Mars in Sagittarius: a friend's sign in Jupiter's fire, and the warrior line in Saravali

Mars in Sagittarius puts Mars in the mutable fire sign of Jupiter. Jupiter is one of the three planets the classical tables count as Mars's natural friends, so the sign is a friend's sign for Mars by nature - a middle-to-good grade, below its own signs and its exaltation, above the signs of Mercury.

Fire sign, friendly lord: the dignity suggests an easy placement. Saravali's line reads it otherwise, as a soldier's life of effort and conflict, which is a reminder that the texts' character lines and the dignity scale are separate instruments.

This page covers only the combination. For Mars as a graha - its significations, aspects, strength and dashas - see Mars in Vedic astrology. For the sign itself - its element, its nakshatras and what a rising Sagittarius means - see Sagittarius, Dhanu Rashi. This page is a map of rules, not a forecast about anyone.

Mars in Sagittarius: dignity, and how this app decides it

Sagittarius holds none of Mars's special dignities. BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 49-50 places its exaltation in Capricorn, the very next sign, and its debilitation in Cancer; Sl. 51-54 gives its Moolatrikona as Aries 0-12, and its own signs are Aries and Scorpio. The same sloka makes the first third of Sagittarius Jupiter's Moolatrikona - a band that belongs to Jupiter and does not touch Mars's label. See Mars in Capricorn and Mars in Cancer.

Bhrigu Sutras' Mars chapter lists the Sun, the Moon and Jupiter as Mars's friends, and this app's table agrees. With no chart the engine marks every degree of Sagittarius a Friendly sign - a quarter of the good effects on BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 59-60's scale. The scale is under dignity.

How the engine decides

The function that labels every planet in your chart, dignityOf, runs its tests in a fixed order: exaltation first, then Moolatrikona, then debilitation, then own sign, and only then the relation between the planet and the sign's lord. Sagittarius is not Mars's exaltation, Moolatrikona, debilitation or own sign, so every degree of it falls through to the last test: the relation between Mars and Jupiter, the lord of Sagittarius. Jupiter is a natural friend of Mars, so with no chart every degree of Sagittarius reads Friendly sign, with no boundary inside the sign.

Why the label can differ from chart to chart

The table above is the natural relation alone, which is what the engine uses when it has no chart. In a real chart it uses the fivefold relation of BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 57-58: the natural relation (naisargika maitri) combined with a temporary one (tatkalika maitri). BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 56 makes two grahas temporary friends when one sits in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th sign from the other, and temporary enemies otherwise. So the question for Mars in Sagittarius is simply where Jupiter sits, counted from Sagittarius.

Friend by nature and friend by position give Great Friend, shown as Friendly sign; friend by nature and enemy by position cancel into Neutral. So in a real chart Mars in Sagittarius reads Friendly sign when Jupiter is in Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Virgo, Libra or Scorpio (the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th from Sagittarius), and Neutral when Jupiter is in Sagittarius itself or in Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer or Leo. It is never Enemy sign in this engine.

The nakshatras Mars moves through in Sagittarius

Sagittarius holds all four padas of Mula, all four of Purva Ashadha and the first pada of Uttara Ashadha. The label is the same throughout. The nakshatra pages go further: Mula, Purva Ashadha and Uttara Ashadha.

What the classical texts say about Mars in Sagittarius

Saravali Ch. 25 Sl. 17-18

Saravali's line for Mars in Sagittarius, in paraphrase: a warrior with chariots, elephants and soldiers, contentment in hard work, harsh speech and craftiness, estrangement from others, loss of happiness and money through anger, and little respect for elders. It also mentions many wounds and a thin frame; those are the text's statements, not medical advice.

The neighbours frame it. Sl. 15-16 gives Mars in Scorpio, its own sign, a harsh line; Sl. 19-20 gives Mars in Capricorn, its exaltation, one of the best lines in the chapter. Sagittarius sits between them with a martial, effortful one. See Mars in Scorpio for the sign before.

Saravali Ch. 25 Sl. 55-60: the aspect lines

Saravali reads Mars in either Jupiter sign, Sagittarius or Pisces, under each aspect. In paraphrase:

• Aspected by the Sun: honoured widely, fortunate, at home in forests, hills and forts, and cruel in the text's word.
• Aspected by the Moon: belligerent and learned, at odds with authority, with a bodily clause that is the text's.
• Aspected by Mercury: a scholar, skilful, learned in the fine arts and in general - the most purely favourable of the six.
• Aspected by Jupiter: wealthy, fond of exercise and beyond the reach of enemies, but without a spouse's company or happiness in the text's words.
• Aspected by Venus: popular with women, fond of adornment, generous and fortunate.
• Aspected by Saturn: a wandering life, unhappiness and interest in other faiths, with bodily and moral clauses that are the text's.

Unusually, Mercury - Mars's one natural enemy - gives the cleanest line for these two signs, and Jupiter, the lord, gives a mixed one. There is a mechanical point too: Jupiter can aspect Sagittarius only from the 5th, 7th or 9th sign before it, all temporary-enemy positions, so whenever Saravali's Jupiter line applies, this engine labels the same Mars Neutral, not Friendly sign.

