7. Other Calculations of Strength (bala-ānayana)

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Next, the calculation of strength (bala-ānayana) for the sahamas of the twelve houses beginning with the ascendant is described in Tājika-muktāvali [61–62]:^[1]

And the strength of the lots of the [houses] here beginning with the ascendant is declared to be the strength of the ruler.^[2] Joined to the aspect of its ruler, Jupiter or Mercury, in human signs, it gets one unit [of strength]; in watery and quadrupedal signs, it gets half; in Scorpio, it gets nothing. [This strength] becomes very exact when made greater or less by a quarter [of the strength] derived from the aspect [or] separation of benefic or malefic planets.

Vāmana states a special rule:

According to the strength of its own ruler, a sign should be understood to be strong [when] joined to or aspected by Jupiter or Mercury [or] joined to or aspected by its own ruler. Cancer, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Aries and Taurus: these rise with their backs. The rest rise with their heads; but Pisces is known both ways. [The signs] rising with their heads are strong by day; the rest are known as strong by night. And human signs [are strong] in the ascendant, quadrupedal [signs] in the tenth, Scorpio in the seventh place, and watery signs in the fourth. The sign of Scorpio is strong at twilight, human signs in the day, the rest at night: this is known as the strength of the signs. Thus the strength of the signs as approved by the ancient teachers has been described.

Concerning this, the eightfold result of the strength of the planets is described by Padmanābha. Here, for each [result], the strength should be understood to increase by half a point.

The maximum strength comprises six points; middling strength comprises three points; less than three should be understood to be poor strength, as follows:

When [the strength] is nil, there is loss and suffering; when half [a point], grief and great danger; dejection and anxiety are said to result when it is one point; when a point and a half, bodily pain; when two, happiness and unhappiness in equal measure; when two and a half, attainment of happiness; when three, pleasure, happiness and riches; when three and a half, success in everything; when four, renown everywhere.^[3]

The detailed definition of a powerless planet will become clear in the discussion of the moon’s duruḥpha configuration below.

The results of the sun and other planets being powerless are described by Tejaḥsiṃha [in Daivajñālaṃkṛti 228]:

Diseases of the skin and eyes, humiliation and so on [will result] when the sun is powerless; when it is the moon, loss of wealth, enmity and illnesses;^[4] when Mars, dishonour; when Mercury, loss of knowledge; when Jupiter, scant occupation and impiety; when Venus, want of happiness from pleasures; and when Saturn, peril from attendants.

‘Scant occupation’ [means] little occupation; ‘impiety’ [means] lack of piety; ‘peril from attendants’ [means] danger from one’s servants. Next, as it is connected with strength, the judgement of [strength for] good and evil is written. Its purpose is described in the Ratnāvali:

Now the judgement according to the knowledge of good and evil results is described, by which it becomes possible to predict the results described by the Tājikas:

(1) In its own exaltation (svocca), (2) in the exaltation of a friend (mitrocca-ga), (3) direct in motion (mārgī), (4) aspected by a friend (suhṛt-avalokita) (5) or a benefic (saumya-avalokita), (6) [heliacally] risen (udita), (7) moving north [of the ecliptic] (saumyacārī) or (8) in the third, a trine (tritrikoṇa),^[5] or the eleventh house (āya-ga), (9) in an optimal division (vargottama),^[6] (10) in the division of a friend (mitravarga), (11) in its own domicile (svageha), (12) in the degree of the sun (sūryabhāga-ga), (13) in a mūsariḥpha or (14) mutthaśila with benefics (saumya), (15) between benefics (saumyānta-ga) or (16) joined [by them] (yuta): such a planet should be understood by the wise to be strong (balayuta) in sixteen ways (ṣoḍaśadhā).

(1) In its fall (nīca), (2) in the exaltation of an enemy (śatrūcca-ga), (3) retrograde (vakrī), (4) aspected by an enemy (ripu-avalokita) (5) or a malefic (pāpa-avalokita), (6) [heliacally] set (asta-ga), (7) occupying a southerly degree [of latitude] (yāmyabhāga-stha), (8) placed in the twelfth (riḥpha) or sixth house (ari) from the ascendant,^[7] (9) without an optimal division (vargottama-vihīna), (10) in an enemy’s division (śatruvarga) (11) or domicile (gṛha), (12) having left the degree of the sun (sūryabhāga-ujjhita), (13) in a riḥpha or (14) mutthaśila with malefics (krūra),^[8] (15) joined to benefics (pāpayukta) or (16) placed between (madhyagata) [them], a planet should be understood to be bereft of strength (balojjhita).

