The Study of Jyotisha · Chapter 18 of 54 · Part Four · Yogas

#The great persons and the lunar yogas

This chapter describes the yogas that are best known and most often met: the five great persons, the yogas formed round the Moon, the similar yogas round the Sun, and the famous Gajakesari. They are also good examples of how one yoga can be defined differently in different books.

#The five great persons (pancha mahapurusha)

#The rule

Varahamihira describes the five great persons in the Brihat Samhita:

Five mahapurushas or eminent men will be born when the five planets from Mars to Saturn are powerful and occupy their houses, exaltation signs or the kendra houses (Brihat Samhita 69.1, Iyer).

Each of the five star-planets gives its own "great person":

(Brihat Samhita 69.2.) The translation "their houses, exaltation signs or the kendra houses" is ambiguous. The later books settle it: the planet must be in its own or exaltation sign, and that sign must be a kendra — the 1st, 4th, 7th or 10th house — from the ascendant (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 75.1–2; Phaladeepika 6.1–4). The Phaladeepika adds that they may also be counted from the Moon. This course uses the standard rule: own or exalted, in a kendra, and strong.

So the possible great-person placements are few. For example, Hamsa needs Jupiter in Sagittarius, Pisces or Cancer, and that sign must be the 1st, 4th, 7th or 10th house.

#What the great persons mean

The Brihat Samhita goes on to describe each great person at length: their body, height, complexion, the marks on their hands and feet, their character, the lands they rule and their span of life (Brihat Samhita 69.7–30). These portraits belong to the old science of reading the body (samudrika), and much of them — the exact heights in inches, the regions of ancient India, the ages and manners of death — cannot be applied today. This course does not repeat the ages and deaths.

What remains useful is the character each planet gives when it is strong in an angle. In plain terms:

• Hamsa (Jupiter): wisdom, generosity, dignity, respect from others, a good reputation; a person others turn to for guidance.
• Sasa (Saturn): organising ability, authority over people and resources, endurance, practical skill; can be hard or calculating (the text mentions both "commander of armies" and "deceitful", Brihat Samhita 69.20).
• Ruchaka (Mars): courage, physical strength, determination, leadership in action; the text gives both "excellent minister" and "chief of thieves" (69.27) — Mars's energy can go either way.
• Bhadra (Mercury): intelligence, learning, skill in the arts, eloquence, independence of mind (69.13–17).
• Malavya (Venus): beauty, refinement, comfort, wealth earned by oneself (69.10–11).

Varahamihira adds a subtle point: the Sun and the Moon colour all five. If the Sun is strong, the body is strong; if the Moon is strong, the mind is. If neither the Sun nor the Moon is strong, the person is a "mixed person" (sankirna) rather than a full great person (Brihat Samhita 69.3–6).

#In the example chart

• Mars is in Aries, its own sign, in the 7th house, a kendra. This is Ruchaka.
• Jupiter is in Cancer, its exaltation sign, in the 10th house, a kendra. This is Hamsa.
• Venus is in the 10th house too, but in Cancer, which is neither its own sign nor its exaltation. Under the loose reading of Iyer's translation ("their houses, exaltation signs or the kendras") Venus would also make Malavya; under the standard reading it does not.
• Counted from the Moon (in Taurus), Mars is in the 12th and Jupiter in the 3rd, so neither yoga is formed from the Moon.

Two great-person yogas, both strong (Mars and Jupiter were the strongest planets in shadbala, Chapter 14): this is a real feature of the chart. Read it as a person with both courage and wisdom available to them, especially in partnership (7th house) and career (10th house). It is not a promise of fame or power. Remember Chapter 17: the yoga's promise is realised in the life the person actually has.

#The yogas round the Moon

The Moon is the mind, and Varahamihira gives a whole chapter to the patterns the other planets make round it (Brihat Jataka XIII).

#The Moon's distance from the Sun

The first rule is about the Moon's position counted from the Sun:

The conduct, wealth, knowledge, intelligence and skill of a person will be poor, moderate or excellent according as the Moon occupies the kendra, the panaphara or the apoklima houses from the Sun (Brihat Jataka XIII.1, Aiyar).

