Dasamsa

Definition

The Dasamsa is the tenth divisional chart — a varga, or sub-chart, called the D-10. You build it by splitting each sign into ten equal three-degree parts. In an odd sign the ten parts are counted in order from that sign itself; in an even sign they start from the ninth sign away and then run on in order. It is the chart you read for your career, profession, status and work in the world, and it is also called the Svargamsa.

In Tradition

These classical-to-modern Jyotish writers agree the Dasamsa is the divisional chart of career. It is where astrologers read your profession, your occupation, what you achieve, and how you rise in public or working life — and they read it alongside your birth chart, never on its own.

In Practice

Frawley ties the Dasamsa to the tenth house and its themes — power, position, achievement, status and skill — and uses it to read your vocation and career. Cole calls it a magnifying glass on the tenth house: look here for the details of your profession, job changes, how you get on with employers and employees, and the timing and degree of your rise at work. He names its karaka planets (the planets that signify the matter) as Mercury, the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn, and the tenth house as its karaka bhava (the house that signifies it). Larsen looks at the Karana lord in the Dasamsa to see where your focus and intentions in work lie, and notes that Mars in the arthatrikona of the Dasamsa can point to engineering as a career. Rao reads the Dasamsa for special chances to rise in public life, weighing it alongside the birth chart and the Navamsha.

Historical Origin

This entry draws on modern Jyotish authors who write within the classical varga framework: Frawley (The Astrology of the Seers), Rao (Astrology, Destiny and the Wheel of Time), K.S. Charak (Elements of Vedic Astrology), Visti Larsen (Jyotisha Fundamentals) and Freedom Tobias Cole (Science of Light, Fourth Edition 2020). None of these sources is quoted verbatim from a classical text here.

Further Reading

• Frawley, The Astrology of the Seers
• Rao, Astrology, Destiny and the Wheel of Time
• Charak, Elements of Vedic Astrology
• Larsen, Jyotisha Fundamentals
• Cole, Science of Light: An Introduction to Vedic Astrology, Volume I