In Vedic astrology there are different views and opinions on the matter of recording the birth time. The most popular view is to record the birth time when the child comes out of the womb of his mother. There is another view that the time of the first cry of the child has to be taken as the birth time. However, in some cases the child fails to cry unless it is slapped by the nurse. As per some astrologers the birth time should be recorded for the moment when the umbilical cord is cut and the child become independent of its mother. Generally the umbilical cord is cut within about 3 to 5 minutes from the time the child comes out of the womb. Nevertheless the correctness of the recorded birth time cannot be confirmed up to the minutes with surety. In some cases it has been found that the recorded birth time gives the degrees of ascendant at the junction of two Rashi’s creating a doubt in the mind of astrologer about the correct rising sign of the ascendant (lagna). In many cases the recorded birth time gives wrong divisional charts (Vargas) which results in failure of predictions. In this post a method of birth time correction using the analysis through divisional charts has been explained.

{Note: This article of mine was appeared in the November 2017 issue of Express Star Teller Magazine. It has been reproduced here for the readers of my blog }

The classics of Hindu astrology have given some methods of correcting the birth time but they are mainly based on the  mathematical aspects of astrology. Some methods use the position of Moon or Mandi and others are based on the weekday of the birth and the Nakshatra ruling on that day. But these methods are very general in nature and don’t give correct degrees of the ascendant many a times. In these methods it has been found that at least 25 minutes of difference is require between two births on a particular weekday and in a particular Nakshatra, which is not practical.

Tattwa Shodana Theory of Birth Time rectification 

There is a Nadi based ‘Tattwa Shodana Theory’ which was propounded by the legendary Andhra Pradesh astrologer late Shri D.V. Subbarao in 1970s. As per this theory  planets are allocated the lordship of a Tattwa or element. These 5 Tattwa’s namely Agni (Fire), Prithvi (Earth), Vayu (Air), Jala (water ) and Aakash ( Space) are arranged in a specific order for each week day. The birth of human, male and female, take place at a certain time interval. The birth of trees, animals, birds etc. follow a certain order. The 7 planets are allocated the ruling of 5 Tattwa’s. The Mars and Sun rules Agni or Tejo Tattwa, Mercury rules Prithvi Tattwa, Saturn rules the Vayu Tattwa, Venus and Moon rules Jala or Soma Tattwa and planet Jupiter rules Aakash Tattwa. In a certain weekday a particular period of time of few seconds  is control by the lord of these Tattwa’s. As per the lords of these Tattwa’s the birth of male and female take place at a particular time interval of few seconds. Under control of Moon, Venus and Saturn’s time the female birth take place and the male birth take place under the time of Sun, Mars, Mercury  and Jupiter. These Tattwa rotates in a specific order which has been mention in the classical book “Jataka Phala Chintamani”.

As per the ‘Tattawa Shodhana’  theory the birth time rectification can be done up to the difference of 3 minutes and using the anter tattwa Siddhantha the time can be corrected up to a difference of about 12 seconds. Interestingly this correspond with the Nadi Amsha where each sign is divided into 150 minutes giving a particular time for each Nadi Amsha and further a Nadi Amsha is divided into two parts, Poorvabhagh and Uttarabhagh,  amounting a total of 300 divisions of a sign. If the lagan is taken for duration of 2 hours roughly then each Nadi Amsha corresponds to 24 seconds.

This calculation is arriving at in the following way.

30° (one sign) x 120 minutes = 3600 seconds

3600 seconds ÷ 150 (Nadi Amsha in a Rashi) = 24 seconds.

Now each Nadi Amsha of 24 seconds has two parts. One is ‘Poorvabhagh’ and the other is ‘Uttarbhagh’. Thus the two parts of a Nadi Amsha are of 12 seconds each. The results of Nadi Amsha’s have been given as per the birth taken place in the first part (Poorvabhagh) or the second part (Uttarabhagh) of a particular Nadi Amsha.

