Navamsa

sanskrit: नवांश (Navāṃśa)

Definition

The Navamsa (D9) is the one-ninth division of a sign: each rasi (zodiac sign) is cut into nine equal parts of 3 degrees 20 minutes. Since all twelve signs together yield 108 of these parts, and there are also 108 nakshatra-padas (the quarters of the lunar mansions), one Navamsa lines up with one nakshatra-pada. After the rasi chart itself, jyotishis treat it as the most important divisional (varga) chart, turning to it above all for marriage, the partner, and the deeper strength of every planet.

In Tradition

The classical and modern jyotish sources gathered here agree that the Navamsa is the principal divisional chart after the rasi. You look to it to refine what a planet truly promises and how strong it really is, and a planet that sits in the same sign in both the rasi and the Navamsa (Vargottama) is held to gain strength. It is also the chart most closely tied to marriage and the partner.

In Practice

In practice you read the Navamsa as a chart in its own right, with its own Lagna (rising sign) and planets, used to supplement and confirm what the rasi chart already shows. Some teachers liken the rasi to a tree and the Navamsa to its leaves or fruit, and deFouw and Svoboda note that a strong Navamsa can still bring good results even when the main horoscope is weak. It is consulted chiefly for marriage, the spouse, and a planet's overall strengths and weaknesses (Levacy, Charak, Frawley). Saravali judges a planet's effects from its Navamsa sign and that sign's lord, letting the stronger of the Navamsa lord and the rasi lord decide which results prevail. More specialized readings include the 64th Navamsa, an adverse point counted from the Moon (Charak); the Karakamsa, the Navamsa sign of the Atmakaraka, read for the soul's development (Raman); and the Pushkar Navamshas, ninth-parts held to be benefic and to give auspicious results (Raj Kumar).

Historical Origin

The Navamsa runs deep in the classical Sanskrit literature: Varahamihira's Brihat Jataka (Ch.I), Kalyana Varma's Saravali (Ch.24 and Ch.51), the Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra (Ch.6), and the Phaladipika (3:4) — here read through the translations of Santhanam and of Usha and Shashi. Modern authors carry it forward, among them Frawley, Levacy, Charak, Kannan, Behari, Raman, deFouw and Svoboda, Rao, Rath, and Raj Kumar.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading