Chapter 4 · भाव Bhava
The 12 houses
If the signs are the stage and the planets the actors, the houses are the scenes of life: self, wealth, family, home, children, work, marriage and more. This chapter shows what each house governs, how the houses group together, and how to read a North Indian chart.
- What each of the 12 houses governs
- How the ascendant decides which sign falls in each house
- The house groups: kendras, trikonas, dusthanas, upachayas
- How to read a North Indian chart
1. Houses: where life happens
A chart has twelve houses (bhavas). Each one governs an area of life. The 1st house is the ascendant (lagna): the sign rising on the eastern horizon at the moment of birth. The other houses follow in order. In whole-sign houses, used here, each house is one complete sign.
Choose an ascendant to see which sign falls in each house, and select any house to see what it governs. The chart below is drawn in the North Indian style, where the houses stay fixed and the signs move.
2. Groups of houses
Houses fall into groups that tell you a great deal at a glance. Angles (kendras) are pillars of strength; trines (trikonas) are fortunate; the difficult houses (dusthanas) bring obstacles; growth houses (upachayas) improve with time. Use the buttons above the card to highlight each group in the chart.
Worked example · Albert Einstein
Four planets in the 10th house
With a Gemini ascendant, Pisces is the 10th house, the house of career and reputation, and it holds four planets: the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Saturn. The Moon is in the 6th, Mars and Rahu in the 8th, Jupiter in the 9th and Ketu in the 2nd.
Try it: choose Gemini in the chart above to see the same layout.
| Sign and degree | House | |
|---|---|---|
| Ascendant | 19°28′ Gemini | 1 |
| Sun | 1°20′ Pisces | 10 |
| Moon | 22°22′ Scorpio | 6 |
| Mars | 4°45′ Capricorn | 8 |
| Mercury | 10°59′ Pisces | 10 |
| Jupiter | 5°19′ Aquarius | 9 |
| Venus | 24°49′ Pisces | 10 |
| Saturn | 12°01′ Pisces | 10 |
| Rahu | 10°34′ Capricorn | 8 |
| Ketu | 10°34′ Cancer | 2 |
Birth data: 14 March 1879, 11:30 local time, Ulm, Germany; Rodden rating AA (from the birth record), as listed by Astrotheme from Astro-Databank. Positions converted by LotusAstro to the sidereal zodiac (Lahiri ayanamsa, about 22°10′ in 1879), whole-sign houses. One famous chart illustrates a technique; it proves nothing on its own.
Worked example · Indira Gandhi
Saturn in the 1st, the Moon in the 7th
With a Cancer ascendant, Saturn sits in the 1st house and the Moon, lord of the ascendant, sits opposite in the 7th. Mars is in the 2nd; the Sun and Mercury in the 5th; Venus and Rahu in the 6th; Jupiter in the 11th, the house of gains; Ketu in the 12th.
Try it: choose Cancer in the chart above.
| Sign and degree | House | |
|---|---|---|
| Ascendant | 27°23′ Cancer | 1 |
| Sun | 4°08′ Scorpio | 5 |
| Moon | 5°36′ Capricorn | 7 |
| Mars | 16°23′ Leo | 2 |
| Mercury | 13°15′ Scorpio | 5 |
| Jupiter | 15°01′ Taurus | 11 |
| Venus | 21°01′ Sagittarius | 6 |
| Saturn | 21°48′ Cancer | 1 |
| Rahu | 9°13′ Sagittarius | 6 |
| Ketu | 9°13′ Gemini | 12 |
Birth data: 19 November 1917, 23:11 local time, Allahabad (now Prayagraj), India; source given as her own account (Rodden rating A), as listed by Astrotheme. Positions converted by LotusAstro to the sidereal zodiac (Lahiri ayanamsa, about 22°42′ in 1917), whole-sign houses. One chart illustrates a technique; it proves nothing on its own.
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