Eighteen sages namely i.e. Surya, Pitamahah, Vyasa, Vashishtha, Atree, Parasara, Kashyapa, Narada, Garga, Marichi, Manu, Angira, Lomasha, Paulisha, Chayavan, Yavana, Bhrigu and Saunaka, have been recognised as the creators of Astrology, Maitreya was the disciple of sage Parasara. He attained spiritual knowledge in considerable amount. Vidura, the brother of Pandu and Dhritarashtra, went to Maitreya to discuss the heavenly matters of theology. Maitreya has been referred to in Mahabharata and Shrimad Bhagavata Mahapurana in this connection.

The origins of Indian civilization go back traditionally to the Vedas containing inspired utterances of sages in the form of hymns to natural forces and celestial beings, which were orally transmitted from one generation to the next.It forms one of the Angas of the Atharva-Veda. The Jyotish Shastra (Astrology), as mentioned in the Atharva-Veda, consists of one hundred and sixty five verses only. In fact, the whole of the Jyotish-Shastra then consisted, was on observing the movements of the Sun, the Moon, their passage through the constellations (Nakshatras), and assigning a certain significance to them, and was then made more applicable to a Mundane Astrology than to a judicial one. It will thusbe seen that the origin of the present day Astrology is to be found in the Atharva-Veda-Jyotish, the probable date of which, according to Dixit and others, is 900 to 1500 B.C.

No mention is made in it of the signs (Rashis) of the zodiac. Signs had no existence then. It must not be supposed. however, that the division of the zodiac into twelve parts was not known to the Hindus in those times; but the twelve parts were then known by different names. The ancients wholly depended on the Nakshatras and their qualities. As time went by, owing to the invasions of the Muslims and Greeks, and their association with our people, their science got mixed up with ours, and the present astrology, as it is studied and practised, is a combination of Chaldean, Grecian and Egyptian Astrology. There are hymns which describe the six seasons or Ritus. They conceptualized time as a wheel having twelve parts, representing the twelve months in an year and they developed a solilunar calendar. The Vedic period has been approximately dated as 8000 B.C. This was followed by the period pertaining to the Brahmanas wherein the Vedic hymans were adapted to the performance of yajnas and yagas (sacrificial rituals). Detailed instructions were worked out for these fire rituals including the auspicious time when they should be undertaken. This entailed a study of the positions of the Sun, Moon, the planets and the star constellations giving the name as Vedanga Jyotisha.