Tantric Astrology - Dettatreya Mahatantra
the available text on dattatreya maha tantra is a small text containing 15 chapters and 160 slokas. this text is also known as "siromani", meaning "gem in the head'. the text is structured as a dialogue between lord parameswara (lord siva) & dattatreya maharshi. kala tantra (astrology) and kala mantra
(medicine) are the 2 subjects dealt with in. these are 2 knowledge streams the tantrics (tantric disciples) learned with attention. kala mantra is the branch of tantra that deals with the use of medicine related to the tantric worship for the secret purpose of killing others, attracting others, making people enemy to each other, make people leave their native place, magic, de-poisoning, reestablishing sexual ability etc. yes, it is a secret branch of
study and you will encounter thousands of superstitions and stupidities as well in such texts, along with gem like knowledge bits. kala tantra (astrology) is the branch of tantra that deals with the study of time for the purpose of knowing about the pastpresent-future, time of death etc. of these two (kala tantra and kala mantra), kala mantra is the subject dealt with in the available part of dattatreya mahatantra - the description of how to use medicine in
worship along with mantras for the purpose of shadkarma (marana, mohana, uchadana, sthambhana, vidveshana, akarshana) etc. but we can also find some small description about kala tantra (astrology) as well, here and there in this text. [use of medicine in worship seems to be a superstition. but hundreds of medicinal plants are mentioned in such slokas, which i think should have served some secret purpose in the hands of true guru and sishya of tantric culture. tantra is a secret discipline, and so who could say what would have been the real purpose and use of these medicines mentioned - even though in
the text it is stated that it is used for the worship like homa etc] since dattatreya mahatantra speaks about kala mantra and kala tantra, we could guess that only one part of this text that deals mainly with kala mantra is available to us and the other part that deals with kala tantra might have been lost, in the turbulent flow of time. listen to the request of maharshi dattatreya to lord siva "approaching lord siva, the lord of all lords, the divine, the well wisher of all worlds, savior of devotees, whose adobe is kailasa, humbly, with folded hands, dattatreya asked: oh lord,
for the benefit of the devotees please give advice to us about kala mantra" in the same style dattatreya might have learned kala tantra (astrology) as well from lord siva (maheswara). that is why we could find kala tantra (astrology) as well, here and there in this text. only because dattatreya mentions
astrology here and there in this text, can be conclude like this? no. it is not the lone reason for this conclusion. as mentioned earlier, "siromani" (gem in the head) is another name for this text. which branch of study is praised as "gem in the head" by the saints? listen to this sloka in vedanga jyotisha
"like the crest of peacock, like the gem stone in the head of a cobra, astrology is at the head of all vedanga sastras (like a gem)" yes, the praise "gem in the head" usually goes to kala tantra - astrology, astronomy and the related mathematics. because of this even the other name "siromani" of dattatreya
mahatantra, indicates that kala tantra (astrology) is one of the subject matter of the text. but that part of the text is lost, and is not available anymore. there is one more point that proves this argument. dattatreya gives a list of chapters that are present in dattatreya mahatantra at the beginning
chapter of the text. here 18 chapters are mentioned, but only the subjects mentioned in 9 chapters is available in the printed text. chapters 1,9,12,13,14,15,16,17,18 (total 9 chapters) seems to be missing. this also proves that the available text of
dattatreya mahatantra is an incomplete one. if we agree up to this the question rises, "is it vedanga astrology that dattatreya wanted to learn from lord siva?" no! as he wanted to learn medicine (kala mantra) that could be made use for worships aimed at purpose such as shadkarma etc, he might have requested
to teach astrology (kala tantra) that could be made use in shadkarma etc. listen to his request to lord siva "in this word many types of talismans, manta, tantric worships are present. many such are described in agama, purana, veda and damara, and in many other texts as well. please advice the knowledge of
kala tantra that would help to utilize all that knowledge (on yentra, mantra etc) 'in the right method' for fulfilling the intentions" this is what dattatreya requests. as said earlier knowledge about medicine (kala mantra) and astrology (kala tantra) that would be of help is shadkarma etc is the
subject matter of dattatreya mahatantra. this knowledge lies scattered in agama, purana, veda, damara etc. dattatreya is requesting lord siva to collect all these knowledge and give advice/teach him the same 'in the right/correct method'. agamas are siva tantric texts - old as vedas. the word purana here
indicates 18 puranas and the sub puranas. the word veda here indicates the 4 vedas and the allied literature called brahmana, aaranyaka, upanishad etc as well. they are also known as nigama. but for tantric devotees the word nigama indicates devi tantra. so the statement 'agamokta' should be taken as indicative of both siva tantra (agama) and devi tantra (nigama) texts. another branch of tantra is vishnava tantra. damaras are also texts on devi tantra.
