The Study of Jyotisha · Chapter 16 of 54 · Part Three · Strength

#Ashtakavarga

#A different way to measure strength

Shadbala and Vimshopaka (Chapters 14 and 15) measure the strength of a planet. Ashtakavarga measures something else: how good each sign of the zodiac is for each planet, in this particular chart. It answers questions like: "When Saturn passes through Capricorn some years from now, will that be a good or a difficult time for this person?"

The name means "the eightfold division" (ashta, eight; varga, group). Each planet's good and bad places are counted from eight reference points in the chart: the seven planets and the ascendant.

The system is old and well established. Varahamihira gives the complete rules in a single chapter (Brihat Jataka IX.1–8). The later Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (chapters 66–72 in the common numbering) gives the same table with longer rules for using it. It is purely arithmetic, so different astrologers following the same rules always get the same numbers.

#The idea

Take the Sun. Varahamihira says that the Sun's benefic places are:

the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th houses from the Sun itself; the same houses from Mars and Saturn; the 6th, 7th and 12th from Venus; the 5th, 6th, 9th and 11th from Jupiter; the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th from the Moon; the 3rd, 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th from Mercury; and the 3rd, 4th, 6th, 10th, 11th and 12th from the ascendant (Brihat Jataka IX.1, in Aiyar's translation, shortened).

So to make the Sun's table for a chart:

1. Start from the sign where the Sun is, and mark a point in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th signs counted from there.
2. Do the same from the Moon's sign, but with the Moon's list (3rd, 6th, 10th, 11th).
3. And so on for Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and the ascendant, each with its own list.
4. Count how many points each sign has received. Each sign can get from 0 to 8 points, one from each of the eight sources.

The result is the Sun's own table, called its bhinnashtakavarga ("separate eightfold table"). A sign with many points is a good place for the Sun; a sign with few is a weak one. Varahamihira gives the full lists for all seven planets in verses 1 to 7. The places not in a list are the malefic places (Brihat Jataka IX.8).

#The fixed totals

Because the lists have a fixed length, each planet's table always has the same total number of points, whatever the chart:

(Aiyar's notes to Brihat Jataka IX.) This makes a useful check: if your table for Jupiter does not add up to 56, you have made a mistake.

Rahu and Ketu have no ashtakavarga in the classical system.

#A note on dots and lines

When writing these tables by hand, astrologers mark the places with dots or lines. Unfortunately different books do it in opposite ways: Aiyar's notes mark the good places with dots and the bad ones with lines (Brihat Jataka IX, note to verse 8), while the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra marks the bad places with dots and the good ones with lines (66.13–15). Modern software calls the good points bindus, "dots". To avoid confusion this course just says points, meaning good points.

#Making the Sun's table for the example chart

The example chart (Chapter 6) has: the ascendant in Libra; the Sun, Jupiter and Venus in Cancer; the Moon in Taurus; Mars in Aries; Mercury in Leo; Saturn in Sagittarius.

Take each source in turn and mark the Sun's benefic places counted from it. A 1 means a point:

Check one column by hand: Cancer.

• From the Sun in Cancer, Cancer is the 1st sign: in the Sun's list. Point.
• From the Moon in Taurus, Cancer is the 3rd: in the list (3, 6, 10, 11). Point.
• From Mars in Aries, Cancer is the 4th: in the list. Point.
• From Mercury in Leo, Cancer is the 12th: in the list. Point.
• From Jupiter in Cancer, Cancer is the 1st: Jupiter's list (5, 6, 9, 11) does not include it. No point.
• From Venus in Cancer, the 1st: Venus's list (6, 7, 12) does not include it. No point.
• From Saturn in Sagittarius, Cancer is the 8th: in the list. Point.
• From the ascendant in Libra, Cancer is the 10th: in the list. Point.

Six points. The row adds up to 3 + 4 + 3 + 6 + 3 + 2 + 5 + 2 + 6 + 6 + 3 + 5 = 48, as it must.

