BPHS Ch.90 — 7 Sankranti Purushas, Dosha Definition (Half-Degree Rule) & Effect on Native

BPHS Chapter 90 — Surya Sankranti Birth Dosha

Chapter 90 in the Santhanam edition: remedies for birth during Sankranti. Sankranti = the Sun changing from one rashi to the next.

The 7 Sankranti Names (by Weekday)

Parashara names each Surya Sankranti by the weekday at the exact moment the Sun changes sign, counted from Sunday:

• These are the forms the Sankranti takes — a personification of that solar ingress. They are also called Sankranti Purushas, though some of the names are feminine.
• The name does not depend on the sign the Sun is entering. It depends only on the weekday.
• A student asked why there are 7 names and not 12. The 12 Sankrantis are named after the signs (Mesha Sankranti … Meena Sankranti); the 7 names here are by weekday.

"From the names you can guess, but overall, all these are basically inauspicious."

Worked in class (the class was held on September 3, 2006; ingress times from the teacher's software):

• Next ingress: September 16, 7:24:40 PM, Boston — Sun at 0°0'0" Virgo. Weekday: Saturday → Rakshasi.
• October 17, 7:07:07 AM — Sun enters Libra right at sunrise (Sun on the lagna). The Hindu weekday changes at sunrise, so this is a border case: Tuesday or Monday depending on the sunrise definition and the exact place. He sets it aside.
• November 16, 5:43:49 AM — Sun enters Scorpio an hour before sunrise (6:42). Weekday as the software shows it: Wednesday → Manda.
• Previous ingress: August 16, 7:31:31 PM — Sun enters Leo on a Wednesday → Manda.

The 12 Sankrantis. Four matter most in mundane astrology: Mesha, Karka, Tula and Makara — the Sun entering the movable signs. Dr. Raman made three-month predictions from these. Makara Sankranti matters most, because Capricorn is the sign of Kali Yuga.

Effect of Sankranti Birth

The verse: one born in Sankranti has poverty and sadness; by doing the remedy he gets comfort and relief.

"Some of the other doshas, in my experience, may not be that important in some charts. But this dosha — whenever I have seen Sankranti Dosha, the person has struggled a lot, and after doing the remedies there was a marked improvement."

• He calls it probably the most important of all the shantis in this group of chapters.
• The dosha is for the whole life, not for one year. The shanti is done once.

When Does Sankranti Dosha Apply? — the Definition

There are different opinions. He lists them:

1. Civil-day view. The Sankranti is celebrated on the first day at whose sunrise the Sun is already in the new sign (some use noon or sunset instead). The weekday is taken from that day, and any birth in that 24 hours counts as a Sankranti birth. If the Sun changed sign at 7:30 AM just after a 7:00 sunrise, the Sankranti day is the next day — a birth near the end of it has the Sun at almost 2°.
2. Exact-moment view (his view). The civil day is only for celebrating — the customs fill a whole day, so the festival needs a civil-day definition. For astrology the Sankranti is a point in time: the exact moment the Sun changes sign. Take the weekday of that moment.
3. By hours. 12 hours before to 12 hours after the moment of ingress.
4. By degrees (his recommendation). Sun between 29°30' and 30° of a sign, or between 0° and 0°30'. Both sides count: the Sun on the verge of leaving and the Sun that has just arrived.
5. Another possible view. Only the first degree after the change, 0° to 1°.

"My advice is, just look at Sun's degrees. Is he within half a degree of a sign border? … To start with, my guidance would be just take 29.5 to half. You can refine as you go along."

• When you look at a chart, always check this. If the Sun is that close to the border, conclude Sankranti Dosha and advise accordingly.
• A Sun about one degree into a sign: not good, but not Sankranti Dosha.
• Tithi Pravesha charts: no. If a year's Tithi Pravesha falls when the Sun is at 0°10' of a sign, you do not say there is Sankranti Dosha that year. The dosha is read in the natal chart only.

The Weekday Lord Shows Where the Trouble Falls

This is not from Parashara — it is from tradition. The weekday at the moment of Sankranti decides the devata to be worshipped, and it also shows what kind of problems the native will have.

