According to Panini’s Vyakarana(grammar) the word Ramala means Disclosing Secrets. Thus the secrets of Ramala are practiced by many astrologers without disclosing this horary branch of astrology. India is the origin of several branches of knowledge such as science , astrology and other valuable arts. Similarly Ramala Shastra is also believed to be having its origin in our country . It is learned that Ramala Shastra was at its zenith during Dwapara Yuga. The first Shakal Lahyana or Vagmi mentioned in ramal is attributed to Jupiter . Moreover this is related to the sign Sagittarius or Dhanus out of the 12 zodiacal signs. Lord Sri Krishna has clearly stated that he is Margasira of the months of the year which relates to Dhanus rashi. Dhanus rashi is 9th rashi to Aries Sign of Kalapurusha which represents the dharma or charity.
Therefore it is considered the first shakal Vagmi pertaining to ramal. In course of time the attention of the people was drawn towards astrology and this resulted in the gradual loss of interest towards Ramala Shastra. The Ramala was spread over the globe with different names and different signs by Arabian and Persian people. The scholar of Iran Shurkhav who accompanied Alexander the Great from Masidonia during his invasion of India brought Ramala with certain modifications . Even then ramala was handled very confidentially . The orthodox astrologers of India regarded ramal as Milecha as it was handled by Greeks or Yavanas and this finally resulted in gradual ruin of the ramal.
Pandit Ratan Chand is of the view that the ancient Nadi shastra is based on the Ramala. I Ching, a type of horary astrology founded by Confusious is also based on Ramala shastra . Accordingly to Indian mythology during the course of game of hide and seek Lord Shiva broke down due to the sudden disappearance of goddess Shakthi . Even after searching her for thousands of years he was not able to find Shakthi. At that time Parvathi’s Maanas putra Bhairav appeared before Lord Shiva .He drew 4 bindus on the earth vertically and drew another 4 bindus vertically near the previous one.
These two parallel vertical lines with 4 bindus each emphasized the 4 tatwas or primordial compounds as Fire, Air, Water and Earth respectively. As these four elements are enveloped in the sky itself, the intention of the mind of a person is under the governance of the sky. Vedas say that Chandrama Manasoajayatha means that the Moon has been originated from the mind of Lord Maha Vishnu. Also in Navagraha Shuktha. Aapyayaswa Sameduthe Viswathatsoma Vrishneeyam “ means that the affection and love among the living being of the universe are totally ruled by Moon. In the Jayadhi Homa mantra is mentioned Chandrama Nakshatranam Adipathi—means Moon is the lord of the stars.
Moon also rules over the medicinal herbs. Thus Moon being the ruler of the mind is considered with great importance in all astrological matters. In Ramala Shastra there are 16 shakalas or images derived on the basis of Moon`s 14 lunar days+1 full moon+1 new moon =16 in numbers. Due to this reason Moon is otherwise called as shodashakala with her two faces of waning and waxing. There are 96 bindus resulting in sixteen shakals. The rules are : Bindu x Bindu = ____ (line) Line x Line = ____(line) Bindu x Line = 0 (bindu) Line x Bindu = 0 (bindu) For ready reference of the readers let us take the first shakala vagmi which is drawn with a bindu atop and 3 lines under it.
This clearly shows that 7 bindus are involved for this image. In this way every shakal is taking some number of bindus for its appearance and finally all the sixteen shakalas are totaling to 96 bindus. To be continued…….