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In short
Dhanu is the Sanskrit name for Sagittarius, the ninth sign of the sidereal zodiac, covering 240 to 270 degrees. In this app it is ruled by Jupiter and labelled dual, Fire and odd; those labels set its Navamsa count, rashi drishti and Hora halves.
What the term means
Dhanu is the Sanskrit name for Sagittarius, the ninth of the twelve rashis: the 30 degrees of sidereal longitude from 240 to 270. The engine's sign list calls it Sagittarius, and its list of Sanskrit names Dhanu. It holds all of Mula and Purva Ashadha and the first pada of Uttara Ashadha. This entry covers the name and how the engine handles it; the reading of the sign is on the Sagittarius (Dhanu Rashi) page.
Where the term comes from
BPHS Ch. 4 Sl. 3 names Dhanu ninth, and Sl. 4 makes it the thighs of Kaal Purush (a symbolic mapping, not medical advice). By Sl. 5 it is dual, malefic and male. Sl. 17-18½ describe it as rising with its head, lorded by Guru, sattvic, tawny, strong at night, "fiery", royal, biped in its first half and quadruped in its second, and of the East. BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 51-54 make its first third Guru's Mooltrikon, and Ch. 47 Sl. 34-39½ makes it Ketu's Mooltrikon. Saravali Ch. 3 Sl. 4 pictures a man with a horse's hip holding an arch, and Sl. 7 gives Tauksha as another name. The two texts disagree on how it rises: BPHS says with its head, while Saravali Ch. 3 Sl. 24 lists it with the signs that rise with their hind part.
How this app uses it
- Lord: SIGN_LORDS gives Dhanu to Guru (Jupiter).
- Quality: MODALITY_BY_SIGN marks it dual (dvisvabhava). That sets its Navamsa count to start from Aries, its rashi drishti onto Gemini, Virgo and Pisces, and, when it rises, a Badhaka house in the 7th.
- Element: the engine's element table counts it Fire, which feeds the chart's dominant-element count and, when it holds the 10th house, the career reading.
- Parity: as an odd sign, its first 15 degrees are the Sun's Hora (D2) and its last 15 the Moon's.
- Dignity: for Jupiter, dignityOf() returns Moolatrikona from 0 to 10 degrees and Own sign after. No graha is exalted or debilitated here.
Pages that use this term
- Sagittarius (Dhanu Rashi) - the full page on the sign.
- Mula nakshatra - the first nakshatra of Dhanu.
- Jupiter in Vedic astrology - the sign's lord.
- Purva Ashadha nakshatra - the second nakshatra wholly inside Dhanu.
- Moon sign calculator - tells you whether your Moon is in Dhanu.
- Lagna calculator - tells you whether Dhanu was rising at your birth.
Related terms
Guru, Dvisvabhava rashi, Agni tattva, Vrishchika and Makara.