The Study of Jyotisha · Chapter 14 of 54 · Part Three · Strength

#Shadbala: the six strengths

#Why measure strength?

By now you can describe a planet in many ways: its sign, house, dignity, aspects and nakshatra. But a chart has nine grahas, and they usually point in different directions. One says the person will be generous, another that they will be careful with money. Which wins? The classical answer is: the stronger one. A strong planet gives its results clearly and fully; a weak one gives them faintly, late or not at all.

So the tradition developed ways to measure strength. The most complete is shadbala, "six-fold strength". Varahamihira already names its six parts in four short verses (Brihat Jataka II.19–21). The Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra turns them into a full system of numbers, with formulas for each part and a minimum total each planet needs (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, chapter 27, in the common numbering). Modern programs, including the kundli page of this website, compute it exactly.

This chapter explains what each of the six strengths means, shows how the simpler parts are worked out by hand, and then reads the results for the example chart. You will not need to compute the whole of shadbala yourself — it has more than a dozen parts — but you should understand every part, so that you know what a number in a printout means.

#The units

Shadbala is measured in virupas (also called shashtiamshas, "sixtieths"). Sixty virupas make one rupa. Most parts of shadbala range from 0 to 60 virupas — that is, from nothing to one full rupa.

#The six strengths in brief

Now each in turn.

#1. Positional strength (sthana bala)

Varahamihira says a planet has positional strength when it is in its exaltation sign, a friend's sign, its moolatrikona, its own navamsa or its own sign (Brihat Jataka II.19). The later text makes this into five numbered parts:

#Exaltation strength (uchcha bala)

The simplest and most beautiful part. A planet gets 60 virupas at its point of deepest exaltation and 0 at its point of deepest debilitation, and in between, a share proportional to its distance from the debilitation point (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 27.1–6):

exaltation strength = (distance from the debilitation point) ÷ 3

where the distance is measured the short way round the circle, so it is never more than 180°. (180° ÷ 3 = 60, the maximum.)

Example 1: the Sun in the example chart. The Sun is at 28°23′ Cancer = 118°23′. Its debilitation point is 10° Libra = 190°. The distance is 190° − 118°23′ = 71°37′. Divided by 3: 23.9 virupas. The Sun is closer to its fall than to its exaltation (10° Aries), so it gets less than half marks.

Example 2: Jupiter. Jupiter is at 5°36′ Cancer = 95°36′. Its debilitation point is 5° Capricorn = 275°. The distance is 275° − 95°36′ = 179°24′. Divided by 3: 59.8 virupas — almost the full 60, because Jupiter is almost exactly at its deepest exaltation.

#Strength in the seven divisions (saptavargaja bala)

The planet is looked at in seven divisional charts — D1, D2, D3, D7, D9, D12 and D30 (Chapter 12). In each it scores by its dignity there: 45 virupas for moolatrikona, 30 for its own sign, 20 for a great friend's sign, 15 for a friend's, 10 for a neutral's, 4 for an enemy's and 2 for a great enemy's (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 27.1–6). The seven scores are added. This is the largest part of positional strength, and the one that rewards a planet that is well placed not just in the birth chart but throughout the divisions.

#Odd and even signs (ojayugma bala)

The Moon and Venus, the feminine planets, get 15 virupas in an even sign; the other planets get 15 in an odd sign. This is counted in the birth chart and again in the navamsa (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 27.1–6).

#Angular strength (kendradi bala)

A planet in an angle (1st, 4th, 7th or 10th house) gets 60; in a panaphara house (2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th) 30; in an apoklima house (3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th) 15 (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 27.1–6). This is Varahamihira's rule that the angles are strongest and the apoklimas weakest (Brihat Jataka I.19), turned into numbers.

#Decanate strength (drekkana bala)

Male planets (the Sun, Mars, Jupiter) get 15 in the first drekkana (0°–10°) of a sign, female planets (the Moon, Venus) in the second (10°–20°), and the neuter planets (Mercury, Saturn) in the third (20°–30°) (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 27.1–6, with the sexes of Brihat Jataka II.6).

#2. Directional strength (dig bala)

Each planet is strongest in one of the four angles, which correspond to the four directions (Brihat Jataka II.19):

The logic is pleasing. Jupiter and Mercury, the planets of wisdom and learning, are strongest rising, at the beginning of things. The Sun and Mars, the planets of power and action, are strongest at the top of the sky, like the noon Sun. Saturn, the planet of endings, is strongest setting. The Moon and Venus, the planets of feeling and comfort, are strongest at the bottom of the chart, the 4th house of home.

