Avastha

sanskrit: अवस्था (Avasthā)

Definition

An avastha — Sanskrit for a state or condition — describes the shape a planet is in, which changes how fully and in what manner it delivers its results, over and above its bare dignity or strength. The word is an umbrella over several distinct sub-systems: the Baaladi (age-based) states, set by the degree a planet holds within a sign; the Jagradaadi (consciousness) states; the Deeptaadi (sign-relation) states; the Sayanadi (activity) states; and the Lajjitadi (emotional or mental) states. Each scheme sorts a planet into a named condition that colours the effects it gives.

In Tradition

Classical and modern Jyotish writers agree that a planet's avastha governs how completely it delivers its results: a favourable state lets it give its full effect, an afflicted one gives little or none, and the states in between scale proportionately. Phaladeepika puts the extreme case plainly: "In the case of a planet in a Pradeeptavastha, the good effect will be full, while it will be nil for a planet in a Vikala state."

In Practice

A jyotishi (astrologer) reads a house's prosperity partly through the avastha of its lord — the planet ruling that bhava (house). The bhava tends to flourish when its lord sits in an auspicious state such as Yuva or Kumara (youthful ages) or an awakened (Jagrat) condition, and to suffer when its lord is Vriddha or Mrita (old or dead) or asleep. The Deeptaadi and similar nine-state schemes judge a planet by its sign-relation, conjunctions, and combustion (closeness to the Sun's glare); the Baaladi scheme assigns one of five age-states by the degree the planet occupies — counting forward in odd signs, reversed in even ones. Some texts add a temporal (kala) avastha drawn from how far a planet sits from the Sun. Several authors caution that these states are weighed alongside, not above, the planet's overall strength, exaltation, or debilitation, and against the houses it touches in the divisional charts.

Historical Origin

The doctrine runs through the classical Jyotish corpus. Parasara's Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra (Ch.11 and Ch.45) lays out the Baaladi, Jagradaadi, Deeptaadi, and Sayanadi groups, and Mantreswara's Phaladeepika, Kalyana Varma's Saravali, Kalidasa's Uttara Kalamrita, and the Prasna Marga each give their own state-lists. Modern authors — Charak, Raman, Larsen, Cole, and Narasimha Rao — restate and systematise these schemes.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading