Vrishchika: the sign Scorpio, defined

What the term means

Vrishchika is the Sanskrit name for Scorpio, the eighth of the twelve rashis: the 30 degrees of sidereal longitude from 210 to 240. The engine's sign list calls it Scorpio, and its list of Sanskrit names spells it Vrischika. It holds the last pada of Vishakha and all of Anuradha and Jyeshtha. This entry covers the name and how the engine handles it; the reading of the sign is on the Scorpio (Vrishchika Rashi) page.

Where the term comes from

BPHS Ch. 4 Sl. 3 names Vrischik eighth, and Sl. 4 makes it the private parts of Kaal Purush (a symbolic mapping, not medical advice). By Sl. 5 it is fixed, benefic and female. An unnumbered sloka after Sl. 16½ describes it as slender, many-footed, living in holes, of the North, strong in daytime, reddish-brown, resorting to water and land, and ruled by Mangal; it names no element and does not say how the sign rises. Saravali Ch. 3 Sl. 24 counts it a day sign rising with its head, and Sl. 7 gives Kaurpika as another name. BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 49-50 make it the sign of the Moon's fall, seventh from Vrishabh. BPHS Ch. 47 Sl. 34-39½ gives Vrischik to Ketu as both exaltation and own sign.

How this app uses it

• Lord: SIGN_LORDS gives Vrishchika to Mangal (Mars). In the Chara Dasha it has a second lord, Ketu, and the engine counts to the stronger of the two.
• Quality: MODALITY_BY_SIGN marks it fixed (sthira). That sets its Navamsa count to start from Cancer, its rashi drishti onto Aries, Cancer and Capricorn, and, when it rises, a Badhaka house in the 9th.
• Element: the engine's element table counts it Water, which feeds the chart's dominant-element count and, when it holds the 10th house, the career reading.
• Parity: as an even sign, its first 15 degrees are the Moon's Hora (D2) and its last 15 the Sun's. The Chara Dasha reads the Pad (footedness) instead, and puts Scorpio in an odd Pad although it is an even sign.
• Dignity: the Moon is debilitated here (deep point 3 degrees) and Mars is in its own sign; no graha is exalted here. BPHS's Ketu dignities are not applied.

Pages that use this term

• Scorpio (Vrishchika Rashi) - the full page on the sign.
• Anuradha nakshatra - one of the two nakshatras wholly inside Vrishchika.
• Ketu in Vedic astrology - the node BPHS Ch. 47 places here.
• Mars in Vedic astrology - the sign's lord.
• Chara Dasha calculator - where Vrishchika's two lords are weighed.
• Moon sign calculator - tells you whether your Moon is in Vrishchika.
• Lagna calculator - tells you whether Vrishchika was rising at your birth.

Related terms

Mangal, Sthira rashi, Jala tattva, Tula and Dhanu.