#All seven tables, and the total

Doing the same for the other six planets (this website's engine does it in a moment, but it is good to do one or two by hand) gives:

The bottom row, the sum of the seven tables sign by sign, is the sarvashtakavarga, the "total eightfold table". It always adds up to 337, so the average sign has about 28 points.

#Reading the total table

Aiyar's notes collect several rules for the total table (notes to Brihat Jataka IX; they come from the later books, not from Varahamihira's verses):

• A sign with more than 30 points is a good sign: planets passing through it give good results. 25 to 30 is middling. Under 25 is weak.
• Since the 10th house stands for effort, the 11th for gain and the 12th for loss, it is a good sign when the 11th has more points than the 10th, the 12th fewer than the 11th, and the ascendant more than the 12th: "the labour being slight, gain much and loss comparatively small".
• Apart from the 6th, 8th and 12th houses, the houses with many points prosper.

In the example chart, house by house from the Libra ascendant:

• The ascendant (33) and the 3rd (31) are strong: a good sign for the person's own vitality and initiative.
• The 12th house has only 18 points, the fewest in the chart. By the rule for the 12th, that is good: losses and expenses are small.
• The 2nd house (21) is weak: the money and family house needs other support.
• The 8th (37) has the most points, but the 8th is one of the houses the rule sets aside.
• Effort and gain: the 11th (26) has fewer points than the 10th (29), so this part of the rule is not met; the 12th (18) is lower than the 11th, and the ascendant (33) higher than the 12th, so those parts are. A mixed result.

#Using ashtakavarga for transits

The most important use of ashtakavarga is to judge transits, the planets' movements through the signs after birth (Chapter 24). Varahamihira's rule is short:

A place will produce good or bad effects according as it has more good than bad points for the planet, or the reverse (Brihat Jataka IX.8).

Each sign has 8 possible points in a planet's own table. So:

• if a planet passes through a sign where its own table has 5 or more points, the transit is favourable;
• with 3 or fewer, unfavourable;
• with exactly 4, neutral.

The verse goes on: the good effects come fully when the sign is also an upachaya (the 3rd, 6th, 10th or 11th from the ascendant — and, some commentators add, from the Moon), or the planet's own, friendly or exaltation sign; the bad effects come fully when it is one of the other houses, or the planet's enemy's or debilitation sign (Aiyar's notes to Brihat Jataka IX.8).

Example. Look at Saturn's own table in the example chart:

When Saturn passes through Taurus (5 points), it is favourable for this person. Through Virgo or Scorpio (1 point each) it is unfavourable. Through Capricorn or Aquarius it is neutral or slightly weak. Saturn spends about two and a half years in each sign, so this table tells the person which of their Saturn periods to expect to be lighter and which heavier.

Jupiter's own table has 7 points in Aries: Jupiter's yearly stay in Aries should be an especially good year for this person.

Later astrologers refine this further. They divide each sign into eight parts of 3¾°, called kakshyas, ruled in order by Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, the Moon and the ascendant, and say that a transiting planet gives good results while it passes through the part of a source that gave the sign a point. This course mentions the method; it is not in Varahamihira.

#Reductions and the "pinda"

The later books, and Aiyar's notes, go on to reduce each table by two sets of rules, and then turn it into a single number, the pinda ("lump"). The pinda is mainly used in the old methods of estimating the length of life and the timing of misfortunes, which this course does not teach (Chapter 46 explains why). But it is worth knowing how the reductions work, because you will meet them in books.

#Triangle reduction (trikona shodhana)

The twelve signs form four triangles of the same element: Aries–Leo–Sagittarius (fire), Taurus–Virgo–Capricorn (earth), Gemini–Libra–Aquarius (air), Cancer–Scorpio–Pisces (water). Aiyar gives the rules (notes to Brihat Jataka IX):

1. If the three numbers in a triangle are not all equal, subtract the smallest from each.
2. If one of the three is already zero, make no change.
3. If two of the three are zero, remove the third as well.
4. If all three are equal, remove them all.

