NADI ASTROLOGY
Nadi Astrology is a collective name given for compendium texts written in South India. In the Northern sides, they’re known as Samhitas. The North has Bhrigu Samhita, the South has Bhrigu Nadi. There are numerous texts developed by several sages with their own predictive methodologies which have been explained through numerous horoscopes and pattern-- Some important Nadi's are Bhirgu Nadi, Bhirgu Nandi Nadi, Navagrah Nadi ( Surya, Chandra , Budh Nadi etc.) ,Ravan Samhita ( Guruwalia UP) , Narad samhita ( Champaran Bihar), Arun Samhita ( banaras) etc. There are NUMEROUS Nadi Centers who use old Nadi texts that had horoscope compilations to match yours and then read results written for them. NARAD sAMHITA is unique as it explains alltogether a different system of astrology -BHUGANGA JYOTISH -IN THIS SIMPLY BY MEASURING the span from manibandh rekha to to top of ring fingure and from the first letter uttered by the person whole horoscope is cast and prediction are given
The Nadi texts are humongous volumes and contain authentic information that has stood the test of time. Below, I share pictures of a privately published copy of Bhrigu Samhita that I have. I have added watermarks to the image so that other geniuses do not download the image and use it for their marketing.
Just a quick note. I have learnt from these texts but I do not give Nadi Readings from these. The copy I have has majority of horoscope till the 1900 AD. If there are some from the past few decades I am not the least bit interested in wasting my time and energy searching for those. Kindly do not put forth any such requests. There are dedicated temples and places which offer such services. And trust me, it is a nightmare to find a horoscope from here.
The circles that you see in one of the images are the various combinations of horoscopes each with serial numbers. So I would first have to find out which one of these belongs to a person. There are pages after pages of these arranged by year, month, type of horoscope (affluent, deprived, etc.)
Once I get the horoscope, I go to the reading written for it. The entire text of Bhrigu Samhita is a conversation between Maharishi Bhrigu and his son Shukracharya. The image to the left of the circles is the typical reading. The one above is the heading of various chapters and how a chapter starts.
Now, having said that; the Bhrigu Samhita has no “divine knowledge”. No Nadi text written anywhere in the world has even the slightest hint of anything out of ordinary. The horoscope is interpreted based on rules of astrology and the results are laid down. Most of these results do not even match now, because the context of life has changed. Early marriage once meant marriage in 11th or 12th year and late meant at 19. Today, 19 is pretty early for marriage and late can many anything from 30 to 60! Hence, contexts change and the readings become invalid without the proper context. However, knowledge remains.
Now, the question primarily asks about methodology, so I am going to address that in much more detail. I am assuming the people asking and reading want to know the concept behind Nadi and hence I am assuming they have basic idea of Vedic astrology.
So, Nadi, although I hate the the word as it has been used by many fakes; is nothing but the compilation of a particular school of thought. Just like the modern vedic astrology is said to be either a Parashari school of thought, or Jaimini school of thought, or KP school of thought; same way, the most ancient schools of thoughts were known by their preachers. Since knowledge was not as widespread and written communication was yet developing, sages wrote their wisdom on palm leaves, tree barks and any such thing. The compendium of a sage was known as his samhita/nadi. The work on astrology by Shukracharya came to be known as Shukra Nadi, by Agasthya came to be known as Agathiyar Nadi or Agasthya Samhita, by Bhrigu was Bhrigu Samhita, by Nandi was Nandi Nadi, by Narada was Narada Samhita, the mutual contributions of the seven great sages came to be known as Saptarishi Nadi and so on are the various Nadis and Samhitas. Each deals with astrology in a particular way and each does an exceptional work. It isn’t possible to discuss every Nadi method, so I’ll give you a brief about those that are by the most popularly known sages.
The Basic Concept:
The absolute basic concept of Indian astrology is that, keeping one thing fixed, changes in all other things can be studied to understand variation in destiny. In all systems of astrology, one basic entity is the fixed reference. Around that, all rules and all variables are manipulated. To give you an understanding, consider the commonly used systems:
Parashari Paddhati: The houses are the fixed entities. Houses give results, houses form yogas, planets are judged as house lords. Afflicted houses bring bad results, strong houses give good results. Placement in good or bad houses gives good or bad results. House lords become yogakaraka or obstruct results. House placements define functional benefic and malefic. Dashas are judged as per lordships and placement in house (not sign). Planets aspect houses.
Jaimini Paddhati: The signs are the reference. Sign based char dasha is used. All planets give results based on placement in signs. Signs have aspects. Signs have qualities and significations. Signs give argala. Signs give results.
Krishnamoorthy Paddhati: The Vimshottari Dasha is the fixed reference. Results are defined by lords, sublords and sub-sublords. House cusps are assessed by lords sublords and subsub. Dashas and results are judged by them. Positivity or negativity depends on them. Even horary numbers denote starlords and sublords.
Lal Kitab: The Kaal Purush Kundali is the reference. 1st house is always Aries, 2nd house is always Taurus and so on. Even if Jupiter is placed in the 2nd house in Capricorn, you need to treat it as being in the 2nd house in Taurus. All results refer to the Kaal Purush chart.
Varshphal/Tajik-Shastra: Solar year is the reference. After each year, the chart of solar return is used for the annual predictions.
Same way, each Nadi too is based on a different reference. With those things in reference, all rules are adapted to fit the reference point. The major Nadi systems and their methodology is as follows:
Navgraha Nadi:
The nine planets are the reference. Their karakatwas are absolute. Results pertain to the karakatwas and the mutual arrangement of planets define result.
For example, if in a sign Venus is at 1 degree, Sun is at 7 degrees, Mercury is at 15 degrees then it can be said that someone in family has had two marriages. If instead, Mercury is in between, and Sun is ahead, it can be said that the wife wear spectacles. Likewise, if Moon and Ketu are conjunct and Jupiter be in the 5th sign from it, all within 5 degrees of each other, it indicates that the mother of the person is born in a city which has a site of pilgrimage. If Sun is in Libra and Venus is in Leo for a girl’s horoscope, it can be said that the father had growth after her birth. If Jupiter is placed with Moon in close conjunction, it can be said that the person was born in a city by the banks of a river/water body. If Jupiter is in Aries and Venus in Pisces, it can said that someone got married a year before the person was born.
Hence, all results depend on mutual placement of planets and their karakatwas. Signs are judged by the karakatwa of their lord. Influences are based not on aspects but on directions. East conjuncts east, East aspects West and so on. Dashas don’t exist. Transits matter.
Bhrigu-Nandi Nadi:
Jupiter replaces the ascendant. It is from Jupiter that the horoscope is judged. However, houses don’t exist. Karakatwas do, and progression of planets are used to depict the future. If Moon has a Saturn Mars conjunction in the the 3rd sign from Moon, the mother would have a surgery in the 15th year of the person’s. If Venus is in the 8th from Jupiter with Mercury in Libra, the person would get married at the 20th year of age to someone younger in age who would be introduced to the person through a relative. If Venus is in 4th from Jupiter in Virgo with Ketu, Saturn and Moon are in the 7th from Jupiter, and Mars aspects Venus, marriage arrangements would get called off for the person after being finalized. The person would then get married at the age of 27 to someone older in age but that again would end in divorce. Finally, the person would get married a widow/widower at the 39th year of age.
Agathiyar Nadi:
This is the famous palm leaf Nadi of south India. Agathiyar Nadi and the Chandra-Kala Nadi primarily use Nadiamsa which is a very magnificent but often abused tool. The Nadiamsa is the 150th division of a sign which spans just about 12 minutes (where 60 minutes = 1 degree, not the measure of time). The 12 minutes span less than 50 seconds and this minute span of time is what is known as a Nadi. The precision is such that no two people can ever be born in the same Nadi. And by the time the same Nadi repeats, planets have moved ahead. However, the Nadiamsa is not a method that you should blindly trust.
The very asset of Nadiamsa becomes its liability. Since it is so precise, you need an atomic clock to keep a time check and to be accurate. More so, any minor error in the calculation of planetary positions based on ephemeris, panchang etc. or any half a minute error is calculation of Sunrise, anything at all can ruin the calcuation to an irrecoverable extent. Even the clocks we use have the precision of a minute, they cannot be accurate to seconds. Even google’s clock is not that accurate due to network delays and transmission lags.
More so, when you tell an astrologer about your birth details, you mention the place of birth. If suppose you are born in Delhi, the distance from South Ex. to Lajpat Nagar is about 4 kms. Because of the difference in coordinates, even if two people are born at the same time in Delhi, the Nadiamsha at Lajpat Nagar will be different from that at South Ex. Now, if you take a better example for Delhi and compare Dwarka which is on the western end, to Noida which is in the Eastern end, the same time would be atleast 10 Nadiamsas apart.
Hence, any astrologer who claims to use Nadiamsa but readily accept birth details you provide, is lying and bluffing to you.
The only identity of your time of birth is you! That exact moment of your birth is embedded in you and all the planetary positions at that particular date, time and place have left their marks on you! Hence, the only way to know your exact Nadiamsa is from you! Which is why, the astrologers match your thumb prints and palm prints. They must correspond to the Nadiamsa. The lines on your palm are nothing but indicators of your planets. Which is why, your Nadiamsa can be known. With that, your horoscope can be interpreted.
Dhruv Nadi:
Dhruv Nadi is the work of Maharishi Satyacharya. The nakshatras are the primary players and their divisions are crucial to assigning results For example, One born in the 4th pada of Pushya Nakshatra (Strongest swa-karaka is taken, need not be only ascendant or only moon) is born in a North-Facing house in front of a street Running east to west. There are lanes on the either side of his house and a temple in the south-east direction to his house. His head is like a temple bell with long hands and broad eyebrows.
Similarly, one born in the first pada of Satbhisha is born in a street running south to north in a west facing house. The landlord of the person is childless and the Native develops great knowledge of Sastras which displays in his behavior and actions (Dr. B V Raman was born as such)
One born in the fourth pada of Ashwini has a pressed nose and hair on toes. If in the first half of fourth pada, a male is born. Females are born in the second half having a mole near their heart on the left side of the body.
Saptarishi Nadi:
This is the great work of the seven sages known as Saptarishi. Most of Parashari astrology comes from this. These have been the direct teachers of Parashara.
The saptarishi Nadi is similar to Parashari astrology but has much profound insights. If Venus is in Gemini and Sun be in Leo, there could be marriage in the dasha of Sun or these could be gain of a Vehicle.
If Saturn Ketu and Mars are there in Taurus and Venus be in the 10th house. Career would face severe obstructions and Venus would not give good results as expected.
These are a few of the Nadis and their prediction methods in a glance. They’re vast texts written in crores of verses however they’re based on the most basic rules of astrology.
Nadi texts are the place from where almost all yogas, and special combinations arise. Several yogas mentioned by Parashara that have been memorized and used over time are obvious logical conclusions for someone learned in the Nadi texts. More so, most Nadis strictly deal with the rashi chart only. No divisional chart is required at all. If you have the 12 boxes of planets with their degrees, you’re good to predict anything without any analysis of dasha, antardasha, D9, D16. Almost every outcome of any calculation is visible to the naked eye if one only looks at the rashi chart.
All of Vastu, Numerology, Muhurat Shastra, etc. origniates out of the Nadi method. In fact, one learned in Nadi can even predict someone’s life by looking at the Vastu of his house.
More so, apart from the Agathiyar Nadi and Nadiamsa method of prediction, no other work on Nadi demands an accurate record of time of birth. Even if the day of someone’s birth is known, predictions can conveniently be made. Rectification is not a necessity but a luxury that you can undertake if at all you’re interested.
