Horoscope Analysis : Lord Rama

Recently , I came upon the following website where Lord Rama’s horoscope was provided,
http://www.planetarypositions.com/site-map.html and it intrigued me enough to see if I could use whatever astrological skills I have and my knowledge of “Ramayanam” to try and authenticate it. This may turn out to be a fascinating exercise since, all of us know about the main events in Rama’s life, and to have a chart that is claimed to be the chart of Lord Rama is in itself something almost akin to a miracle ( albeit, no one knows how accurate it is, since no one knows if Ramayanam is just a story or or a part of ithaasam or History since it is supposed to have happened centuries and centuries ago , that is if it really happened at all.

Chart Details :
Lagna : Cancer
Moon and Jupiter are in the Lagna ( Moon is in its own house and Jupiter is exalted)
Saturn is in the 4th in Libra , it is exalted
Rahu is in 6th in Sagittarius
Mars is in Capricon, it is exalted
Venus is in Pisces and is exalted
The chart in the website shows Sun is in the 10th house in Aries ( Exalted) and Mercury in Tauras in the 11th house.
Ketu is in Gemini in the 12th house

Please note that there is a lot of conjecture and assumptions in the Analysis since we really don’t have some important factors like the exact time of birth or the degree of each planet. But given what we have, a chart that is supposed to be Lord Rama’s chart with some background information already available to us in terms of some facts like when Rama Navami is celebrated every year, and the milestones in Rama’s life via the Ramayanam, here is a attempt to reconcile this with a Vedic Astrological interpretation.

As I proceeded with my analysis, to my surprise, I could almost conclude that the chart was probably quite accurate ( except that I would have to agree with one of the comments posted on that website that probably Mercury should have been with the Sun in the 10th house causing a Buddha Aditya Yoga). I will try and explain this anamoly later as we get deeper into the analysis.

So, using the general principles of Astrology (Parashari) and basic knowledge of Ramayanam , (with reasonable knowledge of the milestones in Rama’s life) and some common sense thrown in to make sure the arguments are acceptable even to myself J , here is my attempt at this rather daunting task. Again please note the one caveat above. ( Possible Buddha Aditya Yoga or placement of Mercury in the 10th house along with the Sun ) submitted as a modification to the chart provided in the website

We all know that Rama was born in Punarvasu Nakshatram (Chaitra Suddha Navami), meaning, he was born in the month of Chaitra in the constellation of Punarvasu on the Tithi if Navami. This means, the Sun must have been in Aries, and the Moon must have been in Cancer, based on our Parasari system of Horoscope casting.

This fact helps authenticate the placement of the Sun and the Moon in the given chart. ( Sun is shown to be in Aries and Moon is in Cancer, which is also supposed to be the Lagna or the first house). Moving on to Jupiter’s placement. The chart shows his Jupiter to be exalted in Cancer in the Lagna or first house. Having Jupiter in the first house normally means that the start of life is very good, and being born in Punarvasu means the native also starts his life in Jupiter dasa ( Using Vimshottari dasa system). So having Jupiter in the first house also seems to be acceptable and accurate, since Rama’s childhood was supposed to have been idyllic with a doting father and 3 doting mothers. ( Moon being with exalted Jupiter may indicate abundance of mothers). So so far this ties well with the given horoscope.

The Chart shows that his Lagna is in Cancer. This would have to mean the following ( the basis for this is normal understanding of the motion of the Sun in the sky). In Chaitra maasam or the month of Chaitra ( late March/ early Apr), the Sun would have risen in Aries, ( assuming Sun rise was around 5.30 to 6am) adding two hours for the movement of the lagna from one sign to the next, it would mean that he lord Rama was born around 11.30am ?? to have his Lagna in Cancer ?? This is debatable, (and I am not even sure how this piece of information is useful for the following analysis), but in the interest of taking all available information into consideration, I looked at it anyway…..:)

For lack of better information on the Moon’s exact position at the time of birth (this is used in Vimshottari Dasa calculations), I would venture to make a guess, so this again is a guess and will result in some discrepancy in timing of various events. But we have to start somewhere………Since the last pada of punarvasu falls in Cancer ( per our Nakashatra pada system) and that is the onlt pada of punarvasu in Cancer, we will assume that Rama was born in Punarvasu Nakshatram, 4th padam and in the very early degrees of the forth padam. This would mean that, he would have started his life in Jupiter dasa and would experience most of the 16 years of Jupiter dasa. With exalted Jupiter in the first house with the moon ( in its own house Cancer). Would mean he has a beautiful face , has a life bestowed with maximum opportunities and good luck ( Jupiter
looks at the 9th house) atleast the part about good luck could be seen during the Jupiter Maha dasa, though one could debate that the latter part of his life proved quite unlucky and difficult. ( in my personal opinion).

We know from Ramayanam that Viswamitra requested that Rama accompany him to the forest to help him keep his “Yagam” safe from Rakshasa’s, and Dasaratha pleads with him stating that his Son Rama, is very young, not even 16 or something to that effect. So accepting that, at around 16 years of age, while he must have been still in the last phases of Jupiter Dasa, we know that he fought with Tataki etc ( probably during Jupiter Mars and also got married during that time). He won the battle with Tataki because his Mars is exalted and is a warrior planet. He got married in Jupiter/Mars since Jupiter, since the 7th house has the full aspect of Jupiter, and Mars is exalted in that house.

