in vogue happen to be the 'Gowri Panchanga' and 'Hora'. The Gowri Panchanga is used mainly for muhurat purpose comprising of time slots generally of one and half hours each that indicates favorable and unfavorable time periods during different times of the day. The Hora on the other hand occurs usually at a one hour bracket frame which also indicates zones of time suitable or unsuitable for carrying out a particular task. Ideally combining the two is the best bet to ensure timing your slots accordingly. Explained below is an outline on the methodology of both Gowri Panchanga and Hora.

Gowri Panchanga:
In the traditional sense, Gowri Panchanga is used to check auspicious time to start a new activity and avoid inauspicious time. From a religious perspective it is mainly used to decipher the right time for the purpose of a Muhurat.

The computation of time slot works through the following premise. Each day of the week comprises of the time beginning from sunrise and ends during the next day sunrise when the next day commences. The day essentially has two halves viz sunrise time and the sunset time. Both the sunrise time as well as sunset times are further split into 8 equal parts and assigned to 8 planets - Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and Rahu. The order of the sunrise period always begins from the order of the weekday and the sunset period begins from the 5th day of the weekday and follows the sequential order. For instance Sunrise period on a Sunday always starts from Sun followed by Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and finally Rahu. The sunset time for Sunday however begins from Jupiter because it happens to be the lord of the 5th weekday from Sunday (Thursday is 5th day beginning from Sunday and it's ruler is Jupiter).

 However there is a twist to the tale and breaks tend to happen in the order largely because of Rahu. The Rahu period is always assigned a particular time slot for each day of the week on both sunrise and sunset and when that period arises, Rahu is always given precedence and the next planet succeeds the time period after Rahu and the similar weekday order follows. The parts assigned to Rahu for every day beginning from Sunday to Saturday during sunrise period happens to be 8th, 2nd, 7th, 5th, 6th, 4th and 3rd. During sunset period the parts assigned for every day beginning from Sunday to Saturday are 4th, 5th, 3rd, 8th, 2nd, 7th, 6th. It should however be noted that Rahu never rules the 1st part on any day whether it's a sunrise or sunset.

To understand the concept in a simple manner, let us see how to go about computing the time slots during sunrise period for a Wednesday and for sake of clarity let's say Sunrise starts at 6 AM and sunset begins at 6 PM. Since the day is Wednesday, first part is assigned to the lord of the weekday Wednesday which is Mercury. After that it will be lord of Thursday Jupiter followed by Friday lord Venus, Saturday Lord Saturn, Sunday Lord Sun, Monday Lord Moon and Tuesday Lord Mars. So we have the order of Mercury-Jupiter-Venus-Saturn-Sun-Moon-Mars. Now we have 7 planets but 8 parts need to be filled. On Wednesday during sunrise period Rahu occupies the 5th part. Hence order from Mercury-Jupiter-Venus-Saturn will remain the same and after this Rahu will come in 5th part pushing the Sun to 6th, Moon in to the 7th and Mars will finally own the 8th spot.

As per tradition, it is usually said that period assigned to Mars, Saturn and Rahu are not good. Rahu especially is considered highly inauspicious because the Rahu Kaalam time is said to be associated with ultra violet rays falling on the earth that are not visible to the naked eyes. It is specifically noted that ultra violet particles fall on those portions of time assigned to Rahu on every day of the week during both sunrise and sunset and that could also be one of the main reasons that the time order of planets get impacted in order to factor this phenomenon. The period of time ruled by Sun is considered good on certain occasions and the best of the lot are reserved for Moon, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus. In the Tamil calendar, you would usually associate meanings associated to each of the planets as seen below:
Sun - Uthi (Plan)
Moon - Amirtha (Sweet)
Mars - Rogam (Evil)
Mercury - Laabam (Gain)
Jupiter - Dhanam (Wealth)
Venus - Sugam (Comfort)
Saturn - Soram (Bad)
Rahu - Visham (Poison)

These results should not be however taken verbatim as on occasions the so called periods of planets ruled by malefics also can be considered based on the situation prevailing and also based on the position of planets in one's individual horoscope. For instance an event relating to a competition, Mars time period can also surely be zeroed in as it is known to be a competitive planet and at the same time if in a horoscope Saturn happens to be a favorable lord it can also be factored in for events where discipline and hard work is a prerequisite.

Hora:
Hora happens to be a unit of time comprising usually one hour time frame which is suitable for performing specific actions. It also describes the state of mind of a person depending on the hora that is operating.

