Mars in the 11th house: a malefic in the house of gains, and the lordships that qualify it

The 11th house is Labha Bhava, the house of gains, and Mars is the planet the classical texts call the most malefic. Put together, the readings are good. Saravali calls the native virtuous, happy and courageous, with wealth and grains and devoid of sorrow; the Bhrigu Sutras give prosperity through dexterity, and royal rank with the 11th lord or two benefics. The commentary printed with the sutras explains why: the 11th is an Upachaya, where malefics give good results. The qualifications come from lordship and from company, and BPHS names Mars in the 11th in several specific combinations.

This page collects those statements, sets out what Mars carries into the 11th from each rising sign, and shows how this app grades it, with one engine-computed chart. For the planet see Mars in Vedic astrology; for the house, the 11th house, Labha Bhava.

Two kinds of statement about the 11th

BPHS Ch. 11 Sl. 12 gives the house all articles, the son's wife, income, prosperity and quadrupeds. The friends and elder siblings most readers expect come from the modern list with the Bhrigu Sutras (p. 15), not from BPHS. The house is a Panaphara and an Upachaya (BPHS Ch. 7 Sl. 33-36; Saravali Ch. 3 Sl. 33), and this engine never counts it among the dusthanas.

One distinction matters most for Mars here. A planet sitting in the 11th is welcomed almost everywhere in the texts; the 11th lord is not. BPHS Ch. 34 Sl. 2-7 says the owner of the 3rd, 6th or 11th gives evil effects, the 11th most of the three. So Mars in the 11th is one question (a malefic in an Upachaya, read well) and Mars as 11th lord is another (a lordship Ch. 34 reads poorly). For Gemini and Capricorn rising they are the same planet in the same place, and both rules apply at once.

What the verses say

Saravali Ch. 30 Sloka 36

"If Mars occupies the 11th, the native will be virtuous, happy, courageous, endowed with wealth, grains and sons and be devoid of sorrow" (p. 102). No condition is stated. Saravali's own closing rule in Ch. 30 (Sl. 86-87, p. 105) says malefics harm the houses they occupy other than the 6th, 8th and 12th, and that its specific verse for Mars in the 11th ignores that rule and is entirely favourable. The tradition followed the specific verse. Saravali Ch. 34 Sl. 60 (p. 130) adds that Mars related to the 11th gives gains through gold, coral, ornaments, money, valour, travel, fire and weapons.

The Bhrigu Sutras, Sutras 86-89

The sutras (p. 60): "prosperity on account of his dexterity in his affairs", involved in manifold activities; with the 11th lord, "the native will be a king"; with two benefics, he "rules over a big kingdom and his brother will be prosperous". The commentator calls these "very logical", says Mars in its own sign here is very good and exalted (Pisces rising, as 2nd and 9th lord) "a very powerful Dhanayoga", and in his Note (p. 61) disagrees with Saravali on children, since Mars aspects the 5th. His general rule for the house, stated under Saturn (p. 107), is the qualifier: all planets prosper in the 11th "unless they are lord of the 6th, 8th or 12th houses".

The app's testing line is worth noticing. For most planets the unfavourable sentence names a loss; for Mars in the 11th it names a temperament, ambition that overreaches. That follows the sources, which state no loss for Mars here: in Saravali Ch. 30 no planet gets a plainly bad verse in the 11th.

Mars beside the other planets in the 11th

Two things set Mars apart in this column. Its sutra is the only one that makes the result conditional on the 11th lord's company, and the only one that names "two benefics" and a kingdom. And its means are named: dexterity, many activities. The Moon and Jupiter are given gains without effort; Mars is given gains through it. That fits BPHS's Mars as "one's strength" (Ch. 3 Sl. 12-13) and the commentator's Upachayas as houses where malefics do well, and the app's favourable line, "strong, steady financial gains", keeps the result without the means.

The BPHS verses that name Mars in the 11th

Unlike most placements, Mars in the 11th is named directly in four BPHS combinations. Two are good, two are not, and in every one Mars is only part of the condition.

• Ch. 41 Sl. 2-8, Yogas for Great Affluence: Venus in its own sign in the 5th with Mars in the 11th; and Mercury in its own sign in the 5th with the Moon, Mars and Jupiter in the 11th. This engine detects the family as "Dhan Yoga (Great Affluence)" when the full condition is met.
• Ch. 39 Sl. 48: all benefics in angles with malefics in the 3rd, 6th and 11th: the native, "though may be of mean descent, will ascend the throne". Mars in the 11th is one of the malefic slots.
• Ch. 13 Sl. 8: the 2nd and 11th lords both in the 6th, 8th or 12th, with Mars in the 11th and Rahu in the 2nd: loss of wealth "on account of royal punishments", read here as penalties from an authority.
• Ch. 21 Sl. 11: Rahu, the Sun, Saturn and Mars in the 11th: "cessation of his duties". Sl. 5 reads malefics in both the 10th and 11th as indulging "only in bad deeds", as the text's statement.

