R.

Santhanam:
A Memoir
By
K.N.Rao, India.

S ometime in 1983 or 1984 a young

Sikh working in a bank came to
me with a proposal for
becoming the editor of an astrological
magazine which he would start, he
said, if I became its editor. I declined
the offer on many grounds: first I was
in government service and would have
to take official permission to accept it

K. N. Rao needs no introduction, he runs

which I would not seek. Second, I was
very busy with heavy office work and
in the evenings I had too many
the biggest school of astrology in the world, politicians to attend to as they
consulted me about their family
has produced the highest number of top
matters and political careers. And,
quality books which has cult following, and when I said that anyone wanting to
is known for his outstanding predictive start an astrological magazine must
ability. History acknowledges his have some knowledge which he did
contribution in popularizing Vargas usage not have. But he persisted, came to me
in India & USA, Double Transit many more times and one day, finding
phenomenon & Chara Dasha. He is me totally unwilling to accept his offer
considered as the one who showed for the asked me to suggest someone who
could become the editor. I told him the
first time exhibited in astrology what was
name of one astrologer whom I had
termed spell bounding writing styles in
not met but who I had learnt had
Jyotish, using narratives with top class shifted to Delhi from Calcutta.
jyotish content, a style now adopted by Some weeks later, one day when
many over the decades. It is often found that in the evening we were having our
what he writes in one line is 15 page articles aarati after evening puja with a
for others. For his articles visit gathering of some eight or ten friends,
www.journalofastrology.com a dark, short man joined it and after
the puja was over, introduced himself
to me as R.Santhanam and thanked
me for suggesting his name for the editorship of the proposed astrological magazine.
But Santhanam laid down a condition that he would accept it if I promised to
contribute articles regularly to it. I agreed. That moribund magazine, Your
Astrologer, had made no impact with Santhanam having quarrels with the owner
about some payments, one of the many unpleasant episodes of his life.
1
Chart: R Santhanam 21 May 1944, 20:20, Tirupati, India

Santhanam gave me his horoscope and asked for some predictions and I
predicted that he would become famous nationally and internationally but should
avoid negative view of ......Why ? He asked me and I told him to see the degrees of
Mars and Rahu in his ninth house afflicting an exalted Jupiter. Then a bad
exchange of the sixth and ninth lords was bad for his dealings with higher placed
people. It was an exchange of Atmakaraka and Gnathikaraka. He did not agree with me
when I told him that it also showed his differences with his father who was a priest
in the world famous Tirupati temple where he was born. I looked deeper into his
horoscope and said that he could have an unorthodox marriage late, say around the
age of thirty one. He said that he had married in 1975 a girl from Kerala who was a
non- Brahmin. He neither told me nor did I ask him if it had estranged him from
his own family members. He also told me that he had two sons from the marriage.

In 1985 when I was transferred to Bhubaneshwar as Accountant General of

Orissa, he wrote to me that he had decided to start an astrological journal of his
own, The Times of Astrology and took a promise from me that I would contribute
articles to it regularly which I did till 1990. His brief experience with Your
Astrologer had taught him the tricks of the trade. I wrote to him and later even told

1The Asc given by KNR is 18 Sc 44 , this matches with Kala but does not match with Jhora for some unknown reason,
readers can test it on other softwares too. - SA
him that instead of looking like a rival to the Astrological Magazine, he should plan
to seek writers in northern India and popularise the lesser discussed astrological
techniques like chakras. Give the astrological world something different,
something desperately needed like researches in other dashas, get articles written in
Hindi by experienced astrologers of northern India and get them translated. The
vast unexplored, untapped legacy of Hindu astrology has to be brought to the
surface which I did later when K.K.Joshi wrote his book on Kota Chakra and
Shalimini Dhasmana on Patakirista Chakra etc. My advice was based on the influence,
from Parashari angle, on the influence of Saturn from the eighth house on the tenth, second
and the fifth house in his horoscope. It did help him later in becoming something of an
astrologer archaelogist inspite of spraying Saturnine gloom all over his personality.
But he persuaded some of the well known contributors to the Astrological
Magazine (leaving me because I had promised to be a regular contributor) and was
threatening to become a rival of Dr. Raman against whose giant stature, he was
always appearing very puny.
During this period one day he saw an important man in hotel industry at my
place who came to consult me. I introduced him as an astrologer. Back home that
man rang me up and asked me if he could appoint Santhanam in his hotel as an
astrologer. I asked him to contact Santhanam and ask for his willingness as
Santhanam needed lot of help being in financial distress. What about his
proficiency in English and Hindi was the question this man had asked me and I
told him that Santhanam had a very good ability to pick up languages fast. In fact
he knew five or six languages at least, Tamil, Telugu, English, Hindi, a bit of
Bengali and Malayalam.
Santhanam accepted the offer and prospered but he was tied down to Delhi
and could not travel to other places to collect astrological books and manuscripts
for which he had an unquenchable thirst.