The later text gives a number: 60 virupas at the strongest point, 0 at the point opposite (where the planet is weakest), and proportional in between — the distance from the weak point divided by 3, exactly as for exaltation strength (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 27).

Example. In the example chart the Sun is in the 10th house, very near the midheaven (1°09′ Cancer): its directional strength is high, 51 virupas. Venus, also in the 10th, is near the point opposite its strong 4th house: only 2 virupas.

#3. Temporal strength (kala bala)

Varahamihira's rule for time (Brihat Jataka II.21):

• the Moon, Mars and Saturn are strong at night;
• Mercury is strong day and night;
• the Sun, Jupiter and Venus are strong by day;
• malefics are strong in the dark half of the month (the waning Moon), and benefics in the bright half (the waxing Moon);
• each planet is strong in its own year, month, day and hour.

The later text turns each clause into a part (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 27.8–17):

• Day and night strength (nathonnata bala): the night planets get 60 at midnight and 0 at noon; the day planets the reverse; Mercury always 60.
• Lunar-phase strength (paksha bala): benefics get more as the Moon is fuller, malefics more as it is darker. The value is the distance between the Moon and the Sun (folded to at most 180°) divided by 3 for benefics, and 60 minus that for malefics.
• Strength of the third of the day (tribhaga bala): the day and the night are each divided into three parts, ruled by Mercury, the Sun and Saturn (day) and by the Moon, Venus and Mars (night). The planet ruling the third in which the birth falls gets 60. Jupiter always gets 60.
• Strength of the lords of the time: the lord of the year gets 15, of the month 30, of the weekday 45, and of the planetary hour (hora, Chapter 5) 60.
• Strength of declination (ayana bala): based on how far north or south of the celestial equator the planet is. Some planets are stronger in the north, others in the south.
• Strength in planetary war (yuddha bala): when two planets are in war (within a degree, Chapter 3), the winner takes strength from the loser.

Example. The example birth was at 10:30 in the morning, in daytime, in the dark half of the month (the Moon is 290° ahead of the Sun, that is, 70° behind it, past full and waning). So:

• the Sun, Jupiter and Venus get good day-strength; the Moon, Mars and Saturn little;
• the malefics (the Sun, Mars, Saturn) get good lunar-phase strength in the waning month, and the benefics less;
• the weekday is Wednesday, so Mercury gets the weekday strength of 45.

#4. Motional strength (cheshta bala)

Varahamihira says the Sun and Moon have motional strength when they are in the six signs from Capricorn — that is, during the Sun's northward course — and the other planets when they are retrograde, when they are with the Moon, when they are at their greatest brilliance, or when they are the northern (winning) planet in a planetary war (Brihat Jataka II.20). His translator notes that Mercury and Venus are at their brightest when about 29° and 47° from the Sun, and the outer planets when opposite the Sun (note to II.20).

The later text measures it by the planet's apparent motion: the more it departs from its mean speed toward retrogression, the stronger it is, up to 60 virupas when it is fully retrograde (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 27.18, 24–25). Retrogression happens when a planet is closest to the Earth and brightest (Chapter 3), so this strength is really a measure of how big and bright the planet appears.

Example. Saturn is retrograde in the example chart, and gets the highest motional strength of the seven: 50 virupas. Jupiter, moving fast and far from retrogression, gets less than 10.

#5. Natural strength (naisargika bala)

Each planet has a fixed natural strength, the same in every chart. Varahamihira's order, weakest to strongest, is Saturn, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, the Moon, the Sun (Brihat Jataka II.21). The later text gives them values in sevenths of 60 (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 27.14):

These are simply 60 × 1/7, 60 × 2/7, and so on up to 60 × 7/7.

#6. Aspectual strength (drik bala)

Finally, a planet gains strength from the aspects of benefics and loses it from the aspects of malefics. The later text adds a quarter of the benefic aspects it receives and subtracts a quarter of the malefic ones, measured in the virupas of Chapter 11, with extra weight to the aspects of Jupiter and Mercury (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 27.19). This part can be negative.

Example. In the example chart Saturn receives strong aspects from Jupiter, Venus and Mercury, which far outweigh the malefic aspects it also receives, and gets the highest aspectual strength, +79. The Sun, aspected by Mars, Saturn and the waning Moon, gets −28.

