Simhasana Yoga

Definition

Simhasana Yoga — its name means "throne" or "seat of the lion" — is a Raja yoga (a royal-power combination) read as a royal seat, kingship, or high office, judged from the 1st and 10th houses. Rath gives one form where Jupiter in Pisces, or Saturn in Cancer, sits "in the throne" — the 1st or 10th house — and a separate form where the 10th lord falls in the 1st or 2nd house. Larsen forms it from that same 10th lord in the 1st or 2nd, or from its tie to those houses' lords.

In Tradition

Across the modern Jyotish works gathered here, Simhasana Yoga is read as bringing a throne, kingship, or high position when the 10th lord sits in the 1st or 2nd house. Rath and Larsen, two authors working independently, both give this as the defining placement — and Larsen widens it to include the 10th lord's tie to the lords of those same houses.

In Practice

Rath reads Simhasana Yoga from the 1st and 10th houses, and in a footnote adds that its good results tend to arrive after middle age, since planets in the 1st, 7th, and 9th houses give their fruit later in life. He works the throne form in Bill Clinton's chart, where the Capricorn dasa (running period) is said to deliver a powerful Simhasan yoga: the Sun's aspect on the dasa sign strengthens the Rajyoga, while Rahu's aspect tends to unsettle it. Larsen finds it in Siddhartha's chart, where the 2nd lord joins the 10th lord in the 10th house and grants a seat on the throne, and in Rajiv Gandhi's chart, where the 10th lord forms it from the Lagna (ascendant). Larsen holds that it grants kingship and high position even where other power-yogas may be renounced.

Historical Origin

The sources here are modern works of Jyotish. Rath's Crux of Vedic Astrology handles the yoga at chapter X (chart 86) and again in a chapter XIII footnote, and Larsen's Jyotisha Fundamentals takes it up in chapter 7. Both are copyrighted modern paraphrase, with no verbatim classical quotation supplied.

Further Reading

• Rath, Crux of Vedic Astrology
• Larsen, Jyotisha Fundamentals