Lagna (Ascendent)
Lagna (Ascendent) : This is the sign that rises in the eastern horizon at the time of the birth of a native, and it determines the physical appearance, general health, longevity and other functional and dysfunctional traits in a native, depending on the Rasi and position of the lord of that Rasi.
In Jyotish, normal lagna is used to draw inference about the native’s life in general, but to get information in specific areas like wealth, business, prosperity, power, marriage etc, the Rasi/House with the special 'lagna's is taken as the first house.
The bottom line is that the lagna establishes the kind of body, health, life or endurance, as well as noticeable qualities of an individual evident to the world. The lagna varies with the time of the day and the place. So people belonging to all the 12 signs are born on the earth at any given moment or instance. It is described in terms of longitude of the position of the moon. Vedic astrology is based on sidereal astrology that assumes that the stars have a fixed position against which motion of planets is measured.
Lagna: It more or less represents the character, physical appearance, intelligence and attitude of the native, in addition to this the soul is represented by Sun and mind is represented by Moon, the 10th house (Karma bhava) represents the purpose of the birth.
all these traits are the actual traits of the native and not the hype created by the world or traits perceived by the world.
Physical Attributes is influenced by the element of the house with lagna ( Ascendant).
Fire: ( Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) --Robust physique
Earth:(Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn)--Stout
Air:( Gemini, Libra, Aquarius)-- Thin
Water:(Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces)--Plump with soft muscles
Native with different Lagna/ Moon sign shall have different complexion and it is influenced by:
Surya (Sun)- Dark red complexion
Chandra (Moon)- Fair complexion
Kuja (Mars)- Reddish complexion, short stature
Budh (Mercury)- Excellent skin and brownish complexion (like dry grass)
Guru (Jupiter)- Fair complexion with golden yellow tinge
Shukra (Venus)- Dark complexion
Sani (Saturn)- Black complexion (very dark)
While predicting this, take caution and consider the race also, a native with Moon in ascendant will be fare in complexion when compared with others of the same race with other Grah's (Planets), similarly a native with Sani (Saturn) will be darkest out of all the people with in the same race.
Guna (Character or Nature) is influenced by the Grah.
Sun, Moon and Jupiter, or one of them or two of them in Lagna means the native is of Sattvik Guna in a general sense. which also means knowledge, just, wisdom and philanthropy.
Venus and Mercury, means native is of Rajasik guna. which also means passion and drive.
Mars and Saturn means native is of Tamasik Guna. which also means Anger, impatience, ignorance, destructive nature.
Small story to understand these Guna.
Bhrigu Maharaj (saint) used to have a third eye in his feet and which gave him lot of power and anger, as a result he cursed many including lord Shiva, but Lord Shiva is of Tamasik nature, so lot of friction took place between them.
When Bhrigu Maharaj went to see Lord Vishnu, Lord Vishnu happens to be sleep,
this made Bhrigu very angry and he kicked Lord Vishnu on his chest, Lord Vishnu being Sattvik, immediately took note of the saint and asked him politely " Hey sage did your kicking cause any pain to your feet, let me see and give it a little massage", and he took Bhrigu's feet in his hands and with his thumb destroyed the third eye in Bhrigu's feet, this is being sattvik.
On the other hand Lord shiva (Tamasik) when faced with Bhrigu almost tries to kill him with raging anger but stops because of Bhrigu was supposed to carry out some good work on the earth, and Lord Brahma is of Rajasik nature, busy with his creation and his three consorts and he also ignores Bhrigu and gets a curse in return.
This story tell us clearly what sattvik, Rajasik and Tamasik means, because lots of people think sattvik means, being extremely polite and soft only, no it doesn't.
Lord Ramachandra had Jupiter (Exalted) and Moon (Own sign) in his Lagna in Karkataka (Cancer) and we all know his character, nature and attitude, he is called as Purushottama.
To understand the physical attributes of natives, the Grah posited in Lagna and the lord of the sign, called Lagneca, needs to be studied, e.g. If the Lagna is in Mithuna (Gemini) then Lagneca will be Budh (Mercury), hence the position of Mercury becomes very important, dhristi of Grah from other signs on Lagna is also important to see if it is afflicted or further blessed, Also see the house in which Lagnecca is posited that house is called Paka Lagna, and the lord of that house is called as pakeca, inter exchange between Lagneca and Pakeca is considered very good.
The house which is holding the Lagna will also have a large influence on the characteristics of the native, so the properties of each house will also apply here.
Bhadhakesha:
lord of 11th house for Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn,
lord of 9th house for Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius,
lord of 7th house for Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces,
are Bhadhakesha meaning lord of obstacles, and if this lord of obstacles is posited in Lagna, it means some curse or wrath of some diety, the cause and reason of the wrath or curse is seen with the malefic grah (Saturn, Mars, Rahu) or upagrah (Gulika) posited in the 12th house from the house with Bhadhakesha.
If bhadakesha is posited in the Lagna sign, it means that the image of some diety was mutilated (Rahu or Gulika) or broken (Mars) or desecrated (Saturn by dirt) & ( Sun by birds).
To determine the remedy for the same the Avastha of the Grah needs to be determined first and if Rahu is posited in the 12th from Lagna and bhadhakesha is posited in the Lagna, the native is sure cursed by a Sarpent (Devine Sarpa devata), the remedy is music and singing.
but again see if the 12th house is a movable, fixed or dual sign, the remedy would be different for each sign.
If any other Grah is posited with the bhadhakesha in Lagna, check to which sign/house that Grah hold the lordship, if the lord of the 2nd house is conjoined with the bhadhakesh in Lagna, then the hardships are due to the kuladevata, or the worship of Kuladevata in the previous birth was stopped, so the remedy would be to resume the worship.
The general readings are always made with Lagna as the initial point, once the basic information is determined with the lagna, then move to other points of reference like AL, UL, and other special lagnas etc.
ॐ नमः शिवाय !
Sianala, Montreal, Sep 2007