The Study of Jyotisha · Chapter 20 of 54 · Part Four · Yogas

#Nabhasa yogas: the shape of the chart

#Looking at the whole chart at once

Most yogas look at one or two planets. The Nabhasa yogas ("yogas of the sky") look at all seven planets together and ask: what shape do they make round the chart? Are they all in the angles? All in one half? Spread over seven signs or crowded into two?

This is a good habit even apart from the yogas. Before studying any single planet, a reader should glance at the whole chart and see its shape: where the planets cluster, which part of the chart is empty. The Nabhasa yogas give names to the common shapes.

#Varahamihira's thirty-two

Varahamihira begins his chapter with a puzzle: "Nine, ten and eight, multiplied respectively by three, three and four, give the sums of the numbers of the first two, the first three, and all the four groups of Nabhasa yogas" (Brihat Jataka XII.1). Working it out (as Aiyar's note does): 9 × 3 = 27, 10 × 3 = 30, 8 × 4 = 32. So there are 32 yogas in four groups:

He adds that the Greek-influenced authors (Yavanas) "treat extensively of one thousand and eight hundred of such yogas", and that he summarises them (XII.1). Aiyar's long note at the end of the chapter shows how the 1,800 arise: the Yavanas split some of Varahamihira's yogas into many sub-cases and multiplied by the twelve ascendants. The effects, Varahamihira says, are the same, so 32 are enough.

The Nabhasa yogas use only the seven planets (not Rahu and Ketu) and whole-sign houses (Chapter 9). Their effects, the text says, "are felt throughout a man's life" (XII.19), not only in particular periods.

#The three Ashraya yogas: the kind of sign

If all seven planets are in (Brihat Jataka XII.2):

• movable signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn): Rajju, "rope";
• fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius): Musala, "pestle";
• dual signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces): Nala, "reed".

Results (XII.11): Rajju — fond of travel, goes abroad, envies others' wealth; Musala — respected, rich, engaged in many undertakings; Nala — firm in opinion, rich, skilled.

You can see the logic: movable signs move, fixed signs hold, dual signs adapt (Chapter 7).

#The two Dala yogas: benefics or malefics in the angles

• Benefics in the kendras (three of them, says Garga in Aiyar's note): Mala or Srik, "garland" — a life of comfort.
• Malefics in the kendras: Sarpa, "serpent" — many difficulties (XII.2, 11).

Varahamihira explains why he lists these separately even though other writers merge them with the general rules about benefics and malefics in the angles: as Nabhasa yogas, their effects last all life (note to XII.3).

#The twenty Akriti yogas: the shape

These are the heart of the group. In each, all seven planets are confined to the houses named.

#Planets in the angles and trines (XII.4–5)

#Planets in four consecutive houses (XII.7)

#Planets in seven consecutive houses (XII.8)

#Planets in alternate signs (XII.9)

• Samudra (ocean): all planets in the six even houses (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12).
• Chakra (wheel): all planets in the six odd houses (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11).

#Varahamihira's critique: an impossible yoga

After describing Vajra and Yava, Varahamihira stops and objects:

I have described the Vajra and other yogas adopting the view of former writers. How can Mercury and Venus occupy the 4th sign from the Sun? (Brihat Jataka XII.6, Aiyar)

His point: Vajra needs the benefics (including Mercury and Venus) in the 1st and 7th and the malefics (including the Sun) in the 4th and 10th. That puts Mercury and Venus three signs from the Sun. But Mercury is never more than about 28° from the Sun and Venus never more than about 47° (Chapter 3), so this can never happen in a sign-based chart.

Aiyar's note records a later defence: if the houses are measured as unequal bhavas rather than whole signs (Chapter 9), then at high latitudes the 4th bhava from the Sun can be close enough for the yoga to be possible. Whether or not that defence works, the episode shows Varahamihira checking the astrology of his predecessors against the astronomy he knew — a good example for any student.

#The seven Sankhya yogas: the number of signs

If no other Nabhasa yoga is formed, the chart is classified simply by how many signs the seven planets occupy (Brihat Jataka XII.10):

Because every chart occupies some number of signs, every chart has a Sankhya yoga unless a more specific Nabhasa yoga takes precedence.

#The precedence rules

The groups overlap, so Varahamihira and his commentators give rules of precedence (Brihat Jataka XII.10, 12, with Aiyar's notes):

• If an Ashraya yoga is also an Akriti yoga, treat it as the Akriti yoga (XII.12).
• If a Sankhya yoga is also any other Nabhasa yoga, treat it as the other (XII.10). For example, planets in only the 1st and 7th make Sakata, not Yuga.
• The Dala yogas can coincide with some Sankhya yogas; then they are treated as Dala yogas.

The Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra has the same thirty-two (chapter 35), with the same rule that a Sankhya yoga gives way to any other.

#The results

Varahamihira gives a short result for each (Brihat Jataka XII.11–19). They are written in the language of his society — farming, carts, sacrifices, servants, kings — and some are harsh. Read them as images of a life's shape, not as literal predictions. A selection, in plain words:

Remember (Chapter 17) that a yoga's promise depends on strength and on the life it falls into. A Nabhasa yoga is a background colour, never the whole picture.

#Finding the Nabhasa yoga of a chart

A simple procedure:

1. List the houses (whole signs) occupied by the seven planets.
2. Check the Akriti patterns: are all the planets in the kendras? In two adjacent kendras? In a triangle? In four or seven consecutive houses? In alternate houses?
3. Check the Ashraya pattern: are all the planets in movable, fixed or dual signs?
4. Check the Dala pattern: benefics or malefics filling the kendras?
5. If none of these, count the signs occupied: that gives the Sankhya yoga.

#The example chart

The seven planets are in: the Sun, Jupiter and Venus in Cancer (10th house); the Moon in Taurus (8th); Mars in Aries (7th); Mercury in Leo (11th); Saturn in Sagittarius (3rd).

1. Houses occupied: 3, 7, 8, 10, 11.
2. Akriti: not all in kendras; not in a triangle; the span from the 3rd to the 11th is nine houses, too long for four or seven consecutive houses; a mixture of odd and even houses, so not Chakra or Samudra. None.
3. Ashraya: Cancer and Aries are movable, Taurus and Leo fixed, Sagittarius dual. None.
4. Dala: benefics only in one kendra (the 10th); malefics in two (the 7th and 10th). None.
5. Sankhya: five signs are occupied — Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Leo and Sagittarius. Pasa.

The text's result: the person "will, with his servants and kinsmen, earn wealth by proper means" (XII.18) — a picture of working with and through a group of people, which fits the strong 7th and 10th houses seen in earlier chapters.

#Summary

• The Nabhasa yogas classify the overall shape of the chart: 32 in four groups — Akriti (20), Sankhya (7), Ashraya (3), Dala (2) (Brihat Jataka XII.1; Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 35).
• They use the seven planets only and whole-sign houses; their effects last all life (XII.19).
• More specific yogas take precedence over the general Sankhya yogas (XII.10, 12).
• Varahamihira rejected Vajra and Yava as astronomically impossible in a sign-based chart (XII.6).
• Every chart has at least a Sankhya yoga. The example chart has Pasa.

#Exercises

1. All seven planets are in Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces. Which Ashraya yoga is this? If the ascendant is Gemini, which Akriti yoga might take precedence?
2. All seven planets are in the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th houses. Name the yoga.
3. The planets occupy exactly three signs, which are the 2nd, 6th and 10th houses. Is this Sula or Hala?
4. Why did Varahamihira call the Vajra yoga impossible?
5. How many signs do the planets occupy in your own chart (or a chart you know)? What Sankhya yoga is that?

Answers: 1. Nala. With Gemini rising, these four signs are the four kendras, so it is Kamala (and if only some are occupied, possibly Gada, Sakata or Vihaga), which takes precedence. 2. Ishu (Bana). 3. Hala: an Akriti yoga takes precedence over the Sankhya yoga Sula. 4. Because it needs Mercury and Venus three signs from the Sun, which their small maximum distances from the Sun make impossible in a sign-based chart. 5. Count the distinct signs holding the seven planets: 7 Vallaki, 6 Damini, 5 Pasa, 4 Kedara, 3 Sula, 2 Yuga, 1 Gola — unless a more specific yoga is formed.