The Great Affluence pair is geometric as well as textual. The 5th and 11th are opposite, so Mars in the 11th aspects the 5th by the 7th aspect every planet has. In the first form Mars aspects an own-sign Venus in the 5th, which for Venus means Taurus or Libra in the 5th: Capricorn or Aquarius rising, with Mars in Scorpio or Sagittarius in the 11th. In the second, Mercury must be in Gemini or Virgo in the 5th, so Aquarius or Taurus rising, with Mars in Sagittarius or Pisces. Each needs several planets in exact places, and the engine reports it only when all are.

The two unfavourable verses are about crowding and about the 2nd. Ch. 21 Sl. 11 needs four malefics together; Mars alone in the 11th does not meet it. Ch. 13 Sl. 8 needs both wealth lords in dusthanas and Rahu in the 2nd as well. The general point applies: the individual verses for malefics in the 11th are favourable, but the texts read malefics crowding the 10th and 11th badly.

One more BPHS verse is closed by Mars's presence rather than opened by it. Ch. 40 Sl. 2 makes a person a chief in the king's court when the 10th and 11th are free of malefic occupation and aspect and the 11th receives its own lord's aspect. Mars occupying the 11th removes the first condition for every rising sign, including the two where Mars is the 11th lord itself.

The commentator's exception, by rising sign

The Bhrigu Sutras commentary (p. 107) exempts lords of the 6th, 8th and 12th from its rule that planets prosper in the 11th. Mars rules two signs, so for six rising signs it is such a lord. Read by lordship:

• Lord of the 6th: Gemini rising (6th and 11th) and Scorpio rising (1st and 6th).
• Lord of the 8th: Aries rising (1st and 8th) and Virgo rising (3rd and 8th).
• Lord of the 12th: Taurus rising (7th and 12th) and Sagittarius rising (5th and 12th).
• Not such a lord: Cancer, Leo, Libra, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces rising.

In four of the six, Mars also owns the 1st, the 5th or the 11th, so the exception is a mixed case, and the commentator gives no rule for a planet that owns one good and one difficult house. BPHS Ch. 24, the next section, gives the specific readings for each lord placed in the 11th, and they soften the exception: the 6th lord in the 11th gains wealth through enemies, and the 8th lord's result depends on its company.

What Mars owns, from each rising sign

Mars is in your 11th when it occupies the eleventh sign from your rising sign; the Lagna calculator finds yours. Almost every lord gains something when placed here in BPHS Ch. 24; only the 12th lord brings loss into it, and the 8th lord depends on its company.

Pisces rising stands out. Mars is exalted in Capricorn, owns the 2nd and the 9th, and the two Ch. 24 slokas are the two plainest wealth verses in the set: all kinds of wealth for the 2nd lord, financial gains day by day for the 9th. One planet then holds both wealth houses of Ch. 13 together with a trine, and BPHS Ch. 34 Sl. 43-44 call Mars auspicious for Pisces and say "Mangal and Guru will cause a Yog"; the Bhrigu Sutras' commentator calls this Mars "a very powerful Dhanayoga". At the other end, Virgo rising puts a debilitated Mars, owner of the 3rd and 8th, in the 11th: the commentator's exception and the sign of fall at once.

The 11th lord in the 11th: Gemini and Capricorn rising

For these two Lagnas Mars is the 11th lord in its own sign in its own house. BPHS Ch. 22 Sl. 2 gives "many gains" when the 11th lord is in the 11th. Ch. 24 Sl. 131: gain in all undertakings, learning and happiness increasing day by day. Ch. 40 Sl. 12: gain through royal association when the 11th is occupied by its own lord and unaspected by a malefic, with the Atma Karaka at the same time joined with a benefic. And the sutras say Mars here is stronger with the 11th lord, which for these two Lagnas Mars is itself.

Against that stands Ch. 34 Sl. 2-7: the 11th lord gives evil effects, and Ch. 48 gives the 11th lord's dasha "obstacles in gains of wealth and the possibility of diseases" (Sl. 5-8). A useful reading of the conflict: Ch. 22 asks whether income flows, Ch. 34 whether a planet's period is smooth. The two Lagnas then differ. For Gemini, Mars's other house is the 6th, so it is both lords Ch. 34 lists as difficult; Ch. 34 calls it malefic. For Capricorn, the other house is the 4th, an angle; Ch. 34 still calls it malefic, and a maraka with other malefics.