Hora is computed based on the distance of planets or in essence the order of decreasing speed of planets with respect to the earth. Saturn being the farthest comes first in the order followed by Jupiter, next Mars, then Sun followed by Venus, Mercury and finally the Moon. This is looking at it from a geo centric view. Even considering the Helio-centric position, the distance of planets furthest from the Sun works out as Saturn-Jupiter-Mars-Earth-Venus-Mercury-Moon. Since Earth is where we live and not taken as a planet we replace the Earth with the Sun to derive the order. The sequence of this order always begins with the planet owning the weekday. The hora running order always starts from the beginning of sunrise and runs till the beginning of the next day sunrise with sunset not coming into play with regard to the calculations. Also the nodes Rahu or Ketu are not considered in the equation on being shadow planets derived in essence from the earth and moon.

For instance in order to derive the hora order for a Sunday, the first planet in the sequence is always the Sun since it rules the weekday of Sunday followed by Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. It again begins with Sun and the order keeps getting repeated. The first hour of the day will always by default arrive to be the planet ruling the weekday and that's how it always works. In the same example of Sunday beginning with the Sun, you would figure that the 24th and last hour happens to always be Mercury passing on the baton to Moon to start the first hour of Monday which happens to be the weekday lord. Likewise the 24th hour on Monday ends with Jupiter meaning the next planet to start the weekday of Tuesday happens to be Mars which also lords the weekday. This sequence works in the same orderly manner for every single weekday.

From a traditional angle, it is generally believed that the Hora time of benefic planets are proved to be favorable and malefic planets time period in general is said to be avoided. They are also said to work based on the natural significations which the planets connote. Choosing Sun Hora is said to be good for dealing with Government, royal and political honours etc, Venus Hora for those denoting to marriage, fine arts, pleasure. Mercury deals with intelligence, learning et al, Moon for music, travel, good deeds, Saturn for labour, profession etc, Jupiter for in general well being and Mars for properties, competition and the like. Thus it is seen that Hora gives results largely from the default signifiers. However one can also time Hora to its advantage by looking at the placement of planets in one's natal horoscope.

Summary:
Given below is a brief nutshell of both Gowri Panchanga and Hora:

Gowri Panchanga:
- Time Period: Generally 1 and half hours duration allotted per planet
- Sunrise/Sunset: A day comprises of two parts with first part beginning from Sunrise to Sunset and 2nd part operating from Sunset to next day Sunrise
- No. of Parts: Totally 16 parts divided into 2 parts of 8 each for Sunrise and Sunset
- No. of Planets: 8 planets including Rahu but no Ketu
- Sequence: Based on the order of the weekday factoring in by giving precedence to Rahu time period. For sunrise the order begins from the lord of the weekday and for sunset the order begins from the lord of the 5th weekday from the prevailing weekday

Hora:
- Time Period: Generally 1 hour duration allotted per planet
- Sunrise/Sunset: A day begins from Sunrise and ends at commencement of  next day sunrise. Sunset time is not considered for Hora calculation.
- No. of Parts: Totally 24 parts with each Hora being approx an hour each
- No. of Planets: 7 planets with Rahu/Ketu not being considered
- Sequence: Based on the increasing distance of planets from Earth with the first hora always also being the lord of the weekday.

Sharing below a snapshot of the ruling period of Gowri Panchanga and Hora considering sunrise and sunset at 6AM and 6PM respectively. If the sunrise or sunset time happens to be earlier or later than clock time of 6, it needs to be adjusted accordingly. This roster will however give a summarized view of the sequence of planets as well as a rough estimate of the ruling planet in operation for Gowri Panchanga and Hora.

   

Time Technique of Pancha Pakshi Shastra!

Pancha Pakshi is a technique used to ascertain a good time period for performing an activity. It is an ancient Tamil technique and said to be very powerful when used efficiently. The shastra of Pancha Pakshi deals with a number of things such as lucky directions, colours, name syllables etc but largely used for understanding favorable times for an individual to perform important tasks.

Pancha Pakshi makes use of 3 elements of the Panchang viz Vara, Nakshatra and Tithi. These three hold high prominence in the methodology of Pancha Pakshi Shastra. The concept on an overall framework works based on a bird assigned to each individual depending on the birth star one is born and this associated bird is supposed to give good and bad results on specific days (Vara) and Tithi based on whether the moon is operating in a waxing cycle or waning cycle.

