Durudhara Yoga
sanskrit: दुरुधरा (Durudhura / Duradhura)
Definition
Durudhara is a chandra yoga — a Moon-based combination — that forms when planets other than the Sun fill both the 2nd and the 12th houses counted from the Moon, so the Moon is flanked on either side. In effect it combines Sunapha and Anapha. Brihat Jataka counts one hundred and eighty varieties of it, depending on how the five planets from Mars through Saturn are spread across those two houses.
In Tradition
Brihat Jataka and Saravali agree on what Durudhara is — the Moon flanked by planets other than the Sun in the 2nd and the 12th — and both read it as a sign of worldly prosperity: wealth, conveyances, comforts and a generous hand. Saravali ranks it the strongest of the three principal Chandra yogas, rarer than Sunapha or Anapha and, for that reason, more effective.
In Practice
To find the yoga, a jyotishi counts from the Moon's sign: planets other than the Sun in both the 2nd and the 12th from it make Durudhara, and the reading is favourable. Brihat Jataka holds that someone born under it enjoys every kind of pleasure, wealth and carriage, gives liberally and has good servants; Saravali adds fame for speech, wisdom, valour and virtue, along with freedom, comforts, wealth and conveyances. deFouw and Svoboda caution that such attendant yogas turn up often and carry weight only when they reinforce stronger combinations — they point to Ramakrishna's chart, where exalted Venus in the 2nd and Mars in the 12th from the Moon made a notable Durudhara. Rao uses durudhara more broadly, for any planets hemming either side of a house or planet, and tells the astrologer to note that structural relationship before predicting.
Historical Origin
The yoga is old, set down in classical Sanskrit jyotisha: Varahamihira's Brihat Jataka (Ch.XIII Sl.3, Sl.6) and Kalyana Varma's Saravali (Ch.13 Sl.6), here through the translations of Usha and Shashi and of R. Santhanam respectively. Modern authors carry it forward — deFouw and Svoboda in Light on Life, and Rao in Astrology, Destiny and the Wheel of Time.
Further Reading
- Varahamihira, Brihat Jataka
- Kalyana Varma, Saravali
- deFouw & Svoboda, Light on Life
- Rao, Astrology, Destiny and the Wheel of Time