Chapter 12: Issue or Children

If Jupiter and the lords of the 5th house reckoned from the Lagna and the Moon be well-placed, and 5th house has on it the aspect of a benefic planet or of one owning an auspicious house (i.e., other than 6th, 8th and 12th), or if the lords of the Lagna and the 5th house or be posited together in a house or have mutual benefic aspect or occupy each other's places, the acquisition of children is assured.

When the 5th places counted from the Lagna, Jupiter and the Moon are either associated with or aspected by malefics and are devoid of benefics or of their aspect, or, when these houses are surrounded by malefics on both sides and when the lords of the above said houses are posited in Dusstthanas (i. e., 6th, 8th and 12th), the person concerned can have no issue whatever.

If a malefic planet owning the 5th house be in that house, the person concerned will have children. When that house is occupied by a malefic, the person will have sons in plenty. If a benefic planet should occupy the 5th house and at the same time own that sign or be in exaltation, there, the result is loss of children. The signs Vrischika, Kanya and Simha when they happen to represent the 5th house are termed childless Rasis and a person born under such a condition will be of very limited progeny and this too will be accomplished only after a long interval.

When the Sun is posited in the 5th house identical with childless Rasi, Saturn is in the 8th and Mars in the Lagna ; or when Saturn, Jupiter and Mars occupy respectively the Lagna, the 8th and the 12th and the 5th house happens to be a childless sign ; or when the Moon occupies the 11th, and the 5th house reckoned from Jupiter is occupied by a malefic planet and there are many planets stationed in the Lagna ; the person concerned will have a child late in life after a great effort.

If the Sun should singly (without being associated with any other planet) occupy the 5th house identical with Karkataka, there is possibility of the person concerned having children by a second wife. The same should be predicted if Mars or Venus be similarly situated, Saturn in such a position will give many children. The Moon or Mercury similarly placed will not give many while Jupiter in the Moon's sign identical with the 5th house will make the person concerned the father of many daughters.

The following 4 Yogas lead to family extinction : ( 1 ) The 4th, the 7th and the 10th houses in any nativity being occupied respectively by a malefic planet, Venus and the Moon ; (2) the 12th, the 8th the Sth and the first houses being occupied by malefics ; (3) Venus and Mercury in the 7th, Jupiter in the Sth and malefics in the 4th houses ; and ( 4 ) the Moon in the Sth and malefics in the Sth, the 12th and the 1st.

The following two yogas lead to affliction through children or barrenness : (1) a malefic in the Lagna, its lord in the 5th, the lord of the 5th in the 3rd, and the Moon in an odd Rasi or Amsa in the 5th and aspected by the Sun.

If the 5th bhava be a sign owned by Saturn or Mercury and is aspected by or associated with Mandi or Saturn, the person concerned will have a son by adoption. The same will be the result when the lord of the 5th house is weak and is not connected in any way with the lords of the 1st and the 7th houses.

If the lord of the 5th house be in depression or in an inimical house or be eclipsed, or be in conjunction with the lords of the 12th, the 6th and the 8th houses, the result will be the loss of children, say the astrologers. The same will be the case when the lord of the 5th is posited in the 5th and is not aspected by benefics.

If in any nativity the lord of the 5th house, Jupiter, Mars and the Sun are all posited in male Navamsas, they lead to the possession of a good number of children, so, the sages say, the nature — good or otherwise— of the children being ascertained from the strength of the lord of the 5th house.

If the house or its lord be posited in a male sign or Amsa or be in conjunction with or aspected by male planets, the children will be all males. The birth will be of daughters if the said house or its lord be in a female Rasi or Amsa, or be associated with or aspected by female planets.

Conception (of a birth) may take place when the Sun and Venus in the case of males, and Mars and the Moon in the case of females, are possessed of strength and pass through their Rasis or Amsas identical with an Apachaya (1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 12th Rasi)

The number of issues should be determined by a consideration of (1) the planets in the 5th house or those that are posited along with the lord of the 5th house, as to how many of them are in friendly, depression or inimical Navamsas. A similar examination should also be made in respect of the 5th house or its lord reckoned from the sign occupied by Jupiter the sign representing the Navamsa occupied by the Sun .

