Mars in the 6th house: one of Mars's best placements, and why the app still says testing

The 6th is the house of enemies, and Mars is the army chief. BPHS Ch. 32 makes Mars the fixed significator of the 6th, as of the 3rd, so a Mars in the 6th is the karaka in its own house. The texts read it as one of Mars's best placements: Saravali gives a strong, tall native great among relatives; the Bhrigu Sutras give fame, success in undertakings and victory over enemies. The pattern is plain across Saravali Ch. 30: the three natural malefics get the best readings there, the benefics the worst.

And yet this app's line for Mars in the 6th is always the testing one, although the 6th is among the Bhrigu Sutras' best houses for it. This page sets out the verses, the reason for that mismatch, the six rising signs where the app also reports a Vipareeta yoga, and Mars's aspect back onto the Lagna. For the planet see Mars in Vedic astrology; for the house, the 6th house, Ari Bhava.

The house of enemies, and its karaka

BPHS Ch. 11 Sl. 7: the maternal uncle, doubts about death, enemies, ulcers and the step-mother; Ch. 17 Sl. 1 narrows the house chapter to diseases and ulcers. Saravali (Ch. 3 Sl. 26-27) names it Ari, enemy, and Vrana, a wound. The Bhrigu Sutras' list (p. 15) adds service, employees, debts and litigation, while BPHS puts debts under the 10th. BPHS Ch. 7 Sl. 33-36 give the 6th three labels at once: Apoklima, Dusthana and Upachaya.

BPHS Ch. 32 Sl. 31-34 list the fixed significators in order and the sixth name is Mars, so Mars is the standing karaka of the 6th as of the 3rd. Mars itself signifies co-borns, strength, qualities and land (BPHS Ch. 70), the army chief (Ch. 3 Sl. 14-15), the most malefic of the natural malefics (Ch. 34 Sl. 8-10). Enemies and contest on one side, siblings and effort on the other: both belong to Mars.

What the verses say

Saravali Ch. 30 Sloka 31

"If Mars occupies the 6th, the native will be highly libidinous, will have powerful digestive fire, be beautiful, tall, strong and great among his relatives" (p. 102). There is no deprivation clause. It sits with Saravali's Sun and Saturn verses for the 6th: strength, affluence, command and enemies conquered for the three natural malefics.

The Bhrigu Sutras, Sutras 46-53

The sutras (pp. 52-53): famous, successful in undertakings, defeats his enemies, blessed with children, marriage and conveyances in the 27th year, and "his enemies will cease to exist". With or aspected by a malefic, the results come in full but with rheumatism and pains. In Mercury's signs, leprosy, recovered from with a benefic's aspect. These are the text's statements, not medical advice. The commentator (p. 53) states the principle that runs through the 6th, an Upachaya where malefics give good results, but doubts the marriage clause (Sutra 48), notes that Sutras 51-52 bring diseases while removing enemies, and reminds the reader that the 6th is also a Dusthana.

Seven planets in the 6th, side by side

Set Saravali Ch. 30 and the Bhrigu Sutras next to each other for every planet in the 6th. The comparison is the clearest way to see why Mars reads well here.

The reading: the three natural malefics get strength, affluence, command and enemies conquered; the benefics get the worst. The Bhrigu Sutras' commentator states the reasoning for Saturn and for the Moon in so many words. Mars, the karaka of the house and the most malefic of the three, sits at the favourable end of that split in both texts.

Why the app says testing

The Kundali reading prints a planet's favourable line only when its dignity is Exalted, Moolatrikona, Own sign or Friendly sign and the house is not the 6th, 8th or 12th. In the 6th the second condition always fails. The favourable string for Mars here, which calls the 6th "classically one of Mars' strongest placements", exists in the code and is never shown. Every Mars in the 6th gets "health strain that persists despite the gains", a line that keeps the gains and the Bhrigu Sutras' bodily-pains clause.

The rule follows BPHS's Dusthana reading, the same one BPHS applies to dashas: Ch. 47 Sl. 5-6 make any dasha lord unfavourable in the 6th, 8th or 12th, and dashaQuality() calls any planet in a Dusthana challenging. The cost is that the one house in which both Mars verses are mainly favourable is the house where the app's line is always the cautious one. This page states the mismatch so a reader can weigh the line against the verses.

The summary sentence names Mars's dignity only when it is weak, so an exalted Mars (Leo rising) or an own-sign Mars (Gemini, Scorpio rising) is described by sign. The Mars Mahadasha page covers the dasha side.