that is, the request of dattatreya to lord siva is to collect and systematically present and teach him the vast knowledge on kala tantra and kala mantra which is beneficial for the purpose of shadkarma etc, clarifying the right method. this sloka indicates that tantric astrology was in a corrupted state at the time of dattatreya, and even for this great
maharshi it was very difficult to separate the right and wrong statements from the pile. the sloka also indicates that even in that remote past vedas and puranas borrowed the knowledge of astrology and medicine from tantrics and incorporated it in those texts! we can feel the pain of the rishi when he see
that this pure ancient secret knowledge is becoming lost knowledge for the siva devotees. he wants it to be the heritage of siva tantrics. listen to these words "this great knowledge (on astrology and medicine) - which saves one who devotes himself to this subject, secret, difficult to get even for davas, first told by lord siva, shines like a gem in the head all secret knowledge branches - should be taught only to a person who is the true devotee of the
guru. this knowledge should not be imparted to persons who does not believe in acharyas, tradition and the purity of knowledge. one should teach this pure knowledge to an individual who is strong willed and is a devotee of lord siva alone" the statement, "astrology is originated from lord siva" (tavagre
kathitahyesha) asks for special attention. even in the period of prasnamarga (16th century) this truth was appreciated. even today traditional astrologers read horoscope, or cast prasna after bowing to that lord of lords maheswara (siva). this is the reason for the importance of dakshinamoorti (lord siva in
the form of guru, god of knowledge) in astrology. lord siva is the ultimate guru and originator of astrologic knowledge as per tantric tradition. here i would like to mention a curious fact. if we consider the concept about the originator of astrology as per different schools of astrology, we will find that
vedic school - lord brahma (tropical/sayana) tantric school - lord siva (sidereal/nirayana) arsha school - lord skanda (sidereal/nirayana) jayne school - lord brahma (sidereal/nirayana) this is curious! this difference in concept about the originator of
astrology, probably indicates that, these are all different schools of thought in astrology, which probably originated and existed in the same era. is it not so? since the basic concepts (such as rasi and nakshatra) where the same, they might have got intermixed in a later stage. it is also possible that,
all these basic concepts such as rasi and nakshatra was originally borrowed from some other civilization which existed before all these cultures, such as the sindhu-saraswati civilization. only an in-depth study and new evidences could prove whether any amount of truth is present in this guess or not. in
this essay i started by discussing the astrological content in the available slokas of dattatreya mahatantra - and so let us go back to that. most of the slokas after this discuss how medicines could be utilized for shadkarma (kala mantra) etc. lord siva tells dattatreya "now i will speak about kala mantra
which is beneficial for the upliftment of th individual. this secret knowledge (on medicine) which is beneficial even in this kali yuga, i will teach you, putting aside the knowledge of astrology" because "(for the benefit with medicine) it is not essential to consider tithi, nakshatra, vreta, day, pooja,
japa, homa etc. even the determination of an auspicious muhoorta is not essential. merely applying the medicine that suits well for the well being of mind and body serves the purpose. by the use of it the disease gets cured. (medicines are invaluable, and their effect mysterious. because of this i will
explain to you, how to use these medicines in shadkarma worships)" with this advice lord siva starts to speak about kala mantra (medicine). since those slokas are not related to astrology, i am not discussing them here. if anyone is interested bye and read the printed text of dattatreya mahatantra to know more about that. but the last chapter of the available printed text
(chapter15) deals with kala tantra (astrology). the determination of the time of death is the subject discussed. siva said: "oh, maha yogi, dattatreya mahamune, for the benefit of human beings i will tell to you about death time determination. listen"
dwadesa dala chakrastham mrityukalam cha veekshitam chaitradi masa sankhayani likhyante dwadese dale meshadi rasaya sthapya suryadi likhyate grahah janma riksha janma rasim veekshante mrityukarake surya vedhe manastapam budha soukhyam pravartate yatrayam teertha jeeve cha chandre stri sukha sambadah bhrigu
vedhe rajya labhah mase mase vicharayete (dattatreya mahatantra) "from the rasichakra with 12 petals, we can have an idea bout the time of death. for that first write the numbers of months starting from the month of chaitra in each petal. in each of the petal place signs starting from aries. now, as per current planetary position write down the names of grahas such as sun, moon etc in the rasi chakra. if the mrityu karaka graha (saturn?) aspects (drishti)
the lagna (lagna star?) or moon sign then it is death time. if vedha is present, then for sun - sadness, for mercury - happiness, for jupiter - pilgrimage, for moon - happiness from sexual acts with women, for venus - gain of land results. this type of prediction can be done every month" some interprets that the sripati's system of gochara-vedha is mentioned here (?!). they also argue that if nakshatra vedha and rasi vedha is present at the same time then for
