Learn · Foundations · Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, chapter 34

Which planets help your chart? Yogakaraka and functional benefics for every ascendant

A planet is not simply good or bad. In Parashari Jyotish its role depends on the houses it rules for your ascendant: the same Saturn can be the best planet in one chart and the most troublesome in another. Choose an ascendant below to see which planets are yogakaraka, benefic, neutral, malefic or maraka, and why.

Choose an ascendant (lagna)

Rahu and Ketu own no signs in the Parashari scheme and are judged by their placement and associations, so they are not classified here.

The rules, in plain English

Parashara sets out general principles of functional nature, then applies them to each ascendant. The tool above follows them in this order:

1. Lords of the trines are always auspicious. The 1st, 5th and 9th houses are trines; their lords help the chart.
2. A planet that rules both an angle (4th, 7th or 10th) and a trine (5th or 9th) is a yogakaraka, the most favourable planet for that ascendant.
3. Lords of the 3rd, 6th and 11th houses produce harmful results.
4. Angles change a planet's natural character. A natural benefic (Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, the Moon) ruling an angle loses its goodness, a blemish called kendradhipati dosha; a natural malefic (Saturn, Mars, the Sun) ruling an angle loses its harm and becomes neutral.
5. The 8th lord is adverse, except for the Sun and the Moon, whose 8th lordship carries no blemish.
6. Lords of the 2nd and 12th are neutral and take on the nature of their other house and their associations.
7. When a planet rules two houses, its moolatrikona sign decides which lordship counts most.
8. Lords of the 2nd and 7th are marakas, planets whose periods can bring difficulty to health and longevity, judged only together with the rest of the chart.
9. Parashara's pronouncements for individual ascendants come first. Where he names a planet's role for a specific ascendant and it differs from the general rules, his statement is followed and marked in the table.

Questions

What is a yogakaraka?

A yogakaraka is a single planet that rules both an angle and a trine for a given ascendant, and so combines power with good fortune. Six ascendants have one: Saturn for Taurus and Libra, Mars for Cancer and Leo, and Venus for Capricorn and Aquarius.

What is a functional benefic?

A planet whose house rulership makes it helpful for a particular ascendant, whatever its natural character. Saturn, a natural malefic, is the best planet for Taurus because it rules the 9th and 10th houses.

What is a maraka?

The lords of the 2nd and 7th houses are called marakas. Classically their periods are examined when judging longevity and difficult phases, but a maraka is never read in isolation, and LotusAstro never uses it to predict harm or to frighten.

How does LotusAstro use this?

Functional nature is layer 3 of every reading (see the methodology). Sutras that depend on it are tested against real charts and graded in the Sutras register.

Source: Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, chapter 34 (effects of yogas and house lordship), read in the R. Santhanam and G. C. Sharma translations; explanations and wording are our own.