Basics of Vedic astrology-Rashi

First of all my congratulations for your interest in astrology. It is great science and I am sure that it can improve the life of the people to a large extend. Our ancestors had left us with such a great knowledge which can be used to improve the life of all the people in the world. Then why cant we use for the success of our life?


It is usually found that many fake astrologers are cheating the people with their limited knowledge of the subject or they are not ready to take the pains for the correct analysis of the horoscope. So it is better to know the basics of the subject to let you not cheated by some one. It is a divine and complex science but it is easy to learn if you dedicate some time for it.

My approach is to start from the basic itself for the people who does not had the luck know even the basics of the subject. First of all I am going to introduce to you some basic terms of Astrology. Read the descriptions about the terms two or three times and grasp it in your mind as without these terms you can not proceed further in astrology. Some of the terms which I am going to tell you about are : 1) Rashi (Sign), 2) Grahas(Planets) ,3) Nakshatra (Star zones) ,4) Bhava(Houses), Dasha (Periods) and Lagna (Ascendant).

1) Rashi (Sign)

Its not so easy to grab the concept of rashi, so read it many times and make sure that you understood the concept fully.The word Rashi may have many meanings in the regional languages but in the vedic astrology it is a way to measure the space and time in a single unit. Now consider an example, if some one ask you time you will tell them time is 3 am , 5 pm or like that. Or if a person is standing near you, you will say he is standing in front of you or in the back or in the left side of you etc. In astrology we use the term Rashi to describe both, the time and the space around you. Now I will explain how.

Take the case of Time, in our day to day life, the time is divided into 24 hours or 24 parts. In astrology we divide the time from both sunrise to sunset and the sunset to sunrise in 12 parts and each part is called a Rashi. In case of months also we can divide the whole month into 12 Rashis. The whole year is also divided into 12 Rashis. Thus all the divisions of time can be described in 12 parts of which each part is a Rashi. Each rasi is given a name .

Now the case of space around you. Consider the situation that a person is standing near you. Imagine a circle which is of 360 degree around you and you in its centre. The whole circle is divided into 12 Rashis or twelve equal parts of 30 degree each. If names are given to each Rashis, you can easily say the person near you is standing in which portion of the circle or which Rashi around you. You can imagine a circle with any thing in its centre and can describe the rashis attached to the circle. You can imagine a circle around you, your house or a tree or anything. In the same way you can divide the solar system by considering a circle of 360 degrees around the earth. We can explain which planets are now standing in which rashi and so on. Like wise the whole universe can also be divided into 12 rashis.

Thus Rashi is a term used to describe both the space and time. Now it is the beginning and if I give the scientific explanations of these divisions many people may not be able to understand. So we can discuss it later. In the next post the Names of the Rashis and other important information about Rashis will be explained.

Hope you understood something about the signs or rashis. In case of any doubts please leave a comment here and I will try explain it with my best effort.


Division of Rashis in space