In the Tattwa Shodhan theory the birth time can be rectified up to 12 seconds which is exactly a part of Nadi Amsha. However, there is a great limitation of this method of birth time rectification. We can’t cross check the birth time arrived after these rigorous calculations unless we follow an event base hindsight analysis.  I have had a discussion on the above mention methods of birth time correction with my teacher Shri K.N. Rao. As per Shri K.N.Rao the best method of birth time rectification is the event based correction of the horoscope. In this method an astrologer need to focus on the 16 Vargas mention by the Sage Parashara and the time intervals during which the ascendant of these Vargas are changing. For example the Navamsha has a 9 divisions of 3° 20’ each, Dashamsha has 10 divisions of 3° each and Chathurathamsha has 4  divisions of 7° 30’ each. After rectifying these Vargas one may correct the degrees of the ascendant closely with in 2° to 3° mark. Then one may proceed towards finer Vargas such as Dwadamsha which has 12  divisions of 2° 30’ minutes each and the Shodamsha having 16 divisions of 1° 52’ each.

Practicing an event based rectification requires deep understanding of the classical principals of Hindu astrology and their practical application on the divisional horoscopes.

Practical Examples of birth time rectification in Vedic astrology

Now I will be presenting few practical case studies to explain the method of event based birth time rectification.

Case 1. Male

            27 May 1949 at Jalandhar (Punjab)

            Birth time is between 01:00 a.m. to 02:00 a.m.

In the case of this gentleman the birth time was not recorded properly and it was told to me that it could be anywhere between 01:00 a.m. to 02:00 a.m. in the night. Now if we cast the birth chart using the time as 02:00 a.m. then Pisces (Meena) is the rising sign at the ascendant. However, if we take the birth time as 01:00 a.m. then the ascendant would be Aquarius (Kumbha).

Chart 1. Pisces lagna ( 02:00 a.m. birth time)

 

Chart 2. Aquarius lagna ( 01:00 a.m. birth time)

 

Major events studied from both ascendants

1. Siblings: This native is youngest among 4 siblings. Now if we take the Aquarius lagan then it can be understood as Rahu in the 3^rd house make one youngest or eldest among brother/sisters. However, from Pisces lagna the 3^rd house has Sun, Venus and Mercury receiving the aspect of Jupiter showing birth of younger sibling. He was born with the balance dasha of Sun which would have given him younger siblings in case of Pisces lagna.
2. Education: The native has done his bachelor degree in civil engineering. As per a research published in the book “Planets and Education” written under the guidance of Shri K.N. Rao the education of civil engineering comes from houses 5^th, 4^th and 10^th with planes Mars (land), Mercury (measurement) and Saturn (construction material) comes into play. Now in this case the studies of civil engineering comes from Aquarius lagan only as there the 5^th lord Mercury goes into the 4^th house along with 4^th lord Venus there receiving the aspect of Saturn. The Mars, which is another important planet for civil engineering, is giving aspect to the 10^th If we take the Pisces lagan then such combinations of civil engineering are not visible.
3. Settlement in foreign land: He went abroad in 1990 and settled in Canada. It was Jupiter maha dasha in Vimshottari in his horoscope. If we take the Aquarius lagna then it is amply clear as the Jupiter is in the 12^th house of foreign land. The depositor of Jupiter is Saturn which is placed in the 7^th house which is the house of stay in foreign land. The elder brother of native is also settle in abroad which is also explainable from Aquarius lagna as the 11^th lord is in the 12^th In Navamsha chart the Jupiter become the 12^th lord again confirm settlement in foreign land from the Aquarius lagna.

Now if we take the Pisces lagan in this case then Jupiter in the 11^th house doesn’t show settlement in abroad during its dasha.

 

4. Delay in Marriage : The native got married in 1981 during his Rahu-Mercury dasha when he was 32 years of age. At that time it was a considerable delay in marriage. Now this could be possible from Aquarius lagna where the 7^th house has Saturn and the 7^th lord Sun receive the aspect of Saturn showing delay in marriage. In Navamsha the 7^th lord Moon receives the aspect of Saturn from the 6^th It has been observed when the 7^th house, 7^th lord and/or Venus are in the influence of Saturn in both Rashi and Navamsha chart then it gives delay in marriage.

