Drishtikone
Pluto was recently demoted from the planetary status! It no longer remains one of the nine. We will have to be contented with eight of them. Too bad! It has had larger implications in practical terms as the text books and planetariums have been thrown out of whack by this sudden ‘decision’ based on various criteria.
Now, Astrologer is a close cousin of Astronomy. What do the Astrologers do? Well they are steadfast at calculating the influence of Pluto in the big picture.
Funny thing is that in Indian Astrology, Pluto never had any value. Hundred of years back during the Gupta period, the two great Indian Mathematicians – Varahamihira and Aryabhatt had rejected Pluto as a planet. They would work with nine “planet-like” object of which two were just derivatives of earth’s diameter – kinda like “virtual planets”. So the Indian astrologer couldnt be bothered with this hue and cry over the smallest of the planets.. Pluto!
“Indian astrology did not include Pluto as a planet and the latest announcement by leading global astronomers after a marathon week-long meeting at Prague yesterday only endorsed the Indian mathematical astrology of Aryabhatta and Varahamihira in the sixth century,” eminent mathematical astrologer Mangal Prasad told PTI today.
“Western astrology uses Pluto as a planet while Pluto was always out of Indian astrology and we do not use it in our calculations. This is the practice from the days of Aryabhatta and Varahamihira,” Prasad said.
“Indian astrology is mathematically concerned with the nine planets, two of which are Raghu and Ketu that are nothing but derivatives from the diameter of earth, which is a circle having a value Pi (22/7) imbedded in the equator of earth,” he said.
“This was discovered and mathematically shown by Aryabhatta and Varahamihira in the sixth century during the golden period of the Guptas,” said Prasad, the author of books based on the work of the two great sixth century scientists.
Indian astrology is concerned more with astronomy and the derivations are from the equator of the earth, diameter of the moon, the solar year and how the planets are viewed in the northern latitudinal region during January and February, soon after the sun has crossed the Tropic of Capricon and moved towards the northern part of the hemisphere, he said.
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