Sometime back it suddenly occurred to me that the traditional representation of Sri Rama’s horoscope is wrong. This is how it is traditionally shown:

http://jyotishavedi ka.blogspot. com/2005/ 12/rashi- chakra-of- sri-rama. html

It is generally taken that Sri Rama has 5 exalted planets in his horoscope. Sun in Aries, Jupiter in Cancer, Mars in Capricorn, Saturn in Libra and Venus in Pisces. Moon is in Cancer (Punarvasu Nakshtra) and the Tithi (or lunar day) is Navami. He was born in the Abhijit lagna i.e, at Noon. So Lagna is also Cancer.

To follow the discussion further, you need to understand the concepts of Tithi and Nakshatra. Check these links to find out what they mean: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tithi, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakshatra.

The problem here is that – if Sun is in Aries and Moon is in Cancer, the tithi can NOT be Navami. For Moon to be in Punarvasu Nakshatra and the Zodiacal sign Cancer, the degree of Moon must be between 0.0 to 3.20 of Cancer.

Let us fix the position of Moon there and count back for the position of Sun. Navami means – the distance between Sun and Moon is between 96 to 108 degrees. Subtracting this from the degree of Moon, the possible degree of Sun falls between 12 degrees Pisces to 27.20 Pisces. Sun can not be in Aries and hence can not be in exaltation.

So let us check Valmiki Ramayana verses describing Sri Rama’s horoscope. See verse numbers 8 to 11 in: http://www.valmikiramayan.net/bala/sarga18/bala_18_frame.htm.

The slokas clearly state that Moon, Jupiter and Lagna are in Cancer. But they do NOT mention about Sun being in Aries. They say – “sva ucCha samsthEShu panchasu
grahEShu” – this only means that there are 5 planets either in exaltation or in own signs. But this was interpreted as 5 exaltations by Astrologers and that was the mistake. It turns out to be only 4 exaltations( Jup, Ven, Mars, Saturn) and one(Moon) own house.