Kala Bala

Definition

Kala Bala (kala, time; bala, strength) is temporal strength — what a planet gains from the time of birth — and one of the six sources of planetary strength (Shadbala). It weighs which times of year, month, day and hour favour a planet, built from sub-parts based on the lunar phases, weekday, time of day, the solstice or solar half-year, and planetary fights. Planets gain it in their own weekday, month and year; the Moon, Mars and Saturn are strong by night, the Sun, Jupiter and Venus by day, and Mercury always.

In Tradition

These classical and modern sources agree that Kala Bala is the time-derived part of a planet's overall Shadbala strength — not a single quantity, but several named sub-strengths (paksha, the lunar fortnight; day/night; ayana, the solar half-year; and others). They also agree you must weigh it alongside a planet's other strengths before reading results. Where they differ is in how they list and define those sub-divisions.

In Practice

A jyotishi (Vedic astrologer) computes Kala Bala as one input to a planet's overall strength, weighed before pronouncing on chart results; Raman invokes it in combinations where favourable planets sit in a kendra (angular house) having gained Kala Bala. The sub-parts are read one by one. Paksha Bala judges the Moon: strong and benefic when waxing in the bright fortnight, weak and malefic when waning, so Larsen and Santhanam both caution that the Moon's house results must be read against her Paksha Bala or you will be misled. Ayana Bala is taken from a planet's solar half-year or its declination — Saravali makes Venus, Mars, the Sun and Jupiter strong in Uttarayana and the Moon and Saturn in Dakshinayana, while Uttara Kalamrita instead derives it from north/south declination by formula. Cole lists further parts: natonnata (day/night), tribhaga, varshadi-bala (year, month, day and hour lords) and yuddha-bala (planetary war).

Historical Origin

Among the classical texts, Saravali (Kalyana Varma, here in Santhanam's translation) treats Ayana Bala and Paksha Bala as sub-divisions of Kala Bala, and Uttara Kalamrita (attributed to Kalidasa, Sastri's translation) gives a declinational Ayana Bala with a computation rule. Modern authors elaborate it: Raman (Three Hundred Important Combinations; Concerning the Second House), Kannan (Fundamentals of Hindu Astrology), Larsen, and Cole (Science of Light).

Further Reading

• Kalyana Varma, Saravali
• Kalidasa, Uttara Kalamrita
• Raman, Three Hundred Important Combinations
• Raman, Concerning the Second House
• Kannan, Fundamentals of Hindu Astrology
• Larsen, Jyotisha Fundamentals
• Cole, Science of Light