#Adding it up

The six strengths are added to give the planet's total shadbala, which is then compared with the minimum the text requires for each planet (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 27.32–33):

A planet whose total reaches its minimum is called strong (balavan) and is able to give its results; one below it is weak. The Phaladeepika gives the same minimums (Phaladeepika, chapter 4). The ratio of a planet's total to its minimum is a useful single number for comparing planets: above 1 is strong, below 1 is weak.

#The example chart

Computed with this website's engine (all values in virupas, totals also in rupas):

Reading the table:

• Every planet reaches its minimum. This is a strong chart overall.
• Mars is the strongest relative to its need (ratio 1.81): in its own sign, in an angle, with good temporal and aspectual strength. Recall that Chapter 11 called Mars a key planet of this chart because it aspects the lagna and the 10th house. Shadbala agrees.
• The Sun is next (1.50), with very high directional strength at the top of the chart.
• Mercury and the Moon are the closest to their minimums. The Moon, though in its moolatrikona, was born in the daytime in the waning half of the month, which costs it much of its temporal strength.
• Jupiter, exalted almost to the degree, scores the full 60 for exaltation, but loses on motion (it is moving fast) and on aspects.

Notice how the numbers sometimes confirm and sometimes refine what the simpler judgements of earlier chapters suggested. That is their use: not to replace judgement, but to settle questions when the simpler signs disagree.

#Strength of the houses

The later text also measures the strength of each house (bhava bala), mainly from the strength of its lord, the directional strength of its sign, and the aspects it receives (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 27.26–31). A strong house is one whose matters flourish. The kundli page of this website computes house strengths too. The method is similar in spirit to shadbala and is not repeated here.

#A word of caution

Shadbala is impressive, and it is easy to treat its numbers as exact truths. Keep three things in mind:

1. Strength is not goodness. A strong malefic gives its malefic results strongly as well as its good ones. Shadbala tells you how much a planet can do, not whether what it does is welcome.
2. The details rest on conventions. Several parts of shadbala need choices the text does not settle exactly — how to count the lord of the year and month, how to measure "distance from midnight", which aspect corrections to apply. Different programs make different choices, and their totals can differ by twenty or thirty virupas. The engine on this website lists every choice it makes. When two programs disagree slightly, that is usually why.
3. It is one tool among many. The classical authors themselves used simpler judgements most of the time. Use shadbala when you need to compare planets or settle a doubt.

#Summary

• Shadbala adds six strengths: positional, directional, temporal, motional, natural and aspectual (Brihat Jataka II.19–21; Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 27). Units: virupas; 60 virupas = 1 rupa.
• Exaltation strength = distance from the debilitation point ÷ 3; 60 at deepest exaltation, 0 at deepest fall.
• Directional strength: Mercury and Jupiter in the 1st, the Sun and Mars in the 10th, Saturn in the 7th, the Moon and Venus in the 4th (Brihat Jataka II.19).
• Temporal strength: night planets (Moon, Mars, Saturn), day planets (Sun, Jupiter, Venus), Mercury always; benefics in the bright half, malefics in the dark half; lords of the year, month, day and hour (Brihat Jataka II.21).
• Motional strength is greatest when retrograde (Brihat Jataka II.20). Natural strength runs from Saturn (weakest) to the Sun (strongest).
• Minimum totals: Sun 6.5, Moon 6, Mars 5, Mercury 7, Jupiter 6.5, Venus 5.5, Saturn 5 rupas (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 27.32–33).
• In the example chart all seven pass; Mars is strongest relative to its minimum.

#Exercises

1. Mars is at 15° Aries. What is its exaltation strength? (Its debilitation point is 28° Cancer.)
2. Saturn is at 20° Libra. What is its exaltation strength? What if it were at 20° Aries?
3. In which house is each planet strongest by direction? Learn the table by heart.
4. A person is born at midnight in the bright half of the month. Which planets gain temporal strength from the time of day? Which from the phase of the Moon?
5. Why does a retrograde planet get high motional strength? Connect your answer to Chapter 3.
6. Two programs give Jupiter's total shadbala as 518 and 541 virupas. Should you worry? What is the likely reason?

Answers: 1. 15° Aries = 15°; 28° Cancer = 118°; distance 103° ÷ 3 = 34.3 virupas. 2. 20° Libra is its deepest exaltation: 60. At 20° Aries, its deepest fall: 0. 4. By time of day: the Moon, Mars and Saturn (and Mercury always). By phase: the benefics (Jupiter, Venus, and a waxing Moon and Mercury). 5. A retrograde planet is closest to the Earth and brightest; motional strength measures that. 6. Not much: the difference is about 5%, and is most likely a different convention in one of the parts (for example the lords of the year and month).