If we take the Pisces lagan then the 7^th house receive the aspect of Jupiter in Rashi chart. In Navamsha the lagna has Venus receiving the aspect of Jupiter from the 9^th house showing an early marriage combination only. So this point also confirms that the native must have Aquarius lagna only. The wife of the native is struggling from ‘Vata’ diseases ever since his Saturn dasha has started in year 2005. It is easily explainable from Aquarius lagan with presence of Saturn in the 7^th house of Rashi chart. Thus I fixed Aquarius ascendant for the native taking birth time as 01:00 a.m. only.

 

Now I am taking the horoscope of the daughter of this native in who’s case the birth took place at the junction of two ascendants.

Case 2. Female

26 November 1982, at New Delhi around 16:40 to 16:50 hours

In case of this young lady the birth took place at the intersection of Aries and Taurus rising at the ascendant.

Chart 3: Aries ascendant (birth time  16:40 hours)

Chart 4: Taurus lagna ( birth time 16:50 hours)

1. Marriage: The father of this young lady was worried about her marriage. She was under the Vimshottari dasha of Venus-Venus from June 2015 to June 2018. I was given the Taurus lagan chart in my hand and his father asked me when her daughter is likely to get married. He had consulted many astrologers over the years and now at the age of 34 her daughter was feeling frustrated for not being able to find right groom for herself. I told this gentleman that her daughter horoscope could be of Aries lagna only as it shows delay in marriage. In case of Taurus lagna horoscope the placement of three benefic planets Jupiter, Mercury and Venus would have given her timely marriage. In Navamsha the Jupiter comes in the 7^th house and the lagna lord Saturn is excellently paced in the 11^th house showing marriage at the right age in case of Taurus lagan chart.

However, if we see the chart from Aries ascendant then the Saturn in the 7^th house and the 7^th lord Venus in combustion in the 8^th house shows delay in her marriage. The 7^th lord Venus is in ‘Paap-Kartari’ yoga amply explaining difficulties in getting marital happiness. The Navamsha lagna here become Sagittarius where the lagna and 7^th lord are badly placed.

 

2. Education in abroad: She got her higher education from Canada after she migrated there from India in 1998. Her migration to foreign land is explainable from Aries lagna only. Here the 4^th lord Moon comes into the 12^th She went to Canada during her Mercury-Moon dasha in Vimshottari. In Navamsha the configuration of planets in the 12^th house shows her settlement in abroad. However, if we take the Taurus lagna then the 4^th lord Sun along with benefic planets in the 7^th house would not have given her foreign settlement along with family.
3. Skin allergies and tense relationship with father: This young lady was suffering from skin allergies and depression due to tense relations with father and difficulties at work place. These things are also amply clear from Aries lagna where the 6^th lord Mercury in the 8^th house shows skin aliments. The bad exchange between the 8^th lord Mars and the 9^th lord Jupiter shows tension in the relationship with father. She was under the dasha of ‘Maraka’ Venus badly placed in the 8^th house showing troubles in her career. If we take the Taurus lagna then the Venus comes into Raja Yogas and Dhana Yogas due to its association with Sun, Mercury and Jupiter.

Thus I fixed the Aries ascendant for this native based on her life events discuss above.

Birth time rectification using Varga Charts in a horoscope

 As per the legendary astrologers the  Navamsha chart has to be seen in correlation with birth chart for every major event of the life. However, the primarily this divisional horoscope is seen for martial comforts and strength of planets. The Navamsha lagna signifies the interest of native in marriage and his attitude towards his spouse. The 7^th house of Navamsha signifies the spouse (husband or wife) of the native. The qualities of the spouse have to be seen from the 7^th house of Navamsha and Rashi chart as per the ‘Stri-Jataka’ Adhayaa of Sage Parashara.

It must be remember that the ascendant of every  Varga chart signifies the happiness from the area that Varga chart signifies. For example the ascendant of Chathurathamsha (D-4) shows the happiness from the house and native’s desire to get comfort from his home. The 4^th house of Chathurathamsha shows the house itself. In Dwadamsha the ascendant indicates the happiness native is destined from his parents. The native’s attitude and behavior towards his/her parents is also seen from the ascendant of the Dwadamsha. The 4^th house in Dwadamsha chart is mother and the 9^th house is father.