sure it is time for kala mrityu (ultimate/sure chance of death) (?!) but this sloka was a real problem to me and i just got confused. why? i will explain. (1) mention of months starting from chitra ----------------------------------------- why it is said that after drawing the rasi chakra we should write down the numbers corresponding to the months starting from chaitra in each square of the rasi chakra? did he mean to say that chaitra = mesha
(aries) visakha = vrishabha (taurus) etc ? if so does it mean that the starting point of aries should be calculated, taking chitra star as a reference? that is, as if the point 180 deg away from chitra star is the starting point of aries or the like? (2) mrityu karaka graha ---------------------- is saturn mentioned with the word mrityu karaka? if so, the wordings "janma riksha janma rasim veekshante sanaischare", directly mentioning saturn would have been
enough. then why the author chose to omit directly mentioning saturn and instead used the word mritru karaka (significator of death) ? if not only saturn but also other planets should be considered, then what other house lords and planets we should consider? (3) riksha - nakshatra or sign -------------------
the word riksha has got 2 meanings - nakshatra and sign. with the word janma riksha dattatreya maharshi is mentioning lagna nakshatra, lagna sign, moon nakshatra or moon sign? if we think that here the word riksha represents both nakshatra and sign, then is it that we should consider both nakshatra vedha and rasi vedha for death time determination? how to calculate nakshatra vedha and rasi vedha in planetary context? (4) vedha and the
related prediction ----------------------------------- here if vedha is present for beneficial planets, then it is said that results also would be beneficial!! this is contradictory to the vedha concept of sripati. as per tantric astrology how many types of vedha is present? how to calculate nakshatra vedha, rasi vedha and
graha vedha in the planetary context? what are the rules to be observed while predicting with this type vedha concept? (5) transit or gochara --------------------- this gochara-vedha system of prediction can be used for prediction every month (mase mase vicharayet) says dattatreya. did he meant to say that transit should be considered for the determination of death time? if so why he avoided mentioning the transit prediction for mars, saturn, rahu and ketu?
(6) vedha and tantric astrology ------------------------------ probably sripati who lived in 10th century ad, is the person who introduced the concept of vedha in astrology. but here we encounter a similar concept in dattatreya mahatantra as well! what should we observe from it? should we think that
dattatreya tantra originated after sripati of 10th century ad? or should we think that sripati borrowed the concept of vedha from tantric astrology especially from dattatreya tantra? no. i don't have answers to such doubts. if we want to find answers to the above or similar questions, an in-depth study of the astrology mentioned in tantric texts (tantric astrology) is a must. for simplifying the study of ancient astrology, we can classify them into
several categories:(i) astrology in sindhu-saraswati period (sindhu-saraswati astrology) (ii) astrology mentioned vedas and allied literature (vedic astrology) (iii) astrology mentioned epics (epic astrology) (iv) astrology mentioned in puranas (puranic astrology) (v) astrology mentioned in tantric texts (tantric astrology) - it is the biggest treasure, thousands of unexplored texts (and a whole secret tradition) waiting for us! [chandra hari is specially interested in tantric astrology and the
sidhantic astronomy] (vi) astrology of arsha school which is scattered in various ancient astrological texts. this is a well accepted stream in indian astrology starting with skanda hora, brihal prajapatyam, vasishta hora, kousika hora etc. the acharyas in this school are great rishis like skanda, daksha, vasishta, kousika, sounaka etc, and the authentic sidhantic text 'surya sidhanta'. (arsha astrology) [i am specially interested in this stream of thought]
(vii) astrology of jayne school which is scattered in various ancient astrological texts. this is a well accepted stream in indian astrology starting with garga hora, surya prajchapti etc. the acharyas in this school are garga, rishputra etc. (jayne astrology) [yes, of course there are other streams of thought as well like yavana and parasara. but books on that them is not yet lost completely, and that is why i am not including them here on the above list] there is not even a single authentic text available that tries to explore the depths of any of the categories mentioned above! there is a vast area
available for research! they are requesting to us, "please, please, come forward and reveal the knowledge we preserved for you..." all this ancient knowledge on astrology are still behind the dark curtain of half forgotten, unexplored literary history. this vast knowledge is praying to us, "tamasoma jyotirgamaya...". yes, there is a large amount of work pending, and is seeking our immediate attention. all these knowledge is meditating there inside the
dark cave and is ready to shower their secrets before the true seekers of knowledge. those who are truly inquisitive can start their search from here. let us begin our search for the hidden treasures of astrological knowledge. enjoy! it is child's playand the vast treasure house waiting for us, to be explored! let us begin search and present the valuables we find, before the all, for the benefit of posterity! and enjoy the fun of learning! love,