So the Moon in the 1st, 4th, 7th or 10th sign from the Sun gives little; in the 2nd, 5th, 8th or 11th, a moderate amount; in the 3rd, 6th, 9th or 12th, much. The Phaladeepika calls these adhama, sama and varishtha (Phaladeepika 6).

Example: the Moon in Taurus is the 11th sign from the Sun in Cancer: a panaphara, so moderate.

#Planets on either side of the Moon

The next rule concerns the signs just before and after the Moon. Not counting the Sun (and, in this course, not counting Rahu and Ketu):

• a planet in the 2nd sign from the Moon makes Sunapha;
• a planet in the 12th sign from the Moon makes Anapha;
• planets in both make Durudhura;
• no planet in either makes Kemadruma

(Brihat Jataka XIII.3; Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 37). The idea is easy to picture: a Moon with company on either side is supported; a Moon alone in empty space is unsupported.

The results Varahamihira gives:

• Sunapha: self-earned property, intelligence, wealth and renown (XIII.5).
• Anapha: influence and authority, good health, self-control, renown, comfort, neat dress, freedom from grief (XIII.5).
• Durudhura: pleasures, wealth and vehicles, generosity, good helpers (XIII.6).
• Kemadruma: the opposite — poverty, grief, dependence on others (XIII.6).

And the planet that forms the yoga adds its own colour (XIII.7–8): Mars — active, fond of contest, wealthy, acts without much thought; Mercury — skilled, well-spoken, artistic; Jupiter — wealthy, virtuous, respected; Venus — pleasure-loving and wealthy; Saturn — managing others' property and people, the head of groups.

#Kemadruma and its cancellations

Kemadruma is one of the most feared yogas, and one of the most often misused. Look at what the texts actually say:

• Varahamihira records that "according to some" — Aiyar's note names Garga and Parashara — Kemadruma does not form if the Moon is in a kendra from the ascendant, or if a planet is in the same sign as the Moon (Brihat Jataka XIII.3).
• The Phaladeepika adds a third cancellation: a planet in a kendra from the Moon (Phaladeepika 6.5–7).
• The Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra defines Kemadruma as requiring also that no planet be in a kendra from the ascendant (37).

With these cancellations, a true Kemadruma is uncommon. And even then, it is one factor among many; the Moon's own strength, its aspects, and the rest of the chart still count. Never tell anyone they have Kemadruma and will be poor.

#In the example chart

The Moon is in Taurus. The 2nd sign from it, Gemini, is empty. The 12th, Aries, holds Mars. So the chart has Anapha formed by Mars: a person of influence and good health, active and quick to act. No Kemadruma.

#Benefics round the Moon: Adhi yoga

If the benefics — Mercury, Jupiter and Venus — occupy the 6th, 7th and 8th signs from the Moon, the yoga is called Adhi, and the person "will become a general, a minister or a king", with wealth, long life and freedom from enemies and disease (Brihat Jataka XIII.2). Aiyar's note records that one or two of the three houses are enough for a lesser version, and that the result depends on the strength of the benefics (note to XIII.2).

Example: from the Moon in Taurus the 6th, 7th and 8th signs are Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius. Only Saturn, a malefic, is there. No Adhi yoga.

#Benefics in the growing houses: the wealth yoga

If all the benefic planets occupy the upachaya places from the ascendant at the time of birth, a person will be very rich, and if they occupy the upachaya places from the Moon, he will be moderately rich. If two of the planets occupy the upachaya places, a person will be moderately wealthy, and if one of them, he will possess small wealth (Brihat Jataka XIII.9, Aiyar).

The upachaya houses are the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th, the houses that "grow". The Phaladeepika calls this yoga Vasumat, "possessing wealth" (Phaladeepika 6).

Example: from the Libra ascendant, the upachayas are Sagittarius, Pisces, Cancer and Leo. Jupiter and Venus are in Cancer (10th) and Mercury in Leo (11th): all three benefics are in upachayas. From the Moon in Taurus, Jupiter and Venus are in Cancer (the 3rd), also an upachaya. This is a strong wealth yoga — which, as always, means a tendency to build resources through work over time, not a promise of riches.