In Dashamsha the rising sign shows the happiness one may get from his profession or career. The native’s approach towards his daily ‘Karmas’ is also studied from the ascendant of Dashamsha chart. The 10^th house of Dashamsha is the career of the native. Other houses are seen accordingly such as 2^nd house in Dashamsha is the resources of native at his work place, the 3^rd house is his subordinates or servants, the 4^th house is the office of native or location from where he works, the 5^th house of Dashamsha is native’s professional knowledge etc.

This approach has to be followed in the analysis of all the divisional charts. The ascendant, ascendant lord and the Moon is the deciding factor in getting happiness from the signification of that particular Varga chart. Apart from these the Karaka planets also have to be seen carefully in every Varga chart. In Navamsha the Venus is key planet, in Dashamsha it is Mercury, in Dwadamsha the Sun and Moon, in Saptamsha it is Jupiter, in Dreshkkana the Mars (elder co-born) and Jupiter ( younger co-born) are the Karaka planets.

An astrologer also has to be well versed in mathematical astrology while fixing the degrees of ascendant while doing the event based birth time rectification.

Now I will be giving some examples on fixing the various divisional charts.

Case 3. 23 February 1973, 17:30 hours (given birth time) at Allahabad

Corrected birth time 17:22 hours after changing the Navamsha

Chart 5. Leo lagna chart with Taurus and Aries Navamshas

In this case if we cast the birth chart with the given birth time of  17:30 hours then we get Leo ascendant and Taurus Navamsha. I got this chart for making the prediction of marriage. The young lady was still bachelor even after completing the age of 44 years. The Leo lagan chart with Taurus Navamsha was not confirming this. In Rashi chart the lagna lord Sun in the 7^th house receiving the aspect of Saturn shows delay in marriage but not such stage where she would have remained unmarried till the age of 44 year. If we take the Taurus Navamsha then the 7^th lord Mars in the 4^th house receiving the aspect of Jupiter would have got her married with some delay only. Her Mercury Maha dasha in Vimshottair was started in December 2003. Had it been Taurus Navamsha then she would have got married around that time of the start of Mercury dasha which is well placed in the Navamsha chart.

Now change her birth time to 17:22 hours and you will find Aries rising at the ascendant of Navamsha chart. In Aries Navamsha the malefic planets Saturn, Sun, Rahu and Ketu are in the Kendra. The 7^th lord Venus is debilitated in the 6^th house receiving the aspect of Saturn showing delay in marriage. When the Saturn influences the 7^th house and/or its lord in both Rashi and Navamsha charts then it gives lots of delay or even denial in getting the marital happiness.

Thus in this case native must have the Aries rising in the Navamsha chart with birth time corrected to 17:22 hours.

 

Case 4. Male

           28 January 1970, 03:45 hours (approximate time) at Ghaziabad.

           Corrected birth time 03:30 hours

Chart 6. Scorpio lagna rising with Capricorn and Sagittarius Navamsha charts.

This is the horoscope of a professional lawyer who is still bachelor at the age of 46 years. His practice of law is also very ordinary and he once came under debt when he lost lacks of rupees in the stock market fall in year 2007-08.

The Scorpio lagna chart with Capricorn Navamsha doesn’t confirm such frustrating delay in marriage. In the Rashi chart the 7^th lord Venus is deep combusted with Sun at close degrees and it is receiving the aspect of Saturn showing delay or denial of marriage. However, the three benefic in Kendra of Navamsha chart doesn’t such delay in marriage particularly when he got the 16 years long maha dasha of Jupiter from December 2002. The Jupiter in Navamsha lagan and the 7^th lord Moon in Kendra in mutual aspect with 9^th lord Mercury would have given him marriage earlier.

I changed the birth time to 03:30 hours and the picture was more clear. Now the Sagittarius Navamsha rising with malefic Saturn, Mars, Rahu and Ketu in the Kendra are confirming the delay or denial in getting the marital bliss. The Kendra’s of Navamsha shows marital happiness. When there are more number of malefic planets in Kendra’s then it shows lack of marital happiness or troubles in this area of life. Now if we take the Sagittarius Navamsha then the Saturn is found to be influencing the 7^th house in both Rashi as well as Navamsha chart which has found to be a crucial factor in delay marriage.

