Sthira Karaka

Definition

In Jaimini astrology, the sthira karakas — sthira means fixed — are permanent significators that stay the same in every chart, unlike the movable chara karakas, which shift with each horoscope. Several authors count them as seven, the seven planets alone, since only those have physical bodies. Rao also uses the term a second way, for a list of fixed house-significators that assigns one permanent planet to each bhava (house). When you read them as the fixed significators of relatives, you take them directly, rather than counting a house from them.

In Tradition

Across the modern Jaimini literature, the sthira karakas are held to be presided over by Shiva, tied to destruction and to the physical body that must age and die. So astrologers use them to judge how long the body lasts and the death of the body and of particular relatives. Authors don't agree on exactly which planet stands for which relative — those assignments are each author's own, not one shared rule.

In Practice

These are read mainly to judge the health, longevity, and timing of death of close relatives. The sthira karaka for a relative is usually the stronger of two candidate planets. Narasimha Rao takes the stronger of Sun or Venus for the father, the stronger of Moon or Mars for the mother, Jupiter for husband and sons, and Saturn for elder siblings; in Shoola dasa, a father's death, for instance, can come when Shiva's force strikes the trines from the sthira pitri karaka (the father's fixed significator) or its arudha pada. Cole likewise takes the stronger of Moon or Mars as the fixed significator of the mother's health. Rao notes that pairing the chara karakas with the sthira karakas covers a horoscope more fully, and points to a triangular link in the Navamsha (ninth-harmonic chart) among the chara karakas, the sthira karakas, and the relevant houses that confirms which Jaimini rajayogas actually take effect.

Historical Origin

This rests on modern Jaimini works rather than on a verbatim classical quotation in the sources here. K.N. Rao's Predicting through Jaimini's Chara Dasha (Vani Publications) treats the sthira karaka in its chapter on karakas and in its navamsha rajayoga analysis; Narasimha Rao's Vedic Astrology: An Integrated Approach sets out the fixed significators of relatives and their use in Shoola dasa; and Cole's Science of Light Vol. I covers the sthira karakas under health and longevity.

Further Reading

• Rao, Predicting through Jaimini's Chara Dasha
• Narasimha Rao, Vedic Astrology: An Integrated Approach
• Cole, Science of Light Vol. I