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In short
Gandanta is the classical name for a junction point: the end of Cancer, Scorpio or Pisces and the start of the sign after it, where a nakshatra boundary falls on the same spot, and certain tithi junctions. BPHS and Saravali attach strong readings to birth there. This app does not flag Gandanta; it shows the sign, degree and nakshatra, from which the junction can be seen.
What the term means
Gandanta names three junctions in the zodiac where a water sign gives way to a fire sign: Pisces to Aries, Cancer to Leo, Scorpio to Sagittarius. Because the 27 nakshatras divide the zodiac in steps of 13°20' starting from 0° Aries, a nakshatra boundary falls exactly on each of those three sign boundaries: Revati to Ashwini, Ashlesha to Magha, and Jyeshtha to Mula. The texts also name a Gandanta of the tithi, at certain lunar-day junctions.
Where the term comes from
BPHS Ch. 92 Sl. 1 says Gandanta is "of three kinds", of Tithi, Nakshatr and Lagn. Sl. 2-4 give each a span measured in ghatikas, a unit of time: two ghatikas either side of the nakshatra junctions, half a ghatika either side of the sign junctions for the rising sign, and two either side of certain tithi junctions (the end of the 5th, 10th and 15th, the start of the 1st, 6th and 11th). Saravali Ch. 3 Sl. 20-21 names only the sign form, "the ending portions of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces". Both texts attach grave outcomes to birth there, Saravali adding that a person who comes through it rises high, and BPHS follows with propitiation rites. Those are the texts' claims; this app prescribes no rites.
How this app uses it
It does not flag it. No part of the engine tests for Gandanta or labels a birth, a planet or a day with it. What the engine does give is the material the definition is made of: each planet's sign, degree, nakshatra and pada, the Ascendant's sign and degree when the birth time is known, and the day's tithi in the panchang. A Moon at the very end of Scorpio or the very start of Sagittarius is shown as exactly that. The texts measure the band in time rather than in degrees, and the engine does not convert one into the other for this purpose, so it draws no line around it.
Pages that use this term
- Revati nakshatra - the end of the zodiac, and the Revati-Ashwini junction.
- Ashlesha nakshatra - the end of Cancer.
- Mula nakshatra - the start of Sagittarius, and Abhukta Mula.
- Scorpio (Vrishchika) rashi - one of Saravali's three sign endings.
- Nakshatra calculator - your Moon's nakshatra and pada.
- Panchang calculator - the day's tithi.
Related terms
- Jala tattva and Agni tattva - the water and fire signs that meet.
- Pada - the quarter-nakshatra a junction falls in.
- Degree in sign - how close to the edge a point sits.
- Janma Nakshatra - the birth star the nakshatra form concerns.