BPHS and Bhrigu Sutras

BPHS writes no character line for Mars in Sagittarius. Its rules - Jupiter among Mars's natural friends, the temporary relation of Ch. 3 Sl. 56, their combination in Sl. 57-58 - make the label, and its ratio (Sl. 59-60) gives a quarter of the good effects in a friend's sign, an eighth in an equal's.

Bhrigu Sutras gives two cases. In its commentary on Mars in the 10th house, Mars in Sagittarius for a Pisces Lagna sits in the 10th as lord of the 9th (and the 2nd), read as a powerful Rajayoga. In its commentary on Mars in the 9th house, an Aries Lagna puts Mars, the Lagna lord, in the 9th - which is Sagittarius - and that is listed among the cases where its adverse reading of Mars in the 9th does not apply. Both rest on lordship.

Where the texts agree, and where they part

• Agreed: Jupiter is a natural friend of Mars, so Sagittarius is a friend's sign (Bhrigu Sutras, Mars chapter; this engine's table).
• Different emphasis: Saravali's sign line is martial and effortful; Bhrigu Sutras reads Mars in Sagittarius kindly for Pisces and Aries Lagnas because of lordship.
• Different questions: Saravali's Jupiter-aspect line and this engine's Friendly label never meet on the same chart; Jupiter's aspect positions make the label Neutral.
• Silent: BPHS has no sign-by-sign character line for Mars.

How Sagittarius changes the houses Mars rules and sits in

The Lagna decides which house Sagittarius is and which two houses Mars rules. Whole-sign houses make the mapping exact:

For a Pisces Lagna, Sagittarius is the 10th - the Bhrigu Sutras Rajayoga case; this app's yoga-karaka table (from BPHS Ch. 34) also names Mars a yoga karaka for Pisces. For an Aries Lagna, Sagittarius is the 9th. For a Cancer Lagna, as in the example below, Mars - the yoga karaka in this app's table for Cancer - sits in the 6th. The house pages, such as Mars in the 6th house and Mars in the 9th house, go further.

Worked example: 23 March 1986, 14:13 IST, New Delhi

An illustrative birth, not a real person, computed in this app's engine. Cancer rises at 13.03 degrees. Mars is at 3.89 degrees of Sagittarius, in Mula pada 2, in the 6th house, neither retrograde nor combust. The engine labels it a Friendly sign.

Dignity. Jupiter, the lord of Sagittarius, is at 13.66 degrees of Aquarius. Counted from Sagittarius, Aquarius is the 3rd sign, a temporary-friend position under BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 56. Friend by nature plus friend by position gives Great Friend under Sl. 57-58, which the engine shows as Friendly sign.

Lordship. For a Cancer Lagna, Mars rules the 5th (Scorpio) and the 10th (Aries), the yoga-karaka role this app records for Cancer, and sits in the 6th, a dusthana. The texts in the corpus do not discuss this exact case, so no reading is added here.

Aspects. Using this engine's aspect rule, none of the seven grahas reaches the 6th: the Sun and Venus in the 9th aspect the 3rd; the Moon in the 2nd aspects the 8th; Mercury and Jupiter in the 8th aspect the 2nd (Jupiter also the 12th and 4th); Saturn in the 5th aspects the 11th, 7th and 2nd. So only the bare sign line of Sl. 17-18 applies.

How often Mars is in Sagittarius

Across 3,000 sampled birth moments 1985-2060, Mars was in Sagittarius in 222 of them, 7.4 per cent. That is a property of the sky in the sample, not a count of people. The share differs from sign to sign because Mars moves unevenly - a retrograde loop can hold it in one sign for months - and the sample years decide where those loops fall.

Checking Mars in Sagittarius in your own chart

1. 1.Cast your chart with the Birth Chart calculator. Confirm Mars is in Sagittarius and read the dignity label in its row.
2. 2.Note where Jupiter sits, counted from Sagittarius. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th sign gives Friendly sign; any other gives Neutral.
3. 3.Note the houses Aries and Scorpio occupy: what Mars rules from your Lagna.
4. 4.List any planet in Gemini (the 7th from Sagittarius), Jupiter in Leo or Aries, and Saturn in Libra or Virgo. Only those bring a Saravali Ch. 25 Sl. 55-60 line into play.
5. 5.Look at strength with the Shad Bala calculator, and timing with the Vimshottari Dasha calculator and the Mars Mahadasha page.

Is Mars strong in Sagittarius?

By dignity it is mid-to-good: a friend's sign, a quarter of the good effects in BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 59-60. It is exalted only in Capricorn, the next sign.

Why does my chart show Mars in Sagittarius as Neutral?

Because Jupiter sits in a temporary-enemy position from Sagittarius (the 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th or 9th), and friend by nature plus enemy by position gives Neutral (BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 57-58).

Does Jupiter's Moolatrikona in Sagittarius affect Mars?

No. That band belongs to Jupiter. Mars's label depends only on its relation with Jupiter.

What does Saravali say about Mars in Sagittarius?

Ch. 25 Sl. 17-18 gives a warrior's life of hard work, with harsh speech and anger costing happiness and money. Sl. 55-60 reads a Mercury aspect most favourably.

How common is Mars in Sagittarius?

In this app's sample Mars was in Sagittarius in 222 of 3,000 sampled birth moments 1985-2060, 7.4 per cent.