Ayanāṃśa

{{Short description|System for the precession of equinoxes}} {{use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} [[File:Equinox path.png|thumb|300px|Path taken by the point of vernal equinox along the ecliptic over the past 6000 years]]

'''''Ayanamsa''''' ({{IAST|ayanāṃśa}}: {{etymology|san|ayana|movement||aṃśa|component}}), also '''''ayanabhāga''''' ({{etymology|san|bhāga|portion}}), is the Sanskrit term for many systems used in Hindu astrology to account for the precession of equinoxes.<ref name=":0">Barbara Pijan, https://barbarapijan.com/bpa/Amsha/Ayanamsha.htm</ref>{{Verification needed|date=December 2019}} There are also systems of ayanamsa used in Western sidereal astrology, such as the Fagan/Bradley Ayanamsa.<ref name=":1" />

==Overview== There are various systems of Ayanamsa that are in use in Hindu astrology (also known as Vedic astrology) such as the Raman Ayanamsa<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.saravali.de/articles/ayanamsa.html|title=Saravali: Ayanamsa|website=www.saravali.de|access-date=2019-12-05}}</ref> and the Krishnamurthy Ayanamsa,<ref name=":0" /> but the Lahiri Ayanamsa, named after its inventor, astronomer Nirmal Chandra Lahiri (1906–1980), is by far the most prevalent system in India.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.astro.com/astrology/in_ayanamsha_e.htm|title=Ayanamshas in Sidereal Astrology|website=www.astro.com|language=en|access-date=2019-12-05}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@srivarahamihira/which-ayanamsa-did-sri-varahamihira-use-205ae5925480|title=Which Ayanamsa did Sri Varahamihira use?|last=Mihira|first=Varaha|date=2016-02-04|website=Medium|language=en|access-date=2020-03-31}}</ref> Critics of Lahiri Ayanamsa have proposed an ayanamsa called True Chitra Paksha Ayanamsa.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> There are other existing ayanamsa such as Raman, Pushya Paksha, Rohini, Kërr A.I, Usha Shashi and Chandra Hari. However, the zero ayanamsa year of Dulakara ayanamsa is precise; the zero ayanamsa year according to it is 232 CE. Indrasena ayanamsa is a significant improvement of Dulakara ayanamsa by introducing a different precessional rate, which is 50.30274802049371" per year, to 232 CE zero ayanamsa year. <ref>https://www.scribd.com/document/907636582/Ayanamsa-decoded</ref>

The use of ayanamsa to account for the precession of equinoxes is believed to have been defined in Vedic texts{{Which|date=July 2023}} at least 2,500 years before the Greek astronomer Hipparchus quantified the precession of equinoxes in 127 B.C.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} While critical scholars believe these "Vedic texts", at least those centering Spica Cittā (or 0° Libra, Tūla Rāśi), were composed in the common era, between 200 and 400 CE.

Lahiri falsely [unsubstantiated claim] intended that Spica be centred in Cittā (0° Tūla, tropical LIB) and exactly 180° from tropical ARI. Spica's ecliptic longitude was approximately 203.2° in the mid 1950s, 203.84° in 2000 and thus its presumed ayanamsa is 23.84° (J2000), 24.2° by 2026, and 25.0° by 2083.

The actual longitude of Spica is closer to 29° Virgo<ref>Astrological origins : Fagan, Cyril, 1895– : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive. (2022). Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/astrologicalorig0000faga</ref> than 0° Libra. Thus, the Lahiri ayanamsa is nearly one degree less than the true value of ayanamsa.

Centring Spica in Cittā, as Lahiri does, pushes Aldebaran and Regulus off-centre and pushes Antares west and outside its namesake nakshatra. Allowing Spica 45' to 1° east of Cittā's center better aligns Pleiades in Kattikā, centers Aldebaran in Rohini, Regulus in Maghā, and Antares to define the western boundary of Jyestha.

==See also == * Western sidereal astrology

==References== {{reflist}}

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