Here, one unit of good results should be entered when a planet occupies a good position, and one unit of evil results should be entered when a planet occupies an evil position. Then, after finding the difference between the good and evil results, the [strength for] good or evil that remains is the good or evil result of the planet, to be understood in [judging] the result of periods and so forth.

This is described clearly by Maṇittha [in Varṣaphala 15–18]:

One unit of the results called good should be given for each place in order to judge results. Having allotted these points, the wise should find the results called evil. The difference between these separate [figures] should be understood to be the [final] result. When the good result is greater than ten, [that] result is full; when it is less than ten, it is called middling; when the evil is greater [than the good] and the good is less than ten, or when the evil is more than ten, the result of the period is declared by the ancient Yavanas to be evil and very evil, [respectively].

Next, the [strength for] good and evil [arising] from the five dignities is described in Tājikamuktāvali [64–65]:

The [strength for] good in [a planet’s] own domicile, that of a friend and that of an enemy is half [a point], half of one half, and half of that, [respectively]. In a decan, likewise, it is one sixth of a point, half of that, and half of that; in a ninth-part, it is one twelfth, half of that, and half of that; in a thirtieth-[part], it is one fifteenth, half, and so on; in exaltation, it is one twentieth, half, and so on; in fall, it is nil, one fortieth, and one twentieth.

The evil result should be found by subtracting these [values] from the allotted points of strength stated in [the quotation from Tājikamuktāvali 51–52 above], beginning ‘Or else, in [the scheme consisting only of the planet] itself, friends, and enemies, the twelfths of points’. This concludes the judgement of [strength for] good and evil.

Concerning this, some consider the strength as an eightfold total; and Hillāja says:

The planet that is (1) of middling motion (samagati), (2) [heliacally] risen (udita), (3) aspected (saumya-drṣṭa) or (4) joined to benefics (yukta), (5) in a benefic mutthaśila, (6) in a benefic house (saumyabhāva), (7) in the degree of the sun (arkabhāga), and (8) placed between benefics (śubhamadhya) is declared by the great sages to be exceedingly powerful (ativīrya); one that negates the strengths (balavirodhī) [just] described, to have little power (hīnavīrya); and, if the planet has a balance of both strengths [for good and evil] (ubhayabala-samāsa), or in the absence of both, to be of middling power (madhyavīrya).

Here, the negation of middling motion is swift motion; the negation of [heliacally] risen is set: this is how all [the criteria] should be understood. On this matter, each [criterion of ] strength should be understood to amount to two and a half points. The conclusion, then, is that anyone wishing to know the detailed results [of a planet] should consider the sixfold strength described above; failing that, one should consider the total strength of the five dignities; and failing even that, one should consider the eightfold strength.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Balabhadra’s claim that these two stanzas refer to sahamas or lots is supported by colophons in MSS of the Tājikamuktāvali, though not by the stanzas themselves, which do not contain the word sahama. The word used is sadman ‘dwelling, abode’, which in a Tājika context is sometimes used as a synonym of sahama, but which might also refer to the twelve horoscopic houses themselves, giving a less tortuous reading of the Sanskrit. I have nevertheless translated sadman as ‘lot’ in the following quotation.

[2]:

This half-stanza reads differently in independent witnesses of the Tājikamuktāvali: ‘For the lots of [the houses] (or: For the places) here beginning with the ascendant, the strength is that arising from the aspect kataya of its ruler.’ The non-Sanskrit word kataya/katayā (possibly an instrumental inflection of *katā) might conceivably be a variant of kuttha ‘strength’ (Arabic quwwa), which would fit the context. In any case, either Balabhadra or some intervening copyist appears to have smoothed out the troublesome phrase.

[3]:

The results of 4½, 5, 5½ and 6 points appear to be missing.

[4]:

Possibly the ‘enmity and illnesses’ should be read with Mars rather than the moon. Another possible reading is ‘sexual illnesses’.

[5]:

‘A trine’ in this context means the fifth or ninth house.

[6]:

Vargottama is a part of a sign, particularly a ninth-part, corresponding to that same sign, e.g., the ninth-part of Aries in Aries.

[7]:

All text witnesses share this reading, although the compound is in the plural rather than the dual, which would properly suggest at least three compounded items. The eighth house is typically listed with the sixth and twelfth.

[8]:

From the context it would seem that riḥpha is used here not in the standard sense, as a name for the twelfth house (from Greek ῥιφή), but rather as a truncated form of mūsariḥpha (from Arabic munṣarif ; cf. next chapter).