El artículo 145-3

Stanza 102. — If the messenger puts in his question from east, south, west or north, it is good. If he occupies south-east, south-west, north-west or north-east, it is bad. This applies to men only. The reverse holds good for women.

Stanza 103. — If the questioner faces or stands in the south, it indicates evil especially regarding the question of longevity.

PRANAKSHARA

Stanza 104. — If the first syllable or Gana of the words uttered by the querent happens to be one owned by any of the Bhutas — Akasa, Vayu, Agni, Apa and Prithvi, the effect of the query will not be happy.

NOTES

Gana is a term used in pfrosody, where there are 8 syllable groups, viz., (1) Ma, (2) Ya, (3) Ra, (4\ Sa, (5) Ta. (6) Ja, (7) Bha and (8) Na.

Stanza 105. — The alphabet is divided under two heads, viz., the vowels headed by Aa (3f) and the consonants headed by the gutterals (...) including the liquids, semi-vowels and sibilants. The vowels constitute the 'Life' and consonants the 'Body'.

Stanza 106. — If the sentence of a query begins with a vowel, the query may be about the person's longevity and the effect will be beneficial. The trouble, if any, is only physical. Similarly if the sentence begins with a consonant, the trouble is not so much with the body as with his longevity.

Stanza 107. — The five vargas or groups of consonants have five syllables each presided over by Vayu, Agni, Indra, Jala and Napumsaka. If the first letter of the question happens to fall under Napumsaka, the result will be extremely bad; if under Vayu and Agni, evil results befall; if under Indra, neutral effect; if under water, favourable results. In vowels too, the short and long belong respectively to Indra and Jala.

NOTES

The five vargas or groups of consonants are : —

Jna

Pavarga: (Palatals) Pa, Pha, Ba, Bha, Ma Tavarga: (Dentals) Ta, Tta, Da, Dda, Na Thavarga: (Linguals) Ta, Tha, Da, Dha, Na

In each varga, the first to last syllable is presided over respectively by Vayu (air), Agni (fire), Indra, Jala (water) and Napumsaka (eunuch). Tf for instance, you take Kavarga, the letters Ka, Kha, Ga, Gha and Jna are ruled by Air, Fire, Tndra, Water and Napumsaka respectively. Suppose the first letter of a certain query commences with the letter ma, the result will be harmful as the syllable is presided over by Napumsaka or eunuch. In this way, other syllables should be interpreted. The syllables ya, ra, la, va, sa, sha, sa, ha, la and ksha have similar lords as mentioned above.

Assign short vowels (...) to Indra Bhuta and (...) to Jala Bhuta. Stanza 108.

Ganas Presiding Deities Effects

Jhagana (u — u) The Sun (Surya) Increase of illness

Sagana (u u — ) Air (Vayu) Going to another country Bhagana ( — uu) The Moon (Chandra) World-wide renown Magana ( --- ) Earth (Bhoorai) Prosperity

Ragana ( — u — ) Fire (Agni) Death

Thagana ( --- u) Ether (Akasa) Emptiness or poverty Yagana (u --- ) Watar (Jala) Exceptional prosperity Nagana (uuu) Heaven (Swarga) Long Life

NOTES

This sloka is from the Anushtanapaddhati.

Letters are divided into hard (guru) and soft (laghu) ones. Long ones are said to be hard and short ones soft. In the word uttered by the questioner, the first three letters make up a gana. Ganas are divided into eight on the basis of soft and hard ores. For instance in stanza 108, 1st line of the three letters constituting Jhagana, the first (u) is laghu or soft, the second is guru or hard and the third is laghu the whole Jhagana being ruled by the Deity Sun. Likewise in the Sagana the first letters (u u) are soft and the third ( — ) hard. In Magana all the three letters (---) are hard (guru). In the words uttered by the questioner, take the first three letters and fit them to the above classification of ganas and then give appropriate prediction.

With due deference to the author and his eminent disciples I must confess that the method given in stanza 108 is not easily applicable in actual practice.

Stanza 109. — If the questioner utters words that are very pleasing to the ears, auspicious coherent and expressive, predict success of his undertaking; otherwise not. If his sentence closes

with a Visarga, then too the effect will be unfavourable.

Stanza 110. — Moreover find out the Lagna from the first letter of the querent's statement and then predict the results, good or bad as the case may be.

Stanza 111. — There are seven Vargas, viz., Aa (*), ka (*), cha (*), ta (*), tha (*), pa (*) and ya (*) belonging to the Sun, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon respectively.

Stanza 112. — By a consideration of ihis varga division, ascertain the Lagna on the basis of the first, second and third letters and answer the questioner.

Stanza 113. — In the case of Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn, each having two signs, take their odd or even signs according as the syllable is odd or even in the Vargas. In the case of the luminaries, there is no such difference, as they own only one house each.

Stanza 114. — This plan is made use of when neither the Arudha nor the Udaya Lagna is known. So too when there are many questions put practically at the same time.

NOTES

Some sort of a connection is established between sound vibrations and the zodiacal signs. There are seven vargas or groups of letters.

Planet Varga letters commencing from Sun

a aa i ee u oo ri rii lu loo e ai o ow

Mars

k kha ga gha gna Venus

cha cliha ja jha nya Mercury

ta tah da dah na Jupiter

tha thha da dha na Saturn

pa pha ba bha ma Moon

ya ra la va ha sha sa ha la

According to stanza 111, the above vargas are ruled by the Sun, Mars, Venus. Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon respectively. Stanza 112 is interpreted by different scholars in different ways. Mr. P. G. S. Iyer who assisted me in translating this work and who was well versed in Malayalam and Sanscrit, thinks that by taking the first word in the query and tracing it to the varga concerned and thence to the planet, the Lagna should be found out. Suppose the first

word of a query commences with Aa (*): the presiding planet being the Sun, the Lagna would be Leo. In regard to two signs owned by a planet, the odd or even position of the first letter in the appropriate varga should be taken. Suppose a query commences with ba (*); it is the third letter in Pavarga : presided over by Saturn. Since 3 is an odd number, you must take Aquarius, the odd sign, as Lagna. If instead, the query commences with bha (*): This is the 4th letter and 4 being an even number, the Lagna will be Capricorn, the even sign owned by Saturn.

This method of ascertaining Lagna should be resorted to in the absence of Arudha or Udaya Lagnas or when a number of queries are put simultaneously.

Stanzas 112 to 114 are taken from Prasna Gnana of Bhattotpala.