The 6th lord inversion

The Bhrigu Sutras read the 6th lord upside down: Venus Sutras 34-36 (p. 92) say a strong 6th lord increases relations and enemies, and one with a malefic, debilitated or with the Moon brings loss of relations and destruction of enemies; the commentator's reasoning is that a strong 6th house means more enemies and diseases and a weak one none. BPHS does not state the inversion as a rule; its nearest equivalents are particular verses (Ch. 19 Sl. 4-7; Ch. 24 Sl. 90).

For Mars this creates a real tension. For Gemini and Scorpio rising Mars is itself the 6th lord, in its own sign in the 6th: a strong 6th lord, which by the inversion increases enemies, while Mars's own sutras say it defeats them. For the other Ascendants the 6th lord is the lord of Mars's sign. The texts do not reconcile the Mars sutras with the inversion, and this page does not try.

Mars's aspect on the Lagna

From the 6th, aspectedHouses('mars', 6) returns [12, 9, 1]: the 12th by the 7th aspect, the 9th and the 1st by Mars's special 4th and 8th aspects (BPHS Ch. 26 Sl. 2-5). So a Mars in the 6th looks back at the Ascendant. BPHS Ch. 12 Sl. 3: bodily health suffers if the Lagna is aspected by or joined with a malefic while having no benefic aspect. The engine counts Mars's aspect as malefic in Shad Bala for any planet in the 1st. See the 1st house.

The aspect on the Lagna also opens a BPHS Raj Yoga rule. Ch. 39 Sl. 29-31: a debilitated planet in the 6th or 8th aspecting the Lagna. A Mars debilitated in Cancer sits in the 6th for Aquarius rising, and from the 6th it aspects the Lagna, so it is the kind of planet that verse names. Sl. 19 adds debilitated planets in the 3rd, 6th and 8th with a strong Lagna lord aspecting the Lagna. Neither is detected by this app.

Two lordships for every rising sign

Mars owns Aries and Scorpio. It is in your 6th when it occupies the sixth sign from your rising sign; the Lagna calculator finds yours. BPHS Ch. 24 gives a verse for each house lord placed in the 6th; the rows below keep its harsh clauses as the text's statements.

Ch. 24's lords-in-the-6th read as the Dusthana at work. The useful rows are Sl. 6 and Sl. 18 as the useful because they carry their own conditions: Sl. 6 applies only with a malefic link and no benefic aspect; Sl. 18 turns entirely on benefic or malefic company. Sl. 90 (Aries and Virgo rising) opens "wins over enemies", one of BPHS's two nearest approaches to the inversion.

The 6th lord, through the houses

Six of these rows carry wealth, fame or honour alongside their difficulty and three are plainly harsh (3rd, 8th, 12th); Sl. 71 is the clearest statement of the Upachaya idea in the chapter: the lord of enemies in the house of gains gains through enemies.

Vipareeta yogas for six rising signs

Because Mars rules two houses, it rules a Dusthana for six Ascendants, more than any other planet in this series so far, and in the 6th it then forms one of the app's Vipareeta Raja Yogas: Harsha for the 6th lord (Gemini, Scorpio rising), Sarala for the 8th lord (Aries, Virgo rising), Vimala for the 12th lord (Taurus, Sagittarius rising). The yogas calculator lists them.

The sourcing: the engine's reference is Advanced Predictive Astrology, which uses the yoga in worked charts without a numbered definition, and BPHS Ch. 24 reads several of the same placements harshly (Sl. 138 for the 12th lord, Sl. 66 mildly for the 6th lord). The app shows the yoga in the yogas list and the testing line in the house card for the same Mars.

More from the house chapters

• BPHS Ch. 17, the 6th-house chapter, reasons from the 6th lord's position (Sl. 2), localises results by the sign of the 6th, and pairs the 6th with the 8th throughout. Sl. 3-5 list a body part for each planet in a relative's combination, Mars standing for the neck; that belongs to a specific combination, not to a Mars sitting in the 6th. The named diseases and ages are not reproduced.
• BPHS Ch. 43 Sl. 65-66 give long life with malefics in the 3rd, 6th and 11th and benefics in the angles. Mars in the 6th fills one malefic slot.
• BPHS Ch. 36 Sl. 13-14, Shankh Yog: a strong Lagna lord with the 5th and 6th lords in mutual angles. For Gemini and Scorpio rising Mars is the 6th lord.
• BPHS Ch. 37 Sl. 6 and Saravali's Dhana Yoga count benefics in the Upachayas from the Moon; Mars is not a benefic and does not count.

