Article text is currently English only. The calculation below and the rest of the interface follow your chosen language.
In short
A varga is a division of a zodiac sign and the chart built from it. BPHS Ch. 6 lists sixteen, from the Rashi chart itself (D1) to the Shashtiamsa (D60), and Ch. 7 assigns each a subject and a weight. This app computes all sixteen for every planet and combines them in the Vimshopaka strength score.
What the term means
Varga means a division or class. In Jyotish it names a way of cutting each 30-degree sign into equal (or, for one varga, unequal) parts and assigning each part a sign, producing a new chart for the same moment. The English equivalent used across this site is divisional chart, written D1, D2, D9 and so on by the number of parts.
Where the term comes from
BPHS Ch. 6 Sl. 2-4 says sixteen kinds of varga were described for each sign and names them, from the Rashi itself through Hora, Dreshkan and Navansh to the Shashtiansh, then gives the rule for each in the slokas that follow. Ch. 7 Sl. 1-8 assigns each a subject: physique from the Lagna, wealth from the Hora, spouse from the Navansh, power and position from the Dashansh, and so on. Ch. 7 Sl. 17-25 then groups them into schemes of six, seven, ten and sixteen vargas, each with weights that add up to a 20-point strength.
How this app uses it
- All sixteen are computed for every graha and, with a birth time, for the Ascendant. The Trimshamsa (D30) is reported as a ruling planet per degree band, since BPHS defines it that way.
- Each has its own calculator, from the Hora (D2) to the Shashtiamsa (D60).
- The Vimshopaka bala score uses the sixteen-varga weights and the planet's dignity in each varga sign. It needs no birth time, because a planet's varga signs depend only on its longitude.
- A planet in the same sign in D1 and a varga is flagged vargottama for that varga.
A small illustration
For 19 January 1985, 11:14 IST, New Delhi, the Sun is in Capricorn in the birth chart, Aquarius in the Navamsa (D9), Libra in the Dashamsa (D10) and Scorpio in the Shashtiamsa (D60). Weighing its dignity across all sixteen, the engine gives the Sun a Vimshopaka score of 11.19 out of 20.
Pages that use this term
- Navamsa: the second chart - the most used varga.
- Vimshopaka Bala calculator - all sixteen vargas in one score.
- The 2nd house (Dhana Bhava) - where a wealth rule grades a planet across the ten-varga scheme.
- Jupiter in the 2nd house - notes the divisional half of a 2nd-lord rule this app does not test.
- Venus Mahadasha - a benefic varga as one test of a sub-period.
- Shashtiamsa (D60) calculator - the varga with the largest weight.
Related terms
Divisional chart, Navamsa, Hora (D2), vargottama and Vimshopaka bala.
Vimshopaka Bala calculator
One score out of 20 per graha, from the Rasi chart and all fifteen divisions at once.
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