Dhana Yoga

Definition

A Dhana Yoga is a family of planetary combinations read as conferring wealth — dhana is Sanskrit for "wealth." It forms chiefly when the lords of the wealth-giving houses connect, whether by conjunction, by aspect, or by exchanging signs: the 2nd house (accumulated wealth) and the 11th (gains), with the 5th and 9th (the trine, or Lakshmi, houses). Bhavartha Ratnakara, BPHS, Raman and Charak all count it among the principal yoga-classes, set beside the Raja Yogas of power.

In Tradition

Jyotish sources, classical and modern, agree that a Dhana Yoga arises when the wealth-giving house-lords — chiefly the 2nd, 11th, 5th and 9th — are tied to one another. Bhavartha Ratnakara puts it plainly: "Dhana yoga will result if the lords of the 2nd and 11th are combined with lords of the 5th and 9th." BPHS likewise treats the 5th and 9th lords as primary wealth-givers, and Charak adds that a strong lagna (rising sign) and its lord matter too.

In Practice

To use this, a Jyotishi reads the chart for these connections, then weighs wealth by the strength of the planets involved and the timing of their dasa (the period each planet governs). Raman and Raman & Vasudev note the gains tend to arrive during the dasa of the connected planets. The literature names many particular Dhana Yogas — Raman's Madhya Vayasi (mid-life wealth, the 2nd lord with the lagna and 11th lords in a kendra or trine), Amarananta (lifelong wealth, several planets in the 2nd), and Ayatnaddhanalabha (effortless gain, by lagna–2nd-lord exchange). Charak holds the yoga is best confirmed in the dashamamsa (the D10 wealth-and-career divisional chart). Behari calls the trinal houses — 1st, 5th, 9th — Vishesh Dhana, "special treasures." Bhavartha Ratnakara also lists the opposite, the Nirdhana (poverty) Yogas.

Historical Origin

The combination is attested in the classical Sanskrit literature — Parasara's Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra (Ch.41) and Ramanujacharya's Bhavartha Ratnakara (Ch.II), both reaching English readers through Santhanam's and Raman's translations. Modern authors elaborated it further: Raman, Rao, Behari and Charak each take it up across their twentieth-century works on yogas and predictive astrology.

Further Reading

• Ramanujacharya, Bhavartha Ratnakara
• Parasara, Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra
• Raman, Three Hundred Important Combinations
• Raman, Hindu Predictive Astrology
• Raman & Vasudev, How to Judge a Horoscope, Volume Two
• Raman, Notable Horoscopes
• Rao, Astrology, Destiny and the Wheel of Time
• Rao, Bhrigu Samhita
• Behari, Fundamentals of Vedic Astrology
• Charak, Yogas in Astrology