Karaka

Definition

A karaka is a significator — a planet (or house) that naturally stands for a particular matter, person, or relation, apart from the houses it rules. The Sanskrit kāraka means "doer," or "one who causes": the agent that brings an effect about. Everything a given graha (planet) or bhava (house) signifies is its karakatva — its body of significations. These natural significators stay the same in every chart, so they form the ground on which a planet's results are judged.

In Tradition

The Jyotish texts sort karakas into kinds you should not mix: the naisargika (natural, fixed) significators, the chara (variable) ones, and the sthira (fixed) ones. Cole and Narasimha Rao both trace this threefold division to Parāśara's Kāraka chapter — its three sets presided over by Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, numbering nine, eight and seven significators. Rath names the same three: naisargika, sthira and chara karakatwa.

In Practice

To read any matter in life, a jyotishi looks at its karaka together with the relevant house (bhava) and that house's lord. Several authors treat the karaka itself as a lagna (ascendant) and judge the twelve houses from it; a house is said to prosper when both its lord and its karaka are strong (Phaladeepika; Uttara Kalamrita). So the ninth house is read with the Sun for the father, the fifth with Jupiter for children, and the first with the Sun for birth and early life (Charak; Light on Life). Sutton holds that each house has one planet that matters to it more than any other, whose placement can tip the house toward benefic or malefic. Prasna Marga adds that strong karakas promote what they indicate — with one exception: a strong Saturn lessens miseries and diseases.

Historical Origin

The natural significators are laid out across the classical texts: Varahamihira's Brihat Jataka (Ch.II Sl.1), Mantreswara's Phaladeepika (Ch.15), Kalidasa's Uttara Kalamrita (Ch.V), Prasna Marga (Ch.XIV), and the Bhavartha Ratnakara — with the threefold scheme ascribed to Parāśara. Modern authors restate and apply the doctrine: Frawley, Levacy, Charak, Sutton, Rath, Cole, Harness, Behari, Rayudu, Raman, and Narasimha Rao.

Further Reading

• Varahamihira, Brihat Jataka Ch.II Sl.1
• Mantreswara, Phaladeepika Ch.15 Sl.15-21
• Kalidasa, Uttara Kalamrita Ch.V
• trans. & notes B.V. Raman, Prasna Marga Part I Ch.XIV St.31-32
• trans. B.V. Raman, Bhavartha Ratnakara, Index of Technical Terms
• Frawley, Astrology of the Seers, Sanskrit Glossary
• William R. Levacy, Beneath a Vedic Sky
• Rath, Crux of Vedic Astrology Ch.II §2.2
• K.S. Charak, Elements of Vedic Astrology Ch.VII
• Komilla Sutton, The Essentials of Vedic Astrology, The Bhavas (Houses): The Karakas
• Kannan, Fundamentals of Hindu Astrology Ch.XXXIV Glossary
• P.V.R. Rayudu, How to Read a Horoscope Ch.I
• B.V. Raman & Gayatri Devi Vasudev, How to Judge a Horoscope, Volume Two
• Hart deFouw and Robert Svoboda, Light on Life — An Introduction to the Astrology of India
• Raman, Notable Horoscopes, Index of Technical Terms
• Bepin Behari, Vedic Astrologer's Handbook Vol II: Planets in Signs and Houses
• Cole, Science of Light Vol. I, Kāraka: Significators
• Dennis M. Harness, The Nakshatras, Sanskrit Glossary
• Narasimha Rao, Vedic Astrology: An Integrated Approach Ch.8.1