There are 5 birds utilized in the Pancha Pakshi Shastra viz Vulture, Owl, Crow, Cock and Peacock. All these birds engage in different activities such as Rule, Walk, Eat, Sleep and Die. The birds are said to be most active in ruling state and most weakest in their dying state. Each day and night of 12 hours each (30 Nazhika) are divided into five equal portions called Yaama of 2 hours and 24 minutes each (6 Nazhika) and allotted to different activities of the birds. Please remember day time begins from sunrise to sunset and night time begins from sunset to next day sunrise. If the distance between sunrise to sunset or sunset to next day sunrise happens to be a little over or less than 12 hours, that needs to be factored as well to ensure that both day and night portion are equally split into 5 portions and allotted to all the 5 birds.

Method to know Pancha Pakshi:
First you need to know the bird which you are ruled by and for this one of the methods is by simply knowing your Birth Nakshatra. Each bird is mapped to a set of Nakshatras and based on that you can figure out which bird you belong to. The order of birds synced with Nakshatras is as inscribed below:

Vulture : Ashwini, Bharani, Kritika, Rohini, Mrigashira (1 to 5 Nakshatras)
Owl : Arudra, Punarvasu, Pushya, Aaslesha,  Magha, Purva Phalguni (6 to 11 Nakshatras)
Crow : Uttara Phalguni, Hasta, Chitra, Swati, Vishakha (12 to 16 Nakshatras)
Cock : Anuradha, Jyeshtha, Moola, Poorvaashadha, Uttaraashadha, Shravana (17 to 22 Nakshatras)
Peacock : Dhanishta, Shatabhisha, Purva Bhadra, Uttara Bhadra, Revathi (23 to 27 Nakshatras)

There is another opinion that the order of the birds are reversed based on whether you were born in waxing phase or waning phase. For instance let's say someone were to be born in Magha Nakshatra in Shukla Paksha. In this case Owl will be the Pakshi or bird assigned. However if the native was born in same Magha Nakshatra but in the waning half or Krishna Paksha, then Cock is said to be assigned as the Bird order is said to be reversed. There is never really a consensus on this and hence this note is documented here as a piece of information

However the more correct approach of determining one's bird would be based on one's actual Date, Place and Time of Birth. This will be explained below by means of an illustration along with the concept.

Ruling Days and Death Days:
As per the shastra of Pancha Pakshi, each of the birds rule a particular day and night depending on waxing and waning cycles of the moon and also happen to be in a dying state based on an entire day from sunrise to next day sunrise also with respect to the waxing and waning cycles of the moon. For instance Vulture rules Day time during waxing phase on a Tuesday whereas it rules night time on a Friday in the waxing phase. Likewise you can figure out that Owl is in a death state during the whole of Monday both during day time and night time in the waning phase. The table below lists the days of the week along with the ruling period as well as dying period for each of the birds both in waxing as well as waning state.

Bird Sequence and Order of Activities:
As indicated earlier, each bird performs an activity for 2 hours and 24 minutes (1 Yama or 6 Nazhikas) and has 5 activities to perform which totals 12 hours during day time and 12 hours during night time. Let us say, the day is a Sunday day time and moon is in the waxing state. The ruling bird for the day time on Sunday during the waxing phase happens to be Vulture. Now within this day time of 12 hours, each bird will perform different activities for 144 minutes or 2 hours and 24 minutes. For eg if the sunrise starts at 6AM on Sunday, Vulture will be in eating state from 6.00 AM to 8:24 AM, walking state from 8.24 AM to 10.48 AM, ruling state from 10.48 AM to 13:12 PM, sleeping state from 13:12 PM to 15:36 PM and in dying state from 15:36 PM to 18:00 PM. Every other bird will also be engaged in different activities for 144 minutes within the same time frame. Also within this time frame of 144 minutes or 2 hrs 24 minutes there are sub periods of activities taking place of sub birds within the main bird. To explain, we know that the Vulture is in eating state from 6.00 AM to 8:24 AM in a day time on Sunday during the waxing phase. Within this 144 minutes there are sub activities of all the 5 birds split up starting from the main bird such as to say Vulture eats from 6.00 AM to 6:30 AM, Owl walks from 6:30 AM to 7:06 AM, Crow rules from 7:06 AM to 7:54 AM, Cock sleeps from 7:54 AM to 8:12 AM and Peacock dies from 8:12 AM to 8:24 AM. These sub periods are made to ascertain the relationship of the main bird with other birds and to divide time at a deeper intricate level. The information below explains the sequence of birds along with the split of the sub bird activities which are broken into different time periods (minutes) or Nazhikas.

