Ashtakavarga Calculator

Bhinnashtakavarga: one table per planet

The word means eight sources. Take the Sun's table as the model. The text lists, for each of the eight contributors, the houses counted from that contributor in which it gives the Sun a point. The Sun gives points from itself in eight places, the Moon in four, and so on through Saturn and the Lagna. Mark those places on the twelve signs and count: each sign now holds between zero and eight points in the Sun's table.

Because the lists of favourable places are fixed, the total of each planet's table is fixed too, whatever the chart. The Sun's table always sums to 48, the Moon's to 49, Mars's to 39, Mercury's to 54, Jupiter's to 56, Venus's to 52 and Saturn's to 39. What changes from one chart to the next is only how those points are distributed among the signs. The Lagna's own table, shown last, always sums to 49; it is printed for completeness but is not added into the combined row.

Sarvashtakavarga: the combined row

Add the seven planetary tables together and every sign receives a single combined score. The seven fixed totals add to 337, so every chart's combined row sums to 337 as well, an average of a little over 28 per sign. That invariant is the first check to make on any ashtakavarga output: if the twelve figures do not total 337, something has gone wrong in the arithmetic.

Read the combined row against the average. A sign well above 28 has received points from many sources; one well below has received few. This calculator adds a column that converts each sign into its house from the Lagna, because most classical comparisons are stated in houses rather than signs. When no birth Lagna is available in the response, that column is left out rather than guessed.

Reading the 1961 chart

The illustrative chart, born 13 December 1961 at 05:30 in Channarayapatna, has a Scorpio Lagna. Its combined row runs, from Aries to Pisces, 33, 21, 25, 27, 35, 42, 22, 33, 26, 25, 24 and 24, totalling 337. The highest score, 42, falls in Virgo, the eleventh house from Scorpio. The lowest, 21, falls in Taurus, the seventh house.

Counted from the Lagna, the first house holds 33, the tenth 35, the eleventh 42 and the twelfth 22. Some manuals compare exactly these four houses, expecting the eleventh to exceed the tenth, the tenth to exceed the first and the twelfth to be the smallest of them. This chart happens to satisfy that pattern; the comparison is a traditional rule of thumb, shown here for reference, and other charts will not follow it.

Among the planets' own tables, Venus gives Virgo the full eight points possible, Mercury gives it seven and the Sun and Mars six each, which is how Virgo accumulates its 42.

Sodhana and the pindas

The text then reduces each planet's table in two stages before any pinda is computed. Trikona sodhana compares the three signs of each fire, earth, air and water triangle and subtracts the smallest value from all three. Ekadhipatya sodhana then deals with the pairs of signs owned by the same planet, reducing one of them according to which signs are occupied. The reduced table is what the multipliers act on.

Each reduced bindu is multiplied by a fixed factor for its sign, giving the rasi pinda, and the planets occupying those signs contribute a graha pinda through factors of their own. Their sum is the sodhya pinda, which the longevity and transit chapters use. In the example the sodhya pindas run from 199 for the Sun down to 91 for Venus. The reduced grids themselves are shown in the workspace, not repeated here.

How the points are used

The best-known use is in reading transits. As a slow planet moves through a sign, practitioners look up how many points that planet's own table gives the sign; four or more of the eight is the threshold practitioners traditionally read as favourable for that transit, and fewer than four as less so. The combined row serves the same purpose for transits in general.

Bindu counts are a framework for comparison. They are worked out entirely from the planets' positions at birth and the fixed classical tables, which is why two careful calculations agree exactly when the planets fall in the same signs. They describe the distribution of support across the zodiac; reading what that means for a life still requires the rest of the chart, and this page offers the counts for reference rather than as a forecast.

What is a good Sarvashtakavarga score?

The twelve signs share 337 points, so the average is about 28. A sign above 28 has received more support than average and one below has received less. Classical comparisons are relative, between signs of the same chart, rather than against an absolute pass mark.

Why does the Sarvashtakavarga always total 337?

Each planet's own table has a fixed total — 48, 49, 39, 54, 56, 52 and 39 from the Sun to Saturn — because the lists of favourable places never change. Their sum is 337, so the combined row must total 337 in every chart.

What is the difference between BAV and SAV?

BAV, the Bhinnashtakavarga, is one planet's own table of zero to eight points per sign. SAV, the Sarvashtakavarga, adds the seven planetary tables together into a single score per sign. This calculator shows both.

How many bindus are needed in Bhinnashtakavarga?

Four out of eight is the usual dividing line. A planet transiting a sign where its own table gives four or more points is traditionally read more favourably; fewer than four, less so.

Does Ashtakavarga need the birth time?

Yes. The seven planets' own contributions depend only on the signs they occupy, but the Lagna is one of the eight contributors to every table, and the house column is counted from it. The ascendant changes sign every two hours or so, which is why this form asks for a time.

Is Rahu included in Ashtakavarga?

No. The classical scheme uses the seven planets and the Lagna as the eight sources, and builds tables only for the seven planets. Rahu and Ketu take no part in it.