Ashtakavarga

Ashtakavarga is a classical Parashari scoring system. Each of eight contributors, the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and the Lagna, gives a benefic point, called a bindu, to some of the twelve signs. The scores for a sign are then added up in several ways.

Ascendant calculates the whole system from the Placements you already have. This guide runs the calculation, explains each table in the result, and shows how to read a score by sign and by house.

What goes in and what comes outCopy Anchor Link

SAV.calculate takes only the placements. It reads the sign of each of the seven classical planets and of the Lagna. Rahu and Ketu take no part. It needs no moment or location, because everything it uses is already in the placements.

CalculateCopy Anchor Link

import { Chart, Runtime, SAV } from "astro-ascendant";
import { DateTime, ManagedRuntime } from "effect";

const runtime = ManagedRuntime.make(Runtime.MainLayer);

const located = Chart.LocatedMoment.make({
  moment: Chart.Moment.make({ date: DateTime.makeUnsafe("2000-01-01T12:00:00Z") }),
  latitude: 12.9716,
  longitude: 77.5946,
});

const { placements, charts } = await runtime.runPromise(Chart.generate(located));
const ashtakavarga = await runtime.runPromise(SAV.calculate(placements));

Read the tablesCopy Anchor Link

Every table is keyed by sign name. A BAV table is keyed by entity first:

ashtakavarga.bhinna.Sun.Leo; // 6
ashtakavarga.bhinna.Lagna.Cancer; // 6
ashtakavarga.sarva.Leo; // 34

For the birth above, these are the scores by sign:

The other six planets have their own BAV tables under bhinna, keyed the same way.

ChecksumsCopy Anchor Link

Each BAV table totals a fixed number, and the SAV totals 337. The totals field returns the sums so you can display or assert them:

Ascendant checks these against the classical values on every calculation. If a table does not match, the calculation fails with a typed SAVCalculationError and names the entity, the total it found, and the total it expected, so you never receive a table that breaks the rules.

Reduced tables and Shodhya PindaCopy Anchor Link

reduced applies two reductions to the seven planetary BAVs, Trikona first and then Ekadhipatya. The Ekadhipatya step looks at each pair of signs one planet rules and reduces it by whether the seven planets occupy them. Reduced scores are smaller, and many signs drop to zero:

ashtakavarga.reduced.Sun;
// Leo: 2, Virgo: 3, Libra: 4, Scorpio: 1, Sagittarius: 1, Aquarius: 3,
// and 0 in every other sign

shodhya_pinda builds on the reduced tables. For each planet it holds a Rashi Pinda (weighted by signs), a Graha Pinda (weighted by the signs the seven planets occupy), and their sum, the Shodhya Pinda:

Use these as they are. A Shodhya Pinda is a weighted total for one planet, not a probability and not a prediction.

Score a houseCopy Anchor Link

Ashtakavarga scores belong to signs. To score a house, find the sign of that house in D1 and look it up:

const [d1] = charts;

const tenth = d1.houses[10].sign; // "Pisces"
ashtakavarga.sarva[tenth]; // 30
ashtakavarga.bhinna.Sun[tenth]; // 4

To score all twelve houses at once:

const houseScores = Object.entries(d1.houses).map(([house, { sign }]) => ({
  house: Number(house),
  sign,
  sav: ashtakavarga.sarva[sign],
}));

For the birth above, with Gemini rising, the SAV scores of houses 1 to 12 are 22, 26, 34, 33, 30, 30, 28, 21, 32, 30, 29, and 22. The highest is the third house, Leo, at 34.

Terms in this guideCopy Anchor Link