SEQUENCE BEGINNING FROM RULING BIRD
DAY TIME WAXING : VULTURE->OWL->CROW->COCK->PEACOCK
NIGHT TIME WAXING : VULTURE->PEACOCK->COCK->CROW->OWL
DAY TIME WANING : VULTURE->CROW->PEACOCK->OWL->COCK
NIGHT TIME WANING : VULTURE->COCK->OWL->PEACOCK>CROW

ORDER OF ACTIVITY IN EACH YAMA
DAY TIME WAXING : EAT 30-WALK 36-RULE 48-SLEEP 18-DEATH 12
NIGHT TIME WAXING : EAT 30-RULE 48-DEATH 12-WALK 36-SLEEP 18
DAY TIME WANING : EAT 30-DEATH 12-SLEEP 18-RULE 48-WALK 36
NIGHT TIME WANING : EAT 30-SLEEP 18-WALK 36-DEATH 12-RULE 48

Illustration:
Let's say an individual is born on Thursday at day time 7:30 AM in the Nakshatra constellation of Jyeshta during the Waning Phase. Let's presume that the sun rise time is at 6:00 AM and sunset is at 6:00 PM. First we need to find out the bird for this gentleman based on the sequence of birds and activities mentioned. The Day is Thursday Day Time and Moon is in the Waning Phase. Hence we first need to have this information handy.
BIRD - DAY TIME WANING : VULTURE->CROW->PEACOCK->OWL->COCK
ACTIVITY - DAY TIME WANING : EAT 30-DEATH 12-SLEEP 18-RULE 48-WALK 36

We know that on a Thursday during day time in Krishna Paksha, the Owl happens to be the ruling bird from the table above. Since one Yama runs for 2 hours and 24 minutes and this person was born at 7.30 AM which is just 1 and half hours after Sunrise, it can be understood that he was born during the first Yama. The order of birds always start from the ruling bird and hence within this 2 hours 24 minutes comprising of first Yama, Owl will eat for 30 minutes from 6.00 AM to 6.30 AM, Cock will die from 6.30 AM to 6.42 AM, Vulture will sleep from 6.42 AM to 7.00 AM, Crow will rule from 7.00 AM to 7.48 AM and Peacock will walk from 7.48 AM to 8.24 AM. Since the person was born at 7:30 AM, it was during the time Crow was performing it's activity and hence Crow will be his actual bird. As per the Nakshatra constellation of Jyeshta he would be assigned Cock bird or even owl bird if bird order gets reversed for Shukla Paksha and Krishna Paksha. This doesn't seem so appropriate and hence the bird based on actual time of taking birth seems more relevant.

Utilizing Time of Pancha Pakshi:
Since the person comes under Crow bird, we will be concerned about the activities and sub activities only of the Crow. Hence the ideal time which should be sought for performing important activities should be on those days when Crow is in a powerful ruling state. We find that during Shukla Paksha in day time it rules on a Thursday and in night time it rules both on Sunday and Tuesday. Similarly in Krishna Paksha, in day time it rules on a Wednesday and in night time it rules Thursday. Hence these periods of approximately 12 hours depending on whether day time or night time is powerful for crow bird native to perform important tasks. Within this time, the sub-periods also can be factored in to find those fragments of time when it's most powerful. Also since the three elements of Vara, Tithi and Nakshatra are used in Pancha Pakshi, it tends to be even more robust when the respective Tithi and Nakshatra are operating on the particular ruling day of the week be it for Shukla Paksha or Krishna Paksha irrespective of day time or night time. The Tithis are 15 in number in both waxing and waning half with 1/6/11 Tithi classified as Nandha, 2/7/12 known as Bhadra, 3/8/13 grouped as Jaya, 4/9/14 called Rikhta and 5/10/15 termed as Purna. The Nakshatras are 27 in number with the cycle beginning from 1st Nakshatra known as Ashwini and ending with 27th Nakshatra titled Revathi.

There are also relationships provided of each bird with another and these periods can also be utilized based on the friendship it possesses with one another.

WAXING MOON:

Vulture: Friends - Peacock & Owl, Enemies - Crow & Cock

Owl: Friends - Vulture & Crow, Enemies - Cock & Peacock

Crow: Friends - Owl & Cock, Enemies - Peacock & Vulture

Cock: Friends - Crow & Peacock, Enemies - Vulture & Owl

Peacock: Friends - Cock & Vulture, Enemies - Owl & Crow

WANING MOON:   

Vulture: Friends - Crow & Peacock, Enemies - Owl & Cock

Owl: Friends - Crow & Cock, Enemies - Vulture & Peacock

Crow: Friends - Vulture & Owl, Enemies - Cock & Peacock

Cock: Friends - Crow & Peacock, Enemies - Vulture & Owl

Peacock: Friends - Cock & Vulture, Enemies - Owl & Crow

Conclusion:

As you can see the whole computation appears a bit complicated. It gets very dicey especially when breaking the puzzle into minute fragments of time intervals and establishing the relation of the sub bird with the main bird. It is definitely a difficult procedure to lay down times for each and every sub atomic level of time. It's surely not helpful for repetitive mundane tasks as getting a hands on of the computation itself will end up taking a long period of time but on an overall framework it can be pretty useful especially when you know the day and night time ruled by your bird and also the deathly state it gets into on specific days. This can help you take well calculated decisions on days favorable to you.

Note: On researching about this topic, I did find some discrepancies in the explanation of some of the definitions. For instance one school of thought does not believe in considering waxing and waning phase when ascertaining the pakshi whereas the other school believes that the bird changes based on whether one is born in Waxing or waning phase. There were also some confusions on whether Shravana star should belong to Cock or Peacock as per Nakshatra scheme of finding bird. I went with the former but still the issue remains unsorted due to various diversions. Also with regard to sub time periods as well as order of birds ruling night time especially there appears to be some issues because it appears misleading that a bird can be both in ruling state at night time and also deathly state during the whole day. These prevailing issues cause some unnecessary distortions for which nobody really knows what the truth is. It is good to know about this technique but the employment of it in practice may involve lots of trials and errors coupled with experience and research especially due to the prevailing confusions associated with respect to this topic.

The phenomenon of Janma Nakshatra coinciding with English Birthday once every 19 years!

In the South of India and also in countries like Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore, the Janma Nakshatra of Moon is given high prominence. It is a tradition to tell the constellation of Moon star and offer prayers to God for one's well being. Birthdays are mostly celebrated on the rising birth star during the respective solar month in which one is born.

It is generally witnessed that every 19th year in one's life the Nakshatra at birth and the English Birthday date seems to coincide and is known to be pretty auspicious. There is however a mathematical computation as well as a reasoning based on why such a phenomenon usually occurs.

One needs to know a couple of basics before going into the specifics. First up is about the Sun which takes 365.25 days to cover it's full round of the 360 degree zodiac in order to return back to its natal solar position. A calendar year however consists of 365 days and every 4th year happens to be a leap year consisting of 366 days. The reason for the leap year is because the earth's orbit around the sun takes 365.25 days approx and to factor that 0.25 days, an extra day is added once in every 4 years.

Now coming to the moon, it takes approx 27.32 days to cover all the 27 Nakshatras or in essence you could say the 360 degrees of the zodiac. A nakshatra covers a distance of 13 degrees 20 minutes of the 360 degree band zodiac belt making the total nakshatra count as 27 (360 degrees divided by 13 degrees 20 minutes). The average daily motion of the moon is 13 degrees 10 minutes and 36 seconds. Converting this in zodiac space minutes, it traverses 790.60 minutes (13*60+10+36/60) in a day and the total nakshatra span happens to be 800 minutes (13*60+20). Hence a Nakshatra remains in the sky for a little over a days time or you can say 24 hours 17 mins and 7 seconds to be more precise (Please note this is also approximate as its based on mean daily motion). In effect to cover all the 27 nakshatras it takes roughly 27.32 days [648 hours (27 nakshatras*24 hours), 459 minutes (27 nakshatras*17 minutes) and 189 seconds (27 nakshatras*7 seconds)].

Thus within a calendar year of 365 days, moon makes 13 full rounds which will be 27.32*13=355.16 days which we shall approximate to 355 days. Thus in a way we can say that a solar year is 365 days and moon lunar year is 355 days. On the date of our birth or 0th year, the constellation which is rising in the skies happens to be our Janma Nakshatra. We celebrate our 1st birthday after the completion of 365 days but the moon completes 13 rounds in 355 days and we see a gap of 10 days between our English Birthday and our star birthday. In the 2nd year the gap becomes 20 days, 3rd year it becomes 30 days but within that span of 30 days, the Moon completes a set of Nakshatras in 27.32 days making the reminder as 3. In the 4th year you see 40 days difference and reminder is 13 and for 5th year reminder will be 23. In the 6th year when the difference heads to 60 days (365*6 less 355*6), moon will complete 2 rounds of 27.32 days which is roughly 55 days and still you would see a reminder of 5 days. This keeps happening until the 19th year when the difference becomes 190 days (365*19 less 355*19). When you divide this figure by 27.32, the reminder becomes 0 with the point difference being very minimal. (190÷27.32 equals approx 7 with fraction reminder). Hence most likely only once in every 19 years, your original Nakshatra at birth ends up arriving on the date of your birthday.

