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The Navamsha Chart

By Michael Laughrin, Michael@jyotish.ws

The Navamsha chart is, by far, the most important divisional chart of them all.

"Navamsha" means "1/9th" in Sanskrit. What is a Navamsha chart? If you divide each sign into equal portions of 3 degrees and 20 minutes, you will see which Navamsha each planet falls into. Many books cover the Navamsha chart in more detail.

The Navamsha chart has three important uses:

  1. A further measure of strength of the planet in the Rasi (main) chart
  2. A predictive tool of the second half of the native's life (from Hart de Fouw)
  3. It tells us something about the spouse
Chart A1:Native's Rasi Chart and Chart A2: Native's Navamsha ChartOne should never attempt to interpret a chart without close attention to the Navamsha chart. In Charts A1 and A2 (see Charts A1 and A2 on this page, or download larger charts) we see that the native has Venus in its own sign of Taurus in the auspicious 5th house. Should be good for marriage in the Venus dasha, right? (The Venus dasha ran from ages 26 through 46.) Wrong, although he almost got married several times; the actual marriage occurred at age 47 in the Sun dasha. Why not Venus? If you look at the Navamsha chart, you will see that Venus is debilitated. Some astrologers even say the Navamsha position trumps the Rasi position. It is better to have a planet debilitated in the Rasi chart and exalted in the Navamsha chart than the other way around.

Narendra Desai (now deceased) said that you should take the planets in the Navamsha chart and place them in their correct sign position around the outside edge of the main chart. It will look as if there are 18 planets instead of only 9. If we do this with our example charts, we come to some interesting conclusions. Which house is the strongest? Definitely the 9th. Why? Retrograde Jupiter is there in the Rasi (retrogression is a measure of strength according to Hart de Fouw) AND Mercury, Venus and Rahu are there from the Navamsha chart. Which house is second-strongest? The fifth, with the Sun, Venus and Rahu from the Rasi chart and the Lagna (Ascendant) of the Navamsha chart.

Which planet is the strongest? That's easy, it's Mercury, hands down. Why? It is lord of the 9th house in the Rasi chart and placed in an angle (the 4th house). And in the Navamsha? It is exalted in its own house in the lucky 5th house.

So, in the second half of life the native became a writer and has written two books so far and many, many articles. And the spouse has Virgo rising (the strongest sign in both Rasi and Navamsha charts of the native).

What about this debilitated but Vargottama (same sign in Rasi and Navamsha charts) Moon? It is said that even one vargottama planet brings fame. The native has attained some measure of fame in the Moon dasha, which is running currently. Also, we see that the Moon is strongly placed by house in both charts -- in the lucky 11th house in the Rasi and in the powerful 7th house in Navamsha. And the spouse has the Moon in Virgo in the first house in her Rasi chart.

Spiritual pursuits have been exceedingly important in the native's life. Why? Well, Jupiter -- the planet of gurus, religion, and philosophy -- is near the zenith of the Rasi chart in the spiritual 9th house. And, in the Navamsha, it is strongly placed in the house of happiness, the 4th house. Strength upon strength.

The native is terrible at sports. The main planet of sports, Mars, is debilitated in the Rasi chart and weak in the 8th house in Navamsha. Concerning the Navamsha ascendant, Taurus, it does two things. It strengthens Taurus in the Rasi chart and it tells us something about the spouse. Now, even though she has Virgo Lagna, she has both Venus and Saturn in Taurus in the lucky 9th house in her Rasi.

Hopefully, this article gives us some hints about how to apply the Navamsha chart in the process of interpreting and predicting for a client. Happy digging!

(c) copyright 2006 Michael Laughrin.

(From the December 2006 / January 2007 issue of Michael Laughrin's North American Jyotish Newsletter. Click to subscribe to this free Jyotish newsletter. )


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