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In short
Graha yuddha, planetary war, is the classical condition of two of the five planets Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn standing within one degree of each other. BPHS names a winner and a loser and adjusts their strength. This app does not test for planetary war; a close conjunction appears only as two planets in the same sign.
What the term means
Graha yuddha means "war of the grahas". The classical idea is that when two of the five visible planets other than the Sun and Moon come within a degree of each other, they contend, and one is judged the victor. The Sun and Moon are not part of it, and nor are Rahu and Ketu. It is a closer and more specific condition than an ordinary conjunction (yuti), which only needs two planets in the same sign.
Where the term comes from
BPHS Ch. 79 Sl. 9 gives the definition: there is planetary war when Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn are together "within one degree" of each other. Venus wins whether it is north or south; among the other four, the one to the north wins. Ch. 27 Sl. 20 turns the result into strength: the difference between the two planets' Shad Balas is added to the victor and taken from the loser. Ch. 11 Sl. 14-16 counts a house lord "defeated in a war between Grahas" among the signs that a house suffers. Saravali Ch. 4 Sl. 36 counts victory in war as a source of strength, and Ch. 5 Sl. 27 says a defeated planet loses its power to do good.
How this app uses it
It does not compute it. No part of the engine looks for two planets within a degree or names a winner. Its Shad Bala is a simplified 20-point version with no war component, so the BPHS transfer of strength is not applied. The Prashna engine's notes list planetary war among the states it leaves out "rather than approximated". BPHS picks the winner by which planet is further north, and the chart the engine builds records each planet's longitude only, not its north-south position. Two planets close together are shown as two planets in the same sign, each with its own degree, dignity and strength, so you can read how close they are from the degrees in your chart.
Pages that use this term
- The 1st house (Tanu Bhava) - the BPHS list of ways a house is harmed, war among them.
- The 2nd house (Dhana Bhava) - the same list applied to the 2nd.
- The 4th house (Sukha Bhava) - and to the 4th.
- Shad Bala calculator - the strength scheme, without Yuddha Bala.
- Prashna calculator - the avasthas it does and does not compute.
- Birth chart calculator - the degrees you would check two close planets by.
Related terms
- Yuti (conjunction) - two planets in one sign, which the engine does report.
- Combustion (asta) - a planet too close to the Sun, which it does compute.
- Shadbala - where BPHS applies the war result.
- Degree in sign - the figure the one-degree test reads.