Bhāva Reference
The twelve houses by principle rather than keyword, with the judgment rule and the classifications.
Drawn from BPHS 8, BPHS 13, BPHS 14, BPHS 15, BPHS 16, BPHS 17, BPHS 18, BPHS 19, BPHS 20, BPHS 21, BPHS 22, BPHS 23, BPHS 24, BPHS 25. Ch. 8 · Ch. 13 · Ch. 14 · Ch. 15 · Ch. 16 · Ch. 17 · Ch. 18 · Ch. 19 · Ch. 20 · Ch. 21 · Ch. 22 · Ch. 23 · Ch. 24 · Ch. 25
The twelve, by principle
The principle generates the significations. Learn the principle; look the significations up.
| # | Name | The one idea | BPHS significations (13.2–13) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tanu | the embodied self as it shows up | physique, appearance, intellect, complexion, vigour, weakness, joy and sorrow, innate nature |
| 2 | Dhana | accumulation and holding | wealth, food, family, enemies, metals, precious stones |
| 3 | Sahaja | self-generated effort and reach | valour, servants, siblings, initiatory instruction, journeys, parents’ death |
| 4 | Bandhu | what holds and shelters a life | conveyance, relatives, mother, happiness, treasure, lands, houses |
| 5 | Putra | what is brought forth from within, and the merit permitting it | amulets, mantras, learning, intelligence, sons, capacity to manage, falling from position |
| 6 | Ari | what opposes you and must be worked against | enemies, wounds and ulcers, maternal uncle, step-mother |
| 7 | Yuvati | the other party, and what happens at that boundary | wife, journey, trade, something vanishing from sight, death |
| 8 | Randhra | what is hidden, not yours, or past an ending | longevity, battle, enemies, forts, wealth of the dead, past and future lives |
| 9 | Dharma | what comes to you from beyond yourself | fortune, religion, pilgrimage, wife’s brother, brother’s wife |
| 10 | Karma | action and what action produces | authority, profession, honour, father, foreign residence, debts |
| 11 | Lābha | delivery — where promises arrive | receipt of articles, income, prosperity, son’s wife, quadrupeds |
| 12 | Vyaya | what leaves, is given up, or lies outside | expenses, knowledge of the enemy, one’s own death |
Two glosses to keep resisting. The 10th is not “career” — it is Karma, of which career is one instance. The 12th is not “loss” — it is dissolution, which includes release, retreat, foreign life, generosity and liberation.
The judgment rule — BPHS 13.14–16
A house prospers when any of these hold:
- benefics occupy it
- benefics aspect it
- its own lord occupies or aspects it
- its lord is in a good Avasthā — Yuvā or Kumāra, or awake
- its lord is in the 10th
A house suffers when any of these hold:
- its lord is destroyed
- its lord is conjunct malefics
- it lacks the aspect of its lord and of benefics
- its lord is combined with the lords of the evil houses
- its lord is defeated in planetary war
- its lord is in a bad Avasthā — Vṛddha or Mṛta, or asleep
Note that eight of the eleven conditions concern the lord rather than the house. Run both lists; “mixed” is a legitimate and common verdict, and naming which conditions pull each way is worth more than a verdict.
The three overlapping classifications
| Grouping | Houses | What it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Kendra | 1, 4, 7, 10 | angular strength |
| Paṇaphara | 2, 5, 8, 11 | succedent |
| Āpoklima | 3, 6, 9, 12 | cadent |
| Trikoṇa | 1, 5, 9 | merit and fortune |
| Duḥsthāna / Trika | 6, 8, 12 | difficult places |
| Trishadāya | 3, 6, 11 | difficult lordships |
| Upachaya | 3, 6, 10, 11 | houses of increase |
They overlap deliberately. The 6th is Duḥsthāna, Āpoklima and Upachaya at once — difficulty that characteristically improves with effort.
The 1st is both Kendra and Trikoṇa, which is why its lord carries more weight than any other planet.
Three lists, three questions. Duḥsthāna for a planet’s position. Trishadāya for a planet’s lordship. The “evil houses” list at 13.14–16 — the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th and 12th — is the translator’s bracketed combination of both, supplied where Parashara wrote only “the evil houses”. Chapter 36 verse 15 gives Parashara’s own set for lordship purposes.
Which house for which question
| Question | Primary | Supporting | What would undo it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marriage | 7th, Venus, Upapada, D9 | 2nd, 8th, 11th | 6th, 8th, 12th from the 7th |
| Children | 5th, Jupiter, D7 | 9th from the 5th | 6th, 8th, 12th from the 5th |
| Education | 4th, 5th, Mercury, Jupiter | 9th and 12th for foreign study | 6th, 8th, 12th from the 5th |
| Career | 10th, D10, Ātmakāraka | 6th for service, 7th for independent work, 11th | 3rd, 5th, 9th (the 6/8/12 from the 10th) |
| Money | 2nd stock, 11th inflow | 5th for production | 12th outflow, 6th for debt |
| Property | 4th, Mars, D4 | 11th | 6th, 8th, 12th from the 4th |
| Relocation | 12th, 9th, 3rd | movable signs, D4 | the 4th, as the cost |
| Life direction | Ātmakāraka, Kārakāṁśa, Lagna lord | strongest and weakest planets | — |
Where each house’s own chapter is
Ch. 14 (1st) · 15 (2nd) · 16 (3rd) · 17 (4th) · 18 (5th) · 19 (6th) · 20 (7th) · 21 (8th) · 22 (9th) · 23 (10th) · 24 (11th) · 25 (12th).
All twelve share one structure: planets in that house first, then that house’s lord in each house, then particular combinations. Index into the part you need.
Chapter 26 gives all 144 lord-in-house combinations systematically, ordered by ruling house and then by occupied house — twelve blocks of twelve.
Counting from something other than the Lagna
The frame can be re-anchored, and BPHS does it constantly:
- the 9th from the Sun for the father, the 4th from the Moon for the mother (8.39–43, 34.22–24)
- houses from a special lagna (Ch. 6)
- houses from the Kārakāṁśa (Ch. 35)
- houses from the running sign in a sign-based daśā (Ch. 52)
- houses from the Mahādaśā lord in Antardaśā reading (Ch. 54)
- all twelve from the Lagna, Moon and Sun at once — the Sudarśana Chakra (Ch. 76)