#The yogas round the Sun

Later books describe a parallel set round the Sun (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 38; Phaladeepika 6). Not counting the Moon:

• a planet in the 2nd from the Sun makes Vesi;
• in the 12th, Vasi (also spelt Vosi);
• in both, Ubhayachari.

The books give opposite results for the benefic and the malefic versions: formed by benefics these yogas are favourable, formed by malefics they are not (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 38).

Example: the 2nd sign from the Sun in Cancer is Leo, which holds Mercury. So the chart has a benefic Vesi. The 12th from the Sun, Gemini, is empty.

#Gajakesari: one name, several definitions

Gajakesari means "elephant and lion": Jupiter is the elephant, the Moon the lion (or the other way round, in some explanations). It is one of the most quoted yogas, and a good lesson in how definitions differ.

These are not the same yoga. The first is a relationship between Jupiter and the Moon only. The third can form without the Moon at all, from the ascendant, but has extra conditions.

Example: Jupiter in Cancer is the 3rd sign from the Moon in Taurus — not a kendra. So by the Phaladeepika's and the Jataka Parijata's first definitions, there is no Gajakesari. But Jupiter is in the 10th from the ascendant, a kendra, joined by the benefic Venus, exalted, not combust: so by Parashara's definition there is.

So does this chart have Gajakesari? The honest answer is: by one book yes, by another no. Say so, and cite which. Then look past the name to the substance: Jupiter is exalted in the 10th house — whatever we call it, that is a strong and favourable placement.

#Summary

• The five great persons: Mars (Ruchaka), Mercury (Bhadra), Jupiter (Hamsa), Venus (Malavya) or Saturn (Sasa), strong, in its own or exaltation sign, in a kendra (Brihat Samhita 69.1–2; Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 75.1–2; Phaladeepika 6.1–4).
• The Moon's position from the Sun grades a person's qualities: kendra poor, panaphara moderate, apoklima excellent (Brihat Jataka XIII.1).
• Planets in the 2nd, 12th or both from the Moon make Sunapha, Anapha or Durudhura; none makes Kemadruma, which has several cancellations (Brihat Jataka XIII.3–8; Phaladeepika 6.5–7).
• Benefics in the 6th, 7th and 8th from the Moon make Adhi yoga (XIII.2); benefics in the upachayas make the wealth yoga (XIII.9).
• Planets in the 2nd, 12th or both from the Sun make Vesi, Vasi or Ubhayachari (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 38).
• Gajakesari is defined differently in different books; report the definition you use.
• The example chart has Ruchaka, Hamsa, Anapha (by Mars), the full wealth yoga, a benefic Vesi, and Gajakesari by Parashara's definition only.

#Exercises

1. Which great-person yoga could form for a Gemini ascendant with Mercury in Virgo? With Mercury in Gemini?
2. The Moon is in Leo; Mars is in Virgo and Saturn in Cancer. What lunar yoga is formed? Which planets colour it?
3. The Moon is in Scorpio, no planet is in Libra or Sagittarius, the Moon is alone, and the ascendant is Aquarius. Is there Kemadruma? (Hint: in which house from the ascendant is the Moon?)
4. Jupiter is in Pisces and the Moon in Gemini. Is there Gajakesari by the Phaladeepika? By Parashara, if the ascendant is Virgo?
5. Why does this course say that the Malavya yoga is not present in the example chart, even though Venus is in a kendra?

Answers: 1. Mercury in Virgo (its own and exaltation sign) is in the 4th house from Gemini, a kendra: Bhadra. Mercury in Gemini (own sign) is in the 1st: also Bhadra. 2. Durudhura (planets in both the 2nd and 12th from the Moon), coloured by Mars and Saturn. 3. Scorpio is the 10th house from Aquarius, a kendra, so by the cancellation Varahamihira records (and Parashara's definition) Kemadruma does not form. 4. Pisces is the 10th sign from Gemini, a kendra: Kesari by the Phaladeepika. From a Virgo ascendant, Pisces is the 7th house, a kendra, so Parashara's yoga also forms if Jupiter is joined or aspected by a benefic and not afflicted. 5. Because Venus in Cancer is in neither its own sign nor its exaltation; the standard rule requires both dignity and a kendra.