Ashtakavarga: Measuring Transits in Points

Saturn is in the same sign on the same day, yet for one person the time is miserable and for another manageable. A long-trusted way of explaining the difference is ashtakavarga. "Ashta" means eight: from eight sources, the seven planets and the lagna, each sign receives benefic points (rekhas).

How it is built

Each planet gets its own chart, called its bhinnashtakavarga. Take Jupiter's: from each of the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and the lagna in the birth chart, Jupiter receives a point in certain houses, according to fixed tables given by Parashara and Varahamihira. Each sign ends up with between 0 and 8 points for Jupiter.

Adding the seven planets' charts gives the sarvashtakavarga, the total points in each sign. Rahu and Ketu have no standard ashtakavarga.

Totals

These totals are the same in every chart; only their distribution among the signs changes. 337 divided by 12 is about 28, so:

• A sign with more than 28 in the sarvashtakavarga is strong, and planets transiting it give better results.
• A sign with fewer than 25 is weak, and transits through it trouble more.

Using it for transits

When a planet transits a sign, check how many points it has there in its own bhinnashtakavarga:

Example: Saturn enters the moon sign (the middle of sade sati), but has 5 points there in its own chart: this phase will go far more easily than feared. Jupiter's transit of the eleventh is normally good, but with only 2 of Jupiter's points there, keep expectations of gain modest.

More uses

• Kakshya: each sign is split into eight parts of 3°45′, giving a finer picture of when within a sign a planet delivers.
• House strength: more points in the tenth make career progress easier; a common rule says that more points in the twelfth than the eleventh tilts towards spending over income.
• Reduction (shodhana): trikona and ekadhipatya reductions are used for longevity and other refined calculations, an advanced stage of the work.

Ashtakavarga needs the exact positions of every planet in the birth chart; Suvolagna's birth chart page gives them, and a full reading with the ashtakavarga tables is part of a personal consultation. Knowing which signs are strong in your chart makes it easier to read the daily horoscope for yourself.