Z

Zodiac

The signs of the zodiac in Indian astrol-
ogy (jyotisha) are virtually identical with
that of Western astrology, and it is gener-
ally accepted that the Greek zodiac was
brought to India in the first to third cen-
turies via the Greek kingdoms in mod-
ern Afghanistan. There are slight
differences in the nomenclature; the
Indian zodiac has Dhanus (“bow”) in
place of Sagittarius, Makara (a sea mon-
ster sometimes identified as a crocodile)
for Capricorn, and Kumbha (“[water]
pot”) for Aquarius. As with Western
astrology, each of the twelve signs has
certain characteristics, with which peo-
ple born in these signs are imbued.
The two systems differ sharply in
how they figure the annual starting
point, although both begin with the sign
of Aries. The zodiac used in Western
astrology begins on the vernal equinox,
on which the sign of Aries is the begin-
ning. By Indian accounts the starting
point of the zodiac comes when the sun
intersects the midpoint of a group of
stars named Ashvini. It is thus based on
the position of the sun with regard to
the fixed stars, whereas the Western
zodiac is based on the position of the
sun with regard to the earth—that is,
when it intersects the equator, and is
thus independent of the fixed stars.
These differing methods have produced
a discrepancy between the two systems,
which are now more than three weeks
apart—in the Western zodiac Aries
begins on March 21, whereas in the
Indian zodiac it does not begin until
about April 14. This discrepancy can
also be seen in the account of Makara
Sankrantiand Karka Sankranti, which

are judged to be the winter and the sum-

mer solstices but occur in the second

weeks of January and July. Given a differ-

ence of about three weeks, it is not sur-

prising that there are significant

differences in the astrological calcula-

tions between these two systems.

Zodiac