Kāraka Reference
Natural significators, the chara kārakas, and the house-lord-kāraka triangulation.
Drawn from BPHS 34, BPHS 35, BPHS 11. Ch. 34 · Ch. 35 · Ch. 11
The principle
The house describes the domain. The lord describes where its matters get worked out. The kāraka describes the thing or person itself.
Where all three agree, confidence is high. Where they disagree, you have found the shape of the matter — a well-supported 4th house with an afflicted Moon describes a settled home and a mother in difficulty, and you can only say that because you have both instruments.
Fixed kārakas — BPHS 34.18–21
| Matter | Kāraka |
|---|---|
| Father | the stronger of the Sun and Venus |
| Mother | the stronger of the Moon and Mars |
| Siblings, sister, brother-in-law | Mars |
| Children | Jupiter |
| Spouse | Venus (Jupiter for a woman’s chart in most practice) |
| Enemies, maternal uncle | Mercury |
Note that several are defined as the stronger of two planets — so even the “fixed” kārakas are partly chart-dependent, which summary tables usually flatten.
BPHS 11.43 adds the broadest statement: the Sun is the father of all beings and the Moon the mother.
Counted kārakas — BPHS 34.22–24
Count from the significator rather than from the Lagna:
| Matter | Count |
|---|---|
| Father | the 9th from the Sun |
| Mother | the 4th from the Moon |
| Siblings | the 3rd from Mars |
| Children | the 5th from Jupiter |
| Maternal uncle | the 6th from Mercury |
This is the re-anchoring technique, introduced at BPHS 8.39–43 for the Sun and generalised here.
Chara kārakas — BPHS 34.3–17
Assigned by degree within the sign, so they differ from chart to chart.
Compare degrees, then minutes, then seconds. Note: highest degree within its sign, not highest longitude — a planet at 28° Pisces beats one at 27° Aries on the 28.
| Rank | Kāraka | Signifies |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (highest degree) | Ātmakāraka | the self, life direction |
| 2 | Amātyakāraka | the minister, career and counsel |
| 3 | Bhrātṛkāraka | siblings |
| 4 | Mātṛkāraka | mother |
| 5 | Pitṛkāraka | father |
| 6–7 | remaining | in descending degree |
Verses 1–2 record an open question: whether Rahu is included, making eight rather than seven. BPHS reports both views without settling; most practice uses the seven.
Why the Ātmakāraka matters — BPHS 34.9–12
Just as by the order of the king his son and his ministers are capable of doing public works, in the same manner the other kārakas become effect-giving in conformity with the Ātmakāraka.
The other significators operate within what the Ātmakāraka permits. It sets the terms; they work inside them. That is why life-direction questions open with it rather than treating it as one factor among many.
Two practical notes.
It is robust to bad birth data. Planets move slowly, so a birth time wrong by two hours almost never changes which planet holds the highest degree — except when the Moon is a close contender, since it moves half a degree an hour. That makes the Ātmakāraka usable on charts too rough for anything Lagna-dependent.
A malefic Ātmakāraka is not a bad omen. It names what the life is organised around. Saturn: endurance, structure, labour, time, consequence. Whether that reads as burden or as mastery depends on Saturn’s condition and everything else. The strength-is-not-virtue rule applies.
Kārakāṁśa — BPHS 35
The Navāṁśa sign occupied by the Ātmakāraka, read as a lagna with houses counted from it.
Requires degrees. Ch. 35 verses 2–8 give the twelve signs; 13–18 the planets in the Kārakāṁśa; 25–99 further combinations and houses counted from it.
Strongest stated combination (35.9–11): benefics in the Kārakāṁśa and in the Navāṁśa Lagna, aspected by benefics and free of malefic conjunction.
House-kārakas — BPHS 34.31–34
Houses as significators of matters, running alongside the house significations themselves:
- the Lagna is the Ātmakāraka among houses
- the 2nd signifies the wife
- the 11th the elder brother
- the 3rd younger siblings
- the 5th sons
Additional routes rather than replacements. The system builds redundancy deliberately and expects you to compare.
Aṣṭakavarga uses the same significations
BPHS 72.1–6 assigns each planet’s Aṣṭakavarga to that planet’s kāraka subjects — the Sun’s table to soul, nature, strength and father; the Moon’s to mind, wisdom, happiness and mother; and so on. The system reuses Ch. 34 rather than inventing new significations.