Cancer ascendant (Karka Lagna): the twelve houses, their lords, and what the texts say

The twelve houses from Cancer and the lords that rule them

Each house takes the lord of its sign. Rahu and Ketu own no sign in this engine, so seven grahas share twelve houses: Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn rule two each, the Sun and Moon one each. BPHS Ch. 7 Sl. 33-36 sorts the houses into angles (kendras), trines, succedents (panapharas), cadents (apoklimas), dusthanas and upachayas; the Lagna counts as both angle and trine (Ch. 34 Sl. 2-7).

Three features organise what follows. Mars rules the 5th and 10th, a trine and an angle, the double lordship that Ch. 34 Sl. 13 calls a Yog Karak. Saturn is the 8th lord and also owns the 7th, the pairing Sl. 2-7 calls "specifically harmful". And Venus rules the 4th, an angle, and the 11th, whose lord Sl. 2-7 says gives evil effects.

The engine's yoga tests draw on these lists: Raj yoga for the Cancer ascendant and Dhana yoga for the Cancer ascendant take them lord by lord. The same facts colour each period; 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 Kark Lagn

BPHS Ch. 34 is the chapter on yoga karakas. Its Sl. 27-28 is the verdict for Kark Lagn, laid out house by house on the Cancer rashi page; the rules behind it are Sl. 2-14, and Sl. 8-10 names the natural benefics and malefics. Read against the lordships above, they give this.

Where the verse classes a graha, the rules point the same way, except for Jupiter, whose trine and 6th lordships pull apart; the verse calls it auspicious. The engine's table holds the same lists, with Mars as the yogakaraka, and for this lagna it matches the verse.

Is there a yogakaraka for Cancer rising?

Yes: Mars. Sl. 27-28 says it can confer a full-fledged Yog, and Sl. 13 agrees, since Mars owns the 5th, a trine, and the 10th, an angle. The Kundali's full reading prints a line reading "Mars - special source of rise" with Mars's sign and house. How the later books treat Mars, and Mars in its fall in Cancer itself, are on the rashi page.

The Bhrigu Sutras translator's comments on Cancer rising

The comments printed after the sutras are the translator's, not Bhrigu's. At least ten name Cancer as the ascendant; the table gives four, and those on Mars, Jupiter and Venus (pp. 47, 51, 58, 74, 96-97) are on the Cancer rashi page.

The verse classes a graha; the comments judge a placement. Where they pull apart, as for Venus on the rashi page, the sources disagree, this page does not choose, and the engine follows BPHS. Saravali Ch. 3 Sl. 37-38 files Cancer among the four signs of medium ascension, between the quickest and the slowest to rise.

Exalted and debilitated signs, counted as houses from Cancer

BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 49-50 gives the exaltation signs of the Sun to Saturn as Aries, Taurus, Capricorn, Virgo, Cancer, Pisces and Libra, each with debilitation in the seventh sign from it; Saravali Ch. 3 Sl. 35-36 agrees. Counting from Cancer turns that into a house map.

Cancer is a movable sign, so the strong and weak signs of the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn all fall in the four angles. Mercury and Venus swap the 3rd and 9th, and the lagna lord is exalted in the 11th and weak in the 5th. The app's "Friendly sign" and "Enemy sign" labels depend on the chart and cannot be tabulated by house.

The Moon as lagna lord: BPHS Ch. 12 and Ch. 24

BPHS ties bodily comfort to the lagna lord: Ch. 12 Sl. 1-2 says it lessens when the lagna lord is joined to a malefic or sits in the 6th, 8th or 12th, and holds in an angle or trine. Ch. 24 Sl. 1-12 reads the lagna lord in each house: in the 1st it names physical happiness and prowess (Sl. 1); in the 2nd gain, scholarship and honour (Sl. 2); in the 3rd valour and wealth (Sl. 3); in the 10th royal honour, fame and self-earned wealth (Sl. 10); in the 11th, the sign of its exaltation, gains, good qualities and fame (Sl. 11). In the 6th the verse turns the result on malefic company and a benefic's aspect (Sl. 6), and in the 12th on whether a benefic aspects or joins it (Sl. 12).

One dignity point needs care. BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 51-54 makes the first 3 degrees of Taurus the Moon's exaltation zone and the rest of Taurus its Moolatrikona. The engine labels every degree of Taurus Exalted, so it never shows the Moon as Moolatrikona; this page reports both readings. The Moon in each house has a page, from the Moon in the 1st house to the Moon in the 12th house; the Shad Bala calculator shows its strength in a given chart.

