Article text is currently English only. The calculation below and the rest of the interface follow your chosen language.
In short
Ashtakavarga, "the group of eight", is a point system in which each of the seven grahas receives benefic points in each sign from eight sources: the seven grahas and the Lagna. BPHS sets it out in Ch. 66-72. This app computes every planet's table and the combined total, and checks that the total comes to 337.
What the term means
Ashtakavarga means "group of eight". For each of the seven grahas, eight reference points (the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and the Lagna) each mark certain signs, counted from themselves, as good places for that graha. Adding the marks gives the graha's own table, its Bhinnashtakavarga. Adding all seven tables sign by sign gives the Sarvashtakavarga. The marks are called bindus in this app.
Where the term comes from
BPHS Ch. 66 introduces it as a method that even "shallow minded persons" could use to judge transits, and the translator's note glosses the name as "the group of eight things". Sl. 16-60 then list, for each graha, which places from each of the eight sources are good and which are not. Ch. 67 and 68 give two reductions, Ch. 69 a weighting, and Ch. 72 the aggregate chart. Saravali covers the same ground in its Ch. 53-54.
How this app computes it
- The table of good places was checked against BPHS's own two lists in Ch. 66; the code records three places where it follows BPHS because both lists agree, and notes that some modern manuals print different Moon and Venus rows.
- Each planet's table and the combined table are reported by house from the Ascendant, so the Ascendant is required. Rahu and Ketu receive no table.
- The unreduced total is the same for every chart, 337, and the engine checks each result against it and says so if it does not match.
- Two reductions are computed as well, Trikona shodhana and Ekadhipatya shodhana. The house ranking and transit readings use the unreduced totals.
A small illustration
For 19 January 1985, 11:14 IST, New Delhi, the seven tables hold 48 (Sun), 49 (Moon), 39 (Mars), 54 (Mercury), 56 (Jupiter), 52 (Venus) and 39 (Saturn) points. Those add to 337, and the engine marks the result valid.
Pages that use this term
- Ashtakavarga calculator - every table for your chart, raw and after Trikona shodhana.
- Saturn in Vedic astrology - works through Saturn's own table.
- Jupiter in the 1st house - reads Jupiter's own table for the 1st place.
- The 6th house (Ari Bhava) - a house page that uses the calculator.
- When the birth time is unknown - why it needs a birth time.
Related terms
Ashtakavarga calculator
Benefic bindus for all twelve houses, per graha and summed across the seven.
What it needs
Date, time and place
That is more than this article asks for - it only ever takes a date, and sometimes a time, and never a name or a birth place. So this one runs on its own page, which asks for exactly what it needs and stores none of it.
Run it on its own page