It is impossible to ascertain when the Vedic astrology started and it is even more impossible to say who first started it. According to one legend Lord Shiva taught it to His consort Parvati and She taught it to her son Lord Ganesha, who is the patron God of astrology. According to the other legend Lord Brahma taught it to His son Sun God, who taught it to Manu and the other Rishis. According to a third legend Brahma taught it to his son Narada who taught it to his disciple Sage Saunaka, who taught it to his disciple the legendary Rishi Parashara. There are sevaral “Neetis”, “Suktas” and “Nadis” which are supposed to have been written by Lord Shiva, Soorya, Chandra, Narada and the like. Narada, Vasistha, Saunaka, Jaimini, are some of first of the Rishis to write astrological treatises. These are brief principles of astrology.
The first systematization of astrology took place around 3200 BC, just before the Mahabharata period, according to the Indian calculations.
The credit for systematically explaining the entire theory of Hindu predictive astrology goes to Rishi Parashara, in his magnum opus Brihat Parashara Hora Sastra. Maharishi Parasara is the representative of the Parampara originating from Brihaspati, the Guru of the Devas (demigods), and thus represents the knowledge of Jupiter. According to legend he is the grandson of Rishi Vasistha (son of Vasistha’s daughter Shakti) He was the father of the legendary Rishi Veda Vyasa (who wrote 18 Puranas including the great epic Mahabharata, which includes the famous Bhagavt Geeta, the Brahma Sutras and the Uttara Mimansa). The depth of his astrological knowledge was so great that, one day while crossing a river in a boat, he casually looked at his favorite stars in heaven, and suddenly realized that it was an exceptionally auspicious moment and if a child is conceived at that moment, he will be an expert in the shastras. So he told this to the lady rowing the boat and requested her to marry him. She agreed and the son born was Veda Vyasa! He also authored Parashara Samhita and Parashara Smriti. The Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra is in the form of dialogs between Sage Maitreya who asks questions and Parashara explain the principles. Even after 5000 years it is still the best classic on astrology!!
Another great epic in astrology was born just two generations later – the Jaimini Sutras by Rishi Jaimini, who is famous for his great treatises Jaimini Bharata and Poorva Mimansa Shastra. His guru was the great Rishi Veda Vyasa!! Actually several of the “The Jaimini System” principles were mentioned by Parasara in his Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra. While Parasara mentioned them briefly, Jaimini expounded them fully. Hence it is known as the “Jaimini system of astrology”. Among other things this system employs aspects between the houses and various planets becoming “Karaks” to rule the various aspects of life. There are seven karakas in the traditionally accepted Jaimini system, though a few modern 20th century self styled gurus claim eight karakas.
There was a considerable gap, at least form our knowledge point of view, before any other major astrological work was produced. The next known work isBrihat Jataka by Varahamihira, who was the famous astrologer in the court of The great king Vikramaditya in the 5th century AD. He was also a great astronomer and the first one to mention in his work Pancha Siddhantika, based on our ancient Siddhantas, that the ayanamsa, or the shifting of the equinox is 50.32 seconds. He also authored the famous Brihat Samhita, Daivagyna Vallabha, Laghu Jataka and Yogayatra. He was also a great mathematician. Read details here
Varahamihira’s son Prithu Yasas wrote the famous classic Horasara.
Uttarakalamitra, another great work is attributed to the great poet Kalidasa, who also belonged to the Vikramaditya period. He also wrote another great classic on Muhurta know as Purva Kalamruta.
Sage Yavana during the Alexander period, wrote Yavana Jataka. Sage Yavana was an astrologer in the Greek court in India, and because of this a lot of western astrologers claim that Indians learned astrology from the Greeks!!
After that came several great Astro-authors. The monumental work, Saravali by Kalyana Varma, in the 10th century AD is a great classic.
Around this time Bhattotpala (AD 966) in Kashmir, wrote great commentaries on Varahamihiras works, especially Brihat Samhita, plus several famous works which include Prasanagnana and Satpancasika.
After that we have the great Sarvartha Chintamani by Venkatesa in the 13th century.
Another magnum opus of astrology Jataka Parijata by Vidyanatha Dikshita in the 14th century. It is believed that he is the son of Venkatesa.
Around the the same period came Hora Prakasha by Punja Raja and the great encyclopedic work, Hora Ratnam by Balabhadra.
Phaladeepika by Mantreswara in the 16th century is another monumental work.
Prasna Tantra by Neelakanta Daivagnya, around 1550 AD is a great classic dealing with the Prasna or Horary Astrology.
Muhurta Chintamani by Rama Daivagya, who was the brother of Neelakanta is an acknowledged classic on Muhurta or electoral astrology.
Jataka-alankara by Ganesha in 1613 AD is another brief classic.
Sanketanidhi by Ramadayalu in the mid 19th century is another great classic.
Jatakatatwa by Mahadeva written in 1871 AD is another important work where the planetary effects etc., are given not in Shlokas as in the case of other works but in brief Shuktas. The author’s real name is believed to be Shri Mahadevji Revashakarji Pathak of Rutlam. He lived during the period 1842 AD to 1888 AD.
All these follow what is known as the parashara System.
The other Parampara originates from Sukraaya, the Guru of the Asuras (demons), who is the lord of the planet Venus. His knowledge was entrusted to Maharshi Bhrigu, and this school is known nowadays as Bhrigu or Nadi Jyotish. Bhrigu was also one of the great Rishis of the Vedic era. This system is especially popular in South India, where one can find many ancient scriptures in Tamil and other languages called Nadi Granthams.
There are several other famous works whose dates are not known and their principles are difficult to apply from astrological point of view. For example Deva Keralam. We have just mentioned about the most important astrological classics which a student of astrology must study. The list of astrological works is a very long one and it is almost impossible for any one study all of the in ones lifetime. Out of the above, at present 16 of the most important classics are on this site in English in our Vedic Astrology scriptures section.
