Sunday, December 8, 2019

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja and Shahaji Raje's correct birth time

There is a difference of opinion regarding Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja's birth date as to whether it was in 1627 and 1630. Being an amateur astrologer, I was keen to get the exact date and time of this great personality.

I read several sources, but found one in particular very useful because these particular researchers had the same aim and had painstakingly compiled every source, studied it, corroborated it and listed them down comparatively. The article name is "Birth-Date of Shivaji" and the scholars who had written this were Shri  D.V. Apte and Shri M.R.Paranjpe. This was published in 1927 by Maharashtra Publishing House Ltd. Here is a link below. I would strongly urge those who are interested to read this document. Such research scholars are really praiseworthy. Their effort ensured that it was recognized that Shivaji Maharaja was born in 1630 and not in 1627.

https://dspace.gipe.ac.in/xmlui/handle/10973/32857
https://dspace.gipe.ac.in/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10973/32857/GIPE-194424.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

But there was one small detail that they didnt verify and because of this they ended up arriving at a birth date that was 12 days off. This point is important as this is the birth date that the Maharashtra Govt recognizes currently as the official date of Shivaji Maharaja's birth. This is a wrong date and hence has to be rectified. We should respect such a great personality by recognizing the correct date of his birth and obviously to astrologers like me its absolutely important not just to arrive at the correct date but also the correct time.

As per the research of Shri Apte and Shri Paranjpe, the date which tallies best is Shaka 1551, Phalgun, Krishna tritiya (3rd tithi) and some also give additional information of the weekday as Friday. Phalgun month of Shaka Era of 1551 is Feb-Mar 1630 AD.

One of the most reliable sources where this date was found was the Jedhe Shakavali which gives accurate dates for many other events which have been independently corroborated from other sources. Also more interestingly (for me as an astrologer), this date has been found in astrological texts having horoscopes and which list down in detail the time and date of birth.

Most convincing factor for me is that this date was also mentioned in the horoscope collection of Pandit Shivram of Jodhpur who was a contemporary of Shivaji Maharaj. Interestingly in this collection this horoscope was grouped with the royal family of Udaipur i.e. the Sisodiyas. This was written down sometime between 1676 to 1681. Now we know that Shivaji was coronated as Chhatrapati in 1674. My conjecture is that Pandit Shivram, who must have been a renowned raja-jyotishi (considering the number of royal horoscopes he has) must have been consulted for the coronation muhurta and it was at that time that the connection Shivaji Maharaja's family with the royal Sisodiya Rajput line was established.

This is not all, there is a source not listed by Apte and Paranjpe which I found in my research. This is a collection of articles in honour of Shri Radha Kumud Mukherjee, a renowned historian in early 20th century. This was published in 1947. In Page 280 of this 600 page doc (Horosope no 19 and 20), you will find listed the date and time of birth details of not just Shivaji Maharaj but also of his accomplished father Shahaji Raje.

This is from a collection of leaves with horoscopes from Bikaner. It also contains more than 150 horoscopes of royal personages from Rajput and Mughal families.

The exact text of Shivaji Maharaj's details in this Bikaneri source are (I have inserted commas for easy reading) - "Samvat 1686 Varshe, Phalgun, Vadi 3, Bhrigau ratri, gat Ghati 1, Pala 1 samaye, Simhalagnamadhye, Shivaji ro janma"

This corresponds to 1st March 1630 at 6:30:40 pm (sunset is at 6:06:16 pm). His birth place, I have taken as Shivneri fort (73E51, 19N12)

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.97524/page/n1

This gives not only the date but also exact time i.e. 1 ghati, 1 pala after sunset. This slightly differs from the Jodhpur source which gives around 4 minutes after sunset as the time, so the difference between both sources is of 21 minutes approx. Date is the same. The Lagna is still Leo, though Navamsa Lagna and many other Varga Lagnas would change.

Now the key part about the date itself, which shows where Apte and Paranjpe had gone wrong. It is very clearly established that Shivaji Maharaj was born in Shaka 1551, Phalgun Krishna Tritiya i.e. 1630 AD. Now this tithi i.e. Krishna Tritiya in 1630 AD comes on 1st March and not on 19th Feb. 19th Feb is Shukla Saptami i.e. 7th bright tithi. Secondly this Krishna tritiya is correctly a Friday, while Shukla Saptami is Tuesday. 

