Shadbala is the six-fold strength of a planet, given in BPHS chapter 27. The six sources are Sthana Bala for position, Dig Bala for direction, Kala Bala for time, Cheshta Bala for motion, Naisargika Bala for natural strength and Drik Bala for aspects. They are computed in virupas, summed, and reported in rupas against the minimum the text sets for that particular planet.

What are virupas and rupas?

They are the units Shadbala is measured in. Sixty virupas make one rupa. The classical formulas are all stated in virupas, so the engine computes in virupas and divides by 60 for display, which is why a planet's total is printed as a figure like 7.4 rupas rather than 444.

How much Shadbala does a planet need to count as strong?

Each planet has its own line, and the required minimums are Sun 6.5 rupas, Moon 6.0, Mars 5.0, Mercury 7.0, Jupiter 6.5, Venus 5.5 and Saturn 5.0. A Mercury at 6.8 rupas is below its requirement while a Saturn at the same total is comfortably above its own, so totals must be compared to the planet's own minimum and not to each other.

What is the difference between Bhinnashtakavarga and Sarvashtakavarga?

A Bhinnashtakavarga is one planet's own table of bindus across the twelve signs, built from eight reference points, which are the seven planets and the ascendant. The Sarvashtakavarga is the sign-by-sign sum of the seven planetary tables. BAV answers where a single planet is supported; SAV answers which signs of the chart are collectively supported.

Does Ashtakavarga include Rahu and Ketu?

No. Ashtakavarga is defined over the seven grahas from the Sun to Saturn; the nodes have no Bhinnashtakavarga of their own and contribute no bindus. Anywhere the nodes would appear in an Ashtakavarga table, the correct reading is that the scheme does not apply to them rather than that they score zero.

What is Vimsopaka bala out of 20?

Vimsopaka bala scores a planet's dignity across a set of divisional charts. Each varga carries a fixed weight, the weights sum to 20, and the planet earns a share of each weight by its dignity in that varga, from 20 for own sign or exaltation down to 0 for debilitation. Four classical schemes are computed, and the resulting score is read through the four bands BPHS 7.26 to 27 gives.

Do Shadbala results change if my birth time is slightly wrong?

Yes, some components do. Dig Bala depends on the ascendant and midheaven, and Nathonnata, Tribhaga, the hora lord and Ayana Bala all depend on the birth moment relative to sunrise and sunset. Sthana Bala and Naisargika Bala barely move. A birth time uncertain by more than a few minutes therefore shifts the total mostly through the time-and-place limbs.

Strength

Planetary Strength

Shadbala (six-fold strength) and Ashtakavarga (BAV/SAV) - how strong each planet and sign is.

Birth Details

Shadbala & Ashtakavarga strength

Shadbala: six sources of strength, one total in rupas

Shadbala measures how strong each of the seven grahas is by adding six separately computed sources of strength, and this page reports the total for every planet against the minimum that BPHS requires of it.

The six are Sthana Bala, positional strength, itself the sum of Uccha, Saptavargaja, Kendradi, Ojayugma and Drekkana components; Dig Bala, directional strength taken from the arc between the planet and the cardinal point where it is powerless; Kala Bala, temporal strength covering the Nathonnata, Paksha, Tribhaga, year, month, day and hour lords, and the outcome of any planetary war; Cheshta Bala, motional strength; Naisargika Bala, natural strength; and Drik Bala, aspectual strength derived from the aspect curve and divided by four.

Everything is computed in virupas, where 60 virupas make one rupa, and then reported per component in rupas so the totals sit on the same scale as the required minimums. Rahu and Ketu are excluded: Shadbala is defined over the seven grahas from the Sun to Saturn, and the required-strength table in the text names those seven only.

The minimum each planet has to clear

A Shadbala total is not read on its own. BPHS gives a required minimum for each planet, and strong or weak means above or below that planet's own line.

In virupas the minimums are Sun 390, Moon 360, Mars 300, Mercury 420, Jupiter 390, Venus 330 and Saturn 300, which divided by 60 give 6.5, 6.0, 5.0, 7.0, 6.5, 5.5 and 5.0 rupas respectively. Mercury has the highest bar and Mars and Saturn the lowest, so the same numeric total means different things for different planets.

Several of the six sources depend on when and where you were born rather than only on where the planets were. Nathonnata, Tribhaga, the hora lord, Ayana Bala and Dig Bala all need the birth moment, the sunrise and sunset of that day, and the ascendant and midheaven.

When that context is supplied the exact formulas run; when a caller has only positions, those limbs fall back to neutral values rather than being silently invented, and the total is correspondingly less informative.

Ashtakavarga: 337 bindus, and where they fall

Ashtakavarga is a second and independent measure. For each of the seven planets a Bhinnashtakavarga, or BAV, is built by asking eight reference points, the seven planets plus the ascendant, which houses counted from themselves are benefic for that planet, and marking a bindu in each. The per-planet totals are fixed by the rules and never vary: Sun 48, Moon 49, Mercury 54, Venus 52, Mars 39, Jupiter 56 and Saturn 39.

Adding the seven BAV tables sign by sign produces the Sarvashtakavarga, or SAV, whose grand total is therefore always 337. That figure is a mathematical constant of the scheme rather than a property of your chart, and the engine validates against it.

