Shadbala — the six strengths of a planet

What Shadbala counts

Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, chapter 27, names six sources of a planet's strength. Sthana bala, positional: the dignity of the planet by sign — exaltation, own sign, a friend's sign — in the chart and in the divisional charts, and its place among the houses. Dig bala, directional: each planet is strongest in one house — Mercury and Jupiter in the 1st, the Sun and Mars in the 10th, Saturn in the 7th, the Moon and Venus in the 4th. Kala bala, temporal: day or night, the phase of the Moon, the lords of the year, month, day and hour, and the Sun's northern or southern course. Cheshta bala, motional: how fast the planet moves; a retrograde planet is counted as strong in motion. Naisargika bala, natural: a fixed value for each planet that is the same in every chart — Sun 60 virupas, Moon 51.43, Venus 42.86, Jupiter 34.29, Mercury 25.71, Mars 17.14, Saturn 8.57. Drik bala, aspectual: aspects of benefics add and aspects of malefics subtract, so this part can be negative.

The minimum each planet needs

The six parts are added into the planet's total. Parashara gives each planet the total it must reach to act with full force:

The minimums differ from planet to planet — Mercury needs the most, Mars and Saturn the least — which is why the totals of two planets cannot be compared directly. Compare the ratio, the total divided by the minimum.

How to read the result

A ratio of 1 or more means the planet has passed: it can deliver its themes clearly. Below 1 the planet gives its results with more difficulty and less visibly; this is not a verdict, and it is read together with its dignity, aspects and the dasha that is running. In practice astrologers look at three things: which planets are strongest and weakest, whether the lagna lord and the lord of the running dasha have passed, and whether a planet that looks weak by sign has strength from another part.

Strength is not benefit. A strong Saturn is a strong Saturn: it carries discipline, delay and work with full force. Whether that helps depends on the houses the planet rules and the house it stands in, which is why Shadbala is one input to a reading and never the whole of it.

A worked example

Take a sample chart: 1 January 1990, 12:00, Delhi. The engine gives:

The Sun has the most rupas and the best ratio. Mars has the fewest rupas (5.25) yet passes (1.05), because its minimum is only 5. Mercury has more rupas than Mars and still falls just short (6.87 against 7): the only planet of the seven that has not passed. Judging by the rupas alone would have put Mercury ahead of Mars; the ratio puts it behind.

Why programs show different totals

The six parts are defined by Parashara, but their sub-parts — the lords of the hour, the Moon's phase, the speed at which retrograde motion begins to count — are computed in slightly different ways in different books and programs. Totals therefore agree closely, not exactly: a few virupas of difference is normal, and a big one is a reason to check the birth time or the ayanamsha (see why charts differ). Compare ratios and the order of the planets, not the last digit. JyotiSoft calculates Shadbala for every chart, and the technical data in the bot lists each planet's total and ratio.

Questions

See also

• Ashtakavarga
• Neecha bhanga
• Combust planets
• Vimshottari dasha
• Navamsha (D9)
• Sun (Surya)

Positions and tables: sidereal zodiac, Lahiri ayanamsha — the same as professional Jyotish astrologers use, and the same calculation as the charts in JyotiSoft. Updated 2026-10-14.