Tattva (The Five Elements)

TUT-twa

sanskrit: तत्त्व / महाभूत (Tattva / Mahābhūta)

Definition

Tattva — also called Mahabhuta — is Vedic cosmology's name for the five great elements: earth (prithvi), water (jala or apah), fire (agni or tejas), air (vayu) and ether or space (akasha). Sankhya philosophy treats these as the five basic states of matter, from which all of creation is built. Earth predominates in solids, water in liquids and air in gases; fire lets one state turn into another, and ether is the space where change happens. Each element is also tied to a planet (graha), which takes on the element of its sign.

In Tradition

Across the classical and modern Jyotish literature, the five elements are shared out among the grahas, and a planet's elemental make-up is read as a key to character. The element of your strongest planet at birth is held to shape your temperament and your bodily lustre. Authors agree on this general idea while differing on exactly which planet carries which element.

In Practice

A jyotishi (Vedic astrologer) uses the tattvas to read the grahas and the signs they sit in, since a planet takes on its sign's element. Each element carries a character note — ether for creativity and speech, fire for aggression and leadership, earth for focus and stability, air for mobility and intellect, water for emotion and intuition — and the strongest planet's element is read as most telling, its effects felt in proportion to that planet's intensity. The assignments vary by author. BPHS gives fire to Mars, earth to Mercury, ether to Jupiter, water to Venus, air to Saturn, with the Sun fiery and the Moon watery; Light on Life instead pairs Sun and Mars with fire, Moon and Venus with water, Mercury with earth, Saturn with air, Jupiter with ether. Cole describes a tattva dosha — an elemental flaw arising when one planet links two unfriendly limbs of the panchanga (the five-part Vedic almanac), which weakens it and calls for remedial worship of its element.

Historical Origin

The five elements are set out in the classical Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (Ch.76), where Parashara introduces the effects of earth, air, water, fire and ether — here in Kapoor's translation. Modern authors carry the doctrine forward: Levacy, Behari, Larsen, deFouw and Svoboda, and Cole each elaborate it, connecting the elements to the grahas, the Sankhya states of matter, the panchanga and remedial practice.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading