Amala Yoga: an unafflicted benefic in the 10th, the rule as coded, and a worked chart

"Amala" means spotless, and Amala Yoga is a rule about a spotless benefic in the 10th - the house of karma, of action and public standing. It is one of the few yogas that the classical text and a modern case-study book state in almost the same words, and it sits in BPHS directly after Gaj Kesari. This page gives the rule exactly as the engine applies it, the three places in the library that describe it, how often it fires, and a worked chart. For the general question of what a yoga is worth, see what a yoga in your chart means.

The rule: how Amala Yoga forms

The engine looks at three planets - Jupiter, Venus and Mercury, the natural benefics other than the Moon - and reports Amala when at least one of them meets both conditions:

1. 1.It occupies the 10th house from the ascendant, or the 10th sign counted from the Moon. Houses are whole signs, so both anchors are a count of signs; either one is enough.
2. 2.It is unafflicted: no malefic - Sun, Mars, Saturn, Rahu or Ketu - sits in the same house, and no malefic casts an aspect onto that house. Aspects are the engine's ordinary set: every planet's 7th, plus the special 4th and 8th of Mars and 3rd and 10th of Saturn; the nodes are given the 7th only.

The engine reports one Amala Yoga for the chart, naming every benefic that qualified. If two benefics sit unafflicted in the 10th - or one in the 10th from the ascendant and another in the 10th from the Moon - both are listed.

Choices the engine makes

• What "unsullied" or "exclusively" means. BPHS says "exclusively a benefic" in the 10th, which most naturally means no malefic shares the house. Advanced Predictive Astrology says "an unsullied benefic". The engine reads both as freedom from malefic conjunction and from malefic aspect. That is stricter than BPHS's word alone. The code records why conjunction is in the test: an earlier version checked aspect only, and a hand-check of a real chart found a Mercury sitting in the 10th with the Sun and Mars passing as "unafflicted".
• The Moon is never a candidate. BPHS counts the waxing Moon among benefics elsewhere, and the sloka says only "a benefic". The engine excludes the Moon from Amala in every case, so a Moon alone in the 10th from the ascendant does not form it here.
• Mercury is always a benefic. BPHS Ch. 3 makes Mercury malefic when afflicted; the engine treats it as a benefic throughout, so the only test of its company is the affliction check itself.
• No dignity or combustion test. A debilitated or combust Jupiter, Venus or Mercury still qualifies if it is in the 10th and free of malefic contact. A combust benefic is close to the Sun, though, and the Sun is in the malefic list: if the Sun is in the same sign, the benefic is afflicted by conjunction and drops out.

What the classical texts say

BPHS Ch. 36, "Many Other Yogas", Sl. 5-6, states the yoga directly after Gaj Kesari: if there is "exclusively a benefic in the 10th from Lagn, or Candr", Amal Yog exists. Its result is the most extravagant line in that passage - fame "lasting till Candr and stars exist" - followed by honour from the king, abundant pleasures, charity, fondness for relatives, helpfulness to others, piety and virtue. The emphasis is reputation, and the engine keeps that: "Classically read as a marker of lasting, well-earned reputation - recognition that builds steadily rather than fading."

Advanced Predictive Astrology Vol. II, in its first chapter, "Gateway to Name and Fame" (p. 27), gives almost the same rule: "an unsullied benefic occupying the 10th from the ascendant or the Moon" brings considerable fame. The engine's own comment cites this book and chapter as its source (as "Vol. 1"; the corpus copy is headed Vol. II, with the same chapter and wording). The book goes on to use Amala in several of its case studies, which are illustrations, not evidence, and this page does not repeat the charts.

The Bhrigu Sutras translation mentions the yoga only in a commentary, on Venus in the 10th house: a benefic in the 10th from the ascendant "also gives rise to the Amala yoga", with effects of lasting fame, a spotless character and a prosperous life. That passage counts from the ascendant only and does not discuss malefic contact. Saravali does not name Amala Yoga. Jyotisha Siddhanta Sara (p. 149) does, in the loosest form of all: "a benefic planet in the 10th house from the lagna or the moon", with no purity condition.

How rare it is

In the engine's sample Amala fired in 321 of 3,000 sampled birth moments 1985-2060 - 10.7 percent, about one chart in nine. A tally of which benefics qualified, and from which anchor, shows how the yoga is usually made:

Mercury qualifies least often, and the reason is the Sun. Mercury is never far from the Sun, and the Sun is on the malefic list. In the same sample Mercury stood in a 10th (from the ascendant or the Moon) in 470 moments, and in 237 of those the Sun was in the same house, which removes Mercury by conjunction before aspects are even checked. Of the qualifying benefics overall, 169 stood in the 10th from the ascendant only, 189 in the 10th from the Moon only, and 20 in a sign that was the 10th from both - which happens when the Moon is in the ascendant's sign.

