Planets of a horoscope do not and cannot act in isolation. In fact they influence one another in a variety of ways viz. conjuction , aspects , argala , ashtakavarga etc. A planet can give his result only in as much measure as the other planets would co-operate with it. In other words the native , at all times , experiences the resultant effect of all planets. The extent to which planets influence one another is a matter of qualitative judgement except in case of ashtakavarga which puts the planetary interplay into a well defined system. The books on astrology contain information about the effects of planets in different houses or signs. It is quite common to see astrologers engaged in lengthy discussions on this issue , each one trying to justify his(her) viewpoint on the basis of own study/experience.
However, the fact remains that planets of a horoscope do not and cannot act in isolation. In fact they influence one another in a variety of ways viz. conjuction , aspects , argala , ashtakavarga etc. A planet can give his result only in as much measure as the other planets would co-operate with it. In other words the native , at all times , experiences the resultant effect of all planets. The extent to which planets influence one another is a matter of qualitative judgement except in case of ashtakavarga which puts the planetary interplay into a well defined system. The Classics have specified the houses of Bhinnashtakavarga(BAV) of each planet which are influenced by all planets by way of contribution of “bindus” ( benefic influence) and “rekhas “ -malefic influence. For example,in Sun’s BAV, he contributes one bindu (point) each in the first ,second , fourth , seventh. eighth , ninth , tenth and eleventh house from his own position while Moon contributes points in third ,sixth , tenth and eleventh house from her own position and so on. The Ascendant also contributes points in the specified houses of each BAV .
By summing up the scores in all BAVs one gets Sarvashtakavarga (SAV) which shows the overall strengths of houses and planets. Such a “democratic approach “ is not seen in any other branch of astrology. In the classical system mentioned above each planet , irrespective of own strength , is treated as capable of exerting uniform influence by contributing one point each in the specified houses. The author feels this simplistic approach is not accurate. A stronger planet is capable of exerting greater influence, commensurate with own strength, and this should reflect in his contribution to the specified houses of ashtakavarga. This immediately raises a question ; which strength parameter should be used, avasthas , shadbal or vimshopakbal ? The author has discussed this issue in his paper “ A Relook at Some Jyotish Basics “( published in the Research Journal of Jul-Sept 2011) and given a simple formula to work out the resultant or effective strength of planet as follows. (i) Assign weightages to Baladi avasthas i.e.
Bal 0.25 , Kumar 0.50 , Yuva 1.0 ,Vriddha 0.25 & Mrit 0.10 (ii)Assign weightages to Deeptadi avasthas also i.e Deepta 1.0 , Swastha 0.9 , Mudita 0.8 , Shanta 0.7 , Din 0.6 , Vikala 0.5 , Dukhita 0.4, Khal 0,3 & Kop 0.2 (iii)Suppose a planet is Bal avastha ( weightage 0.25) and also in Din avastha ( weightage 0.6) . The mean weight age comes to 0.425. Knowing the planet’s shadbal (say 170% ) and vimshopakbal (say 60% ) it’s resultant or effective strength can be taken as 0.425x 170x60 i.e . 43.3%The author feels , the effective strength parameter of planet estimated thus should be adopted for ashtakavarga computation. In other words, a planet having 43.3% effective strength would contribute 0.43 point in the specified houses of the ashtakavarga whereas another planet having a different effective strength ,say 111% , would contribute 1.11 points in the specified houses . However, the Ascendant will continue to contribute 1 point in the specified houses as in the conventional BAVs . This procedure is expected to reduce the scores in BAVs considerably and consequently in SAV too because the effective strengths of the majority planets would be found to be below 100% .
The total score in SAV would also go below 337 considerably. In view of this strong possibility , the author has suggested application of appropriate correction in order to bring the total score of planetary strength based SAV on par with that of conventional SAV. The procedure is best illustrated with example horoscopes. Example 1 : Albert Einstein March 14 , 1979 11.30 ( 0.40 East) 100 E 0’ , 480 N 24' The Birth chart , SAV chart and BAV & PAV charts of Sun are shown below. The Sun is in Mrit avastha ( weightage 0.1) and also in Mudita avastha( weightage 0.8) giving the mean avastha weightage as 0.45. The Sun has shadbal of 180.42% & vimshopakbal of 71%. This gives Sun’s effective strength as 0.45x180.42x71 i.e 58% . So the Sun would contribute 0.58 point in the specified houses. The Moon’s effective strength works to 53% and hence she would contribute 0.53 point in the specified houses.
In the same manner the contributions that would be made by Mars , Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn are worked out as 0.36 , 0.25, 0.43, 0.57. and 0.50 point respectively . The Prastaara Ashtakavarga (PAV) of Sun shows that Jupiter , Saturn and Sun have contributed 1 point each in the first house. These figures get modified as 0.43 ,0.50 , and 0.58 respectively making a total of 1.51, In the fourth house the contributions of Sun , Moon , Venus, Mars, Ascendant and Saturn get modified as 0.58, 0.53, 0.57,0.36, 1.0and0.5 point respectively , giving the total figure as 3.54. The points thus worked out in the twelve houses (with figures of the conventional BAV shown in brackets) are as follows — 1.51(3) , 1.04( 3), 2.14(5), 3.54(6) , 1.29(4), 2.69( 5) , 1.76( 4) 2.22(5) 1.18(3), 2.08(3), 2.97(5) and 1.25(2). The author has done these computations manually as, to his knowledge, no existing astrology software has this facility.