Additionally, it is often seen that the first star birthday is celebrated in a prominent way with the event being termed 'Ayush Homam'. This day will always end up being either 10 days before the actual English Birthday or 17 days after the English Birthday. As you would have guessed 10+17=27 which is the number of days for one nakshatra cycle to get covered. The reason it occurs on either 10 days before or 17 days after is because it also has to coincide with the solar month in which one has taken birth.

Important Facts and Information with respect to Janma Nakshatra:
- The Janma Nakshatra should be celebrated based upon the Luni-Solar month
A lunisolar calendar is a calendar whose date indicates a mixture of both the phase of the Moon and the time of the solar year, hence a combination of the lunar as well as the solar calendar. As an illustration let's say someone were born in the constellation of Rohini on Jan 21st in the solar month of Thai which usually runs from around mid of January to mid of February. Hence while celebrating birthday based on Janma Nakshatra, both these factors need to be ensured. There could be a case of Rohini Nakshatra to occur on say Jan 13th and at that time the solar month of Thai wouldn't have begun yet. Thus in such a case, celebration should be deferred until around Feb 9th or 10th when Rohini Nakshatra would coincide with the Tamil month of Thai. In such a case, the Janma Nakshatra Birthday could be almost 20 days away from one's actual English Birthday but the rule of Nakshatra coinciding with the solar month should always be adhered to.

- Birth Star occurring twice in a Solar month, only second one should be considered
If the Janma Nakshatra occurs twice within a given solar month, only the second occasion needs to be pigeonholed as Janma Nakshatra Birthday. Let's say someone was born in Revathi Nakshatra during the month of Chaitra which normally runs from Apr 14th to May 14th. Suppose Revathi star occurs twice within this phase for instance both on Apr 15th and May 12th, only the latter date of 12th May needs to be considered for the purpose of celebrating Birthday based on Janma Nakshatra

- Birth Star falling in 2 consecutive Solar Days, only second one to be considered
There can be instances of one's Nakshatra falling across 2 days. In such a case only the second one needs to be considered. The important thing to note is that Sunrise should be prevalent and hence the second date gains prominence. Even in cases where the birth star runs before Sunrise on Day1 and ends after Sunrise on Day2, the second day only should be taken into account. Only in such a scenario where the sunrise lasts for less than a third of the Nadika or a sixth of a Muhurtha which is just about 8 minutes on the second day, on that basis alone the first day can be considered presuming the Nakshatra started before Sunrise on Day1. However in extreme cases of Sunrise not being prevalent on both days, then the Janma Nakshatra day should be put on hold and be taken into consideration only in the next Solar month though it would end up being different from the solar month in which one were born.

Note:
The below is to understand how the calculation works. For simplicity we are taking 365 Days as Solar Year and Moon Year as 355 Days. But in actuality the Solar year is around 365.25 Days and a Moon's rotation within a complete solar year of 360 Degrees is around 13 times and takes 355.16 Days. You would see that in the 19th year the reminder is just 1 only because we have not considered fractions and likewise for 38th year it is 2, again on account of not taking the fractions which if taken ends up being close to nil and makes the English Birthday and Star Birthday tally exactly.

Year 1: Solar Cycle 365 Days Moon Cycle 355 Days Difference = 10 Days

Year 2 : Solar Cycle 365*2 Days Moon Cycle 355*2 Days Difference = 20 Days

Year 3 : Solar Cycle 365*3 Days Moon Cycle 355*3 Days Difference = 30 Days but one extra cycle formed by Moon of 27 Days, hence net difference = 3 Days (30-27)

Year 4 : Solar Cycle 365*4 Days Moon Cycle 355*4 Days Difference = 40 but one extra cycle formed by Moon of 27 Days, hence net difference = 13 Days (40-27)

Year 5 : Solar Cycle 365*5 Days Moon Cycle 355*5 Days Difference = 50 but one extra cycle formed by Moon of 27 Days, hence net difference = 23 Days (50-27)

Year 6 : Solar Cycle 365*6 Days Moon Cycle 355*6 Days Difference = 60 but two extra cycle formed by Moon of 27 Days, hence net difference = 6 Days (60-54)

