Sarvashtakavarga

Definition

Sarvashtakavarga (SAV) — also called the Samudaya or Aggregational Ashtakavarga, the all-planet total — is the combined Ashtakavarga you get by adding up, sign by sign, the benefic dots (bindus, or rekhas) from each of the seven planets' own Bhinnashtakavargas. The number written into each rasi (sign) is that sign's figures summed across the seven planetary charts, which gives you one aggregate measure of how strong every sign and house is. The grand total across the whole chart always comes to 337.

In Tradition

Across both classical and modern Jyotish writing, a sign's aggregate bindu (benefic-dot) figure is read on a graded scale to judge its relative strength — favourable when high, adverse when low. The sources agree on the principle but differ on the exact threshold numbers. The same figure is used to grade signs, which guides the timing of transits and auspicious undertakings, and houses, where it points to the strength of what each house signifies.

In Practice

A jyotishi (astrologer) reads each sign and house's SAV figure for overall strength, then applies graded thresholds. Several sources call a figure above thirty favourable, twenty-five to thirty medium, and below twenty-five adverse; Charak gives a maximum of fifty-six points and twenty-eight as the average. The figures also judge a planet's transit through a sign — Mantreswara sets a transit threshold of twenty-eight — and signs holding many bindus (benefic dots) are read as favourable for transit, marriage and auspicious undertakings, with the 6th, 8th and 12th houses excepted. Levacy pairs SAV with shadbala (planetary strength), reading a high SAV figure as helping a sign repel negative influences. In muhurta (timing), Joshi asks that the muhurta lagna (rising sign) and the house relevant to the activity both be strong in the SAV. The grand total of 337 also works as an arithmetic check, and Jataka Parijata turns the SAV to life-stage and longevity analysis.

Historical Origin

The aggregate Ashtakavarga appears in the classical Sanskrit texts — the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (which names it the Samudaya Ashtakavarga), Varahamihira's Brihat Jataka, Vaidyanatha Dikshita's Jataka Parijata, and Mantreswara's Phaladeepika. Modern authors including Raman, Charak, Levacy and Joshi work it out in further detail.

Further Reading

• Kapoor, Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra
• Usha & Shashi, Brihat Jataka
• Sastri, Jataka Parijata
• Sastri, Phaladeepika
• Levacy, Beneath a Vedic Sky
• Charak, Elements of Vedic Astrology
• Raman, Hindu Predictive Astrology
• Joshi, Muhurta: Traditional & Modern