By A.S. Fernando
There is no greater asset to us than our children. They are our greatest source of joy, comfort and happiness. The love of a parent for his/her offspring is boundless. We work and live for our children and in fact, it is the children who make our life worth living.

As soon as a child is born, the father would rush to an astrologer seeking to know what the future holds in store for it.

The first thing that an astrologer looks for in an Natal Chart of a newborn is the Ayurdaya factor – whether the newborn is destined to live long or is afflicted by a Balarishta or death during childhood. Balarishta in Astrological parlance means planetary combinations causing the death of a child before it is eight years of age.

Celebrated Indian astrologer Varahamihara has discussed in detail in Chapter VI of his great classical work Brihat Jataka the important rules relating to Balarishta.

Let us examine the vital rules referred to in Varahamihira’s Brihat Jataka.

•  A child born during Sandhi in Chandra Hora and when malefics are posited in the Navamsa of any of the signs is subject to Balarishta. Sandhi refers to a period of 48 minutes before sunrise and after sunset. Uncertain is the life span of a child born in Chandra Hora for the simple reason that the Moon by nature is uncertain and unsteady as she is waxing or waning all the time.
•  If the birth takes place when all malefics occupying the first half of the Zodiac (10th House to the 4th) and benefics occupy the second half of the Zodiac and if either Cancer or Scorpio is the Ascendant sign or if the Lagna and the 7th House are hemmed in between malefics, the child would die.
•  The death of the newborn would occur soon if malefics occupy the Lagna and the 7th and malefics conjoin the Moon which does not receive the aspect of benefics.
•  The child would die soon if a weak Moon occupies the 12th when there are no benefics in quadrants and malefics occupy the Lagna and the 8th.
•  Moon in the 6th or the 8th aspected by malefics would result in early death. The child also would die when the Lagna lord occupying the 7th is defeated by a malefic in a Graha Yuddha (planetary war).
•  The child would die soon if it is born when the Moon is in the Lagna,4th, 7th, 8th or the 10th with malefics and if Moon is hemmed in between malefics in the 4th, 7th, or the 8th. However, if the Moon is in the Lagna while malefics occupy the 7th or the 8th without the aspect of benefics, mother would die with the child.
•  A child would die soon if born when the Moon is in the last Navamsa of a sign while there are malefics in the 5th and the 9th without beneficial aspects.
•  The newborn would die early if Moon is in the Lagna while there are malefics in the 7th. However, if the Moon conjunct with a malefic in the Lagna is in eclipse and Mars is in the 8th, both mother and child would die soon.
•  Child would die soon if Sun or Moon occupies the Lagna with malefics in trines and the 8th without the aspect of or association with benefics.
•  Saturn in the 12th, Sun in the 9th, Moon in Lagna and Mars in the 8th without the aspect of Jupiter would result in the death of the child.
•  If the Moon sans the beneficial aspects, conjoins a malefic in the 1st, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, or the 12th the new born would die early.
•  If the Moon in Gochara (in transit) enters the House of the most powerful malefic planet in the horoscope, or Jamma Rashi or Jamma Lagna while being subject to malefic aspects, the newborn would die early.