Year 7 : Solar Cycle 365*7 Days Moon Cycle 355*7 Days Difference = 70 but two extra cycle formed by Moon of 27 Days, hence net difference = 16 Days (70-54)
Year 8 : Solar Cycle 365*8 Days Moon Cycle 355*8 Days Difference = 80 but two extra cycle formed by Moon of 27 Days, hence net difference = 26 Days (80-54)
Year 9 : Solar Cycle 365*9 Days Moon Cycle 355*9 Days Difference = 90 but three extra cycle formed by Moon of 27 Days, hence net difference = 9 Days (90-81)
Year 10 : Solar Cycle 365*10 Days Moon Cycle 355*10 Days Difference = 100 but three extra cycle formed by Moon of 27 Days, hence net difference = 19 Days (100-81)
Year 19 : Solar Cycle 365*19 Days Moon Cycle 355*19 Days Difference = 190 but seven extra cycle formed by Moon of 27 Days, hence net difference = 1 Days (190-189)

Year 30 : Solar Cycle 365*30 Days Moon Cycle 355*30 Days Difference = 300 but seven extra cycle formed by Moon of 27 Days, hence net difference = 3 Days (300-297)

Year 38 : Solar Cycle 365*38 Days Moon Cycle 355*38 Days Difference = 380 but fourteen extra cycle formed by Moon of 27 Days, hence net difference = 2 Days (380-378)

It should also be noted that every once in 3 years an extra month called Adhik maasa (365 solar year less 355 day lunar year = 10 days a year*3 years = 30 days or 1 month) is added as a technical correction in order to bridge the difference and synchronize the lunar and solar calendar. However this has no bearing with respect to the Moon's revolution across the 27 Nakshatras or 360 degree zodiacal orbit path.

The Date of celebrating New Year in different South Indian States!

Have you ever wondered why different states in the South of India celebrate new year on different days? There is an astrological as well as a traditional mindset associated mostly with respect to the sunrise/sunset of the day. In all the Indian festivals the sidereal year is adopted but the basis may either be the solar calendar or lunar calendar. Let's take a look at the dates in which new year is being celebrated in these Southern states.

Telugu and Karnataka New Year (Ugadi/Yugadi):
This is based on the lunar calendar which involves the relationship of both Sun and Moon. Ugadi occurs once the moon passes the Sun placed in Pisces (Meena) Rasi signifying the beginning of a new lunar month Chaitra. In other words we can also say the 1st tithi which gets formed viz Pratipada (first day of the bright fortnight of a new Hindu month) that occurs after Ammavasya. In the year 2019, Pratipada Tithi occured in the afternoon of the 5th of April but since sunrise needs to be prevailing only the next day 6th of April was considered for celebration of the new year. However if Pratipada Tithi prevails on 2 days of sunrise, the first day is considered. One thing to note with regard to Ugadi is it can take place any day from the mid of March to the mid of April.

Tamil New Year (Puthandu or Varsha Pirappu):
This is based on the solar calendar and involves the presence of Sun exclusively. The moon's position does not have a bearing in the scheme of things. It takes place with the Sun's ingress in to the sign of Aries (Mesha) signifying the beginning of the first day of the tamil month of Chithirai. It is also termed as Mesha Sankranthi. Astrologically it can also be said that Sun's entry point into the first constellation of Ashwini marks the start of a new year. It is also said to be the first day of Thai indicating the marking of harvest season. In Tamil Nadu, if the event occurs before Sunset it is considered as occurring on the same day however if it happens after Sunset hours (roughly on the mark of 6pm and above), then it is only celebrated on the next day. Varsha Pirappu always takes place in and around the mid of April depending on the Panchang being employed.

Kerala New Year (Vishu):
This follows the same logic as the Tamil New year and occurs with the sun's entry into the zodiac sign of Mesha (Aries). However the only difference being the day of sunrise needs to be prevalent and hence it occurs a day later than the Tamil New Year. This year it took place on the 15th of Apr 2019 and the reason for that is as per Kerala Panchangam, Sun entered Aries in the afternoon of 14th April 2019. During sun rise time on the 14th Apr 2019 it was still in Pisces and so the first day of sunrise after Sun's entry into Aries marks the celebration of Vishu.

Hence to summarize the above information briefly;
Telugu/Karnataka New Year:
Calendar - Lunar Calendar
Month - Chaitra (start of Pratipada Tithi - first day of Shukla Paksha)
Sunrise/Sunset - Sunrise needs to be prevalent on day of Tithi formation, if not considered next day.

Tamil New Year:
Calendar - Solar Calendar
Month - Chithirai (entry point of Sun in Mesha - Aries)
Sunrise/Sunset - At least sunset needs to be present on the day of Sun entering Mesha, if not considered in the next day.