How much the purity test matters

The affliction test is what keeps the yoga to one chart in nine. The same walk can be run three ways, each a reading someone might reasonably take from the texts:

So the bare "benefic in a 10th" is true of more than a third of the sampled moments; the co-tenancy reading halves that; the engine's aspect check nearly halves it again. Which reading is right is a question of interpretation the texts do not settle, which is why the page states the app's choice and shows what the others would give. If another tool reports Amala for your chart and this one does not, a malefic aspect on the benefic is the most likely reason.

Worked example: a 1985 New Delhi chart

The engine's search found this chart: 19 January 1985 at 11:14 IST in New Delhi. Re-enter it in the birth chart calculator to check. The ascendant is Pisces at 23.04 degrees, so Sagittarius is the 10th house.

1. 1.Anchor from the ascendant: the 10th house is Sagittarius, and Mercury is there. Jupiter (house 11) and Venus (house 12) are not.
2. 2.Anchor from the Moon: the Moon is in Sagittarius, so the 10th sign from it is Virgo. Virgo is empty, so this anchor adds nothing.
3. 3.Affliction check for Mercury in house 10: no malefic is in house 10 - the Moon shares it, but the Moon is not a malefic. The malefics' aspects fall on houses 5, 6, 3, 7, 11, 9 and 3. None reaches house 10.
4. 4.Mercury qualifies. The yoga forms with one benefic, from the ascendant anchor.

The engine reports Amala Yoga naming Mercury, with the sentence "Mercury - an unafflicted natural benefic - sits in your 10th house from the Ascendant or from the Moon." The chart illustrates two of the choices above. First, the Moon is also in the 10th, and under a reading of BPHS that admits the Moon as a benefic it would be a second Amala planet; the engine excludes it. Second, on BPHS's "exclusively" the 10th here holds only benefics - Mercury and the Moon - so the chart has Amala on every reading in the library.

The same chart also returns Durudhura, Ubhayachari and five other yogas. Note that Jupiter, debilitated and combust in Capricorn, would have failed Gaj Kesari's conditions however it was placed; Amala does not test dignity, but Jupiter is simply not in a 10th here.

Amala beside its neighbouring yogas

Amala shares its affliction test with Adhi Yoga, which looks for unafflicted benefics in the 6th, 7th and 8th from the Moon; the engine comment notes that the conjunction check was added to both after the same hand-verification pass. It shares a chapter and the "from the ascendant or the Moon" anchor with Gaj Kesari, and the 10th is one of the four kendras that Gaj Kesari uses, so a Jupiter alone in the 10th can form both. The Panchamahapurusha yogas also reward planets in kendras, but only from the ascendant and only in own or exaltation sign: Hamsa for Jupiter, Malavya for Venus, Bhadra for Mercury. And Dharma-Karmadhipati Yoga looks at the 10th house through its lord rather than its occupant.

What the rule does and does not establish

Amala, as computed here, establishes that one of three benefics stands in a 10th - from the ascendant or from the Moon - with no malefic in its house and none aspecting it. The texts read that as lasting reputation; none of them gives a timing rule, and none grades the yoga by the planet's dignity. A yoga is a named rule about positions, not a promise. A chart with Amala has a clean benefic in the house of action; a chart without it has lost nothing the texts guarantee elsewhere.

To see whether your chart has Amala Yoga, and which benefic and which anchor formed it, run the yoga calculator.

Questions about Amala Yoga

What is Amala Yoga?

A natural benefic - Jupiter, Venus or Mercury in this app - in the 10th from the ascendant or from the Moon, with no malefic in the same house and none aspecting it.

Does the Moon in the 10th form Amala Yoga?

Not in this app. The engine excludes the Moon from the candidates, although BPHS says only "a benefic" and treats the waxing Moon as one elsewhere.

Does a malefic aspect on the 10th cancel it?

In this app, yes: a malefic aspect on the benefic's house, including the special aspects of Mars and Saturn, removes that benefic. BPHS's "exclusively" may be read as a co-tenancy test only, which would be looser.

Is it counted from the ascendant or from the Moon?

Both. BPHS and Advanced Predictive Astrology give both anchors, and the engine accepts either. In the sample, qualifying benefics stood in the 10th from the ascendant only 169 times, from the Moon only 189 times, and from both 20 times.

How common is Amala Yoga?

It fired in 321 of 3,000 sampled birth moments 1985-2060 in this engine, or 10.7 percent.

Does a debilitated benefic in the 10th still form it?

Yes, in this app. The rule tests position and malefic contact, not dignity.

Should I do anything about Amala Yoga?

No. It is a named rule about positions. This app does not prescribe remedies.