Aquarius ascendant (Kumbha Lagna): the twelve houses, their lords, and what the texts say

Lordship: the twelve houses from Aquarius and their lords

Each house takes its sign's lord; Rahu and Ketu own none in this engine, so five grahas hold two houses each. BPHS Ch. 7 Sl. 33-36 files each house as an angle (kendra), a trine (kona), a succedent (panaphara), a cadent (apoklima), an evil house (dusthana) or an upachaya; Ch. 34 Sl. 2-7 adds that the Lagna is an angle and a trine at once.

The same lords feed the engine's yoga tests, which Raj yoga for the Aquarius ascendant and Dhana yoga for the Aquarius ascendant take lord by lord; the Mahadasha pages for this ascendant are Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu.

What the texts say: BPHS Ch. 34 for Kumbh Lagn

BPHS Ch. 34, on yoga karakas, gives each rising sign a verdict. Kumbh's is Sl. 41-42, which the Aquarius rashi page tabulates house by house. The table below reads the general rules of Sl. 2-14 against this lagna's lordships.

The verse settles the mixed rows. Saturn, Lagna with the 12th, is auspicious; Venus, its 4th counted against it by Sl. 8-10, is auspicious and the one Raj Yog graha; Mercury, whose trine with the 8th Sl. 2-7 would make auspicious, "gives meddling effects", a description rather than a class. The Sun is left neither auspicious nor malefic. For Mars, the Moon and Jupiter the rules and the verse agree, as the rashi page explains.

Is there a yogakaraka for Aquarius rising?

Two rules point at Venus, and this page names both. The verse says "Śukr is the only Grah, that causes Raj Yog", without the term Yog Karak; Sl. 13's general rule reaches Venus through the 4th and 9th. The Kundali's full reading prints a yogakaraka line for Venus with its sign and house; the free Birth Chart tool shows only the yoga list. Venus owns no dusthana, so Sl. 15 never bars it on its own account.

The Bhrigu Sutras translator's comments on Aquarius rising

The comments and notes after the sutras are the translator's, not Bhrigu's. At least fourteen pages name Aquarius as the ascendant; p. 87 (Venus a yoga karaka) and pp. 98-99 (Saturn in the Lagna) are on the Aquarius rashi page, and no comment names this lagna for the Sun, Mars or Mercury.

The Moon, Venus and Saturn rows agree with Sl. 41-42; the Jupiter rows do not, since the verse calls Jupiter malefic. The verse classes a graha by lordship, a comment rates it in one house: where they part, the sources disagree, this page does not choose, and the engine follows BPHS. Saravali Ch. 3 Sl. 37-38 counts Aquarius among the four signs of short ascension, the quickest to rise.

Saturn as lagna lord: BPHS Ch. 12 and Ch. 24

Ch. 12 Sl. 1-2 links bodily comfort to the lagna lord: it lessens when that lord is joined to a malefic or placed in the 6th, 8th or 12th, and an angle or trine keeps it. That "malefic" is Ch. 34 Sl. 8-10's natural class (the Sun, Saturn, Mars, a weak Moon; Mercury by its company), so the Sun counts though Sl. 41-42 gives it no label, and Jupiter, a natural benefic, does not. Saturn's own Capricorn is the 12th, one of the houses counted against; its exaltation and debilitation houses are in the rashi page's last column.

Ch. 24 Sl. 1-12 takes the lagna lord house by house: physical happiness and prowess in the 1st (Sl. 1); fortune, skill and eloquence in the 9th (Sl. 9); royal honour, fame and self-earned wealth in the 10th (Sl. 10); gains, good qualities and fame in the 11th (Sl. 11). The 6th turns on malefic company without a benefic aspect (Sl. 6), the 12th on a benefic's aspect or company (Sl. 12). Saturn has a page per house, from Saturn in the 1st house to Saturn in the 12th house, and the Shad Bala calculator gives its strength in a chart.

Which lordship yogas the engine can test for Aquarius rising

The nine pairs are Venus with Saturn, Mercury, the Sun and Mars; Saturn with Mercury, the Sun and Mars; and Mercury with the Sun and Mars. The engine never pairs a graha with itself and asks for a conjunction or mutual aspect, citing BPHS Ch. 41 Sl. 28's "relationship". Ch. 34 Sl. 11-12 counts joined lords only in an angle or trine, and Sl. 15 refuses the yoga to a lord that also owns an evil house (Ch. 7 Sl. 33-36: the 6th, 8th or 12th). Read literally, that strikes out the seven pairs with Saturn (the 12th) or Mercury (the 8th), leaving Venus with the Sun and with Mars. Kendra-Kona Raj Yoga has the general rule.

