History of Vedic Astrology

To know more about the his Vedic astrology, we should go mythological era of Vedic astrology. The mythological era of Vedic Astrology begins from 8300 B.C and continues till 3000 B.C. The relics of this time and the proved facts tell us that Astrology developed into a complete science in that period. Astrology was known as ‘Vedang’ in that era. A lot of work was done in Astrology during this period.

Therefore, the mythological era is known as the golden period of astrology because 18 sages studied astrology and experimented on astrology during this period.

The name of the 18 sages who worked during this time are as follows:

  • Surya
  • Pitamah
  • Vyas
  • Vashist
  • Atri
  • Parashar
  • Kashyap
  • Narad
  • Garg
  • Marichi
  • Manu
  • Angrishi
  • Lomesh
  • Polish
  • Chavan
  • Yavan
  • Bhrigu
  • Shaunaka

The main epics of Vedic astrology in mythological era are as follows:

Rik Jyotish Grantha

This epic has a detailed description of a season, year, climate, month and muhurta. But, this epic does not have the reference of planets and Rashis. This epic acts as a guide to the present day astrologers.

Yajur and Atharva Veda

Like Rik astrology, this epic also contains the details of motions of the nakshatras. Apart from this, a detailed description ofn Tithis, Yogas, Karanas and Taras are also given. The classification of Tara-Sampat and Vipat is found in this epic. The rule of finding Tara-Sampat and Vipat provided in this epic is used in the same way as it was used at this time.

Surya Pragyapti Granth

This epic mainly contains facts related with Sun, the motion of Sun, Yuga, Ayana and Muhurta.

Chandra Pragyapti Granth

Chandra Pragyapti Granth contains facts about Sun and Moon. This epic mainly contains the description of Chaya Sadhan astrology. It contains the description of 25 kinds of shadows. The main shadow among these shadows is Keelak shadow or Shanku shadow. We can calculate the duration of a day by a shadow with the help of this epic. But, the complete form of this epic is not available today.