Jaimini and Parasara

Having investigated the Jaimini Sutras very carefully regarding Chara-Dasa I came to the conclusion that there are two very different methods of calculating the Chara-Dasa:

1) The Parasara-method as described in Parasara Hora and

2) The Jaimini-method as described in Jaimini Sutras.

Everybody seems to be following the Parasara-method of calculating Chara-Dasa, and I have not seen anyone actually taking up the relevant verses on Chara Dasha from Jaimini-Sutras itself for critical study. Otherwise they would most likely have realized the differences.

It is generally believed that the authors of these two great text-books were really the Sage Parasara and the Sage Jaimini, and also it is believed that Jaimini-astrology is only an offshoot of Parasari-astrology. I, however, do not share any of these opinions.

I consider the Parasara Hora to be a great compendium written in the name of Parasara by some eminent hindu astrologers between the 7th and 9th century AD to collect the very best of the existing methods available at that time, and some of these methods may have originated from the Jaimini-Sutras, although they seem to have been changed a little here and there...

I am aware that these opinions may sound like blasphemy in the ears of some Vedic astrologers, but then on the other hand, I think it is a good idea to keep an open and critical mind and not to become too religious about these matters.

Sound, Simple and Satisfactory

I do not claim greater accuracy with the Jaimini-method of doing Chara-Dasa in comparison to the Parasara-method. I don't know about that. Also I like to emphasize that it is not my goal to convince anybody about anything. The choice of what to believe must in my opinion come from within based upon the personal judgment of each individual. Being a lover of Jaimini Astrology my purpose is only to expand my own knowledge about this unique system.

But I have got the personal problem myself of not being able to believe in an astrological method unless it is following my SSS-formulary, which I have described earlier in connection to Sthira Dasa, by being sufficiently Sound, Simple and Satisfactory.

In my earlier years I simply had to reject Jaimini because the methods described in articles and books very often seemed impossible for me to believe in. Not only that. I also found that the principles being used were sometimes not even following what I could read myself in the Jaimini Sutras. This was most confusing.

However, while traveling in India back in 1989/90 I found out that there was an oral Jaimini-tradition hidden with some astrologer-families, and one old Jaimini-Scholar in Delhi, whom I met in a small book-store, told me that this oral tradition was exclusively based on the Jaimini-sutras themselves and NOT on Parasara Hora.

Obviously some brilliant Hindu astrologers of the past had interpreted some deeper astrological meaning hidden in these sutras, not known to others. The Jaimini-scholar was of the opinion that sound astrological judgement was perhaps even more important than Sanskrit-skills when dealing with Jaimini.

Based on what I was told by the Jaimini-scholar I began to study the different sutras myself to see if I could also dig out something interesting. Fortunately he had also given me a photocopy of the missing two Adhyayas (3 & 4) of Jaimini-Sutras. This was the beginning of a very creative process, which will most likely take the rest of my life.