Worked example: Aquarius rising at 21.28 degrees, New Delhi, 24 March 1985

The chart is a sample, not a person: 05:33 IST on 24 March 1985, New Delhi, found by a deterministic search (a check script aquarius-ascendant) for Aquarius rising away from the sign's edges; enter it in the Birth Chart calculator to see the same yoga rows. The ascendant is at 21.28 degrees, 1.28 into Purva Bhadrapada pada 1, which runs from 20.00 to 23.33 (a pada is 3 degrees 20 minutes).

• The lagna lord. Saturn, retrograde, is alone in Scorpio, the 10th: an angle, with no malefic joined to it, so Ch. 12 Sl. 1-2 counts in its favour, and Ch. 24 Sl. 10 applies. The Bhrigu Sutras translator's comment on Saturn in the 10th (p. 107) calls this placement for Aquarius rising "again a favourable disposition".
• The verse's graha. Venus is exalted and retrograde in Pisces, the 2nd, with the Sun and Mercury; the full reading calls it a "special source of rise" in Pisces, house 2. The comment on exalted Venus in the 2nd for this lagna (p. 88) counts it among "very powerful Dhana yogas"; no other comment matches a placement here.
• The Raj Yoga rows. The three Kendra-Kona links are conjunctions in the 2nd: Venus (4th lord) with Mercury (5th lord), the Sun (7th lord) with Mercury, and the Sun with Venus (9th lord). Sl. 11-12 would count none, the 2nd being neither angle nor trine, and a literal Sl. 15 bars the two with Mercury; the engine lists all three by Ch. 41 Sl. 28, and lists Raja Yoga because the 5th and 9th lords, Mercury and Venus, share a house.
• What does not form. The 9th and 10th lords, Venus and Mars, are in different houses, so no Dharma-Karmadhipati row; the 6th, 8th and 12th lords (the Moon, Mercury, Saturn) sit in the 3rd, 2nd and 10th, so no Harsha, Sarala or Vimala. Mercury is debilitated in the 2nd and Jupiter, lord of the 2nd and 11th, in Capricorn, the 12th.

The yoga list also shows Anapha, Vesi and Kedara, placement patterns rather than lordship, and Argala Raj Yoga. The engine's dosha check returns Kendradhipathya Dosha (Mild, as on every Aquarius-rising chart) and Kaal Sarp Dosha (Present; Rahu 3rd, Ketu 9th), each with its own page. None of it is a verdict on a person; the guide to reading a yoga explains how to weigh them.

My birth time is only approximate. Is my ascendant still Aquarius?

Check first. As a sign of short ascension, Aquarius stays on the eastern horizon for less time than most, so a modest error can move the Lagna into Capricorn or Pisces. Run the Lagna calculator for the earliest and latest times you think possible; if the sign differs, read when the birth time is unknown.

Does Venus have to sit in a particular house to cause the Raj Yog the verse names?

No. Sl. 41-42 sets no condition, and the Kundali's Yoga Karaka panel lists Venus on every Aquarius-rising chart. The yoga rows are other tests: Kendra-Kona needs Venus joined to, or in mutual aspect with, another angle or trine lord, in any house; Dharma-Karmadhipati needs Venus (9th lord) and Mars (10th lord) together in an angle or trine.

In which houses does BPHS favour Saturn for an Aquarius ascendant?

Ch. 12 Sl. 1-2 favours an angle or trine for the lagna lord and counts the 6th, 8th and 12th against it. From Aquarius the angles and trines are Aquarius, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Gemini and Libra; the other three are Cancer, Virgo and Capricorn.

Which grahas rule the dusthanas for an Aquarius ascendant?

Ch. 7 Sl. 33-36 names the 6th, 8th and 12th the evil houses; from Aquarius they are Cancer (the Moon), Virgo (Mercury) and Capricorn (Saturn, the lagna lord). The engine lists Harsha (the 6th lord), Sarala (the 8th) or Vimala (the 12th) Yoga when that lord sits in any of the three, so Saturn in the 6th, 8th or 12th always brings a Vimala row.

Why does every Aquarius-rising chart show Kendradhipathya Dosha?

The check reads lordship alone: Jupiter or Venus owning an angle but not the 1st is flagged Mild, and Venus owns the 4th. Ch. 34 Sl. 8-10 does weigh angle lordship toward a benefic's maleficence, Venus most, while Sl. 41-42 calls Venus auspicious; this page reports both. See Kendradhipathya Dosha.