Chara Dasha
Vrischika 1944 -1952
Tula 1952-1958
Kanya 1958-1963
Simha 1963-1966
Karka 1966-1969
Mithuna 1969-1979
Vrisha 1979-1990
Mesha 1990-1993
Meena 1993-2001

Let me narrate some events of his life through Chara dasha as I knew from
the bits which he told me, very parsimoniously for some reasons.

Vrischika dasha (1944 to 1952)

 He was brought in the temple atmosphere because of which he knew
something of Hindu religious rituals and knew the importance of worship.

Tula dasha (1952 to 1958) He had some schooling and also studied some classical
language which was Sanskrit with Jupiter aspecting his fifth house from Tula. But he got
distracted from studies as the afflicted Jupiter showed.The smattering of Sanskrit
he picked up was not enough to help him in later life to translate Devakeralam into
English for which he was heavily dependent on some Sanskrit knowing pandits
whom he is said to have paid at the rate of five rupees per shlokas.

Kanya dasha (1958 to 1963)

He passed matriculation and discontinued his studies unlike his brothers who
made good professional careers. But he became an excellent stenographer and could
type fast on typewriters as the computer had not come into Indian lives then.

Simha dasha (1963 to 1966)

Sometime during this period he got a small job as a stenographer and moved
out of Tirupati as he told me.

Karka dasha (1966 to 1969)

He moved to Calcutta where he got a better job and spent his spare time
studying astrology. The tenth house is favourable from this rashi with Venus,
amatyakaraka helping him earn a livelihood.

Mithuna dasha (1969 to 1979)

His astrology progressed fast and he became intimate with late H.R.Shankar
and that versatile academician-astrologer, Y.Keshav Menon, who encouraged his
astrology and asked him to write articles for the Astrological Magazine of Dr. Raman
to whom he introduced this young writer. Both Shankar and Menon were well
known contributors to the Astrological Magazine.
Menon who was a freedom fighter, a professor had taken astrology seriously
and had settled down in Calcutta, helped young astrologers. It was he who mooted
the idea of an all India astrological association which others took up seriously.
Under Menons tutelage, Santhanam developed the habit of making some original
observations which in later years took an attractive shape in his column Research
Capsule, one of the best astrological features of the Times of Astrology.
During this period, he met a Malayalee girl whom he married.

Marriage and Sons

Marriage in 1975-76 Mithuna (DK) Tula (DKN)
Sons: His son was born in 1979 end of Mithuna and beginning of Vrisha which has
putrakaraka, Sun.
Second son was born in Vrisha Makara the fifth house has PK Sun.
In Mithuna-Karka (1977-78) he took a major decision to translate books of astrology
and showed his remarkable ability to pick up languages fast and he could read and
speak Hindi with a rare fluency. Excellent aspects of Atmakaraka and Amatyakara on
the fifth house from Karka helped him retain his zest for new astrological techniques by
increasing his predictive tools which went on increasing at amazing speed till his death in
1997.

The Vrisha period from 1979 to 1990 was the peak of his career as both Atmakaraka
and Amatyakaraka are aspecting his tenth house from here. He decided to leave Calutta
finally, migrate to Delhi, become a full time professional astrologer and translator
of astrological books of south and northern India, particularly the Brihat Parashara
Hora Shastra of Sita Ram Jha which he decided to bring out in two volumes. A
quarrel with the publisher led to his personal decision not to produce the second
volume which came out later when Ranjan publishers persuaded another translator
to finish it.
During this period he also bought a house as MK is aspecting the fourth
house from Vrisha.

In Vrisha Karka he became an astrologer in a hotel.

