Rashi

Definition

A rashi is a sign of the Vedic zodiac — one of twelve equal thirty-degree slices of the 360-degree band of sky the planets travel through. Varahamihira lists Rasi, Kshetra, Griha, Riksha, Bham and Bhavana as words for a sign: a twelfth part of the heavens, or thirty degrees of the ecliptic. The twelve run in order from Mesha (Aries) through Meena (Pisces), and the word rasi itself can mean a heap or collection. Vedic astrology reads them in the nirayana, the sidereal zodiac measured against the fixed stars.

In Tradition

Classical and modern Jyotish sources alike treat the rashi as the building block of the zodiac: the 360-degree circle split into twelve equal thirty-degree signs. The Brihat Jataka puts it in so many words — each sign is "a twelfth part of the heavens or 30 of the ecliptic" — and Charak, Sutton, Rao and Narasimha Rao each describe the same twelvefold thirty-degree division running from Aries to Pisces.

In Practice

In a reading, the rashi a graha (planet) sits in at birth is the first thing checked: it tells you whether that planet is in its own sign, exalted, debilitated, or in a friendly or enemy sign, and so colours the results it tends to bring (Rayudu; Bhatia). The same twelve rashis also act as ascendants, or Lagnas — the rising sign — each given its own sketch of body, health and temperament (Rayudu; Bhagat). "Rasi" can also mean the sign the Moon held at birth, the Janma Rasi, kept distinct from the Lagna or rising sign (Kannan). And as Sutton notes, each rashi rules one house of the chart, so it speaks to the part of life that house covers.

Historical Origin

The umbrella idea goes back to the classical Brihat Jataka of Varahamihira (Ch.I Sl.4), which names the synonyms Rasi, Kshetra, Griha, Riksha, Bham and Bhavana. The modern Jyotish literature carries it forward, in the work of Levacy, Charak, Sutton, Kannan, Behari, Raman, Rayudu, Rao, deFouw and Svoboda, Bhatia, Murthy, Cole, Bhagat and Narasimha Rao.

Further Reading

• Varahamihira, Brihat Jataka
• Levacy, Beneath a Vedic Sky
• Charak, Elements of Vedic Astrology
• Sutton, The Essentials of Vedic Astrology
• Kannan, Fundamentals of Hindu Astrology
• Behari, Fundamentals of Vedic Astrology
• Raman, Hindu Predictive Astrology
• Rayudu, How to Read a Horoscope
• Rao, Hindu Astrology Easily
• deFouw and Svoboda, Light on Life
• Bhatia, Microscopy of Astrology
• Raman, Notable Horoscopes
• Murthy, Phala Jyoutisha (Interpretative Astrology)
• Cole, Science of Light, Volume I
• Bhagat, Sure Shot of Vedic Astrology
• Narasimha Rao, Vedic Astrology: An Integrated Approach