Ramayana -2: Loss of a tithi before the Mahabharata war reflected in the mismatch of Rama’s tithi-star

The present-day alignment between tithi and star did not exist before the Mahabharata war commenced. Some strange observations were made by Vyasa on the shift in the Amavasya in the month of Karthika and the Full Moon occurring for the second consecutive month in the Krittika star. The breaking away of a comet (Dhumaketu) on the day of Pushya in Karthika month resulted in the fragments hitting the earth and the moon simultaneously. The impact on the moon was tremendous that its orbit got disturbed with the nodes shifting their locations.

The above illustration represents how the change of tithi occurred. It occurred on 2^nd September, 3136 BCE, in the Karthika month before the war. Vyasa referred to “Dhumaketur mahaghorah Pushyam Akramya tishtathi” (MB: 6-3-12b). On the day of Pushya, a comet afflicted. The anointment of Bhishma as the commander-in-chief of the Kauravas got affected due to the rain of fragments and associated changes in the atmosphere with the excess release of NOx from the cosmic impact causing everything red in the surroundings.

The affliction to the moon is mentioned as “Somasya lakshma vyavrittam” (5.141.10 and 6-2-32). It means the dark spot on the disc of the moon changed its position. This was a reference to the appearance of a fresh spot on the spotless region of the moon of Krishna Shashti. When they saw the moon rising around midnight, it appeared like Saptami moon! In other words, Shashti became Saptami. The change in Karana (Karana is half of tithi) is also mentioned in the Mahabharata indicating the abrupt change of tithi. As a result, the moon joined the Sun to cause Amavasya on Trayodaśī tithi itself. This change is also immortalized into a story that many Tamil speaking people are aware of (in the context of Krishna starting to do Tarpan well before Amavasya by which the Sun and the Moon arrived early to ask Krishna why he was doing tarpan even before they joined for Amavasya. This episode is included in the Tamil movie “Karnan”. This episode is mentioned in Jyothish texts in the context of how Bodhayana Amavasya started).

The change of tithi became possible because of the change in the orbit of the moon hit by the comet. Rahu (ascending node) shifted in the opposite direction as a result. Rahu and Ketu (known as nodes representing the ascending and descending nodes in the lunar orbit) move in an anti-clockwise direction in the zodiac whereas all the planets including the sun and the moon move in the clockwise direction. The hit on the moon caused a tremble in the lunar orbit in such a way that Rahu shifted towards the Sun in clockwise direction thereby causing the Moon to move to a forward position quicker than normal.

In the illustration, the lunar orbit is shown in red colour. After getting hit by the comet-pieces from the direction of Cancer (Kataka where Pushya is located), the orbit got disturbed in such a way that Rahu (R-1) got shifted to R-2 in the clockwise direction (dotted circle in blue). The moon, thus pushed into a newer position was closer to the sun in its orbit than normal and reached Amavasya position on Trayodaśī tithi itself.

This caused the loss of one tithi. What was Trayodaśī was Amavasya! Thereafter the new position and alignment caused the Amavasya to occur a little earlier at least three or four times in a year. This was codified by Bodhayana Maharishi such that this earlier Amavasya came to be recognized as Bodhayana Amavasya. When the Amavasya starts on the evening of Caturdaśī tithi and ends before sunset on the Amavasya tithi, that is called Bodhayana Amavasya. The missed tithi during the comet-hit has made this earlier occurrence of Amavasya every now and then even now.

Today, past dates are simulated by extrapolating the current alignment backwards. The mismatch between tithi and star as it exists today will be reflected in the date of Rama, that came before the Mahabharata date. Shukla Navami coinciding with Punarvasu in the month of Mesha can never be simulated with our software due to the loss of tithi suffered during the Mahabharata time. Certainly, it will be one tithi less for the birth date of Rama. This is palpable when I tried to simulate the Panchanga features and planetary positions as well in Jhora simulator. The combinations did exist together on 9^th January, 5114 BCE with the only exception to Navami tithi. It was one tithi less.

The simulation showed that the month was Nija Caitra (following Adhika Caitra) with the Sun well inside the Mesha rasi close to the degree of exaltation with other planetary positions exactly as told by Valmiki. The Lagna was simulated for mid-noon (Abhijit Muhurta) in Ayodhya for that day and it perfectly showed Punarvasu having entered Kataka rasi, in its last Pada. Sun, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn were in exalted positions. Saturn in opposition to the Sun will be in retrograde motion. It was indeed so in Vrischika Rasi (Scorpio). In astrological terms we consider retrogression as having made the planet move to the previous sign. By this, Saturn is deemed to be in Libra, its sign of exaltation. Valmiki had meant that only.

If on the other hand, someone insists that Saturn should have been in Libra to fulfil the version of Valmiki, it means that Saturn is in Kanya rasi (Virgo) which is not a sign of exaltation. Therefore, Saturn in Scorpio was the original position at Rama’s birth which was treated as having regressed into Libra.

The position of the nodes also got changed due to the mishap on the moon before the Mahabharata war. The impact caused the nodes to shift to a new position in a clockwise direction. (Thereafter, they however continued with their anti-clockwise motion). How much they moved forward on that fateful day is not known. So, the original location of the nodes at Rama’s birth must have been a little backward in the zodiac. In the traditional version of the analysis of Rama’s horoscope taught to students (including me) was to place Ketu in Gemini (12^th house) and Rahu in Sagittarius.

Rama’s horoscope

The only major deviation is Shukla Ashtami – the causes for it have already been explained. Shukla Ashtami must be taken as Shukla Navami. Every tithi simulated in the period of Rama must be added with an extra tithi.

For Shukla Navami to occur on 9^th January, 5114 BCE, the Sun was in 29^th degree of Pisces (Revati) when the Amavasya took place. The 1^st tithi was on the 30^th degree of Pisces (Revati last degree), 2^nd tithi in Ashwini and so on. By the time the moon entered Punarvasu, the Sun also had entered Mesha. The tithi on Punarvasu appears as Ashtami because this was extrapolated from the current tithi-star alignment with a loss of a tithi 5000 years ago.

The tithi-star mismatch in Rama’s date offers a remarkable proof for the later day loss of a tithi. For all the dates of Ramayana to be simulated in the upcoming parts, the simulation must be done for the previous tithi so that it will be the desired tithi in the analysis. For example, Indrajit was killed on a Krishna Caturdaśī as per Valmiki. I will be simulating the Krishna Trayodaśī as that will be Caturdaśī.

A word on the ayanamsa used. Both the planetary and Panchanga combinations for Rama’s date appeared only with Drik Siddhanta blended with Lahiri ayanamsa. The Surya Siddhanta model did not produce the results though the Surya Siddhanta ayanamsa was almost close to what we have now. So, it confirms my deduction from Tamil sources on the date of Ramayana coinciding with the end of the 1^st Sangam age and the beginning of the 2^nd Sangam Age. Kavātapuram, the capital of the 2^nd Sangam Age finds mention in Valmiki Ramayana (VR: 4-41-19)

It also shows that in the oscillatory model of Surya Siddhanta, we are on the same side of the oscillation, facing the same part of the sky, particularly the same Northern Star, namely, Dhruva Nakshatra (Polaris) in the Shishumara (Ursa Minor) constellation, as it were during Rama’s time; Equinox at almost the same part of the sky and the seasons like how it is now. Rama Rajya started almost around the same time in the previous cycle; It is repeated now with the re-establishment of Rama’s abode in Ayodhya!

Back to dating work, having explained the major issue in finding the birth date of Sri Rama, let me start giving the timeline of events based on the inputs in the Ramayana.

 (Cont'd)