In Vrisha Vrischika (1983-84) Your Astrologer was started but there was a quarrel
between him and his employer. In Vrisha Tula (1984-85) with GK in the tenth
house he had many quarrels with his publisher. He left and the magazine closed
down.
He decided to start the Times of Astrology.
In Vimshottari dasha he was entering the mahadasha of Jupiter, the second
and the fifth lord of creativity from July 1984. Heavily afflicted as it is, Jupiter was
bound to give its excellent results of exaltation and the malefic results of being
afflicted and with a debilitated Mars and Rahu ruining the idealism which Jupiter
promotes.
Sometime during this period Dr. Raman said that there was no authentic and
expurgated edition of the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra. Santhanam reacted badly
to this statement and took it as an attack on him because he was known as the
translator of the BPHS. I tried to convince him that it could not be an attack on
him but a general remark which most of us made and shared as there were many
versions of BPHS with different shloka numbers. There were so many absurdities
in BPHS like Sun in the twelfth house for Tula lagna giving a life of one hundred
years, the adhan lagna method never coming out correct, in the dasha results
speaking of Venus or Mercury being in the sixth or eighth from Sun. Like the
famous commentators of Jaimini differing, there were different versions of BPHS
some giving aspects of Rahu some ignoring. In Bengal, I have seen astrologers talk of the
twelfth aspect of Rahu. But Santhanam took it as an attack on him personally. I
never succeeded in convincing him that it was not and could not be so. He only
agreed with me on one point that we should take some hints from these books and do our own
research in a very practical way and produce convincing results. It was not necessary, I
insisted, to quote translators as final authorities as they had their own differences
like doing chara dasha for women in a way different than for men. Try and see
which works. In the age in which we live, it is the practical and replicable results
that matter. I told him that I had never accepted Raman ayanamsha but have said
repeatedly that it was he who created a big national and international stage for
Indian astrologers and that he, being a very practical astrologer, knew what to
accept and what to ignore, not sticking to dogmas of astrology. But Santhanam had
a mind totally closed and he decided to attack Dr.Raman not on academic grounds
but even for the donations he received and the foundation he had created. I told
him, and he knew, that when in 1983 there was a concerted attack on astrology in
the English press in Delhi under the editorship of Khuswant Singh and
B.G.Verghese, Dr. Raman had asked me to defend astrology, a situation extremely
precarious and embarassing for me because I was imprisoned in the government
service conduct rules. I did it alone, with no astrologer even helping me. I was an
unknown man in the world of astrology and had no interest in getting known at all.
Destiny forced me and then I had seen from close quarters how mean, petty, selfish, low
minded astrologers were, never fighting for the cause of astrology but fighting each other.
How was Santhanam better than another man running what he called an
astrological journal and writing vituperative pieces against astrologers not prepared
to declare him a great astrologer of the world?
Santhanam was not alive when in 2003, exactly after twenty years again I had to
fight the battle for astrology in the Supreme Court, all alone, an ailing man without any
help from any astrologer. The astrological community is a shameless community talking
hypocritically of the legacy of rishis but behaving in a very petty, low and mean manner
always.
It had become extremely unpleasant. There was crassness, low and mean
mentality in some of his writings which made some pages of his magazine look like
a charnel house as my Christian friends called it. Can astrologers avoid taking to
the low road so desperately to seek fame?
So far it has not been so. Read the internet discussions which creates more
disappointment and disgust than happiness. There are more Santhanams now
crawling all over the internet.

Vrisha-Karka (1987-88)
Mercury and Venus are in Mrityubhaga. Extend the application of this to the rashis these
two planets own and watch events in their antardasha. He wrote some anti Raman
articles in his magazine hitting him below the belt. I told him that technical
differences of academic level would be welcome and would stimulate new lines of
inquiry while his writings became a reflection of his own bitterness. He did not
agree with me and wrote more such pieces. Gnathikaraka from Karka aspecting the
tenth house from Vrisha made it extremely unpleasant.
 In Mesha period he was a well known as a translator, never a distinguished
astrologer.

Mesha Tula (end of 1991)