Aspects from the 11th

From the 11th, aspectedHouses('mars', 11) returns [5, 2, 6]: the 5th by the 7th aspect, the 2nd by the special 4th-place aspect, the 6th by the special 8th-place aspect. All three are houses the texts read alongside the 11th. The 5th is its opposite, which may be why two Ch. 24 verses (Sl. 71 and 83) trade income against happiness from children, and why the Bhrigu Sutras' commentator expects loss of children from Mars here (p. 61). The 2nd is the other wealth house of Ch. 13. The 6th is the house of enemies. See the 5th house and the 2nd house.

The engine counts these as malefic aspects in the Shad Bala of planets there. None of the three texts gives a separate verse for Mars's aspects from the 11th beyond the commentator's remark on the 5th, so this page states none further, beyond the geometry of the Great Affluence pair above.

Sign and company

Saravali Ch. 25 Sl. 1-24, Mars by sign (pp. 76-78), adds the temperament layer. Capricorn (Pisces rising): wealthy, happy, famous, a protector. Aries (Gemini rising): truthful, valorous, charitable, fierce. Scorpio (Capricorn rising): attached to trade, endowed with land, highly sinful. Leo (Libra rising): impatient, valorous, loses his first wife, always active in his jobs. Cancer (Virgo rising): deformed, sick, wealth through agriculture and water, repeatedly anguished. Aquarius (Aries rising): lost wealth, money lost in gambling, unfortunate, the sign reading that cuts hardest against the house. Libra (Sagittarius rising): fortunate, but earns only to lose.

The sutra names company directly: two benefics raise Mars here to rank. Saravali Ch. 15's pairs: with Jupiter, intelligent and expert in speech (Sl. 14); with the Moon, brave in war, an artisan (Sl. 8). Jupiter and the Moon are also two of the three planets the second Great Affluence form puts in the 11th with Mars. With the Sun, valorous, dull-witted and a liar (Sl. 3); with Saturn, a metallurgist, deceitful and fond of quarrels (Sl. 16). The Sun and Saturn in the 11th with Mars are two of the four in Ch. 21 Sl. 11.

How this app grades it

The Kundali reading prints the favourable line when Mars's dignity label is Exalted, Moolatrikona, Own sign or Friendly sign; the 11th is not a dusthana, so dignity alone decides. In this working tree the dignity function receives the chart, so the friendly and enemy grades include the temporary relation of BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 56.

• Always favourable: Gemini rising (Aries), Capricorn rising (Scorpio) and Pisces rising (exalted in Capricorn).
• Never favourable: Virgo rising (debilitated in Cancer), and Leo and Scorpio rising, where Mars is in Mercury's signs and reaches Neutral at best.
• Favourable only with the sign lord in a temporary-friend position (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th from Mars): Taurus, Libra and Aquarius rising (otherwise Neutral) and Aries, Cancer and Sagittarius rising (otherwise Enemy sign).

Set beside the commentator's exception, the line overlaps it only partly. Gemini rising gets the favourable line every time though Mars is its 6th lord; Leo rising, with no exception against it, never does. The career and money engine labels the 11th "income, gains and networks" and weights it with the 2nd highest of the money houses; a planet there feeds that score, read separately from the planet row.

Timing

Mars has 7 Vimshottari years. BPHS Ch. 47 Sl. 27-32 list the 11th "with strength" among Mars's strong conditions, with an angle and the 2nd; the results named are a high position, gain of wealth and land and recognition by government. Ch. 54 Sl. 1-4 give Mars's own sub-period gains through the favour of authority when Mars is in the 11th, among other places.

Ch. 48 pulls the other way. Sl. 18-20 make the dasha of the lords of the 3rd, 6th and 11th, of planets placed in those houses, and of planets joined with them, unfavourable, with a bracketed exemption for Rahu and Ketu. A Mars in the 11th is a planet placed in the 11th. BPHS does not reconcile Ch. 47 and Ch. 48 here, but gives its own working method: judge by placement and relationships, and note that association with a trine lord turns a difficult lord's period favourable (Sl. 14-17).

This app grades the period by dignity and house: good for exalted, Moolatrikona or own sign, neutral for friendly or neutral, challenging for enemy sign or fall. For Gemini and Capricorn rising it also names the 11th-lord theme, "gains that come with some obstacles, and health matters worth watching". The Vimshottari Dasha calculator gives the dates and the Mars Mahadasha page the period in full.

For transits the Gochar calculator counts from the natal Moon, and the 11th from the Moon is favourable for every transiting planet in this engine. That is a transit rule and says nothing about a natal Mars in the 11th from the Lagna.

A worked chart

This app's engine output for 14:25 IST on 2 February 2004 in New Delhi, chosen because it is the Gemini-rising case, the 11th lord in its own sign in the 11th. It is an illustration, not a reading of any person.

