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In short
Jala tattva is the water element: in this app the signs Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. The engine counts how many of the nine grahas sit in water signs to find a chart's dominant element, and reads the 10th-house sign's element in the career reading. BPHS calls two of these three signs watery by name.
What the term means
Jala tattva is the water element as a quality of signs. In this app the water signs are Karka (Cancer), Vrishchika (Scorpio) and Meena (Pisces) - every fourth sign from the fourth. The engine's element table, ELEMENT_BY_SIGN, simply repeats Fire, Earth, Air, Water round the twelve signs, so each element holds one movable, one fixed and one dual sign.
Where the term comes from
BPHS Ch. 4 calls two of the three signs "watery" in so many words: Kark (Sl. 10-11) and Meen (Sl. 22-24). Its description of Vrischik says it resorts to water and land but names no element. For the grahas, BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 20 and Ch. 76 Sl. 2 give water to Sukr, and Ch. 76 Sl. 5 says a strong Moon gives a watery temperament; Saravali Ch. 4 Sl. 14 likewise gives water to Venus. BPHS also has a fifth element, space, which it gives to Guru (Ch. 3 Sl. 20); the four-way sign table has no place for it. One difference from the app should be stated: BPHS Ch. 76 Sl. 3-4 reads a person's elemental temperament from the strongest graha, while this app counts the signs the grahas occupy.
How this app uses it
- Dominant element: buildKundaliInsights() counts the nine grahas, Rahu and Ketu included, by the element of the sign each occupies, and reports the largest count as the chart's dominant element. On a tie, the first in the order Fire, Earth, Air, Water is reported.
- Career reading: the career and money engine looks up the element of the 10th-house sign; for Water its sentence is about relationships and care rather than process.
- Saptavimshamsa (D27): the count starts from one of the four movable signs, chosen by element - fire signs from Aries, earth from Cancer, air from Libra, water from Capricorn - so the water signs start from Capricorn.
- Matching: the Varna koota table in kundli matching repeats every four signs, so all three water signs share one Varna value.
One engine reading
For 19 January 1985, 11:14 IST, New Delhi, Saturn and Ketu in Scorpio give Water a count of 2.
Pages that use this term
- Cancer (Karka Rashi) - a sign BPHS calls watery.
- Pisces (Meena Rashi) - the other sign BPHS calls watery.
- Scorpio (Vrishchika Rashi) - the water sign BPHS describes without an element word.
- The Moon in Vedic astrology - the luminary BPHS ties to a watery temperament.
- Career and money - reads the element of your 10th-house sign.
- Kundali - shows your chart's dominant element.
Related terms
Agni tattva, Prithvi tattva, Vayu tattva, Shukra, Chandra and Rashi.