One day Santhanam dropped into my house after I had retired from service
and could entertain some controversial politicians more freely, being free now from
the bondage of governments conduct rules. Just as he was entering, a politician in
news those days was leaving saying I could not avoid it. Santhanam recognised
him and after his departure asked me if I could give him his horoscope. I hesitated
but on his insistence told him that I could give it to him if he did not use it in his
magazine and did not discuss the horoscope till some years after the controversy he
was involved in, died down or was forgotten. He promised me that he would not
use it but in the next issue of his magazine he displayed it prominently and
discussed it. It embarrased me. The politician rang me up and told me that I had
betrayed his confidence and in turn, I told him what happened and apologized to
him.
Some days later, Santhanam rang me up and asked me for the horoscope of a
more important politician. I refused to give it.
Again, some more days later, he wanted the horoscope of a politician of
Madhya Pradesh who was in news in a very big way. I again refused it.
Santhanams poorest record of mundane predictions and such large failures had
earned him a bad reputation as a poor predictor. He had the transparent honesty not to
claim, under a cloak, credit for any prediction not given like his senior fraudulent
contemporary running another journal from Delhi.
In some of the subsequent issues, he started writing against me. Our relations
were soured when he asked me to prescribe the Times of Astrology for our students.
I told him that we had not even prescribed the Astrological Magazine. We never met
after that. No wonder his collection of horoscopes of important men was poorest,
unlike Dr. Ramans or even mine. He depended heavily on me but never had the
morality to keep his word that he would not betray confidences. We drifted apart
and I now became a target of his scurrilous writing for which I never cared.
I had always encouraged him to translate some books not available in English
for which he had inexhaustible enthusiasm. He was ill equipped compared to
Chidambara Iyer, Subramanya Sastri, M.R.Bhatt and some others who were both
Sanskrit scholars and had a good command over English. He overcame this
handicap through immense hard work.
For some days, the Delhi bug as I call it bit Santhanam. He began giving
sensational predictions like writing that Sonia Gandhi, now that Rajiv was shot
dead in 1991, would run away from India. He even started predicting the exact
number of seats a political party would secure in an election on a supposed research
based on astakvarga all of which went wrong except perhaps in the case of
Nagaland which was approximately correct being more an intelligent guess. He
thought that the Kaal Prakashika was the final word on mundane astrology and used
the solar ingress chart of April every year for his annual predictions. His weakness was
mundane astrology in which he did not get much success but in individual natal
astrology, he did give some good predictions to some people.
It was later that he decided to do some work on Nadi astrology.
Santhanam continued to do excellent work in Meena period. He was at his
best as a discoverer of nadi astrology. His Devakeralam was a major contribution
but he did not seem to understand the secrets of nadi like the late C.S.Patel or
Bhrigu by the late K.C.Saxena among the people I had met and known. I had met
C.S.Patel only once, never discussed nadi but his writings are there to show his
depth of knowledge. K.C.Saxena who came to my house very regularly seemed to
have reached a stage of very deep understanding of what he called the science of
Bhrigu astrology.
A belief shared among some astrologers is that those go into the
understanding of nadi or Bhrigu astrology meet with tragic fate and most of them
have a short life, which I did not accept. Yet when K.C.Saxena died, this belief
spread more and some people asked me why I did not believe it. I said in that case,
even those doing non-Bhrigu astrology should also suffer. That difference
continues till this day.
If Santhanam had lived long he might have revived nadi astrology in a big way2 but
the curse said to be attached to it, killed him said a young friend of mine who has understood
Bhrigu rather well.

Death Meena- Oct 1997 Meena-Tula (DKN) Mithuna(DK)

Jupiter afflicted with GK and aspected by Sun led to differences of opinion
with his father and also to an unorthodox marriage which can be seen in many
more ways. But in this dasha, the heavily afflicted fifth lord Jupiter took its toll on
his health. I remembered an incident. An Angust shastri, those who can read the
thumb and sometimes give amazing predictions, was at my place when Santhanam
dropped in, perhaps in 1984. I introduced him and asked him if he would be
interested in having his thumb read. He agreed. The angust shastri said that he had
met with an accident during the last one year. Santhanam said he had and it was
Vrisha Dhanu in 1983. I will say it to the credit of Santhanam that he kept his mind
open on such subjects and did not pass his usual quick cynical remarks as he did
about others, particularly the Delhi women whom he seemed to hate for their ultra
modern way of living. The angust shastri as usual told some negative things only
and referred to no achievements.

2 Our mentor has mentioned many years back to us that Santhanam had called him from Varanasi during his last days
and said that he had finally discovered THE missing link in Astrology via Bhrighu Nadi, which was supplied by
mentor to him via Shri Suren Bhagat (he wrote a book called Golden Keys of Shastiamsa), who was a student of Late
C S Patel. Shri Patel had Bhrighu Nadi, this nadi we had released free in the manuscript section for download but had
to withdraw its link after a Bhrighu student from Delhi influenced us dramatically not to give it away. Yet after a
year we have gotten it translated in the magazine via the auspicious pen of Shri Chandrashekhar Sharma. - SA
Publisher
 After Santhanam left, the angust shastri told me that he would not live to be a
sixty year old man and that he would die of an ailment of stomach when he was
3
away from his family . I did not know how to react and how seriously to take this
prediction.
I remembered angusta shastris prediction in 1997 when the news of
Santhanams death reached me. He was the one astrologer who would have given
to young astrologers immense material for research on nadi astrology if he had
lived. Was the curse associated with nadi or Bhrigu astrology true, I asked myself?

3 Note this - SA