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In short
A planet is vakri, or retrograde, when it appears from Earth to move backwards through the zodiac. This app tests Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn by their motion across the birth day, always counts Rahu and Ketu retrograde and the Sun and Moon never. A retrograde Mars, Mercury, Jupiter or Venus gets full motional strength in its Shad Bala.
What the term means
Vakri means "crooked". A retrograde planet is one whose geocentric longitude is decreasing: seen from Earth it drifts back through the signs for a while before turning direct again. The motion is apparent, a matter of the view from Earth. Of the seven visible grahas, only Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn do it. Rahu and Ketu, the lunar nodes, move backwards as their normal motion.
Where the term comes from
BPHS Ch. 27 Sl. 21-23 lists eight kinds of motion for Mars to Saturn, starting with Vakr, retrogression, and gives it the largest motional strength of the eight, 60. Saravali Ch. 4 Sl. 36 likewise counts retrograde motion as a source of strength. Saravali Ch. 5 Sl. 39 splits the reading: a retrograde benefic is strong, while a retrograde malefic is read as bringing grief and wandering. Ch. 5 Sl. 14 reports a view that a planet retrograde in its exaltation sign gives no good result.
How this app computes it
- For Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn the engine compares each planet's longitude half a day before and half a day after the birth moment. If it has gone backwards, the planet is retrograde. Rahu and Ketu are always marked retrograde; the Sun and Moon are always marked direct.
- In a 1990-05-15, 10:30 IST Mumbai chart Mercury, at Aries 14.33, and Saturn, at Capricorn 1.47, are both retrograde, and the strength table adds "retrograde" to each line.
- In the app's simplified Shad Bala, a retrograde Mars, Mercury, Jupiter or Venus gets the full 1 point of Chesta (motional) strength. Saturn is not in that list; it can earn the point another way.
- A retrograde Mercury or Venus has a tighter combustion limit: 12 and 8 degrees from the Sun instead of 14 and 10.
- The same test runs on today's sky. The app's "today" reading scores each graha's impact for the day and takes one point off a graha that is retrograde in transit.
- The Saravali view about retrograde exaltation is not applied.
Pages that use this term
- Jupiter in Vedic astrology - including the Saravali view on a retrograde exalted Jupiter.
- The 7th lord in the 10th house - a worked chart that records retrograde status.
- Kaal Sarp Dosha explained - the always-retrograde nodes.
- Shad Bala calculator - marks retrograde planets and their motional strength.
- Gochar (transit) calculator - retrograde status of today's planets.
- Daily reading - where a retrograde transit enters the day's basis.
Related terms
- Combustion (asta) - whose limits tighten for a retrograde Mercury or Venus.
- Shadbala - where Chesta strength sits.
- Gochara (transit) - retrograde motion in the current sky.
- Mean node - the node calculation behind Rahu and Ketu.
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