Panaphara
sanskrit: पणफर (Paṇaphara)
Definition
Panaphara is the Sanskrit name for the succedent houses — the 2nd, 5th, 8th and 11th, the houses that come right after the angles (the Kendras). Parasara names them in the Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra (Ch.7 Sl.34), and Varahamihira in the Brihat Jataka (Ch.I Sl.18). With the angular Kendras and the cadent Apoklimas, the Panapharas make one of the three classical groupings of the twelve houses. The Brihat Jataka translators note that Panapara, like Apoklima, is a Greek term.
In Tradition
Both the classical and the modern Jyotish texts place the Panaphara houses in the middle for positional strength — weaker than the angular Kendras, but stronger than the cadent Apoklimas. So a planet sitting in a Panaphara is read as giving its results with middling force rather than full force.
In Practice
A jyotishi (Vedic astrologer) uses the Panaphara grouping to judge how strong a planet is by the house it sits in. Because the succedent houses fall between the angles and the cadent houses in strength, a planet in a Panaphara is read as moderately strong — it gives its results with middling force. Frawley adds that these houses resemble the Fixed signs, showing the gathering of resources and the building of stability and reserve, and that of the four the Fifth is the strongest.
Historical Origin
The Panaphara houses are attested in the classical Sanskrit texts — the Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra (Ch.7 Sl.34, in Santhanam's translation) and Varahamihira's Brihat Jataka (Ch.I Sl.18, in the Usha & Shashi translation), whose translators note that the term is of Greek origin. Modern authors define them too: Frawley in The Astrology of the Seers, Charak in Elements of Vedic Astrology, and Kannan in Fundamentals of Hindu Astrology.
Further Reading
- Santhanam, Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra
- Varahamihira, Brihat Jataka
- Frawley, Astrology of the Seers
- Charak, Elements of Vedic Astrology
- Kannan, Fundamentals of Hindu Astrology