Ashtakavarga — the eightfold count
The count
For each of the seven grahas, Parāśara lists the houses — counted from each of the seven grahas and from the lagna, eight reference points in all — in which that graha gives a benefic point. Marking those points sign by sign gives the graha's aṣṭakavarga; the text names the mark a rekhā (line) and its absence a bindu (zero), and later usage often reverses the two words, so SIA states which it prints. Summing the seven charts gives the sarvāṣṭakavarga, 337 points over the twelve signs.
The chapter then gives the multipliers for the signs and for the grahas, and the two reductions — the trikoṇa and ekādhipatya śodhana — that remove the counts which cancel, leaving the piṇḍa from which years and results are read.
In the texts
करणं विन्दुवत्प्रोक्तं स्थानं रेखा तथोच्यते । मुनिदिग्वसुवेदादिगिष्वद्र्यष्टनवेषवः ।।७२।।
RenderingThe karaṇa is stated as a bindu (zero) and the sthāna as a rekhā (line). The multipliers of the signs from Meṣa are 7, 10, 8, 4, 10, 5, 7, 8, 9, 5, 11, 12 —
What it is for
The aṣṭakavarga is the text's own instrument for reading transits — a graha passing through a sign with many points gives its good results, through a sign with few, its bad — and for the timing of the results of houses. Parāśara's phala chapter states the results sign by sign and count by count.
SIA computes all seven charts, the sarvāṣṭakavarga, both śodhanas and the piṇḍas for every kundli, prints the how-to-read primers beside them, and uses the transit counts in its gochara readings. The full aṣṭakavarga is part of the full gaṇita on any plan; the trial opens it.
In the texts
रविः पिता शशी माता भ्राता भौमो बुधः सुहृत् । मातुलेयः स्मृतो जीवो ज्ञानपुण्ये स्त्रियः सितः ।।५।।
Gloss (English)The Sun is the significator of the father, the Moon is the significator of the mother, Mars is the significator of the brother, Mercury is the significator of friends and maternal uncle, Jupiter is the significator of knowledge and virtue, and Venus is the significator of women.
Questions
What is a good sarvāṣṭakavarga score for a house?
The total over twelve signs is 337, an average of about 28 per sign; Parāśara's phala chapter reads signs above that as strong and below as weak, and SIA prints the verse for the count each of your houses carries.
Bindu or rekhā — which is the point?
Parāśara's text calls the benefic mark a rekhā and the blank a bindu; much later usage calls the point a bindu. SIA labels its tables so you can see which convention a number is in.
See these verses fire on your own chart.
Cast your kundli in SIA — every line of the reading carries the verse it rests on.
Related
- Vimshottari DashaThe 120-year cycle: counting rule, years, balance, sub-periods.
- Janam KundliThe birth chart — what it holds, how SIA computes it, what is free.
- The nine grahasNine grahas — form, kārakatva, dignities, friendships, daśā years.
- The twelve rāśisTwelve rāśis — lords, limbs of the kāla-puruṣa, lagna results.
Every chip is a real verse id in SIA’s store — the same chips the app prints beside its readings. · Updated
Cite this page as: SIA Vigyan — https://siavigyan.com/learn/ashtakavarga