Deeptadi Avastha

sanskrit: दीप्तादि अवस्था (Dīptādi Avasthā)

Definition

The Deeptadi and Lajjitadi avasthas are Jyotish schemes that name a planet's "state" — avastha — running from dignified to agitated, read chiefly from the planet's dignity (the comfort of the sign it sits in). Deepta ("luminous" or "radiant") is the most favourable, when a planet sits in its exaltation or Moolatrikona (its strongest home zone). The Lajjitadi set names six emotional or relational states — Lajjita (ashamed), Garvita (proud), Kshudita (hungry), Trushita (thirsty), Mudita (delighted) and Kshobhita (agitated) — each fixed by where the planet sits and what it keeps company with.

In Tradition

Across the classical and modern Jyotish literature, a planet's avastha is read from its dignity and its associations, and the name of the state foretells the quality of the results it gives. Two independent sources hand down the same six Lajjitadi states with matching conditions: a planet in exaltation or Moolatrikona is Garvita (proud), while one combust by the Sun under a malefic or enemy aspect is Kshobhita (agitated).

In Practice

A jyotishi gives each planet a state from its dignity and company, reads its results from that state, and feels the effects during that planet's dasha (its time-period). A Deepta planet (in exaltation) is most favourable: Saravali says it lets you burn your enemies with the fire of your valour and gather all kinds of wealth, conferring kingly status, courage, conveyances and royal honours, and Charak likewise reads Deepta as high status, valour, wealth and royal favours. Among the Lajjitadi states, a Garvita planet (exalted or in Moolatrikona) brings happiness through new houses and gardens, regalhood, skill in arts and financial gains, while its opposite, Lajjita (a planet in the 5th with a node, Sun, Saturn or Mars), brings loss of intelligence, loss of child and aversion to good things; houses holding a Kshudita or Kshobhita planet are said to be destroyed. Larsen reads the avastha as colouring how the event feels — Mercury with Ketu in Lajjita producing shame.

Historical Origin

These states are attested in classical Sanskrit texts: the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (Ch.45), attributed to Maharshi Parasara, and the Saravali (Ch.5) of Kalyana Varma, both drawn on here in R. Santhanam's translations. Modern authors fill them out — K.S. Charak's "Elements of Vedic Astrology," Cole's "Science of Light" Vol.I, and Larsen's "Jyotisha Fundamentals," which applies an avastha to a worked example chart.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading