Brahma & Maheswara in Ayur Jyotisha

© Sarajit Poddar

Brahma & Maheswara in Ayur Jyotisha

© Sarajit Poddar
INTRODUCTION

Brahma and Maheswara are two key concepts in Ayur Jyotisha. We know that in
Hindu Pantheon, the Trinity, Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara Create, Protect/
sustain and Annihilate respectively. Thus the concept of Brahma as creater and
Maheswara as the liberator are used in some key Ayur Dasas such as Brahma,
Sthira, Shoola dasa etc. Though their importance is high, many do not venture
into finding them as they turn out to be little complicated. I tried to make this
little easier to understand and compute. With hard work and patience, this can be
learnt and applied in Ayur Jyotisha.

BRAHMA

Yagyam is the worship or praise for Prajapati the progenitor. This is the fourth
principle of Jyotish and is called Lagna or the ascendant representing the seat of
Prajapati the progenitor and the ‘praise worthy one’. He is the (physical) creator
of all beings and is a form of Brahma. He is praised with the Gayatri mantra for
His excellent service to all creation. (Pt. Sanjay Rath)

One among these six planets (Sun to Venus) will represent Brahma the creator, in
the horoscope. Saturn being the Ayus Karaka and having Brahma as his deity[i]
cannot represent Brahma. The nodes do not have a physical body and cannot
contribute one, besides they are actually demoniacal and have become immortal
due to their ‘drinking of the amrita’ clandestinely at the time of the churning of
the primordial ocean. (Pt. Sanjay Rath)

Saturn is the deity of Brahma and is the karaka for the Dusthana. Thus the
calculation of the Brahma involves finding out the stronger among the three
dusthana lords namely, 6th, 8th, 12th lord based on their placement in odd and
visible signs. The predominance of Odd and Visible signs indicates towards the
masculine energy and the power to create. If however, the condition of Odd and

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 Brahma & Maheswara in Ayur Jyotisha
© Sarajit Poddar

visible signs are not fulfilled, the Visibility condition is dropped and if even the
odd-sign condition fails, the condition gets modified to odd-house placement.

THE 8TH LORDSHIP IS ALWAYS SEEN IN REGULAR ORDER FOR

DETERMINATION OF BRAHMA, RUDRA or MAHESWARA AND NOT AS PER
THE VRIDDHA'S PRINCIPLE OF EIGHTH HOUSE RECKONING.

STEPS TO IDENTIFY BRAHMA

RIDER: If the lord of the eighth house from the Atmakaraka is placed in the
eighth house itself, it disqualifies to be the Maheswara, and instead becomes the
Brahma overriding all previous conditions for Brahma determination.

1. Determine the stronger between the lagna and seventh house as per sources of
strength and call this dominant satya peetha.

Follow the following steps to determine the stronger of 1st or 7th.

i. The sign aspected by more planets becomes stronger.

ii. The sign placed with exalted or the sign lord becomes stronger.

iii. The sign aspected by the sign lord, Jupiter or Mercury becomes stronger.

iv. The sign whose lord is placed in sign with different oddity becomes stronger.
For example if the sign under consideration is Even, and the lord is placed in Odd
then it is stronger than if the lord has been placed in the even sign.

v. The sign whose lord has more longitude is stronger.

2. Identify the lords of the 6th, 8th & 12th houses from the dominant satya
peetha. Remember to consider the co-lordship of Aquarius (Rahu) and Scorpio
(Ketu) if these signs are involved.

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 Brahma & Maheswara in Ayur Jyotisha
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3. Check whether any of these lords are

i. Placed in an odd sign and

ii. placed in the visible half of the zodiac from the dominant satya peetha. The
visible half of the zodiac constitutes the signs from the 7th to 12th house (the
signs which are above the horizon).

4. If more than one planet becomes Brahma, check the stronger of them to
qualify for Brahma. However, if none of the 6th, 8th or 12th lord from the
dominant satya peeta, are placed in the odd & visible sign, then move to the
weaker satya peeta and check the conditions for the 6th, 8th and 12th lord
therefrom.

5. If none satisfy the odd & visible sign placement, drop the "visible sign"
condition. Now check again from the Dominant Satya Peetha, if the lords of
6th/8th/12th placed in odd signs. If this fails, move to the weaker Satya Peetha
and check the placement of 6th/8th/12th lord in Odd sign.

6. If all the lords (6th/8th/12th), from both satya peetha are placed in Even signs,
then the placement of 6th/8th/12th lord in Odd "Houses" need to be checked
from the Dominant Satya Peetha and if this condition is not met, the same is
checked from weaker satya peetha.

7. If two or more planets contend for the position of Brahma, then the strongest
should be declared as Brahma.

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 Brahma & Maheswara in Ayur Jyotisha
© Sarajit Poddar

8. Should any of the three planets Saturn, Rahu or Ketu qualifies for the position
of Brahma , then the sixth planet from it, in the order of the reckoning of the
weekdays, becomes Brahma.

i. If Saturn qualifies as Brahma , then replace Saturn with Mars.

ii. If Rahu qualifies as Brahma , then replace Rahu with Mercury.

iii. If Ketu qualifies as Brahma , then replace Ketu with Jupiter.

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 Brahma & Maheswara in Ayur Jyotisha
© Sarajit Poddar

MAHESWARA

There are Ekadas (11) rudras in a horoscope, each being the lord of 8th from each
of the signs excluding the one which is conjoined with Jupiter. Among them, the
lord of the 8th house from the sign occupied by Atmakaraka has the higest status
among the Rudras and is called Mahesvara.

The Bhagwat Gita also indicates this difference when Sri Krishna says, ”amongst
the rudras I am çaìkara (or mahesvara)”. The philosophical difference is that each
of the other ten rudras simply destroys the body whereas Mahesvara liberates the
soul (atma) by delivering it from the cycle of rebirth to the highest spiritual plane.
(Pt. Sanjay Rath)

RIDERS:

1. If the 8th lord from Atmakaraka is exalted or in own sign, the lord of the
8th/12th from it, whichever is stronger, becomes Mahesvara. This is based on the
principle that the 8th lord in exaltation or in own sign loses its sting to kill and
delegates the power to another i.e. the lord of the 8th/12th from the sign where it
is placed.

2. If Rahu or Ketu becomes Mahesvara then the sixth planet counted in the
weekday order becomes the Mahesvara.

Rahu is replaced by Mercury

Ketu is replaced by Jupiter

3. If Rahu or Ketu is in the 1st/8th from Atmakaraka the sixth lord respectively
becomes Mahesvara. Here we most note that the sixth house is the 8th counted in
the reverse direction from Atmakaraka due to Rahu & Ketu.

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 Brahma & Maheswara in Ayur Jyotisha
© Sarajit Poddar

Note: A planet who is qualified to become Brahma is disqualified to become

Maheswara. This can happen if the 8th lord from Atkakaraka is in own house in
8th. For such case, the 8th lord becomes Brahma, over-riding all conditions of
Brahma determination. However for Maheswara, we need to look at the 8th/12th
lord from the disqualified Maheswara (in the previous step).

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