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In short
The 10th lord in the 6th house is the ruler of work and rank placed in the house of service, rivals, debt and illness. BPHS Ch. 24 Sl. 114 reads it as lacking happiness from the father and, though skilful, lacking wealth and troubled by enemies. By sign the placement is strong more often than not: two Ascendants exalt the 10th lord here and none puts it in an enemy sign.
What the placement means
"The 10th lord in the 6th house" is the lord of work, rank and public action standing in the house of service, rivals, litigation, debts and illness. The lord brings the 10th house's affairs into the 6th.
The 6th is a dusthana, and both the 6th and the 10th are upachayas, houses of growth. Counted from the 10th, the 6th is the 9th: the house of fortune relative to work. That gives the placement a double character the verse below does not resolve. Houses are whole-sign from the Ascendant (whole-sign houses).
The two houses involved
The 10th house (Karma Bhava) is the angle of work, status and deeds.
The 6th house (Ari Bhava) covers enemies, service, debts, disease and maternal relatives.
What BPHS says about the 10th lord in the 6th
Ch. 24 Sl. 114: if the lord of Karm is in the Ari Bhava, the native "will be bereft of paternal bliss". Although he may be skilful, the verse goes on, he will be bereft of wealth and troubled by enemies. The bphs-alt wording is the same. This is the text's claim about a configuration and is reported here as such, not as a forecast. Its one concession, "although he may be skilful", is worth keeping: BPHS separates ability from reward in this verse.
Sl. 145-148 then qualify it: the result is full, half or a quarter by strength, and a planet ruling two houses gives the results of both, with contrary results cancelling and varied results both coming to pass. On the table below, that second rule is decisive for several Ascendants.
Other rules that touch it
Ch. 34 Sl. 15 says that a Kendra or Kon lord that also owns an evil house does not cause a Raj Yoga by mere relation. The 10th lord in the 6th is a Kendra lord placed in an evil house rather than owning one; the table shows that for no Ascendant does the 10th lord also own the 6th, so Sl. 15 applies only through the evil lordships it may hold, the 3rd (Leo, Aquarius rising) or the 11th (Aries rising).
Ch. 42, on penury, has two rules that can involve this placement. Sl. 6 says that if the Lagna lord is joined with the lord of the 6th, 8th or 12th and has no benefic aspect, the native will be penniless; Sl. 13 says a graha associated with one of those lords, without a Kon lord's aspect, harms finances in its Dasha. For Virgo and Pisces rising the 10th lord is also the Lagna lord, so the Lagna lord is in the 6th, and its company there decides whether Sl. 6 is met. These are reported only as the text's rules; the engine does not test them. Saravali and the Bhrigu Sutras give no verse on the 10th lord in the 6th.
Which planet it is, Ascendant by Ascendant
The engine's table with sign-only dignity from natural relationships (a real chart can shift the tier).
| Ascendant | 10th lord | 6th house sign | Sign-only dignity there | Other house it rules |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aries | Saturn | Virgo | Friendly sign | 11th |
| Taurus | Saturn | Libra | Exalted | 9th |
| Gemini | Jupiter | Scorpio | Friendly sign | 7th |
| Cancer | Mars | Sagittarius | Friendly sign | 5th |
| Leo | Venus | Capricorn | Friendly sign | 3rd |
| Virgo | Mercury | Aquarius | Neutral | 1st |
| Libra | Moon | Pisces | Neutral | None (a luminary rules one sign) |
| Scorpio | Sun | Aries | Exalted | None (a luminary rules one sign) |
| Sagittarius | Mercury | Taurus | Friendly sign | 7th |
| Capricorn | Venus | Gemini | Friendly sign | 5th |
| Aquarius | Mars | Cancer | Debilitated | 3rd |
| Pisces | Jupiter | Leo | Friendly sign | 1st |
By sign this is a strong table. Taurus rising puts Saturn exalted in Libra, and Saturn is the Taurus yogakaraka (9th and 10th). Scorpio rising puts the Sun exalted in Aries. Aquarius rising is the one debilitated row, Mars in Cancer, where Mars also owns the 3rd. No row is an enemy sign and seven are friendly. Read with Sl. 145-148, the unfavourable verse is therefore often carried at full strength by a well-placed planet, which is exactly the case in which the chapter's "contrary results" rule matters.
Strength changes the reading
Because dignity is often good here, the second lordship and company decide more than usual. For Taurus rising, an exalted Saturn owning the 9th and 10th brings a trine's results with it into the 6th; for Cancer and Capricorn rising the 10th lord also owns the 5th; for Virgo and Pisces rising it is the Lagna lord. Each brings results that Sl. 145-148 say can offset or vary Sl. 114.
