Z O D I A C S I G N S
ARUN ROY MUKHERJEE
There are twelve (12) zodiac signs covering 360 degrees of
the sky around the earth. Those are named as Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer,
Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces
respectively. Each zodiac sign thus covers 30 degrees. In astrology, these
zodiac signs are attributed with and are believed to indicate different qualities.
According to Western system a person born within a period of 30 days, more or
less starting from 20th of March every year consecutively comes
within the category of a zodiac sign starting from Aries and so on. Thus a
person born on Ist of April is Aries, 3rd August is a Leo and 7th
November is a Scorpio. In the Indian system a person born when the Moon comes
within the 30 degrees sphere of a zodiac sign is believed to be under the
influence of that particular zodiac sign. The Moon revolves round the earth in
27 days. Thus it takes about 2.25 days or 54 hours approximately to cover each
zodiac sign. Therefore, according to the Indian system, when Moon comes within
the 30 degrees of say, Libra and a baby is born during that period, the baby is
said to be born under the zodiac sign of Libra. This is known as the “Rashi”. The
earth rotates on its axis in 24 hours and therefore each zodiac sign can be
seen at a particular place in the sky at a particular point of time for about 2
hours more or less. In Indian system, the zodiac sign seen on the eastern
horizon at the time of the birth of a baby is taken as the “Lagna”, i.e., the ascendant. According to the
Indian system a person born under the different “Rashi”s and different “Lagna”s
are believed to have different influences and qualities represented by the
zodiac signs of his/her “Rashi” and “Lagna”.
It is therefore, very important to know and understand what
these zodiac signs actually are. We see several stars in the sky. From the very
early period of human civilization, men used to look at those stars and imagine
figures to keep a track of the stars and as a guide for a map of the sky.
Gradually they invented a method to join different stars in the sky which
appear very close to each other in the sky by drawing imaginary lines to draw
figure which can be easily identified and remembered. In this way zodiac signs
were also invented and imagined by human beings by drawing imaginary lines
between a few stars in the sky which appear to be close to each other and which
can be related to a figure known to them and is capable of being easily
identified. These drawings were each given a name according to a figure which
can be related to something known to human beings and which can be easily
identified. The names given to the different zodiac has already been stated
above. The other stars in the sky were also joined by drawing imaginary lines
to arrive at a figure and were also given various names, such as Cassiopeia,
Cygmus, Ursa Major, Orion etc. The stars as seen in the sky were also given
various names such as, Andromeda, Sirius, Polaris, Rigel etc. The initial
purpose of such identification of stars and constellations including those
which were chosen as the zodiac signs, was to draw a map of the sky and also
for the purpose of navigation and travel. Some of these constellations which
lie at particular positions and alignment in the sky are named as zodiac signs.
As has been stated already the constellations including the
zodiac signs are creation through imaginations of human beings. This was done
by drawing imaginary lines between the stars which appear close to each other
in the sky. The stars in a constellation and in a zodiac sign though appear to
be near one another but are actually millions of miles apart from one another.
The scientists have found that the distance of one star from another is a few
light years in a constellation and zodiac signs. The star nearest to our solar
system is about 4 light years away. One light year means a distance covered in
a year by travelling at the speed of light. Light travels at a speed of 1,86,000
miles per second. One light year means
the distance covered by travelling for 365 days at the speed of 1,86,000 miles
per second. This comes to 5865696000000
miles for one light year. The stars in a constellation and in a zodiac
appear to us from earth as fixed on a plane surface. But those are not so
actually. The stars in a constellation and in a zodiac sign are both horizontally and
vertically a few light years away from one another and there is no relation as
such between those stars. For an example we take Libra zodiac. In Libra zodiac there are four stars named Alpha Librae which is 77 light years away from earth. Similarly Gemma Librae is 152 light years, Iota Librae is 377 light years and Mu Librae is 235 light years away from the earth. If we take the case of Cancer zodiac sign we find three stars in it, Alpha Canceri (173 L.Years), Beta Canceri (290 L. years) and Iota Canceri (158 L. yearts). Thus we come to the conclusion that the zodiac signs
are imaginary figures created by human beings by drawing imaginary lines
between a few stars which appear to be lying close to one another in the sky.
Now we may come to the point of qualities attributed to each
zodiac signs. There is no record to show how the various qualities attributed
to different zodiac signs are arrived at. There is no explanations available
which can be logically and scientifically verified. No cause and effect
relation between a zodiac sign and a person born on a particular day, date and
time is also established and available. It may not be unreasonable to,
therefore, conclude that such qualities attributed to the zodiac signs are all
imaginary and have no actual basis. The zodiac signs are creations of
imaginations and so also the qualities attributed to each of those zodiac
signs.
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