Shadvarga

Definition

Shadvarga means 'six divisions' — the six ways a Jyotish chart cuts a zodiacal sign into smaller parts to read a horoscope. Brihat Jataka names them: Rasi (the whole sign, 30 degrees), Hora (half-sign, 15 degrees), Drekkana (a third, 10 degrees), Navamsa (a ninth, 3 degrees 20 minutes), Dwadasamsa (a twelfth, 2 degrees 30 minutes), and Trimsamsa (a thirtieth, 1 degree). Frawley describes the Shadvargas as the six main harmonic charts of the Vedic framework.

In Tradition

The sources agree you don't read the six divisions one at a time — you take them together to gauge how strong a planet is. Brihat Jataka treats them as progressively finer slices of a sign and says a planet is 'in its Varga' when it sits in its own division; Raman likewise presents the six-fold divisions as weighed jointly to measure planetary strength.

In Practice

A jyotishi (Vedic astrologer) uses the Shadvarga to judge a planet's positional strength, checking how it lands across the six progressively finer slices of its sign. Brihat Jataka (Sl.9) says a planet is 'in its Varga' when it falls in its own Drekkana, Hora, Navamsa, Trimsamsa, Dwadasamsa, or Kshetra (the sign itself) — the more of these it occupies, the stronger it reads. Raman adds two notes you'll see in practice: for strength one may instead use the Saptavargas (seven divisions), and he records that according to Parasara there are sixteen divisions in all.

Historical Origin

The six divisions are laid out in Varahamihira's Brihat Jataka (Ch.I Sl.6 NOTES and Sl.9), cited here from the Usha and Shashi translation. The modern author Raman restates the idea in Hindu Predictive Astrology (Ch.X), and Frawley glosses it in The Astrology of the Seers.

Further Reading

• Varahamihira, Brihat Jataka
• Raman, Hindu Predictive Astrology
• Frawley, The Astrology of the Seers