''Jataka Parijata'' is an Indian astrological text that is ranked alongside
Bṛhat Parāśara Horāśāstra
The Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (Sanskrit: बृहत् पराशर होरा शास्त्र; IAST: '; abbreviated to BPHS) is the most comprehensive extant Śāstra on Vedic natal astrology, in particular the Horā branch (p ...
of
Parāśara Muni,
Bṛhat Jātaka of
Varāhamihira
Varāhamihira ( 505 – 587), also called Varāha or Mihira, was an ancient Indian astrologer, astronomer, and polymath who lived in Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh, India). He was born at Kapitba in a Brahmin family, in the Avanti region, roughly co ...
and
Phaladīpikāḥ of
Mantreśvara. It is regularly studied as a textbook and a reliable reference-book, and is one of the few books that gives time on the nativity, the other two being
Horā Ratnaṃ and Jātaka Bharaṇaṃ.
Jataka Parijata (
Devanāgarī
Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the a ...
: ,
IAST
The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...
: ) is written in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
in the usual
Śloka
Shloka or śloka ( sa, श्लोक , from the root , Macdonell, Arthur A., ''A Sanskrit Grammar for Students'', Appendix II, p. 232 (Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 1927). in a broader sense, according to Monier-Williams's dictionary, is ...
-format. Its author,
Vaidyanātha Dīkṣita, was probably born c.1425-1450. Many noted scholars and authors like - V.Subramanya Sastri, G.S.Kapoor, Gopesh Kumar Ojha,
Bangalore Venkata Raman
Bangalore Venkata Raman (8 August 1912 – 20 December 1998) was an Indian astrologer in modern India and an author of numerous books and articles. He was instrumental in making Vedic Astrpology (Saint Parashar System) or Hindu astrology known a ...
, Bepin Behari, Gayatri Vasudev, S.S.Chaterjee, Ernst Wilhelm, Hart De Fouw, Arthur Llewellyn Basham, Komilla Sutton - have translated and written commentaries on Jataka Parijata beside referring to its contents in their own works.
Jātaka Pārijāta, according to Gopesh Kumar Ojha, was completed in the year 1347 Śaka/1482 Vikram Saṃvat i.e. in the year 1426 A.D. It is based on various earlier works such as
Garga Horā,
Bṛhat Parāśara Horāśāstra
The Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (Sanskrit: बृहत् पराशर होरा शास्त्र; IAST: '; abbreviated to BPHS) is the most comprehensive extant Śāstra on Vedic natal astrology, in particular the Horā branch (p ...
, Śrīpati-Paddhati,
Sārāvalī
:''Kalyanavarman is also the name of a member of the Varman dynasty (5th century).''
The ''Sārāvalī'' of is a foundational compilation of Indian astrology, dating to ca. 800 CE, somewhat post-dating the '
An English translation was publishe ...
,
Bṛhat Jātaka,
Sarvārtha Cintāmaṇi etc. Its author, Vaidyantha, who was a devotee of Ranganatha (Lord
Viṣṇu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...
) and lived in South India in Karṇāṭaka or Andhra, belonged to the
Bharadvāja Gotra
In Hindu culture, the term gotra (Sanskrit: गोत्र) is considered to be equivalent to lineage. It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor or patriline. Generally, the gotra fo ...
and was the son of Veṅkaṭadri. Some scholars are of the opinion that Vaidyanātha is the same person who wrote ''Prataprudriya''.
Keśava Daivajṅa, the author of ''Keśava Jātaka'' and ''Muhūrta-Tattva'', was his disciple.