Saravali Ch. 25 Sl. 1-24, Mars by sign (pp. 76-78), adds a temperament line through the sign in your 6th: Capricorn (Leo rising) wealthy, famous, a protector; Aries (Scorpio rising) truthful, valorous, an Army chief, fierce; Scorpio (Gemini rising) skilful, endowed with land, highly sinful, troubled by weapons and wounds; Cancer (Aquarius rising) deformed, sick, repeatedly anguished; Virgo (Aries rising) worthy of honour, never rich, fears enemies. Saravali Ch. 15 reads Mars with the Sun as valorous, dull-witted and a liar (Sl. 3) and with Jupiter as intelligent and expert in speech (Sl. 14). Saravali Ch. 34 Sl. 43-44 add that Mars in the 6th aspected by Saturn gives fear from enemies, which a benefic's occupation or aspect removes.

Saravali Ch. 25 Sl. 25-66 (pp. 78-79) also read the aspect each planet casts on Mars by sign group: Jupiter's is the steadiest, learned and affluent on a Mars in Aries or Scorpio and famous even on a debilitated Mars in Cancer; Saturn's reads well on a Mars in Taurus or Libra and poorly on a Mars in Leo or Jupiter's signs. For a Mars in the 6th, Jupiter aspects it from the 12th, 10th or 2nd. BPHS Ch. 31 reads an unobstructed Argala on the 6th as "fear from enemies", and the Argala calculator shows which planets intervene on your 6th.

Dignity in the engine

Mars's natural relations: Jupiter, the Moon and the Sun friends, Mercury an enemy, Venus and Saturn neutral; the temporary half from the chart (the sign lord 2, 3, 4, 10, 11 or 12 signs from Mars is a temporary friend). In the 6th the dignity no longer decides the house line or the dasha grade, but it still sets the summary wording and the Shad Bala position score. By sign: own in Scorpio and Aries (Gemini, Scorpio rising), exalted in Capricorn (Leo rising), debilitated in Cancer (Aquarius rising), never better than Neutral in Mercury's signs (Aries, Capricorn rising).

Strength in the 6th

BPHS Ch. 27 Sl. 7 measures Mars from the 4th: no directional strength there, full at the 10th. The 6th is two houses past the zero point, about one-third of the maximum in this engine's even steps, and as an Apoklima it gives a quarter of Kendradi Bal. The engine flags Mars combust within 17 degrees of the Sun. The Shad Bala calculator shows all components. A Mars in the 6th can grade Strong in Shad Bala while the house line reads testing.

Timing

Mars has 7 Vimshottari years. BPHS Ch. 47 Sl. 27-32 give a strong Mars a dasha of position, wealth and land; Ch. 48 Sl. 18-20 list the dashas of planets placed in the 3rd, 6th and 11th as unfavourable. For Gemini and Scorpio rising Mars is the 6th lord, and Ch. 48 Sl. 2-4 give that dasha "danger from enemies and ill health"; this app's line is "friction with rivals or health matters needing attention". Ch. 48 Sl. 14-17 make a 6th, 8th or 12th lord's dasha favourable when associated with a trine lord. The Vimshottari Dasha calculator gives the dates.

Sub-periods are explained in Antardasha and Pratyantar. For transits, the Gochar calculator marks Mars favourable in the 6th from your natal Moon, the transit counterpart of the Upachaya rule, a different count from this house.

A worked chart

This app's engine output for 20:00 IST on 9 May 2011 in New Delhi, chosen because it is the Scorpio-rising case. It is an illustration, not a reading of any person.

Three engine outputs, three directions: the house line is testing and the dasha grade challenging because of the house; Harsha Yoga is reported because the 6th lord is in a Dusthana; Shad Bala is Strong because Mars is in its Moolatrikona and not combust (20.1 degrees from the Sun). There is no Mangal Dosha: the 6th is not a dosha house. Saravali Sl. 31 and the Bhrigu Sutras' main reading are favourable; the sutras' malefic-company clause (results in full, with rheumatism and pains) applies, since the Sun shares the 6th.

The lordship layer. Mars is the Lagna lord in the 6th: BPHS Ch. 12 Sl. 1-2 read a Lagna lord in the 6th, 8th or 12th as reduced physical felicity, and Ch. 24 Sl. 6 makes trouble from enemies conditional on a malefic link with no benefic aspect; the Sun is the malefic link here, and Jupiter shares the sign rather than aspecting it (Jupiter is only 0.12 degrees into Aries). As 6th lord at home, Sl. 66 applies, and by the inversion a strong 6th lord means more enemies. Mars aspects Libra (12th), Cancer (9th, the Moon) and Scorpio (the Lagna). The page lists these and does not net them.

