Shadbala Calculator

The six quantities that are added together

Sthana Bala is positional strength. It rewards a planet near its exaltation degree, in signs it owns or is friendly with across several divisional charts, in an angle rather than a cadent house, and in odd or even signs according to its gender. It is usually the largest single component, because it is itself a sum of five smaller measures.

Dig Bala is directional strength. Each planet has a house where it is at its most effective: Jupiter and Mercury in the first, the Sun and Mars in the tenth, Saturn in the seventh, the Moon and Venus in the fourth. The figure falls away steadily as the planet moves round the chart from that point, reaching nothing at the opposite house.

Kala Bala is temporal strength, and it depends only on the moment of birth: day or night, the waxing or waning Moon, the lords of the year, month, weekday and hour, the planet's declination, and a contribution for planets locked in close conjunction. Cheshta Bala measures motion, and favours a planet that is slow or retrograde. Naisargika Bala is a fixed natural ranking, the same in every horoscope, from the Sun at 60 down to Saturn at 8.57. Drik Bala is the net aspect a planet receives; benefic aspects add, malefic ones subtract, and it is the only component that regularly turns negative.

Virupas, rupas and the required minimum

Every component is counted in virupas, also called shashtiamsas, the sixtieth part of a rupa. The total column is the sum of the six in virupas; the rupa column is that total divided by sixty, the unit in which the text states its thresholds.

Parashara does not expect the seven planets to reach the same figure. The minimum he sets is 6.5 rupas for the Sun, 6 for the Moon, 5 for Mars, 7 for Mercury, 6.5 for Jupiter, 5.5 for Venus and 5 for Saturn. The ratio column divides each planet's rupas by its own minimum, so 1.00 means the planet has exactly the strength the text asks of it, and the ratio, not the raw total, is what makes Mercury and Saturn comparable. The table shows the minimum beside every ratio so the division can be checked.

Reading the 1961 chart

In the illustrative chart, born 13 December 1961 at 05:30 in Channarayapatna, Mars has the highest ratio at 1.55: a total of 465.61 virupas against a minimum of 300. Saturn follows on 1.30 and the Moon on 1.28, then Mercury on 1.09. Three planets fall below their minimum — the Sun at 0.99, Venus at 0.97 and Jupiter at 0.86.

The Sun's line shows how the parts combine. Sthana Bala contributes 177.06, Kala Bala 124.87, Dig Bala 24.66, Naisargika Bala its fixed 60 and Drik Bala −0.74, and the calculation assigns the Sun no Cheshta Bala; the sum is 385.85 virupas, or 6.43 rupas, a whisker under the 6.5 the Sun requires. A reading that only looked at the total, without the minimum, would rank the Sun fifth of seven and miss that it narrowly misses its threshold.

Notice too that ranking by raw total and ranking by ratio give different orders. On totals Mars, the Moon and Mercury are almost level near 460; on ratios Mercury drops to fourth, because its minimum is the highest of the seven.

Why two programs can disagree

Shad Bala has many moving parts, and several of them depend on conventions rather than on the ephemeris. Kala Bala needs sunrise and sunset, so it shifts with the latitude and with the rule used for the rising Sun. The hora and weekday lords depend on whether the day is counted from sunrise or from midnight. Drik Bala depends on how the partial aspects are graded. Each of these can move a component by a few virupas.

The birth time matters most. A difference of a few minutes changes the houses, and with them Dig Bala and part of Sthana Bala; it can also change the hora lord, which moves Kala Bala by a full step at once. When two charts of the same person disagree on Shad Bala, compare the components line by line: the disagreement is almost always concentrated in one or two of them.

What the figure is for

The classical use of Shad Bala is comparative. It tells you which planets have the most and least strength in this chart, and whether each meets the bar the text sets for it. It is a reference figure for weighing planets against one another when the rest of the chart has been read, in the same way a reader weighs house strength with Bhava Bala.

A planet below its minimum is not thereby harmful, and one above it is not thereby favourable; the text treats strength as capacity, and what that capacity is used for depends on the houses the planet rules and occupies, its dignity and the dasha in operation. The table here is the measurement, offered for reference, not a judgement on the chart.

How is Shadbala calculated?

Six components are computed separately — positional, directional, temporal, motional, natural and aspectual strength — each in virupas. Their sum is the planet's Shad Bala. Dividing by sixty converts it to rupas, and dividing the rupas by the planet's classical minimum gives the strength ratio shown in the last columns.

What is the minimum Shadbala for each planet?

Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra sets 6.5 rupas for the Sun, 6 for the Moon, 5 for Mars, 7 for Mercury, 6.5 for Jupiter, 5.5 for Venus and 5 for Saturn. A ratio of 1.00 or more means the planet meets its own minimum.

Why are Rahu and Ketu not in the Shadbala table?

The six-fold method is defined only for the seven visible grahas, Sun through Saturn. Several of its components, such as the natural strength and the exaltation-based part of positional strength, have no classical value for the nodes, so standard Shad Bala tables leave them out.

Can Shadbala be negative?

The total is practically always positive, but Drik Bala, the aspect component, can be negative when malefic aspects outweigh benefic ones. In the worked example every planet has a small negative Drik Bala, and the Moon's is the largest at −8.74.

Do I need an exact birth time for Shadbala?

Yes. Directional and temporal strength depend on the houses and on the time of day, and both shift as the birth time changes. That is why this form asks for a time and does not offer an unknown-time option for this calculation.

What is the difference between Shadbala and Bhava Bala?

Shad Bala measures the seven planets. Bhava Bala measures the twelve houses, and it borrows each house lord's Shad Bala as one of its parts. The two are usually read together, which is why both are linked from this page.