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In short
Sayana describes a position measured on the tropical zodiac, from the equinox, with the ayanamsa still included; nirayana is its sidereal opposite. This app shows no sayana positions, but it uses the Sun's sayana longitude once, for the Sun's motional rays as BPHS Ch. 28 prescribes. The same spelling also names an unrelated planetary state, one of BPHS's twelve avasthas.
What the term means
Sayana, in the astronomical sense, is a position measured from the equinox: a tropical longitude, with the ayanamsa still in it. Subtract the ayanamsa and the position becomes nirayana, or sidereal. A second word has the same spelling in translation: Sayana or Shayana, one of the twelve avasthas, or states, a graha can be in. The two are unrelated.
Where the term comes from
BPHS uses the astronomical sense in its chapter on planetary rays: Ch. 28 Sl. 3-4 tell the reader to add three rashis to the "Sayan Surya (i.e. with Ayanamsa)" to get the Sun's Chesht Kendr. Ch. 27 Sl. 15-17 likewise add the ayanamsa to a graha for Ayan Bal. The other sense is in BPHS Ch. 45 Sl. 30-37, which lists the avasthas from Shayana to Nidra and how to calculate them, and in Saravali's list of planetary states (Ch. 5).
How this app uses it
- Every position starts sayana: the formulas measure from the equinox of the birth date. None is shown that way; each is made sidereal first.
- One rule goes back to the sayana value. For the Sun's motional rays in the Ishta and Kashta Phala, the engine adds the ayanamsa back and then three signs, as Ch. 28 Sl. 3-4 direct. For 19 January 1985, 11:14 IST, New Delhi, the sayana Sun is 299.10 degrees; adding 90 gives 389.10, which folds to 29.10 degrees and yields 1.97 rays.
- Ayan Bal, the other rule that needs it, is not computed.
- The avastha sense appears on this site in the Rahu page's reading of BPHS Ch. 45; the engine does not compute those states.
Pages that use this term
- Rahu in Vedic astrology - the Sayana avastha, in BPHS Ch. 45's sense.
- Shad Bala calculator - carries the Ishta and Kashta Phala built partly from the sayana Sun.
- Moon sign and nakshatra - a tropical (sayana) and a sidereal position side by side.
- Why apps disagree on your nakshatra - what happens when one app reports sayana positions.
- Ayanamsa calculator - the amount separating sayana from nirayana.
Related terms
- Ishta phala - where the sayana Sun is used.
- Planetary rays - the rays of BPHS Ch. 28.
- Sidereal zodiac - the frame of every position shown.
- Longitude - the number that is sayana or nirayana.