Kerala New Year:
Calendar - Solar Calendar
Month - Chitra (entry point of Sun in Mesha - Aries)
Sunrise/Sunset - Sunrise needs to be prevalent on the day of Sun entering Mesha, if not considered in the next day.

Nalam Vaazha - Mellow & Mellifluous!

There are compositions which happen to be mellifluously mellow that caress and comfort the soul. Nalam Vaazha definitely goes into that bracket. The way it slithers through you with unbridled with sweetness in abundance.

The underlying tone of this majestic melody is the fact that it touches virtually every single note and those slides which canoodle the chromatics is something worth rejoicing. It touches a chord and hits you straight in the heart.

This is generally viewed as a birthday song dedicated to celebrate an event. I choose this to usher in the sun's entry into Aries (Chithirai) signifying the beginning of a new year as per the Hindu calendar.

It was an indeed quite an exercise to play few titbits from this vintage musical construction of the 90's. Wishing the sun a very auspicious solar return as it ingresses onto Mesha rasi which in essence auspices the entry point of the zodiac.

Joyous Jotheyali!

Some compositions are simply sheer joy and Jotheyali fondly falls into that exquisite category. It just caresses off in blitzkrieg fashion right from start to finish. The turbo galloping pace does not hinder it from being lardy-dardy which it so crystal clearly is.

Though this song has a version in every regional linguistic, it's the original Kannada version that takes the cake. The lyrics meld so well with the tune and the synchronization is magical. This one's an evergreen timeless classic and makes me reminisce the good ol' Bangalore days when invariably every bus used to hoot this in full blast.

And from a technical perspective, the pallavi largely employs a hitherto unknown janya raga called 'Katyayani’ which is a derivative of Natabhairavi. You would also notice an eerie resemblance to 'Shivaranjani' with just the Dhaivatam being different. However as it takes off, lustre is added in the form of plenty of alien notes which is a signature of IR.

Do also observe the rivetting trills (rapid alternation between adjacent notes) at ’Ooooo Endha Mathadidhe' and charismatic chromatics (three or more consecutive notes played back or forth) gliding along nonchalantly. All in all makes for a thrilling glissading adventure.

I just tried a wild shot at a couple of portions of this song. These are numbers totally beyond my reach but ultimately it's just the bliss of having attempted it. As the saying goes it's 'Nothing but joy' at the end of the day.

Note: From an astrology point of view, if one is interested to know what planetary positions help in playing the veena, I would say Jupiter and Saturn are most important. The reason is because you make you use of the index finger and middle finger a lot to play the instrument. The mount ruling the index finger happens to be Jupiter and the mount ruling the middle finger happens to be Saturn. Ideally both these planets need to connected with the 3rd house which is known for skills, activities performed by the hand. In my own case both Jupiter and Saturn happen to have aspect on my 3rd house of Leo. Strength depends on where these 2 planets are placed and how they are influencing your 3rd house and also not to forget the zodiac sign in which your 3rd house is falling into. 

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Joyous Jotheyali! Some compositions are simply sheer joy and Jotheyali fondly falls into that exquisite category. It just caresses off in blitzkrieg fashion right from start to finish. The turbo galloping pace does not hinder it from being lardy-dardy which it so crystal clearly is. Though this song has a version in every regional linguistic, it's the original Kannada version that takes the cake. The lyrics meld so well with the tune and the synchronization is magical. This one's an evergreen timeless classic and makes me reminisce the good ol' Bangalore days when invariably every bus used to hoot this in full blast. And from a technical perspective, the pallavi largely employs a hitherto unknown janya raga called 'Katyayani’ which is a derivative of Natabhairavi. You would also notice an eerie resemblance to 'Shivaranjani' with just the Dhaivatam being different. However as it takes off, lustre is added in the form of plenty of alien notes which is a signature of IR. Do also observe the rivetting trills (rapid alternation between adjacent notes) at ’Ooooo Endha Mathadidhe' and charismatic chromatics (three or more consecutive notes played back or forth) gliding along nonchalantly. All in all makes for a thrilling glissading adventure. I just tried a wild shot at a couple of portions of this song. These are numbers totally beyond my reach but ultimately it's just the bliss of having attempted it. As the saying goes it's 'Nothing but joy' at the end of the day. #jotheyali #kannada #tamil #hindi #geetha #shankarnag #IR #SPB #music #ugadi #bangalore #1981

A post shared by Rajiv Shankar (@rajiv_revel) on Apr 7, 2019 at 2:39am PDT