Samvat 2078 Is Rakshasa Samvatsara: Vidvat Parishad Confirms

◆Samvat 2078 is Rakshasa Samvatsara◆ ◆Why the Dispute over Lupta-Samvatsara?◆ -- Acharya Shri Vinay Jha, Tri-skandha Jyotirvid (expert in the three branches of Jyotisha), Surya Siddhantic mathematician Patron, Akhil Bharatiya Vidvat Parishad, Varanasi Mathematician, Aditya Panchang (Kashi), Shri Sarveshwar Jayaditya Panchang (Jaipur) etc.

I had conveyed my opinion to Dr. Parasnath Ojha, editor of Aditya Panchang (traditional almanac), and Dr. Kameshwar Upadhyay, former computer-cum-co-editor of Banaras Hindu University’s Vishva Panchangam, that the samvatsaras (years of the 60-year Jovian cycle) of Brihaspati (Jupiter) ought to be calculated using spashta Brihaspati (true Jupiter), whereas many people calculate using madhyama Brihaspati (mean Jupiter) merely because it saves time. This simplistic and erroneous method gained currency during the Muslim era of subjugation.

In the preface to his *Advance Ephemeris*, on page 11 at the bottom, Nirmal Chandra Lahiri ji wrote that Kumbha (Kumbha Mela) used to be calculated via mean Jupiter, but is now calculated via true Jupiter. The catalog of samvatsaras appears in the Madhyamadhikara (chapter on mean planetary motions) of the *Surya Siddhanta* and other siddhantas (foundational astronomical treatises), which is why such a mistaken conclusion could be reached. A list of samvatsaras can only be provided in the Madhyamadhikara; were one to attempt setting it down in the Spashtadhikara (chapter on true planetary positions), an immense catalog of all the samvatsaras for the entirety of cosmic creation would have to be furnished, which is wholly unnecessary.

On page 99 of the very same book by Nirmal Chandra Lahiri ji, the commencement of the Kali Yuga is computed through mean calculation, which is improper. A similar argument was advanced by Narasimha Rao residing in America, claiming that because the reckoning of yugas is found in the Madhyamadhikara, the onset of Kali Yuga and other eras must be determined by the mean Sun alone. I asked him: for the ongoing year, whether commencing with Mesha sankranti (solar ingress into Aries) or Chaitra Shukla Pratipada (first day of the waxing moon in Chaitra), do you take the mean Sun or the true Sun? The answer is “true”. How then could the year in which Kali Yuga began have commenced by the mean Sun? The methodology for calculating yugas throughout cosmic creation can only be expounded in the Madhyamadhikara; if one were to place it in the Spashtadhikara, an exhaustive table of true calculations across four thousand yugas would have to be provided, which is unnecessary. Hence, the mean motion of planets is first computed using the procedure described in the Madhyamadhikara, and then corrected to true position according to the rules of the Spashtadhikara. Madhyamagraha (mean planet) signifies a computation based on long-term average velocity—that is, assuming a perfectly circular orbit. Spashtagraha (true planet) signifies the actual position of the celestial body. If Kumbha is determined by mean Jupiter, it implies you have nothing to do with the actual planet Jupiter. How then will the real planet bestow upon you the spiritual fruits of the Kumbha bath?

In the Prithvi Chakra section of kundali (horoscope) software where the samvatsara button is located, the calculation is strictly for the day of Mesha-pravesha (Sun’s ingress into Aries). A calculation for a single day reveals only the ordinary samvatsaras; to ascertain a lupta-samvatsara (expunged Jovian year) and the atichara (accelerated motion or premature transit) of Jupiter, it is imperative to examine the mathematics for the entire year, which ready-made kundali software does not provide. For that, one requires panchang software or a published panchang.

Certain panchang-makers claim that lupta-samvatsaras do not exist at all. Anyone asserting this possesses no knowledge of Indian Siddhanta Jyotisha (mathematical astronomy). They have earned degrees in modern physics yet do not comprehend even its planetary mechanics; they construct the five limbs of the panchang using the crude tables of the Surya Siddhantic *Makaranda*; they calculate planetary longitudes via *Grahalaghava* (which is a hodgepodge of disparate siddhantas and the first text to openly oppose Indian Siddhanta Jyotisha); they compute ayanansha (precession of the equinoxes) from *Ketaki*, which is based on the modern drik-paksha (observational system); and in order to belittle Banaras Hindu University’s Vishva Panchangam, they propagate the falsehood that lupta-samvatsaras do not exist.

Under no circumstances should a mean planet be employed. In the aforementioned book by Nirmal Chandra Lahiri itself, it is recorded that in South India, a lupta-samvatsara is defined as the occurrence when two Barhaspatya (Jovian) samvatsaras end within the very same year.

When true Jupiter enters the subsequent rashi (zodiac sign) but, after traversing only a few degrees of it, turns vakri (retrograde) to return for some time to the previous sign, and then turns margi (direct) again to re-enter the next sign, that initial partial traversal of the subsequent sign is termed atichara, during which auspicious works are prohibited.

Conversely, when true Jupiter moves at high velocity due to its proximity to Earth, a lupta-samvatsara occasionally occurs over a long span of time. For example, if at the beginning of the year Jupiter is in Makara (Capricorn), enters Kumbha (Aquarius) just a few days later, and departs Kumbha to enter Meena (Pisces) shortly before the next year begins, then the samvatsara corresponding to Kumbha is expunged.

