Drekkana

dreh-KAH-na

sanskrit: द्रेक्काण (Drekkāṇa)

Definition

The Drekkana (also Decanate) is what you get when you cut a sign into three equal slices of ten degrees each: the first runs 0-10, the second 10-20, the third 20-30. In Jyotish, the system of Indian astrology, it is the D-3 divisional chart — a varga, one of the standard divided charts. Since each of the twelve signs holds three Drekkanas, there are thirty-six in all. The three slices of a sign are ruled by the lords of that sign, of its fifth, and of its ninth.

In Tradition

Classical and modern Jyotish texts agree on how the three Drekkanas are assigned: to the lords of the sign itself, of its fifth, and of its ninth. As Phaladeepika puts it, "the third portions of a sign are owned by the lords of the sign itself, of the 5th house and of the 9th." Astrologers turn to the Drekkana chart as the divided chart they consult for siblings, courage, and effort.

In Practice

A jyotishi (Vedic astrologer) reads the Drekkana to sharpen a planet's placement and judge what it governs. Charak and Raman use the D-3 for siblings, courage, and effort. Many of the thirty-six Drekkanas carry a picture — man, woman, quadruped, bird, serpent, or armed or composite form — and a sex; Raman counts twenty-four male and twelve female, with four bird, nine quadruped, and five serpent Drekkanas, and reads a person's nature, appearance, and source of death from the rising Drekkana. They serve horary (Prasna) and Yatra work and, per Prithuyasas, tracing thieves. Saravali reads physical build and disposition from the rising decanate; the Uttara Kalamrita weighs the strengths of the lords of the Lagna (Ascendant) Drekkana and the one on either side to gauge merit, or Punya. The Brihat Jataka records a rival rule from Garga's school — the sign, the 12th, and the 11th — but Varahamihira keeps the sign/5th/9th rule.

Historical Origin

The Drekkana runs deep in the classical Sanskrit literature: Varahamihira's Brihat Jataka (Ch.I and Ch.XXVII), Mantreswara's Phaladeepika (Ch.3), Kalyana Varma's Saravali (Ch.50), and Kalidasa's Uttara Kalamrita (Ch.III) — read here in the translations of Usha & Shashi, V. Subrahmanya Sastri, R. Santhanam, and Prof. P. S. Sastri respectively. Modern authors carry it further still, among them Raman, Charak, Behari, Rao, Frawley, and deFouw & Svoboda.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading