Death of Actor Murali and The Effect on Astrology

Let me first explain the basics of Indian Astrology.

As per vedic (Indian/Hindu) Astrology, there are 12 houses in a horoscope (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces). And there are 9 planets (Sun, Moon, Mars, mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu).

The first seven planets are real planets of our solar system while the last two are shadow planets. As per astronomy Sun and Moon are not planets while these are considered as planets in vedic astrology.

A person's horoscope is determined/can be cast once his date/month/year/time and place of birth are known. There are standard software available to make the horoscope once these details are known.

Now each planet may be good or bad in a person's horoscope based on where it's placed. Judgment of the strength of a planet in a horoscope is complex and quite error prone. 

In a person's life, each planet operates (this is called the "dasa", for example if Sun operates now, you are running Sun dasa) for a particular number of years as shown below. The order of the dasas will always be the same. But the starting dasa of each person may be different depending on which constellation moon was in. There are 27 constellations (Aswini... Revati). A person born with moon in Aslesha constellation will start his life with Mercury dasa and then Ketu, Venus, Sun and so on. If he lives beyond 120 years, the dasas will start all over again. 

Sun:       6

Moon:    10

Mars:      7

Rahu:    18

Jupiter:  16

Saturn:  19

Mercury: 17

Ketu:      7

Venus:   20

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Total:    120

Each planet indicates a few aspects of our life. For example, 

• Jupiter indicates wisdom, Children, Wealth. 
• Mars indicates anger, a restless attitude, acquisition of land/factories, aristocratic tendency, brother
• Venus indicates fine arts, nature of and quality of  relationship with spouse, appreciation of fine living
• Saturn indicates fairness in character, longevity (long life), common behavior as against aristocratic behavior, tendency towards acquiring cheap things
• Mercury indicates intellect, wit/humor, ability in math
• Sun indicates father, eye, inclination towards politics
• Moon indicates mother, eye, wealth, mind

Having covered the elementary details of astrology (for example we have not talked about rules of prediction), let me explain my predicament.

Couple of days back Tamil film actor Murali died. He was about 46 years old. And I realized that the saturn in his horoscope would have been powerful. A couson of mine died last year at the age of 48. She also had a strong saturn. Mohd Rafi, a renowned film singer of yesteryears also had a strong Saturn and he died at the age of 56.

Astrologically, one of the factors that affects a person's longevity is the strength of saturn in his horoscope (it is not the only factor though). Looking at these three examples mentioned above, my belief in astrology is...

Additional reading: http://vbala99.blogspot.in/2009/07/vedic-astrology.html