Excerpt from "Starmap Cookbook: Jyotish by the Ascendant (moon): Introduction to Vedic Astrology

Vedic Astrology is a divine art and science. It was developed, rather given to Sages by Divine Gods themselves. In almost all Ancient Vedic Astrology texts one can see that the teachings were given as a dialogue between a Teacher and his pupil. In some texts, this teacher was a deity or God himself, for example in Surya Siddhant, the Mathematical Treatise on Astrology, the teacher was Lord Sun or Surya himself, and the Pupil was Mayasur.

In the remaining Vedic Astrology texts, the teacher was a Sage, and thus, the name of treatise came from the names of Sages like Brhat Parashar Hora Shastra was teachings of Sage Parashar, Garga Hora was from Sage Garga, and Jaimini Sutras are given by Sage Jaimini. For Example, in Brhat Parashar Hora Shastra the Teacher was Sage Parashar and pupil was Maitreya.

These teachings are mostly in Sanskrit, but written in various languages and “lipi” ( Lipi is written form of a Language). Thus, one may find the Ancient Vedic Texts written in Devanagri, Sharda lipi in various Manuscripts. A large part of it is also in Tamil language, a prominent language of South India.

It was the time of excellence in knowledge, and thus, poetry, puzzles, and various other techniques were used in those Sanskrit Shlokas (couplets) to hide the real knowledge, so that only a true seeker can unfold the real gems. Most of the modern texts on Vedic Astrology are the literal translation of these Sanskrit manuscripts; thus, the original meaning is lost or ignored.

In this Present text, I have made an effort to bring this true knowledge, and to explain the real meaning behind those puzzles of Vedic Astrology. This book is based on various Ascendants or rising signs, their significations, various yogas, and some trivial facts about each sign.