His book review in ‘The Astrological magazine’ January 1998, Bangalore, India (E-mail ramans@giasga.vsnl.net.in)
How to Read a Horoscope by Pemmaraju V. R. Rayudu (Motilal Banarasidass,41,U.A.Bungalow Road, Jawahar Nagar, Delhi 110 007, pages 442, Rs295.00(cloth), Rs.195.00 (paper)).
The author, a former senior scientist and deputy director of Defense Research and Development of India, claims to have discovered a new approach to analyze benefic and malefic results of planets and Bhavas. New approaches are always welcome and the author’s efforts in this direction are bound to create a new angle in the interpretation. After a brief but lucid review of fundamentals, the author introduces his method, somewhat akin to Dr.Raman’s in his “Three Hundred Important Combinations” of allotting points – benefic and malefic – to different positions and influences planets and Bhavas are subject to. On this basis, he says if the malefic percentage of a Bhava is more than 55, results too would be unfavorable pertaining to the Bhava; 50 to 55% of moderate results and so on. The description of signs, planets, Bhavas, houses is elaborate without being redundant and proceeds along the lines outlined in classical works. A model horoscope at the end serves to illustrate the author’s method of analyzing a chart. Worth perusing from an academic angle, the volume in a useful addition to existing literature on predictive astrology.