Therefore, the definition of a lupta-samvatsara does not depend on Jupiter alone; the reckoning of the year’s beginning and end is established by the tithi (lunar day) determined by the motions of the Sun and Moon, against which the lupta-samvatsara is computed. To determine a lupta-samvatsara, everyone computes the Sun and Moon based on their true motions, yet some display true Jupiter in the panchang while calculating samvatsaras by mean mathematics, which is erroneous. If you adopt the true Sun and true Moon, why take mean Jupiter? In any case, a mean planet is a circular orbit based on long-term average motion in which no actual planet moves. The real physical position of a celestial body is termed spashtagraha. The Hrishikesh Panchang of Kashi does not recognize the lupta-samvatsara at all, whereas Vishva Panchang calculates samvatsaras using mean Jupiter yet acknowledges the lupta-samvatsara. Vishva Panchang adheres to the *Surya Siddhanta*, yet calculates using Burgess’s tables.

The subject of lupta-samvatsara falls under the Samhita skandha (branch of Jyotisha dealing with mundane astrology and natural phenomena), not under the Ganita skandha (mathematical astronomy). On lupta-samvatsara, the views of Dr. Kameshwar Upadhyay and Dr. Parasnath Ojha are correct. Dr. Parasnath Ojha publishes the Aditya Panchang using my panchang software and employs true Jupiter in calculating the samvatsara, which is proper. Dr. Kameshwar Upadhyay is the former editor of Vishva Panchang. To resolve the present controversy, examine the panchang for the entire year, not merely the beginning of the year. Appended is a table of the true Sun and true Jupiter spanning four complete years, generated by the kundali software.

A lupta-samvatsara occurs approximately once every 85.76 years. To identify a lupta-samvatsara, one must scrutinize the panchang for the full year. In the Prithvi Chakra of the kundali software, the computation of samvatsaras according to the *Surya Siddhanta* is provided specifically for the time of the year’s commencement.

There is no mention of lupta-samvatsara in the *Surya Siddhanta* or any other Siddhanta treatise; hence, there is no computation for lupta-samvatsara in the kundali software. Lupta-samvatsara belongs to the “Samhita” skandha. The vast majority of traditional astrologers in India recognize the lupta-samvatsara; consequently, for Samvat 2078, Rakshasa samvatsara alone is valid.

Akhil Bharatiya Vidvat Parishad, Varanasi puts its seal on Rakshasa Samvatsara

According to the *Surya Siddhanta*, the 22nd samvatsara has fully elapsed (gata), and of the subsequent one (Rakshasa), 11:5:56.6 has elapsed and 0:24:3:54 remains to be traversed (bhogya). This means that 5:56.6 of the 11th sign, Kumbha, has elapsed, with zero signs and 24:3:54 remaining. Adding the elapsed and remaining portions yields a total of 30 degrees for a rashi. This is the Surya Siddhantic calculation from Mount Meru. Calculating from Kashi will yield a slight difference, but the rashi—and therefore the samvatsara—will remain identical.

Beside “Gata Guru Samvatsara” (elapsed Jovian year), the Makarandiya reckoning is also recorded: that the 48th samvatsara, Ananda, has elapsed. The Makarandiya samvatsara list also belongs to the *Surya Siddhanta* tradition, but while the list of 60 samvatsaras in the *Surya Siddhanta* begins with “Vijaya”—in which Ananda is 22nd and Rakshasa is 23rd—the Makarandiya list begins with “Prabhava”, in which Ananda is 48th and Rakshasa is 49th. When Jupiter is in the sign of Kumbha, it is Rakshasa samvatsara, which is why the Kumbha Mela was organized this time. Normally, Kumbha is held every 12 years, but this time, owing to the omission of Ananda, the determination for Kumbha was made at 11 years.

However, there are certain individuals in the “Kashi Vidvat Parishad” who know the truth perfectly well, yet deliberately propagate confusion by issuing false statements. No meeting of the “Kashi Vidvat Parishad” ever took place; at the instigation of the Hrishikesh Panchang, a few individuals arrived at a decision over the telephone to sow confusion. These people wish to prove this year’s Kumbha invalid, yet no one paid heed to them; the decision for Kumbha was taken at the correct time. The root of this controversy is the Hrishikesh Panchang, which published Ananda this time, and a few individuals rallied behind it in the name of the “Kashi Vidvat Parishad”—chief among them being Dr. Ramchandra Pandey and his disciple Dr. Vinay Pandey, respectively the former and current heads of the Department of Jyotisha at BHU. BHU’s Vishva Panchangam also refused to listen to them and accepted Rakshasa samvatsara this year. Dr. Ramchandra Pandey has published a Hindi commentary on the *Surya Siddhanta*, according to which this year is indeed Rakshasa samvatsara. To cover up the blunder committed by the Hrishikesh Panchang, its promoters are flailing desperately, aided for some covert motive by people whose words are not heeded even in their own households—otherwise, they would have first removed Rakshasa and inserted Ananda into BHU’s Vishva Panchangam! Whether by *Surya Siddhanta* or modern Drik-siddhanta (observational astronomy), I have computed and verified the varsha-pravesha (annual ingress chart) from India to Europe; by no methodology does Ananda result—only Rakshasa samvatsara emerges. Ananda (joy) was expunged, on account of which joy, recreation, cinema, tourism, and leisure across the entire country and the world were extinguished, and the destructive dance of the Rakshasa (demon) commenced the very moment Jupiter entered Kumbha.

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