Add together the figures representing the positions of Jupiter, the Moon and Mars in the case of female horoscopes. If the result denotes an even Rasi and an even Navamsa, the strength of fecundity in the female for producing offspring is assured. If it is mixed (i. e., Rasi male and Amsa female or vice versa), there will be children only after a great effort. If the sum-total of the figures denoting the positions of the Sun, Venus and Jupiter signify an odd Rasi and an odd Navamsa, it denotes that the virility in the male to produce offspring is very strong ; and in case one of the two (Rasi and Navamsa) be even, one has to predict a mixed result.

Subtract five times the figures for the Sun from five times the figures for the Moon. If the Tithi represented by the result be an auspicious one in the bright half of a month, progeny is assured to the native (even without much exertion. But if it be one of the dark half of the month, there is no such possibility. It is by a close examination of the strength of the Tithi — whether it is auspicious or otherwise-in both the Pakshas - bright and dark — that one has to divine the possibility of the native being blessed with issue. During an (Amavasya), a (Chidra) Tithi, the (Vishti) Karana or any one of the (Stthira-karanas), there will be no issue at all. The (Chidra) Tithis are (1) (Chaturthi), (2) (Shashti), (3) (Ashtami), (4) (Navami), (5) (Dwadasi) and (6) (Chaturdasi). These are generally avoided for any auspicious function. There are 11 Karanas distributed over the 30 Tithis of the lunar month at the rate of 2 Karanas for each Tithi. Four of these, viz., (1) (Chatushpada) (2) (Nagava) (3) (Kimstughna) and (4) (Sakuna) are called (Sthira) Karanas and are so named as they permanently hold sway over the four half Tithis commencing from the second half of (Krishna Paksha Chaturdasi). The other seven, viz., (1) (Bava), (2) (Balava), (3) (Kaulava), (4) (Taitthila), (5) (Garaja), (6) (Vanija) and (7) (Vishti) or (Bhadra) are called (Chara) or moveable Karanas and occur in 8 cycles to preside over the remaining half-tithis of the lunar month beginning with the first half of (Suklapaksha pratipada).

Should however the result happen to be one of the (Chhidra) Tithis, the (Vishti) Karana, or a (Stthirakarana, alluded to in the last sentence of the previous Sloka), one ought to worship God Krishna by means of the (Purusha Sukta) Mantras to ward off the barrenness threatening the family. If the Tithi disclosed be (Shashti), he ought to worship God Subrahmanya ; if it be (Chatutthi), he ought to propitiate the lord of serpents; if it be (Navami), he ought to arrange for the reading of (Ramayana) and hear that story ; if it be (Ashtami), he ought to observe the (Sravana) Vrata (by fasting) , if it be (Chaturdasi), he must worship God Rudra (Siva) by (Rudraparayana) ; If it be (Dwadasi) he must propitiate the Gods by liberal feeding; if it be (Amavasya) or (Pournami) he ought to propitiate the Manes. These things he ought to do all the more and with greater care and effort when the Tithi happen to be one among the last five of the month—viz., after (Krishna Paksha Dasami). Generally, in the dark half of a month to which-so ever of the three divisions a Tithi may belong, worship ought to be resorted to : the particular deity to be propitiated being (Nagaraja) in the first division, viz., 1 — 5 Tithis), (Skanda) in the second (next 5 Tithis i. e., 6 - 10) and (Hari) in the third (or last 5),

If at a birth the lord of the 5th house be posited in its inimical or depression sign or be eclipsed (by the Sun's rays) or occupy any of the (Dusstthanas, viz., the 6th, the 8th or the 12th) ; or the planet occupying the 5th house be similarly situated or happen to be the lord of any one of the three houses, viz., the 6th, the 8th or the 12th one ought to declare childlessness as an inevitable result. He ought to divine the source of the same by an examination of the particular deity, tree and animal represented by the sign occupied by that planet.