One has to think that right after that he was almost going to be coronated, but he must have entered his Saturn Dasa ( say almost around 16 years of age) and even though Saturn is exalted in 4th, he is being challenged by the exalted Sun looking at its fallen spot) and it being in the 4th house, it could be said that there was a challenge at home with the mother ( 4th house being indicative of house and mother). I would then say that even though Saturn is exalted, it forces him to face some obstacles for the first 14 years of the 19 year Saturn Dasa. This is when he, Rama is banished to the forest by his father and step mother ( father could be the exalted Sun looking at its fallen place). Coming back from the forest, and winning the battle over Ravana could be
seen with Rahu and would have occurred during Saturn Rahu ( Rahu is strong in Sagittarius in the 6th house, a strong 6th indicates defeat of enemies). Rama viyogam or separation from Seetha , during the 14 years was for 1 year during the last year of his 14 year exhile. So this was in the 13th year, could be explained to have happened during Saturn Rahu, and towards the end of Saturn Rahu he defeats Ravana . As soon as he enter Saturn Jupiter ( the last few years of 19 year Saturn Dasa) he is re crowned as the King of Ayodhya, since Saturn is in exaltation with Jupiter also exalted in the 1st house. And with a strong 10th house with exalted Sun, this could have happened either during Saturn Jupiter Mars or Saturn Jupiter Sun or Saturn Jupiter Mercury. My vote would be for Saturn Jupiter Mercury to time this earlier rather than later in the Saturn Jupiter Bhukti.

The Buddha Aditya Yoga in the 10th house ( BTW this is the change to the horoscope provided, and is better suited to explain the events that followed during his 17 year Mercury Dasa. This could explain the Rama Rajya and fantastic reigh over Ayodhya during that time.
But there were other important events that occurred after Rama took over the reigns of Ayodhya and we need to see if that matches as well.
Soon after taking over, Rama had to deal with internal dischord in the form of people talking about Sita, and his ultimate sacrifice of sending her away yet another time to the forest even though he was aware that she was pregnant. The most likely astrological explanation for this could be that he was in his Mercury dasa , Mars Bhukti, when he had to finally separate from Sita again. His internal/mental struggle could be explained with the full aspect of Mars on the 10th house that had his Sun and Dasa lord Mercury ( representing his intellect under siege from the fiery Mars).

Now here is my attempt to analyse why Rama had some issues with Children, and why he could not enjoy his own children’s childhood, and was only back in their life after they reached approximately 12 years of age.

Rama’s 5th house ( on house of children) is flanked by Saturn on one side and Rahu on the other, indicating restrictions and struggle with children.
In the Rasi chart, Jupiter aspects the fifth house, and it being exalted, helps with the fact that he had two children ( and there was no issue about not having children). But nevertheless the native would have some struggle in that area of life because the fifth house is flanked by two malefic planets on either side.
Also this is the house where astrologically the moon is fallen or is at its weakest, if it is placed there. I am venturing to guess that Jupiter’s aspect on this house, activates the degree where moon is fallen, and this should affect things indicated by the moon negatively, ( this would explain why one of the twins was not a girl , for example even though the moon is conjunct Jupiter and Jupiter aspects the 5th house, normally this indicate a female progeny, but that did not happen in the case of Rama.

If the rest of the analysis above is accurate and we assume that even though Mars is exalted in the 7th house, it causes problems with the spouse . I would guess that during Mercury Dasa Mars Bhukti , Sita is pregnant ( Mars rules the 5th house). , but has to leave for the forest either during Mercury Mars Rahu or Mercury Rahu. So approx the last 7 years of Mercury Dasa and the 7 years of Ketu Dasa that followed should have resulted his Kids growing up far away from him, and there is a loss with respect to his missing their childhood. During the last part of Ketu Dasa is when he must have lost his wife ( Sita gets engulfed by the earth, Ketu is looking at the 6th house,and that is 12th from the 7th house of Spouse).The 20 year Venus Dasa that followed should have brought better and happier times for him.

I have noticed that in charts with several exalted planets, some houses that get full aspect of exalted planets don’t do too well since if the aspect is exact and activates the exact degree where another planet is fallen, that particular aspect indicated by the fallen planet would show up during that time. So essentially this could explain the final part of his life with loss of his Sibling Lakshmana, and ultimately his own end in the Sarayu. ( Venus aspects the 3rd house of siblings where Mercury is fallen and Mercury rules the the 3rd house. So most probably during Venus Mercury is when Rama lost Lakshmana and during Venus Ketu is when his own end came. ( Ketu in the 12th indicates Moksham, or end of life). So Venus /Ketu /Saturn is probably when that happened. Saturn is the Maraka planet for this horoscope.

Hopefully the above analysis is taken in a spirit of research and understanding. I am not
too worried about it being absolutely accurate or supported by other astrologers. This was taken up just as an exercise to see if one could do an complete analysis with the available information.