Ashtakavarga — astrology wiki

Also called Ashtaka varga · Ashtakavarga system · Ashtakvarg · Ashtakavarga tables · अष्टकवर्ग · Prastaara Ashtakavarga · Prastarashtakavarga

A Jyotish method that counts, for each of the seven planets and for the Lagna, in which signs it is benefic with respect to each of eight references: the seven planets and the Lagna. A table in the tradition lists, for each reference, the places counted from the reference's sign (its own sign being the 1st) that are benefic for the planet; each such place gives a point, which Parasara calls a rekha (a line), and a place that does not is a bindu (a dot). The points of a planet in the twelve signs are its Bhinnashtakavarga, and the sum of the seven planets' points in a sign is the Sarvashtakavarga. Some astrologers, especially South Indian ones, use bindu for the benefic place and rekha for the other; the Astral Atlas page says point for the benefic place throughout.

Word origin · etymology

Sanskrit aṣṭaka, 'having eight parts', with varga, 'a separate division, class, set, or multitude of similar things or people': the set of eight.

Wiktionary gives aṣṭa as the Sanskrit numeral eight (aṣṭan is its stem in the traditional grammars), aṣṭaka as 'having eight parts' (as a noun, 'an object having eight parts or chapters') and varga as 'a separate division, class, set, or multitude of similar things or people'. The compound names the set of eight references. In the two books read, Parasara's name for a point is rekha, a line (Wiktionary lists a scratch, a streak, a stripe and a line) and for a place without one bindu, a dot (Wiktionary lists a detached particle, a drop, a globule, a dot and a spot), while the page's own word for the benefic place is point. No claim is made about when the method was first stated.^{[5][3][6][7][4]}

How we know · epistemology

Classical tables applied by counting

The tables come from the classical text and are counted without any judgement: the points, their totals (48, 49, 39, 54, 56, 52 and 39 for the seven planets, 337 together, and 49 for the Lagna) and which of the eight references gives each point can be reproduced and checked. A translation of Parasara contradicts itself in seven cells and Rao's textbook, which follows Parasara, names three places where Varahamihira's lists differ. What a count means for a person, and where the books draw the line between favourable and unfavourable (their bands in the aggregate meet at 30 points and their words do not settle which side 30 is on), is the tradition's claim and not a measured property of the chart.^[1][2]

Explore it in your atlas

Open the Ashtakavarga tool →See the benefic points of each planet in each sign, the aggregate of the seven, and which of the planets and the Lagna give every point, with the books’ own words for the counts side by side.

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Sources & provenance

The numbers in the text point to this list; it distinguishes a calculation convention, a historical teaching and an editorial example.

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