Directions [ Dishaayen ] and the Lal Kitab Geographical Direction :
East is where the sun rises; 180 degrees to the East is West; Facing the rising Sun the North will be on the left; 180 degrees to the North will be the South. This is the Cardinal truth of astronomy. Nothing can change this truth, astrology or no astrology. Indian Vedic astrology and vastu shashtra has further designated the corners / angles by different names. North East is known as Eeshan kon; South east is known as Aagnyey A agnyey kon; South west is known as Nairitya kon; and North West is known as Vayavya kon. This division and nomenclature is universally accepted in Indian classical literature on astrology and Vastu. The Indian rishis of astrology had realized long back that a Janma Kundali is an imprint or a map of the celestial bodies in the sky at the time of birth. Therefore in a Janma Kundali the planets are plotted as accurately as possible the way they appeared in the sky, over our head, at the time of birth. In order to accurately plot the planets on the Janma Kundali it became necessary that the geographical directions be assigned to the Janma Kundali. As you would notice conventionally co nventionally North is marked on a map similarly the Ascendant is marked East on a Janma Kundali. Any body born at sun rise will have his sun in the ascendant. If some one is born at mid noon when the Sun reaches its zenith, the sun will be placed in the 10th house of the Janma Kundali. The rishis marked it as North. Any body born in the evening when the sun sets, his sun will be in the 7th house, the rishis marked the 7th house as the West. The night falls, it gets dark all around and if some one is born at midnight his sun will be in the 4th house of the Kundali, hence the 4th house got marked as the South. These directions truly and faithfully represent the overturned sky hanging over our heads. [ katora moti bhara … ulta dhara ] Traditional Vedic astrology and the Indian Vastu follow this tradition. Directions in the Lal Kitab :
There is no specific mention of the natural directions as such in the book. boo k. But since the Lal Kitab has accepted the traditional Vedic concept of a Janma Kundali that it is a map of the planets as they were placed at the time of birth and where the house # 1 means the Lagna , we assume that the Lal Kitab also follows the traditional alignment of the Janma kundali vis-à-vis the celestial bodies in the sky. But while talking about ‘makan kundali se teve ki durusti’ [ confirming the janma kundali based on the house ] Pt. Roopchand ji assigned directions to various parts of the house iside. In the makan kundali the North is denoted by house# 6, the natural corollary would
be that the South should be 180 degrees apart, but the in the Makan kundali the South is denoted by house # 8; house # 4 is denoted as North east, South west is denoted by house # 7, where as they should be 180 degree apart; North west is denoted by house # 2 and the South east by house # 12, that is more than 180 degrees apart. This assignment is entirely his own and what was the logic for it is not known to any one. This assignment of the directions is for the interior of the house only and that too for a specific purpose and can not be carried forward and applied to the Kundali. We will commit a great mistake if we applied the directions denoting the interior of the house set by the Lal Kitab to the Janma Kundali. Janma Kundali is a universal document. It remains the same whether being analysed by a traditional vedic astrologer or a Lal Kitab astrologer. Since the Janma Kundali is a universal document, the directions assigned to the Janma Kundali are those which have been assigned by our vedic astrology Rishis and have been universally accepted. They can neither be changed nor appropriated in any way to accommodate any different scheme of things. Had the Lal Kitab used a horoscope differently cast then it could have applied its own rules of directions. So long as the Lal Kitab uses the traditionally cast horoscope with the Lagna aligned to the East, it has no option but to follow the traditionally accepted scheme of directions.