 

Case 5. Male (CEO of MNC )

           7 May 1974 at 18:45 hours at 18:45 hours

           Birth time correct to 18:42 hours changing Dashamsha

Chart 7. Libra lagna Rashi chart with Cancer and Gemini Dashamsha charts

This Libra lagna and Gemini Navamsha chart is of a CEO of a leading MNC company dealings in apparels. He became the CEO of that MNC in year 2012 when he was under his Venus-Venus dasha in Vimshottari. The Venus is exalted in the Rashi chart and is receiving the aspect of Yoga Karaka Saturn making a great Raja Yoga. In Navamsha the Venus is again involve in good number of Raja Yogas and Dhana Yogas. He had earlier got a degree of MBA from IIM (Indian Institute of Management) during his dasha of Mercury which is in good exchange (Parivartan yoga) in the Rashi chart with 7^th lord Mars.

The degrees of ascendant in this case was 27° 3’ if we cast the chart with given birth time 18:45 hours. It will give us Cancer rising at the Dashamsha chart. Had it been Cancer Dashamsha then he would have not got such success in his career during the dasha of Venus which is in the 8^th house there. Now make his birth time to 18:42 hours giving him Gemini Dashamsha then you will find that Venus is placed in the 9^th house of luck receiving the aspect of 9^th lord Saturn and 10^th lord Jupiter making a great Raja Yoga there. The lord of Dashamsha lagan Mercury will come in the 7^th house. The Gemini Dashamsha justifies his becoming CEO of a multinational company at the young age of 38 years only which was regarded as a huge success in corporate career in India.

An exercise for the readers

Case 6. Male

           14 April 1972 at around 11:40 hours to 12:00 noon at Delhi

Chart 8. Cancer lagna and Leo Navamsha ( birth time 12:00 noon)

Chart 9. Gemini lagna and Gemini Navamsha ( birth time rectified 11:40 hours)

A very interesting case came to me where the native’s property was attested by the court and he was running from his creditors. He was under Mars-Sun dasha in the first half of year 2017. On March 8^th in year 2017 he lost the case filed by his bank for the nonpayment of loan against the purchase of house. He had to evacuate the house when it was attached by the court receiver. The birth chart based on the time with him ( 12:00 noon) was not astrologically explaining this problem. In the Cancer lagna horoscope he was under the maha dasha of Yogakaraka Mars since 2011 and was facing great downfall in his business. The Mars in the Cancer lagna placed in the 11^th house of gains along with Venus and Saturn was not showing such disaster. But when I moved the ascendant to Gemini then the picture was clearer astrologically.

Now see some of the major events of his life along with Vimshottari dasha.

Death of Father 13 January 1997 ( Dasha Sun-Rahu)

Marriage 27 May 1997 ( Dasha Sun-Rahu)

Birth of Son 12 March 1999 ( Dasha Sun-Saturn)

Good earnings in business from 2009 to 2011 ( Dasha Moon-Venus)

Court case on his property 8 March 2011 ( Dasha Moon-Sun)

Downfall in business since 2011 (Mars maha dasha in Vimshottari)

Bank filed an appeal in the court for the attachments of  his house and property in 2014 ( Dasha Mars-Saturn)

Now decide which could be his correct ascendant Cancer or Gemini ? As per my humble knowledge it could be Gemini as from here only we can astrologically justify the disaster and court cases during the maha dasha of Mars which is badly placed in the 12^th house of losses. The readers may cast all the relevant divisional horoscopes and study his life event in the context of rectifying his birth time.

An Observation: In my practice of birth time correction for more than a decade i have observed that event based birth time correction is fruitful if a tentative birth time is available for the native. However, in  case no information for the birth time is available then it is not possible to do the birth time correction. We must have a tentative birth time information like morning birth, afternoon birth or birth around Sun set or tentative time of birth around night etc. In case if no birth time is available then as per my humble understanding one may get the Nadi readings using his/her thumb impression from an able Tamil Nadi expert. One may contact any Tamil Nadi reader online or through a Tamil Hindu temple. The other option is to get a Bhrigu readings if no birth time at all is available with the native.