By Visti Larsen. Guide and Guru: Pt. Sanjay Rath
On an October evening with students, over anecdotes about his grandfather, Pt. Jagannath Rath, my Guruji paused and with a glimmer in his eye shared the traditions wisdom on the lordship of signs.
होतारं रत्नधातमम् ॥
hotāraṃ ratnadhātamam
With the first Ṛk of the Veda, being in three Pada or feet, the entire zodiac is divided into three parts or three loka/abodes. The loka are Bhur (or earth and its atmosphere), Bhuvaḥ (the solar system) and Svarga (the remnant galaxy). These were designated by Agni for the (1) Maṇuṣya, (2), Graha and (3) Deva, respectively.
With Ravi (the Sun) being the head of Bhuvaḥ loka, or the solar system, the Sun gets the first headship of the signs. With this headship, based on the twelve full moon occurrences, he shaped twelve sun-signs or Rāśi, fashioned with four signs in each Loka, viz.:
- Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer: Bhur Loka.
- Leo, Virgo, Libra and Scorpio: Bhuvaḥ Loka
- Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces: Svarga Loka
The Sun then took the first sign lordship of Bhuvaḥ Loka, as Bhuvaneśvara, the Loka he governed over, and became lord of Leo. He then designated the remaining signs in the order of distance from himself: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn for Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn respectively.
Six signs were left to be designated their Graha lordships. With the Sun as Bhuvaneśvara, he exerted complete dominion over the solar system as well as the galaxy, the signs from Leo-to-Pisces. In his marriage with the Moon, the queen of the night, with whom he fashioned the twelve full moons, he gave her complete dominion over the Bhurloka (earth) to whom she was singularly revolving around, like a mother obsessing over her child.
Being only visible in the night, the Bhurloka of four signs, from Aries-to-Cancer was considered dark, and given to her. To these she gave thirty years to each sign, designating a total of one-hundred-twenty years of longevity to Maṇuṣya living in Bhurloka.
Just as the Sun took the first sign of Bhuvaḥ loka, she being always opposite (Apasavya) the Sun in visibility, took the last one, namely Cancer, for herself.
Despite exerting no influence over Svarga loka and the remaining two signs of Aquarius and Pisces, these signs were given to the Moon symbolically by the Sun in their marital union. She then, in opposite (Apasavya) fashion to the Sun, distributed the Graha lordships in the opposite manner and order to that of her husband: Mercury to Gemini, Venus to Taurus, Mars to Aries, Jupiter to Pisces, and the furthest away, Saturn to Aquarius.
With four signs of Bhurloka, and four signs of Bhuvaloka, the Moon and Sun had respectively exerted their lordship over the signs. The four remaining Svargaloka signs represent their furthest distance and means of escape, liberation or Mukti from their respective abodes.
To maintain the order of Dark and Light, the time and light of the last four signs were swapped to symbolize the Sandhya or twilight when we interact with the absolute. Here Sagittarius and Capricorn became the means of liberation for the Moon, as the remaining Aquarius and Pisces were the means of the Sun’s liberation.
And so are the twelve signs and their lordships distributed.