(I wouldnt find too much fault with Apte and Paranjpe - they had gone as per the research of Gaurishankar Oza and relied on it. In those days it was very painstaking difficult to verify old dates and one had to consult old almanacs, do lots of calculations. These days its quite easy with modern software. But what is befuddling me is that in the past 80-90 years no one has bothered to verify, especially in the last 10-15 years since astrological softwares are freely available. Just to clarify, I have used Shri Jyoti Star software and corroborated with Jagannath Hora. Readers are free to cross-check this with other reliable softwares available)

All the planetary positions, save that of Rahu are accurate. Rahu's sign position is given in the Jodhpur horoscope in Gemini or Mithuna, while as per our modern calculations its Taurus. Rahu moved from Gemini to Taurus on 17th Feb i.e. 13 days prior.

However considering that all the other planetary positions especially of a fast moving Moon in Virgo are tallying, besides the weekday, 1st March 1630 is the accurate date.

Whether the horoscope tallies with the events of his life is another matter altogether and I will probably take this up later.

But its imperative that the Maharashtra Govt independently checks what I have mentioned above and does the necessary rectification. In 11 years time we will be celebrating Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja's 400th birth anniversary. Lets ensure we celebrate it with the right birth date.

Let me list down all the planetary sign positions and Panchanga

Phalguni Masa, Krishna Tritiya, Shukravasara, Vishti Karana, Vriddhi Yoga, Chitra (2nd Pada) Nakshatra,
Lagna - Simha 28d57m,
Chandra (Atmakaraka) - Kanya,
Shani - Tula,
Ketu - Vrschika,
Ravi and Guru in Kumbha,
Budha-Meena,
Shukra-Mesha,
Rahu-Vrsabha,
Mangala-Mithuna

While checking on the net, there is one other source who lists down planetary positions of Shivaji's horoscope - its a blog named Kal Chiron. I dont know where he got these details. I have asked him but havent got any reply. He has listed several other horoscopes including most of the Peshwas.
http://kalchiron.blogspot.com/2011/11/horoscopes-of-maratha-stalwarts.html
His positions of Shivaji's horoscope corroborate with the Jodhpur source i.e. only the position of Rahu is different. He may have got it from the Jedhe Shakavali as well as it is mentioned that the Jedhe and Jodhpur corroborate with each other.

Now for the final desserts. As I had mentioned earlier, the Bikaneri source also gives the horosope of Shahaji Raje, father of Chhatrapati Shivaji. It gives the details as follows - "Samvat 1655 varshe Phalgun Krishna 14 Gurau Ratri gat ghati 27, pala 47, samaye, Meenalagnamadhye, Shahji raja janma" This translates to 25th March 1599, 5:18 am in Meena Lagna (its an honour for me to share same Lagna as Shahaji Raje). He has exalted Venus with Sun in Lagna and Saturn in digbala in Virgo. Jupiter is well placed in 4H.

Interestingly both father and son have Atmakaraka in Virgo.

By Kartik Srinivasan

4 comments:

Visti Larsen said...

Brilliant! You can sign your name on this Kartik.

Kartik Srinivasan said...

Thankyou very much Guruji! I guess I should :-)

PunyaPrakop said...

Hello Kartik,
If you take Julian calendar (which is considered for old dates), 19.Feb.1630 does make sense. Tithi is also Phalgun "Krishna" Tritiya. Moon in Kanya etc...
Just thought of drawing your attention.

Kartik Srinivasan said...

Hi PunyaPrakop
Saw your message only today. I haven't relied upon dates based on English calendar to determine the final date. I have gone as per the Panchanga details given which never err - "Samvat 1686 Varshe, Phalgun, Vadi 3, Bhrigau ratri, gat Ghati 1, Pala 1 samaye, Simhalagnamadhye, Shivaji ro janma"
You feed these details in any reliable astrological software - I use Shri Jyoti Star - and you get 1st March 1630, at 6.30 pm at his birth location.

Secondly we should celebrate a person's birthday basis his birth tithi and not as per when the day falls every year in Gregorian calendar. That's the Indian way.
So every year when Surya is in Kumbha rashi when the tithi of Krishna Tritiya comes, we should celebrate his janma tithi.
Hope this clarifies. Thanks for your question. Pranam