What varies is the distribution: which signs carry many bindus and which few. Note that the ascendant has a Bhinnashtakavarga of its own, worth 49 bindus, which BPHS gives at 66.65 to 68 and which the longevity reckoning uses, but it is not a member of the Sarvashtakavarga; including it would turn 337 into 386.

Vimsopaka bala and the divisional charts

Vimsopaka bala scores a planet out of 20 across a set of divisional charts. Each varga in a scheme carries a fixed weight, the weights of a scheme sum to 20, and in every varga the planet earns a fraction of that weight according to its dignity there.

The dignity scale is the varga visva table of BPHS 7.21 to 27: own sign, exaltation or moolatrikona counts 20, great friend 18, friend 15, neutral 10, enemy 7, great enemy 5, and debilitation 0 per BPHS 7.9 to 12. Four classical schemes are computed, so a planet can look strong on one and weaker on another.

The resulting 0 to 20 figure is read through the four bands BPHS 7.26 to 27 gives, and the same chapter's eight-grade dasha classification at 7.30 to 32 is computed alongside it. Vimsopaka answers a different question from Shadbala: not how much force a planet carries at the moment of birth, but how well it holds its dignity as the chart is divided more and more finely.

Ishta and Kashta phala, and the avasthas

Ishta phala and Kashta phala are the benefic and malefic potentials, and both are simple functions of two quantities. Ishta is the square root of Uccha Bala multiplied by Cheshta Bala; Kashta is the square root of 60 minus Uccha Bala multiplied by 60 minus Cheshta Bala.

Both inputs are in virupas on a 0 to 60 range, and the results run 0 to 60. The Cheshta Kendra used here is the one BPHS 28.3 to 4 defines specifically for this computation, which is not the same quantity Shadbala uses, and Rahu and Ketu are excluded.

The avastha panel reports the classical planetary states, including the Deeptadi and Lajjitadi families. Two conventions on that panel are the app's own and are marked as such on the page: a debilitated planet is graded Khala in Deeptadi and counted as being in an enemy's rashi for Kshudhita.

BPHS chapter 45 has no debilitation state at all, since its grades run on the five-fold friendship with the sign lord, so rather than quietly filling the gap the app says whose rule it is.

Frequently asked questions

What is Shadbala?: Shadbala is the six-fold strength of a planet, given in BPHS chapter 27. The six sources are Sthana Bala for position, Dig Bala for direction, Kala Bala for time, Cheshta Bala for motion, Naisargika Bala for natural strength and Drik Bala for aspects. They are computed in virupas, summed, and reported in rupas against the minimum the text sets for that particular planet.
What are virupas and rupas?: They are the units Shadbala is measured in. Sixty virupas make one rupa. The classical formulas are all stated in virupas, so the engine computes in virupas and divides by 60 for display, which is why a planet's total is printed as a figure like 7.4 rupas rather than 444.
How much Shadbala does a planet need to count as strong?: Each planet has its own line, and the required minimums are Sun 6.5 rupas, Moon 6.0, Mars 5.0, Mercury 7.0, Jupiter 6.5, Venus 5.5 and Saturn 5.0. A Mercury at 6.8 rupas is below its requirement while a Saturn at the same total is comfortably above its own, so totals must be compared to the planet's own minimum and not to each other.
Why does the Sarvashtakavarga always total 337?: Because the bindu rules are fixed. Each planet's Bhinnashtakavarga has an invariant total set by its own rule table, and those totals are Sun 48, Moon 49, Mercury 54, Venus 52, Mars 39, Jupiter 56 and Saturn 39. Their sum is 337 for every chart ever cast. What differs between charts is only how those 337 bindus are distributed across the twelve signs.
What is the difference between Bhinnashtakavarga and Sarvashtakavarga?: A Bhinnashtakavarga is one planet's own table of bindus across the twelve signs, built from eight reference points, which are the seven planets and the ascendant. The Sarvashtakavarga is the sign-by-sign sum of the seven planetary tables. BAV answers where a single planet is supported; SAV answers which signs of the chart are collectively supported.
Does Ashtakavarga include Rahu and Ketu?: No. Ashtakavarga is defined over the seven grahas from the Sun to Saturn; the nodes have no Bhinnashtakavarga of their own and contribute no bindus. Anywhere the nodes would appear in an Ashtakavarga table, the correct reading is that the scheme does not apply to them rather than that they score zero.
What is Vimsopaka bala out of 20?: Vimsopaka bala scores a planet's dignity across a set of divisional charts. Each varga carries a fixed weight, the weights sum to 20, and the planet earns a share of each weight by its dignity in that varga, from 20 for own sign or exaltation down to 0 for debilitation. Four classical schemes are computed, and the resulting score is read through the four bands BPHS 7.26 to 27 gives.
Do Shadbala results change if my birth time is slightly wrong?: Yes, some components do. Dig Bala depends on the ascendant and midheaven, and Nathonnata, Tribhaga, the hora lord and Ayana Bala all depend on the birth moment relative to sunrise and sunset. Sthana Bala and Naisargika Bala barely move. A birth time uncertain by more than a few minutes therefore shifts the total mostly through the time-and-place limbs.