Which lordship yogas the engine can test for Cancer rising

The nine pairs are the Moon with Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn; Mars with Venus, Saturn and Jupiter; and Jupiter with Venus and Saturn. The test follows BPHS Ch. 41 Sl. 28 (any relationship). Ch. 34 Sl. 11-12 counts lords joined together only in an angle or trine, and Sl. 15 sets the yoga aside for a lord who also owns a dusthana; Jupiter (the 6th) and Saturn (the 8th) both do, which would leave three pairs: the Moon with Mars, the Moon with Venus and Mars with Venus. Kendra-Kona Raj Yoga gives the general rule.

Worked example: Cancer rising at 4.31 degrees, New Delhi, 6 February 1985

This is not a real person's chart. It is a birth moment, 16:28 IST on 6 February 1985 in New Delhi, that the helper found by a deterministic search because it rises in Cancer; re-enter it in the Birth Chart calculator. The engine puts the ascendant at 4.31 degrees. Each nakshatra takes 13 degrees 20 minutes (four padas of 3 degrees 20): the last pada of Punarvasu fills the first 3.33 degrees of Cancer and Pushya the next 13.33, so 4.31 falls in Pushya, pada 1 (3.33 to 6.67). That is 0.98 of a degree past the start of Pushya, so an earlier birth time could put it back in Punarvasu.

• The lagna lord. The Moon is alone in Leo, the 2nd, with the engine label Neutral. The 2nd is in neither of Ch. 12 Sl. 1-2's lists, and Ch. 24 Sl. 2 reads the lagna lord there as gain, scholarship and honour.
• The yogakaraka. Mars, lord of the 5th and 10th, is in Pisces, the 9th, a trine, in a friendly sign; the Kundali line reads "Mars - special source of rise, currently in Pisces (house 9)". The Bhrigu Sutras translator's comment on Mars in the 9th (p. 58) counts this placement for Cancer rising among those giving a powerful Rajayoga. Venus, lord of the 4th and 11th, is exalted in the same sign, 0.88 of a degree on (10.05 minus 9.17). The engine lists Raj Yoga (Kendra-Kona) for the pair by Ch. 41 Sl. 28. The 9th is a trine, so Ch. 34 Sl. 11-12's location condition is met, and neither lord owns a dusthana, so Sl. 15 does not bar it. See Raj yoga for the Cancer ascendant.
• Capricorn, the 7th. The Sun (2nd lord), Mercury (3rd and 12th) and Jupiter (6th and 9th) share it. Mercury is 9.30 degrees from the Sun (23.96 minus 14.66) and the engine marks it combust; Jupiter is debilitated and 17.63 degrees from it (23.96 minus 6.33).
• No dusthana yoga and no 5th-9th link. The 6th, 8th and 12th lords (Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury) sit in the 7th, 5th and 7th, none of them a dusthana, so there is no Harsha, Sarala or Vimala row; Mars and Jupiter are in different houses, so there is no Raja Yoga or Dharma-Karmadhipati row.

The yoga list also carries Kedara Yoga (the seven grahas in exactly four signs) and Argala Raj Yoga; those come from placement patterns, not lordship. The dosha list shows only Kendradhipathya Dosha (Mild: Venus owns the 4th but not the 1st), which has its own page. Nothing here is a verdict on a person. Carry three questions to your own chart: where Mars is and who joins it, where the Moon sits against Ch. 12 Sl. 1-2, and which Raj Yoga links hold under Sl. 11-12.

Who is the lagna lord for a Cancer ascendant?

The Moon, because Karka is the Moon's sign. It rules only the 1st, so BPHS Ch. 12 and Ch. 24, which read the lagna lord's house and company, are reading one graha and one house.

In which houses does BPHS favour the lagna lord for a Cancer ascendant?

Ch. 12 Sl. 1-2 counts an angle or a trine in the lagna lord's favour and says bodily comfort lessens when it sits in the 6th, 8th or 12th or is joined to a malefic. Counted from Cancer, the angles and trines are Cancer, Libra, Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces and Aries, and the 6th, 8th and 12th are Sagittarius, Aquarius and Gemini. Scorpio, the 5th, is also the Moon's debilitation sign, so house and dignity can point different ways.

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

It may not be. Compute the chart at both ends of your time range with the Lagna calculator and see whether the sign changes; if it does, read when the birth time is unknown.

Where are the Sun and Saturn exalted and debilitated in a Cancer-rising chart?

Counted from Cancer: the Sun is exalted in the 10th (Aries) and debilitated in the 4th (Libra); Saturn is exalted in the 4th and debilitated in the 10th (BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 49-50).

How many Kendra-Kona pairs can a Cancer ascendant form, and would BPHS count them?

Nine. The engine lists the yoga when an angle lord and a trine lord are together or in mutual aspect (Ch. 41 Sl. 28). A literal Sl. 15 would set aside the six that include Jupiter or Saturn, leaving the Moon with Mars, the Moon with Venus and Mars with Venus.