If the planet in question happens to be the Sun, the person concerned becomes sonless owing to injury done to God Siva and Garuda and the consequent curse of the Manes ; if the Moon, it will be due to the displeasure and anger of the mother, a (Sumangali) or other venerable woman owing to her feelings having been hurt; in the case of Mars, it will be due to some fault done to the village deity, to God (Kartikeya), to an enemy, or one's Dayadins ; if the planet be Mercury, the sonlessness will be due to curses made by youngsters or to the killing of spawns (eggs of fishes and similar creatures) or to the wrath of God Vishnu ; if Jupiter be such planet, it will be due to some harm done to the hereditary Brahmin family priest or the destruction of a tree full of fruits : if the lord of 5th or the planet posited therein be Venus, the cause of childlessness will be due to the cutting off of a tree full of flowers, or an injury caused to a virtuous lady or to the cow kind or a sinful deed to people that ought to be revered ; if Saturn be the planet under advertance, it will be due to the destruction of an (Aswattha or Pipul tree or on account of Yama's ire or through departed spirits, goblins and the like ; if Rahu should occupy the 5th house or be associated with the lord of that house it will be due to the curse of a serpent ; in the case of Ketu, it will be owing to the curse of a Brahmin. If it be Mandi, it will be due to a curse from departed spirits, If Venus and the Moon in conjunction with Mandi should be in such a position, the cause will be attributed to the murder of a damsel or the killing of a cow. If Jupiter or Ketu in conjunction with Mandi be in the 5th house, the sonlessness will be on account of the murder of a Brahmin.

Thus have been detailed the several sins accrued by one's actions in his many previous births and now revealed in his present nativity which lead to childlessness and to ward off which and to secure a son, persons versed in the Astrological science have recommended (appropriate) particular Japas, gifts and such other good actions prescribed for the several planets.

A holy bath in Ratneswaram, engaging oneself in reciting the accounts of a venerable and a revered personage, worship of God Siva, observance of vows with reference to (propitiate) God Vishnu, gifts, ceremonies in honor of departed spirits, installation of the serpent deity these are the various modes recommended by which one can attain progeny.

The birth of a son should be expected during the Dasa or Apahara of any one of the 6 planets, viz., (1) the lord of the Lagna, (2) the lord of the 7th, (3) the lord of the 5th, (4) Jupiter; (5) the planet aspecting the 5th house or (6) the one occupying the 5th house or when Jupiter in his orbit transits the sign or the Navamsa Rasi occupied by the lord of the 5th house or the (Upagraha) Yamakantaka,

Find when the lord of Lagna comes during his transit (1) in conjunction with the lord of the 5th house (2) to his exaltation sign (3) to his own Rasi (4) to the 5th house and (5) to the sign occupied by the lord of the 5th house. During any one of these transits the birth of a son is possible.

Add the figures of the following three planets : — ( 1) The lord of the Lagna (2) the lord of the 7th house and (3) the lord of the 5th house. During the course of the Maha Dasa represented by the ruler of the asterism and in the Apaharas of any one of the following, viz., (1) the planet in the 5th house, (2) the planet aspecting the 5th house and (3) the planet owning the 5th house, the birth of a son may be predicted.

Find which of the following is strong : — (1) The lord of the 5th house (2) Jupiter, (3), (4), (5) and (6) the lords respectively of the Rasis and Navamsas occupied by (1) and (2). During the Dasa or Apahara of this strong planet, birth of a son is possible.

Men will generally have the birth of a son when Jupiter in the course of his orbit passes through a Rasi trine to the sign representing the Rasi or Amsa occupied by the planet owning the 5th house reckoned from Jupiter. According to other treatises on the subject, one ought to investigate indications of progeny from the positions of planets at the birth time of the native.

Note the ruler of the asterism occupied by the Moon as also that of the 5th from it. Add the figures of these two planets. When Jupiter in his orbit passes through the sign represented by this result or through one of its triangular ones, the birth of a son is possible.

The birth (of a child) may also take place when the Sun in his orbit passes through the third sign reckoned from the Rasi representing the (Nisheka) Lagna or transits a Rasi triangular to the (Adhana) Lagna

If a birth takes place in a Lagna which is the 5th or the 9th from the Adhana Lagna, it should be declared as through the effects of the native's good actions done in previous births. If benefics should occupy or aspect the Adhana Lagna, the person born will be endowed with long life, wealth and happiness.

Find the exact (Dwadasamsa) of the Moon at the time of the (Adhana) and the Rasi to which it belongs. Count from (Mesha or from) this sign as many Rasis as the number represented by the (Dwadasamsa) in question. When the Moon is in the Rasi thus found in the month of delivery, the birth of the child in the womb may be expected.

One ought to predict effects by consideration of (the positions of the several planets with respect to) the Moon and the Lagna at the time of a query, adoption of a son, investiture of sacred thread, the gift of a girl, the first maturity, or the time of impregnation, as he would if a birth had taken place at the time.