The readings line up in layers. Saravali's verse and the sutra apply without reservation from the house; Ch. 22 Sl. 2 and Ch. 24 Sl. 131 apply from the 11th lord in the 11th; and the sutras' "stronger with the 11th lord" is met by Mars itself. Against that, Mars is also the 6th lord, the commentator's exception; Ch. 34 calls it malefic for Gemini; and Rahu, a malefic in this engine, shares the house. Jupiter aspects Mars from Leo, a benefic aspect, but the sutra asks for two benefics. Ch. 21 Sl. 11 is not met: of its four malefics, only Mars and Rahu are in the 11th.

The timing is unusual. The Moon at 3.52 degrees of Gemini is in a nakshatra of Mars, so the chart begins in Mars's own Mahadasha with about a year and eight months left, and Ch. 48 Sl. 18-20 and Ch. 47 Sl. 27-32 both bear on a period that ends in infancy. Mars at 5.42 degrees is in the first decanate, which Ch. 47 Sl. 3-4 ties to the start of the period. The page reports these and does not net them.

BPHS Ch. 7 Sl. 39-43 ask for the 11th to be read from the Sun and from the Moon as well as from the Ascendant. Here the Moon is in the Lagna sign, so Aries is the 11th from the Moon too and the two readings coincide. From the Sun in Capricorn, Aries is the 4th, and the 11th from the Sun is Scorpio, which is empty. One of the three counts the text asks for therefore does not hold Mars at all.

Your own chart

1. 1.Confirm Mars is in the eleventh sign from your Ascendant in the birth chart calculator.
2. 2.Find what Mars rules. Is it a lord of the 6th, 8th or 12th, the commentator's exception?
3. 3.Read both Ch. 24 slokas for those lords in the 11th.
4. 4.Find the 11th lord and see whether it joins Mars, and count the benefics with Mars: the sutra asks for the 11th lord or two benefics.
5. 5.Check the 10th and the 2nd: Ch. 21 reads malefics in the 10th and 11th together, and Ch. 13 Sl. 8 needs Rahu in the 2nd.
6. 6.Open the yogas calculator for a Great Affluence entry, and see what a yoga in your chart means before weighing it.

The money side of the chart is combined on the career and money page. Method and limits are on the methodology page.

Over-readings

• "A malefic in the 11th is always good." The verses say so; BPHS still names Mars in the 11th in two unfavourable combinations, both needing other malefics or dusthana lords.
• "Mars in the 11th is a wealth yoga." The Great Affluence yogas need an own-sign planet in the 5th as well, and the engine flags them only in full.
• "The app's favourable line means the commentator's exception does not apply." The line reads dignity; the exception reads lordship. Gemini rising has both.
• "Mars in the 11th makes its dasha good." Ch. 47 lists the 11th among Mars's strong placements; Ch. 48 Sl. 18-20 lists planets in the 11th as unfavourable. BPHS leaves both in place.
• "The 11th is the house of friends, so Mars brings quarrels with friends." BPHS lists income, prosperity and goods; friends are in the modern list with the Bhrigu Sutras, and none of the three texts connects Mars here to them.
• "Mars here means sudden money." The sutra names the means: dexterity and many activities.

Questions about Mars in the 11th

Is Mars good in the 11th house?

The verses are favourable: Saravali gives a virtuous, happy, courageous native with wealth, grains and sons; the Bhrigu Sutras give prosperity through dexterity. The commentator excepts lords of the 6th, 8th and 12th.

Why do malefics do well in the 11th?

The 11th is an Upachaya (BPHS Ch. 7 Sl. 33-36), and the Bhrigu Sutras commentary states that malefics give good results there. The texts give no further reason, and this page adds none.

Which rising signs fall under the commentator's exception?

By lordship: Gemini and Scorpio (Mars owns the 6th), Aries and Virgo (the 8th), Taurus and Sagittarius (the 12th).

What does Mars aspect from the 11th?

The 5th, the 2nd and the 6th. The engine counts all three as malefic aspects.

Which wealth yogas include Mars in the 11th?

Two of BPHS Ch. 41's Yogas for Great Affluence: an own-sign Venus in the 5th with Mars in the 11th, and an own-sign Mercury in the 5th with the Moon, Mars and Jupiter in the 11th.

Why is my Mars in the 11th marked testing?

Its dignity label is not Exalted, Moolatrikona, Own or Friendly. Virgo rising (debilitated) and Leo and Scorpio rising (Mercury's signs) never get the favourable line.

Is Mars in the 11th as 11th lord a problem?

BPHS holds both views. Ch. 22 Sl. 2 gives many gains when the 11th lord is in the 11th; Ch. 34 calls the 11th lord a source of evil effects, and Ch. 48 gives its dasha obstacles in gains.

Is a Mars dasha good with this placement?

Ch. 47 lists the 11th with strength among Mars's good placements; Ch. 48 Sl. 18-20 lists planets in the 11th as unfavourable. This app grades the period by dignity and house.