Udyoga Parva
Vyasa before the war
On the eve of Kurukṣetra, Dhṛtarāṣṭra wanted to know what the sky was saying. Vyasa answered in plain astrological terms — not vague prophecy, but named grahas, an afflicted nakshatra, and a disturbed Moon.
Sanskrit
ग्रहौ ताम्रारुणशिखौ प्रज्वलन्ताविव स्थितौ ।
सप्तर्षीणामुदाराणां समवच्छिद्य वै प्रभाम् ॥
रोहिणीं पीडयन्नेष स्थितो राजन् शनैश्चरः ।
व्यावृत्तं लक्ष्म सोमस्य भविता लोकसंक्षयः ॥
Transliteration (IAST)
grahau tāmrāruṇaśikhau prajvalantāv iva sthitau |
saptarṣīṇām udārāṇāṁ samavacchidya vai prabhām ||
rohiṇīṁ pīḍayann eṣa sthito rājan śanaiścaraḥ |
vyāvṛttaṁ lakṣma somasya bhavitā lokasaṁkṣayaḥ ||
Sense in English
Planets blaze with copper-red light, as if on fire, and cut off the radiance of the Great Bear. Saturn stands afflicting Rohiṇī; the Moon’s marks look wrong — a sign, Vyasa says, of worldly ruin.
Students of mundane astrology still cite this shloka for Saturn’s transit through Rohiṇī, omen-reading, and sky-events tied to mass calamity. It is among the most quoted Mahābhārata passages in Jyotiṣa discussions.