#Same-lord reduction (ekadhipatya shodhana)

Five planets own two signs each. Each pair is compared (Cancer and Leo are not reduced):

1. If both signs hold planets, make no change.
2. If one holds a planet and the other does not: if the occupied sign has fewer points, make the empty sign's number equal to it; if the occupied sign has more, or the same, remove the empty sign's number.
3. If neither holds a planet: if they are equal, remove both; if unequal, make the larger equal to the smaller.
4. If one of the two signs has no points, make no change.

#The Sun's table, reduced

Start from the Sun's table above.

Triangles. Fire: Aries 3, Leo 3, Sagittarius 6 → subtract 3 → 0, 0, 3. Earth: Taurus 4, Virgo 2, Capricorn 6 → 2, 0, 4. Air: Gemini 3, Libra 5, Aquarius 3 → 0, 2, 0. Water: Cancer 6, Scorpio 2, Pisces 5 → 4, 0, 3.

Same lord. Venus's signs: Taurus (occupied by the Moon) 2 and Libra (empty) 2 — equal, so Libra's is removed. Jupiter's signs: Sagittarius (occupied by Saturn) 3 and Pisces (empty) 3 — equal, so Pisces's is removed. Mars's signs (Aries and Scorpio) and Mercury's (Gemini and Virgo) are already zero. Saturn's signs: Capricorn 4 and Aquarius 0 — Aquarius has no points, so by rule 4 no change.

The reduced table has points only in Taurus 2, Cancer 4, Sagittarius 3 and Capricorn 4.

The books differ slightly on these rules. The reading of the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra used by this website's engine treats rule 4 differently, and would also remove Capricorn's 4. Where the reductions are used for something serious, these differences matter; for transits, which use the unreduced tables, they do not.

#How much weight to give it

Ashtakavarga is attractive because it is exact and complete. But two cautions:

• It counts places, not quality. A sign with 5 points from five weak sources is not obviously better than one with 4 from strong ones. The tables do not weigh the sources.
• The thresholds (30, 25) are rules of thumb from the later books, not from Varahamihira's verses.

Use the tables as one more voice, especially for transits, where Varahamihira himself gives them authority. Do not let them overrule what the planets' dignity, houses and aspects plainly say.

#Summary

• Ashtakavarga measures how good each sign is for each planet, by counting benefic places from eight sources: the seven planets and the ascendant (Brihat Jataka IX.1–7).
• Each planet's own table (bhinnashtakavarga) has a fixed total: Sun 48, Moon 49, Mars 39, Mercury 54, Jupiter 56, Venus 52, Saturn 39; the total table (sarvashtakavarga) always adds up to 337.
• In the total table, more than 30 points is good, 25–30 middling, under 25 weak (later rules, in Aiyar's notes).
• For transits, a planet passing through a sign with more good than bad points in its own table (5 or more out of 8) gives good results (Brihat Jataka IX.8).
• The later books reduce the tables (triangle and same-lord reductions) to make the pinda, used in longevity methods this course does not teach.
• Ashtakavarga is exact but crude; use it alongside, not instead of, the main judgement.

#Exercises

1. Without looking at a chart, what will the Venus table of any chart add up to? The total table?
2. In the example chart, count Jupiter's points in Aries from the ascendant. (Jupiter's list from the ascendant is the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th and 11th.)
3. Using the Saturn table above, list the signs where Saturn's transit would be favourable for this person, and those where it would be unfavourable.
4. Which house of the example chart has the most points in the total table? Why does the rule not count this as good?
5. Apply the triangle reduction to the numbers 4, 0, 6. And to 5, 5, 5. And to 0, 0, 3.

Answers: 1. 52 and 337. 2. Aries is the 7th sign from Libra, which is in the list: one point. 3. Favourable (5 or more): Taurus. Unfavourable (3 or fewer): Aries, Leo, Virgo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Aquarius. Neutral (4): Gemini, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn, Pisces. 4. The 8th (Taurus, 37). The 6th, 8th and 12th houses are set aside, because "prospering" is not wanted for the houses of illness, obstacles and loss. 5. 4, 0, 6: one is zero, so no change. 5, 5, 5: all equal, so all removed (0, 0, 0). 0, 0, 3: two are zero, so the third is removed too (0, 0, 0).