Jātaka Pārijāta has Eighteen chapters viz. I: Prathamo'dhyāyaḥ – ''Rāśiśīlādhyāyaḥ'' (61 verses) or Chapter on forms of Signs, II: Dvitīyo'dhyāyaḥ – ''Grahasvarūpaguṇādhyāyaḥ'' (87 verses) or Chapter on nature of Planets, III: Tṛtīyo'dhyāyaḥ – ''Viyonyādijanmādhyāya'' (80 verses) or Chapter on Births, IV: Caturtho'dhyāyaḥ – Bālāriṣṭādhyāyaḥ (107 verses) or Chapter on Early Death, V: Pañcamoyo'dhyāyaḥ – ''Āyurdāyādhyāyaḥ'' (124 verses) or Chapter on Longevity, VI: Tṛtīyo'dhyāyaḥ – ''Jātakabhaṅgādhyāyaḥ'' (102 verses) or Chapter on Miseries and set-backs, VII – ''Rājayogādhyāyaḥ'' (181 verses) or Chapter on gain of Rulership and ruling powers, VIII – ''Dviyadigrhayogādhyāyaḥ'' (118 verses) or Chapter on Conjunction etc., of two or more planets, IX – ''Mandyabdadiphaladhyaya'' (129 verses) or Chapter on the role of Māndi etc., X – ''Aṣṭakavargādhyāyaḥ'' (72 verses) or Chapter on Aṣṭakavarga system, XI – ''Prathamadvityābhāvaphalādhyāyaḥ'' (96 verses) or Chapter on nature and results on account of planetary influence etc.,of the Lagna and the 2nd house, XII – ''Tṛtyācaturthabhāvaphalādhyāyaḥ'' (144 verses) or Chapter on nature and results on account of planetary influence etc.,of the 3rd and the 4th house, XIII – ''Pañcamaṣaṣṭhabhāvaphalādhyāyaḥ'' (82 verses) or Chapter on nature and results on account of planetary influence etc.,of the 5th and the 6th house, XIV – ''Saptamāṣṭamnavamabhāvaphalādhyāyaḥ'' (103 verses) or Chapter on nature and results on account of planetary influence etc.,of the 7th, the 8th and the 9th house, XV – ''Daśamekādaśādvādaśabhāvaphalādhyāyaḥ'' (83 verses) or Chapter on nature and results on account of planetary influence etc.,of the 10th, 11th and the 12th house, XVI – ''Strījātakādhyāyaḥ'' (54 verses) or Chapter on Female horoscopy, XVII – ''Kālacakradaśādhyāya'' (111 verses) or Chapter on Kālacakradaśā calculation and results and XVIII – ''Daśāphalādhyāyaḥ'' (172+4 verses) Chapter on Uḍudaśās.
These eighteen chapters said to originally contain 1763 ślokas, due to interpolations now consisting of 1910 or 1918 verses, cover the entire range of
Hindu astrology
Jyotisha or Jyotishya (from Sanskrit ', from ' “light, heavenly body" and ''ish'' - from Isvara or God) is the traditional Hindu system of astrology, also known as Hindu astrology, Indian astrology and more recently Vedic astrology. It is one ...
based on Parāśarian principles. Like Bṛhat Jātaka, Jātaka Pārijāta is a condensation of more ancient Hora texts and some later important works including Bṛhat Jātaka.
Author
Vaidyanatha Dikshita, was the author of ''Jataka Parijata''.
Not much is known about his life except for his statement in ''Jataka Parijata''. According to Katva, Vaidyanatha lived in the 14th century in
Mysore
Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...
. V. Subramanya Sastri, the translator and commentator of ''Jataka Parijata'', disagreed with the attribution of ''
Sarvartha Chintamani
''Sarvartha Chintamani''
is one of the important books of astrology belonging to ancient India. Written in Sanskrit verse it deals with the effects of each house in the natal chart in far greater detail besides giving the description about the ...
'' to Venkatadri Dikshita, suggesting that Vaidyanatha Dikshita was born between 1425 and 1450. He cited the fact that Kesava Daivajna, the author of ''Muhurata Tattva'', a
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
treatise on
Hindu astrology
Jyotisha or Jyotishya (from Sanskrit ', from ' “light, heavenly body" and ''ish'' - from Isvara or God) is the traditional Hindu system of astrology, also known as Hindu astrology, Indian astrology and more recently Vedic astrology. It is one ...
and a disciple of Vaidyanatha Dikshita who was born around 1456, was the father of
Ganesa Daivajna, who in 1520 wrote the Sanskrit treatise on astrology titled ''Graha Laghava''.
Vaidyanatha also wrote ''Patrimargapradeepika,'' a textbook on calculating the birth-chart etc., and the ''Janamapatrika''.
References
{{Jyotish Vidya, state=collapsed
Sanskrit texts
Hindu astrological texts