Mrityu Bhaga

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This article has 3 parts that deals with –

1) Mrityu Bhaga for Signs

2) Mrityu Bhaga for Planets

3) Mrityu Bhaga for Nakshatras

Mrityu Bhaga = Death causing degree (in the zodiac circle – i.e. ecliptic)

1) Mirtyu Bhaga for Rasi or Lagna

This is generally applicable to all signs and all planets.

“Here (referring to Skanda hora quote on the same) the word ‘Antha’ (end) means ‘Mrityu bhaga’.  The Mrityu bhagas for the ascendant are the 1st deg in Aries, 9th deg Taurus, 21st deg in Gemini, 22nd deg Cancer, 25th deg in Leo, 2nd deg in Virgo, 4th deg in Libra, 23rd deg in Scorpio, 18th deg  in Sagittarius, 20th deg in Capricorn, 24th deg in Aquarius and 10th deg in Pisces. They have all been mentioned to be different from each other for each of the twelve signs beginning with Aries.”

(Brihat Prajapatyam, Rf. Hridya Patha)

Most of the sages and acharyas are of the opinion that the above Mrityubhagas are essentially connected to the signs themselves and  should be applied for all planets. Since Mrityubhaga is related to the sign, which planet is under consideration is not relevant.

2) Mrityubhaga of Planets

But Brihat Prajapaty is the of the opinion that, in general the above statement is correct, but special Mrityubhaga should be considered specially for Moon. Kausika hora moves one step further in this deviation of connecting Mrityubhaga with planets instead of signs itself, and proposes Mrityubhaga for all planets in all signs!

Mrityu Bhaga for  Moon

Brihat Prajapatya tells us that the Mrityu Bhaga for Moon in signs are not the same as above, and proceeds to quote the Mrityu bhagas for Moon as given below.

“26th deg in Aries, 12th deg in Taurus, 13th deg in Gemini, 25th deg in Leo, 11th deg in Virgo, 26th deg in Libra, 14th deg in Scorpio, 13th deg in Sagittarius, 25th deg in Capricorn, 5th deg in Aquarius, 12th deg in Pisces are the Mrityubhagas for Moon. The mrityu bhagas of Moon have been mentioned in this way for signs beginning with Aries. For other planets some (i.e. the sages like Garga, Sounaka etc) say that the mrityu bhagas are identical with ascendant while some others (like Kausika etc) say that they are different from it.”

(Brihat Prajapatyam, Rf. Hridya Patha)

These Mrityu bahagas for Moon is agreed upon by many sages - such as Daksha, Viswamitra etc, and is therefore can be considered as authentic.

Mrityu Bhaga for Other Planets

Here Daksha tell us that for all other planets Mrityu bhaga told for Lagna itself can be used. But Sage viswamitra the author of Kausika hora is of the opinion that Mrityu bhaga that should be ascribed/considered for every planet is different. In Kausika hora Viswamitra provides us with the list of Mrityu bhagas for all planets.

 It is interesting to note that Viswamitra provided mrityu bhaga not only for the 3 major malefics (Sun, Mars, Saturn) but for other malefics such as Rahu, Ketu and Gulika and even for the benefics such as Mercury, Venus and Jupiter. That is, Kausika hora provides us with Mrityubhaga for all planets.  All those slokas from Kausika hora are also quoted below.

 Planetary Mrityubhaga is a deviation from the original concept of Mrityubhaga. This deviation was  originated by Daksha (Brihat Prajapatya) and made intensified by Kausika Viswamitra (Kausika Hora).

Mrityubhaga opinion expressed by Sage Kausika is tabulated below -

Sl	As	Su	Mo	Ma	Me	Ju	Ve	Sa	Ra	Ke	Gk
Ar	01	20	26	19	15	19	18	10	14	08	23
Ta	09	09	22	18	14	29	15	04	13	18	24
Ge	21	12	13	25	13	12	11	07	12	20	11
Cn	22	06	25	23	12	27	17	09	11	19	12
Le	25	08	24	29	08	06	10	12	24	21	13
Vi	02	24	11	28	18	04	13	16	23	22	14
Li	04	16	26	24	20	23	04	03	22	23	08
Sc	23	17	14	21	10	10	06	18	21	24	18
Sg	18	22	13	02	21	17	27	28	12	11	22
Cp	20	02	25	15	22	11	12	14	20	12	12
Aq	24	03	05	11	07	15	29	13	18	13	21
Pi	10	23	12	06	05	28	19	15	08	14	22

3) Mrityu Bhaga of Nakshatras (Nakshatra Mrihtyu bhaga)

Nakshatra Mrityu bhaga: This is a concept originally presented by Sounaka (Sounaka hora).

One thing to remember about Nakshatra Mrityubhaga is that, here it is not the degree, but the Muhurata corresponding to that Nal (Nakshatra dina) is what is considered as Mrityubhaga. Since every Nakshtra dina will have 30 Nakshatra Muhurtas (1 Muhurta = 2 nadika; 30 Nakshatra Muhurta = 60 nadika = 1 ahoratra) the number given here could he any number less than 30 associated with every Nakshatra.   

This is tabulated below -

Sl	Nakshatra	Bright Fortnight	Dark Fortnight
1	Aswini	05	28
2	Bharani	03	17
3	Krittika	07	17
4	Rohini	02	26
5	Mrigasira	04	25
6	Ardra	08	24
7	Punarvasu	06	23
8	Pushya	09	22
9	Aslesha	13	17
10	Makha	11	18
11	Purva phalguni	12	19
12	Uttara phalguni	01	20
13	Hasta	14	15
14	Chittra	16	16
15	Swati	15	14
16	Visakha	20	01
17	Anuradha	19	12
18	Jyeshta	18	11
19	Mula	17	13
20	Purva ashadha	22	09
21	Uttara ashadha	23	06
22	Sravana	24	08
23	Dhanishta	25	04
24	Satabhishak	26	02
25	Purva bhadrapada	17	07
26	Uttara bhadrapada	17	03
27	Revati	28	05

“This is the sequence during the Shukla paksha. During the Krishna paksha the sequence is opposite. Thus the mrityu bhagas have been mentioned from constellations beginning with Ashwini.”

 (Sounaka Hora, Rf. HP)

This also points to the fact that Nakshatra Muhurta should be calculated, starting from the beginning of Nakshatra (Nal) similar to Dasa-Antara, instead of  the current system of connecting Muhurta with Day and night.