The upachaya character of both houses is the other consideration. The texts read houses of growth as improving with time, and the 6th counted from the 10th is the 9th. Neither of those ideas is in Sl. 114, and this page does not use them to soften the verse; it notes them because later writers often do.
From the 6th, every graha aspects the 12th. A Mars 10th lord also aspects the 9th and the 1st; a Jupiter the 10th and 2nd, so a Jupiter 10th lord in the 6th aspects its own house; a Saturn the 8th and 3rd.
How it sits beside the neighbouring placements
The reverse, the 6th lord in the 10th (Sl. 70), reads as well known among one's people, not respectful toward the father, happy in foreign countries and a gifted speaker. Both together are a parivartana between a dusthana and an angle. The 10th lord in the 5th (Sl. 113) gives learning and wealth and the 10th lord in the 7th (Sl. 115) happiness through the spouse; the 6th is the low point between them in the 10th lord's sequence.
Worked example: Virgo rising, Mercury in Aquarius
The engine's deterministic search found: 24 February 1985, 21:42 IST, New Delhi, Ascendant Virgo 28.04. It reproduces in the birth chart calculator.
- With Virgo rising the 10th house is Gemini, so the 10th lord is Mercury, which is also the Lagna lord.
- The 6th house is Aquarius. Mercury is there at 16.94 degrees, Shatabhisha pada 4, "Friendly sign", and combust.
- The Sun shares the 6th at 12.36; for Virgo rising the Sun is the 12th lord. The engine reports Vimala Yoga: the 12th lord in the 6th.
- Venus, lord of the 2nd and 9th, is exalted in Pisces in the 7th; the engine reports Malavya Yoga.
This chart shows Ch. 42 Sl. 6's conditions in practice. The Lagna lord (Mercury) is joined with the 12th lord (the Sun) in the 6th; whether a benefic aspects it is the remaining test. Jupiter, in Capricorn in the 5th, aspects the 9th, 11th and 1st, not the 6th, and Venus from the 7th aspects the 1st, so on the text's terms no benefic aspect reaches Mercury. That is the text's rule, not a reading this app makes about a person. On Sl. 145-148's scale the 10th lord itself is a friendly-sign but combust case, carrying both the Lagna and the 10th lordships into the 6th.
How often the placement occurs
Of 3,000 sampled birth moments 1985-2060, the engine found the 10th lord in the 6th house in 222, or 7.4%. That counts moments of the sky, not people.
Checking it in your own chart
- Find your Ascendant with the Lagna calculator and the 10th lord from the table.
- Check whether it stands in the sixth sign in your birth chart.
- Note its dignity and its second lordship; for Virgo and Pisces rising it is also the Lagna lord.
- Note which planets join or aspect it in the 6th.
Questions about the 10th lord in the 6th
- What does BPHS say about the 10th lord in the 6th house?
- Ch. 24 Sl. 114: little happiness from the father and, though skilful, a lack of wealth and trouble from enemies. Sl. 145-148 scale this by strength and by the planet's other lordship.
- Does it mean a career in service, law or medicine?
- The verse does not name an occupation. This app does not predict careers from a placement, and it does not give medical readings.
- Is it a Vipareeta Raja Yoga?
- No. For no Ascendant does the 10th lord also own the 6th, 8th or 12th, so the engine's Vipareeta yogas, such as Harsha Yoga for the 6th lord, never fire through the 10th lord itself. They can fire through other planets in the same chart, as Vimala Yoga does in the worked example.
- Which Ascendants put the 10th lord strongest here?
- By sign: Taurus (Saturn exalted in Libra) and Scorpio (the Sun exalted in Aries). Aquarius rising puts Mars debilitated in Cancer.
- Why is a strong 10th lord in the 6th not simply good?
- BPHS Sl. 145-148 say a strong planet gives its results fully, and Sl. 114 is an unfavourable verse. What can offset it is the planet\'s other lordship, such as Saturn\'s 9th for Taurus rising, because the chapter says contrary results from two lordships cancel.
- How common is it?
- It occurred in 222 of 3,000 sampled birth moments 1985-2060, 7.4%.
Birth Chart (Kundli)
All nine grahas by sign, degree and nakshatra, with houses when the birth time is known and the place resolves to coordinates.
This one has its own page
This one runs on its own page, built for it, where the full result is laid out properly. No account is needed there either.