Kundali (astrology)

Kuṇḍali (also called janmapatra) is the Indian term for the astrological chart or diagram representing the positions of the navagraha-s of Indian astrology at a particular moment like the moment of the birth of a child. The navagraha-s are the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and the two nodes of the Moon. The nodes of the Moon are the points on the celestial sphere where the orbit of the Moon intersects the orbit of the Sun. At a particular moment the navagraha-s will be at different points in the sky and they will be located in one of the 12 zodiacal signs (rāśi-s in Indian astrology), namely:

1. Meṣa (Aries), 2. Vṛṣabha (Taurus), 3.Mithuna (Gemini), 4. Karka (Cancer), 5. Siṃha (Leo), 6. Kanyā (Virgo), 7. Tulā (Libra), 8. Vṛścika (Scorpio), 9. Dhanuṣa (Sagittarius), 10. Makara (Caprocornus), 11. Kumbha (Aquarius), 12. Mīna (Pisces)

A kuṇḍali will show diagrammatically which one of the navagraha-s are located in which one of the rāśi-s at a particular moment. A kuṇḍali has twelve cells to represent the 12 zodiacal signs. Practitioners of astrology in different parts of India follow different conventions regarding the exact form in which the kuṇḍali is constructed. Essentially there are three different ways in which these cells are represented in a kuṇḍali, the one followed by people of South India, the one followed by people of North India and the one followed by people of Eastern India (West Bengal and Odisha). ^[1]

The practice of constructing a kuṇḍali per se is not unscientific or pseudo-science as the kuṇḍali is only a diagram depicting the positions in the zodiac of the nine entities called the navagraha-s at a particular moment of time, and the navagraha-s are associated with true astronomical entities. But, the practice of "reading" a kuṇḍali and interpreting or using it to predict the future events or the personality traits of individuals, has no scientific basis and is a pseudo-science.^[2]^[3]^[4]

^ Vijaya Narayan Tripathi (2008), "Astrology in India", in Helaine Selin (ed.), Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, Springer, pp. 264–267, ISBN 978-1-4020-4559-2
^ Sven Ove Hansson; Edward N. Zalta. "Science and Pseudo-Science". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 6 July 2012. [...] advocates of pseudo-sciences such as astrology and homeopathy tend to describe their theories as conformable to mainstream science.
^ "Astronomical Pseudo-Science: A Skeptic's Resource List". Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Archived from the original on 30 December 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2007.
^ Hartmann, P.; Reuter, M.; Nyborga, H. (May 2006). "The relationship between date of birth and individual differences in personality and general intelligence: A large-scale study". Personality and Individual Differences. 40 (7): 1349–1362. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2005.11.017. To optimise the chances of finding even remote relationships between date of birth and individual differences in personality and intelligence we further applied two different strategies. The first one was based on the common chronological concept of time (e.g. month of birth and season of birth). The second strategy was based on the (pseudo-scientific) concept of astrology (e.g. Sun Signs, The Elements, and astrological gender), as discussed in the book Astrology: Science or superstition? by Eysenck and Nias (1982).

[Vijaya-1] Vijaya Narayan Tripathi (2008), "Astrology in India", in Helaine Selin (ed.), Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, Springer, pp. 264–267, ISBN 978-1-4020-4559-2

[SandPSandAstroSoc-2] Sven Ove Hansson; Edward N. Zalta. "Science and Pseudo-Science". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 6 July 2012. [...] advocates of pseudo-sciences such as astrology and homeopathy tend to describe their theories as conformable to mainstream science.

[astrosociety.org-3] "Astronomical Pseudo-Science: A Skeptic's Resource List". Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Archived from the original on 30 December 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2007.

[Hartmann-4] Hartmann, P.; Reuter, M.; Nyborga, H. (May 2006). "The relationship between date of birth and individual differences in personality and general intelligence: A large-scale study". Personality and Individual Differences. 40 (7): 1349–1362. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2005.11.017. To optimise the chances of finding even remote relationships between date of birth and individual differences in personality and intelligence we further applied two different strategies. The first one was based on the common chronological concept of time (e.g. month of birth and season of birth). The second strategy was based on the (pseudo-scientific) concept of astrology (e.g. Sun Signs, The Elements, and astrological gender), as discussed in the book Astrology: Science or superstition? by Eysenck and Nias (1982).

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