Timing from the same run: Mars at 4.72 degrees is in the first ten degrees of Aries, which by BPHS Ch. 47 Sl. 3-4 brings its dasha results early in the Mars period, and the engine's Vimshottari sequence here opens with Saturn. Saravali Ch. 25 Sl. 1-2, the Aries line, applies to this Mars: truthful, valorous, fond of adventure, an army chief or head of a village.

Your own chart

1. 1.Confirm Mars is in the sixth sign from your Ascendant in the birth chart calculator.
2. 2.Expect the testing line; read Saravali Sl. 31 and the Bhrigu Sutras as the favourable view.
3. 3.Is a malefic with Mars in the 6th? That is the Bhrigu Sutras' rheumatism-and-pains clause.
4. 4.Find the house Mars rules; if a Dusthana, look for Harsha, Sarala or Vimala in the yogas list.
5. 5.Find the 6th lord and apply the inversion with care.
6. 6.Note Mars's aspect on your Lagna, and check for a benefic aspect there (BPHS Ch. 12 Sl. 3).

Method and limits are on the methodology page; the books are on the sources page.

What not to conclude

• "The app says testing, so Mars in the 6th is bad." The verses read it as one of Mars's best placements; the line follows the Dusthana rule for every planet.
• "A planet in the 6th is ruined." Saravali Ch. 30 is hard on benefics in the 6th, not on everything.
• "Mars in the 6th gives Mangal Dosha." The 6th is not one of the dosha houses.
• "A Vipareeta yoga makes everything good." The yoga comes from a modern book's usage; BPHS Ch. 24 reads some of the same placements harshly.
• "A strong 6th lord is always good." The Bhrigu Sutras read it as more enemies.
• "Mars in the 6th guarantees victory in every contest." The Bhrigu Sutras attach rheumatism and pains to a Mars with a malefic, and Ch. 24 reads several of Mars's lordships harshly from the 6th.
• "The 6th from my Moon in transit is my 6th house." Transits count from the Moon; natal houses from the Ascendant.

Questions about Mars in the 6th

Is Mars in the 6th house good?

In the verses, mostly yes: Saravali gives a strong, tall native great among relatives; the Bhrigu Sutras give fame, success and victory over enemies, with rheumatism and pains if a malefic joins Mars. Their commentator adds that the 6th is also a Dusthana and that Mars there can bring diseases.

Why does the app show the testing line?

Its favourable line requires a house other than the 6th, 8th or 12th. In the 6th the testing line always prints, whatever Mars's dignity.

Does Mars in the 6th form a Vipareeta Raja Yoga?

In this app, whenever Mars rules a Dusthana: Harsha for Gemini and Scorpio rising, Sarala for Aries and Virgo rising, Vimala for Taurus and Sagittarius rising.

What does Mars aspect from the 6th?

The 12th, 9th and 1st houses. Its aspect on the Lagna is a malefic aspect for BPHS Ch. 12 Sl. 3 and in the engine's Shad Bala.

Does Mars in the 6th cause Mangal Dosha?

No. The 6th is not among this app's six dosha houses or BPHS Ch. 80's four.

Is a Mars dasha difficult with this placement?

BPHS gives a strong Mars a good dasha (Ch. 47) and planets in the 6th an unfavourable one (Ch. 48). This app grades any planet in a Dusthana as challenging.

Does the karaka harm its own house here?

The Bhrigu Sutras' commentator raises "Karako Bhava Nashaya" for Mars in the 3rd (p. 49), where BPHS Ch. 14 Sl. 14 has Mars harm co-born, and rejects it for a dignified Mars. For the 6th, the other house Mars signifies, the verses read Mars favourably and do not raise the principle.

Does BPHS Ch. 17 name Mars?

Yes, in several combinations tied to named diseases with ages attached, involving the Lagna lord, Mars and other planets. This page describes their structure and does not reproduce them as predictions.

Which rising signs give the strongest Mars in the 6th?

By dignity, Leo rising (exalted in Capricorn) and Gemini and Scorpio rising (own sign). By Ch. 24, Aries and Virgo rising bring Sl. 90, "wins over enemies"; Libra and Pisces rising bring Sl. 18, which turns on benefic company.

Is Mars weak in the 6th by strength?

By direction it has about one-third of its maximum here, and the Apoklima gives a quarter of Kendradi Bal; dignity can still give it full position strength. The worked chart's Mars grades Strong in this engine's Shad Bala.

Does Mars in the 6th say anything about lawsuits or debts?

Not in the classical Mars verses. Litigation and debts are in the Bhrigu Sutras' modern list for the 6th (p. 15); BPHS puts debts under the 10th.