He has similarly worked out new BAVs for Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn also. By summing up the figures of new BAVs , the new SAV has been arrived at. The figures in the twelve houses of the new SAV ( with conventional SAV figures in brackets) are as follows—13.26(25) ,13.69(30) 13.51 (30 ), 16.72(29 ), 11.53( 25 ), 18.51(35) , 14.18(30 ) ,19.60(40 ) ,9.64(20 ) ,14.03( 24 ), 14.77(27) and 8.69(22). It is seen that all figures of the new SAV have gone down drastically as compared with the conventional SAV. Yet it is not fair to compare them at this stage because the total score of conventional SAV is always 337 whereas that of new SAV is 168.19 and this would be different in each horoscope. So, in order to bring them on the same footing, let us modify the figures of the new SAV using a coefficient equal to 337/168.19 i.e. 2.004 .
The same coefficient would be applicable to the new BAVs and evidently to the effective strengths of planets also. The figures of new SAV thus modified are as follows :— 26.57( 25 ) , 27.43(30 ), 27.07(30 ), 33.50(29), 23.10( 25 ), 37.21(35), 28.41(30), 39.28(40), 19.31(20 ), 28.18 (24 ), 29.59(27 ) and 17.38(22). It can be seen that there are significant changes in SAV scores of all houses excepct the eighth. Secondly ,In the conventional SAV the ninth house has the least score (20) but in the new SAV the twelfth house gets the least score of 17.23. Example 2 Amitabh Bachchan Oct 11, 1942 3.50 PM Allahabd In Amitabh Bachchan’s birth chart the effective strengths of Sun , Moon , Mars, Mercury, Jupiter , Venus and Saturn are worked out in the same manner and found to be 24% , 40% , 17% ,72% , 50% , 40% and 36% respectively. This means Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury , Jupiter , Venus and Saturn would contribute 0.24 , 0.40 , 0.17, 0.72 , 0.50 , 0.40 and 0.36 point respectively in the new BAV’s . The author has manually computed new BAVs of the seven planets using these figures. By summing up the figures of new BAVs the new SAV has been arrived at .
The figures in the twelve houses of new SAV ( with conventional SAV figures in brackets ) are as follows :- 16.39(31), 11.85(27), 12.68(26), 16.81(32), 12.34(29), 19,95(42), 10.03(24), 8.70(20), 8.37(21), 15.79(29), 17.65(33) and 10.98(23). The total of new SAV scores is 161.54 as against 337 in the conventional SAV. Therefore the figures in new SAV need to be modified using a coefficient 337/161.54 i.e. 2.086. The figures of new SAV thus modified are as follows:- 34.19(31), 24.71(27), 26.45(26), 35.06(32), 25.74(29), 41.62(42), 20.92(24), 18.15(20), 17.46(21), 32.94(29), 36.82(33) and 22.90(23). It can be seen that significant changes have occurred in SAV scores of all houses except third, sixth and twelfth. Secondaly, the least score occurs in the ninth house of new SAV as against eighth house of the conventional SAV. Summary and and Conclusion:— In Albert Einstein’s SAV chart the eighth house of research is exceptionally strong with 40 points, which is no surprise in the chart of this great physicist.
The break up of conventional SAV shows that 7 points each have been contributed by Sun and Mecury followed by 6 points each by Venus and Saturn , 5 points by Moon and so on. But the new SAV proposed by the author shows that Sun (energy ,fame, recognition) has contributed 8.13 points ,followed by Veuns( intelligence—Ve being fifth lord) 6.85 points , Saturn( hard work) 6.01 points , Moon( mind ) 5.31 poins but Mercury( Lagnesh and fourth lord ) only 1.75 points and so on. His name has become synonymous with the famous equation (E=mc2 ) showing relation between energy and matter, developed by him. But it is said that Einstein was not considered a very brilliant student of high calibre in schooldays, which can be attributed to weak fourth lord .
In Amitabh Bachchan’s Ashtakavarga analysis as proposed by the author, exalted Mercury ( karak for speech ) has emerged as the strongest planet followed by exalted Jupiter(second lord ) also signifying speech. So it is no wonder that his name has become synonymous with rich voice and excellent dialogue delivery. A new approach to Ashtakavarga has been suggested by the author in this paper. This approach takes into account the effective strengths of planets and hence the SAVs and BAVs worked out accordingly would be better indicators of strengths of houses and planets as illustrated with two examples in the paper. This can open a new vast area of research . For this it would be essential to have a revised astrology software capable of doing the rerquisite computations .