Jataka Chandrika is a short but famous book on astrology credited to famous poet Kalidasa who wrote Raghuvamsam and Shakuntala. There are several commentaries on Jataka Chandrika by different authors.
Jataka Chandrika text contains four chapters and deals with the basics of astrology like –
- Royal combinations
- Death inflicting periods
- Bad or good time segments.
The author has divided the twelve bhavas (stellar houses) into six groups
- Trikona (houses 5 and 9)
- Kendra(houses 1, 4, 7, and 10)
- Trisadya (houses 3, 6, 11)
- Netra(houses 2 and 12)
- Astama
- Lagna
The planets (lords) are treated as shubha (auspicious) or ashubha (inauspicious), and also as saumya (good) and papi (bad) in a general sense.
Five planets, namely, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn, own two houses, and their twin lordships decide their subhatva (goodness) for a lagna (nativity). Trikona lords are always shubha, while trisadya lords are always ashubha. In the case of Kendra lords, papis are not malefic and vice versa. Lords of netra are sama (natural).
The third chapter of the text deals with maracas (death inflicting planets). Lords of the second and the seventh houses are marakas and planets occupying these houses are also marakas. These planets affect in their periods according to their strengths and affect longevity.
The last chapter is on the periods of planets on the basis of the position of moon at the time of birth. The life span is divided broadly into bad and good periods. Events and incidents are judged on the basis of the nature (significance), lordship and strengths of the planets.
Jataka Chandrika is popular in North India. A large number of commentaries are available to help understand the exact meanings of the tense and cryptic verses. The original work deals with raja yoga, ayur bhava and certain parameters for matrimonial matching of horoscopes.