• Take the lord of the weekday on which the Sankranti happened — not the weekday of birth. If the Sun changes sign at 11:30 PM on Sunday and the child is born at 7 AM on Monday, the Sankranti is a Sunday Sankranti: look at the Sun.
• See what that planet is doing in the chart: the signs he owns and the sign he occupies. That is the main source of the problem.
• If the planet is tied to the 7th house: relationships go badly and marriage is very troubled until the shanti is done.
• A student asked whether a Manda Sankranti makes the person sluggish. Possible — the names have clues — but apart from that, look at the planet and its significations.
• The planet's placement can be looked at in the divisional charts too. Not in Tithi Pravesha charts.

Example: a Student in Class

Born September 16, 1961, 2:22 PM IST. Sagittarius lagna.

• Sun at 29°56' Leo, in the 9th house — 4 arc-minutes from the border. Sankranti Dosha.
• The software shows the Sun changing sign about 1 hour 40 minutes after birth. Still Saturday. So it is a Saturday Sankranti → Rakshasi.
• The mistake made in class. They first read the Sun — 9th house, own sign: father, fortune, dharma. A student objected that the Sun is in his own house; the teacher said it does not matter. Then he caught the error: "Because it is Surya Sankranti, we just used Surya directly." The planet to read is the lord of the Sankranti weekday. Saturday → Saturn.
• Saturn owns the 2nd and 3rd (Capricorn, Aquarius) and sits in the 2nd, at the very beginning of Capricorn. 2nd = family, speech, money. 3rd = siblings. Trouble comes there if the shanti was not done.
• The student confirmed the 2nd house side: "With finances it makes sense to me. Any stock that I touch — I and stocks never go together."
• For the homa his main idol is Rakshasi, with Sun and Moon on the two sides. Parashara does not describe her form. If no classic gives it, go by the name and make a fierce, demoness-like idol.
• Whether his parents had a shanti done at birth was not known. "If they didn't do it, you better do it."
• He has two planets on rashi sandhi — Saturn too is on a sign border.
• His personal practice: Sankranti is an auspicious time for Satyanarayana. Because he has that Sankranti feature in his chart, he can use it: Satyanarayana puja with the 108 names, one mala, on every Surya Sankranti day, close to the moment of ingress.

On Satyanarayana vratam in general: apart from Purnima, Sankranti and Ekadashi are the days Vishnu named to Narada. If the Sun changes sign at 11:15 in the morning, do the vratam that night — as close to the moment as possible, not the next day.

Counter-Example: Sun in Gandanta, No Sankranti Dosha

A student's daughter: Sun at 27°41' Cancer, in the 11th house.

• Sun is in the last navamsa of Cancer. That is gandanta — not auspicious for the Sun.
• But he is about 2°20' short of the border. The Sankranti came two or three days after the birth. No Sankranti Dosha.
• Another chart offered in class, Sun at about 1°31' Capricorn: also not Sankranti Dosha.

Why Birth at Sankranti Is a Problem

A student asked for the reasoning. The teacher made him guess first ("maybe the Sun is not powerful at that time"), then answered:

• The Sun is the naisargika atmakaraka — the soul of the universe; a spark of him in the heart is the individual soul.
• In each sign he is one Aditya. When he changes sign he changes form.
• Near the edge he is in transition — like a slideshow where one slide is fading out and the next has not fully come up. The picture is not clear.
• Based on the Aditya form he gives a nature to the soul. Born at the fade, there is confusion in the soul about what it is and what its agenda is — "some identity crisis kind of thing", a fundamental problem with the personality.
• Rashi sandhi is not good for any planet — the last and first half degree, even the last and first degree. For the Sun it is worse, because which rashi he is in matters so much.
• Is the Sun then strongest at 15°, in the middle? Not really (leaving avasthas aside). Once the slide is up, it stays the same till the next change.
• A student asked why it cannot be a clean switch. It is more or less discrete, but there is always a transition — even digital signals have a transient of a few microseconds between 0 and 1.