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In short
A planet is combust (asta) when it is so close to the Sun that it is lost in the Sun's glare. Classical texts treat it as a weakening. This app marks the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn combust inside fixed distances from the Sun, and a combust planet gets zero position strength in its Shad Bala.
What the term means
Combustion, asta in Sanskrit ("setting"), is the condition of a graha whose longitude is close enough to the Sun's that it cannot be seen. The texts read it as a loss of the planet's own strength. The Sun cannot be combust, and Rahu and Ketu, being points rather than bodies, are not tested.
Where the term comes from
Combustion runs through BPHS as a condition rather than a chapter. Ch. 36 Sl. 3-4 requires Jupiter to avoid it for Gaj Kesari Yoga, Ch. 12 Sl. 1-2 lists it beside debilitation for the Lagna lord, and Ch. 6 Sl. 42-53 excludes a combust graha's divisions from the good vargas. Saravali Ch. 4 Sl. 36 counts being "not combust" as a source of strength, and Ch. 5 Sl. 27 says a combust planet loses its power to do good. Neither text, in this site's copies, gives the distances in degrees.
How this app computes it
| Graha | Combust within (degrees of the Sun) | When retrograde |
|---|---|---|
| Moon | 12 | - |
| Mars | 17 | 17 |
| Mercury | 14 | 12 |
| Jupiter | 11 | 11 |
| Venus | 10 | 8 |
| Saturn | 15 | 15 |
- The test is the sidereal distance between the planet and the Sun, either side. A retrograde Mercury or Venus uses the tighter limit.
- A combust planet's position strength is set to 0 in the app's Shad Bala, whatever its dignity, and its strength line adds "combust (too close to the Sun)".
- In a 1985-06-05, 02:29 IST New Delhi chart the Sun is at Taurus 20.51. Mars, at Gemini 3.31, is 12.80 degrees away, inside its 17, and Mercury, at Taurus 17.17, is 3.34 away. Both are combust and both lose their position strength; Mars falls to 5.25 of 20, Weak.
- A combust Jupiter does not form Gaj Kesari Yoga.
Pages that use this term
- Gaj Kesari Yoga - the yoga combustion blocks.
- Jupiter in Vedic astrology - Jupiter's combustion limit in context.
- Mercury Mahadasha - a combust sub-period lord among the classical conditions.
- Antardasha and Pratyantar - combustion among the factors a period lord is judged on.
- Shad Bala calculator - flags combust planets and their 0 position strength.
Related terms
- Vakri (retrograde) - which tightens two of the limits.
- Graha yuddha - the other closeness condition, between two planets.
- Shadbala - where combustion costs a planet its position strength.
- Dignity - which combustion overrides in that score.
Shad Bala calculator
Six components, one simplified score out of 20 for each of the seven grahas.
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