There are 11 upagrahas (sub-planets or satellites) defined by Sage Parasara. They do
not appear to correspond to any physical bodies (planets, stars etc). From Sage
Parasara's definition, they appear to be some significant mathematical points. They
will be defined in two groups.
Sun-based Upagrahas:
Five upagrahas called Dhuma, Vyatipaata, Parivesha, Indrachaapa, and Upaketu
are defined based on the Sun's longitude. The exact formulas are given in the Table below. All these upagrahas are very malefic in nature. They spoil any houses occupied by them in the rasi chart or divisional charts.
Sun-based Upagrahas
Upagraha | Longitude Formula |
Dhuma | Sun's longitude + 133°20' |
Vyatipaata | 360ยบ – Dhuma’s longitude |
Parivesha | Vyatipata's longitude + 180° |
Indrachaapa | 360ยบ – Parivesha’s longitude |
Upaketu | Indrachaapa’s longitude + 16°40' = Sun's longitude – 30° |
Other Upagrahas:
Six upagrahas called Kaala, Mrityu, Arthaprahaara, Yamaghantaka, Gulika and
Maandi are more difficult to compute. Kaala is a malefic upagraha similar to Sun.
Mrityu is a malefic upagraha similar to Mars. Arthaprahaara is similar to Mercury.
Yamaghantaka is similar to Jupiter. Gulika and Maandi are similar to Saturn.
A day starts at the time of sunrise and ends at the time of sunset. A night starts at the
time of sunset and ends at the time of next day’s sunrise. Depending on whether one
is born during the day or the night, we divide the length of the day/night into 8 equal
parts.
Daytime births: The first part is ruled by the lord of weekday and then we cover
planets in the order of weekdays. The part after the one ruled by Saturn is lord-less.
After that, Sun’s part comes. For example, the first 1/8th of the daytime on a
Thursday is ruled by Jupiter. Next part is ruled by Venus. The 3rd part is ruled by
Saturn. The 4th part is lord-less. The 5th part is ruled by Sun. The 6th part is ruled by
Moon. The 7th planet is ruled by Mars. The 8th part is ruled by Mercury.
Ruling Planets
Rulers of the 8 parts of the DAY |
Weekday | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | |
Sunday | Sun | Moon | Mars | Mercury | Jupiter | Venus | Saturn | --- | |
Monday | Moon | Mars | Mercury | Jupiter | Venus | Saturn | ---- | Sun | |
Tuesday | Mars | Mercury | Jupiter | Venus | Saturn | ---- | Sun | Moon | |
Wednesday | Mercury | Jupiter | Venus | Saturn | ----- | Sun | Moon | Mars | |
Thursday | Jupiter | Venus | Saturn | ----- | Sun | Moon | Mars | Mercury | |
Friday | Venus | Saturn | ---- | Sun | Moon | Mars | Mercury | Jupiter | |
Saturday | Saturn | ---- | Sun | Moon | Mars | Mercury | Jupiter | Venus | |
Rulers of the 8 parts of the Night |
Weekday | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | |
Sunday | Jupiter | Venus | Saturn | ----- | Sun | Moon | Mars | Mercury | |
Monday | Venus | Saturn | ----- | Sun | Moon | Mars | Mercury | Jupiter | |
Tuesday | Sat | ----- | Sun | Moon | Mars | Mercury | Jupiter | Venus | |
Wednesday | Sun | Moon | Mars | Mercury | Jupiter | Venus | Saturn | ----- | |
Thursday | Moon | Mars | Mercury | Jupiter | Venus | Saturn | ------ | Sun | |
Friday | Mars | Mercury | Jupiter | Venus | Saturn | ----- | Sun | Moon | |
Saturday | Mercury | Jupiter | Venus | Saturn | ------ | Sun | Moon | Mars | |
Night time births: The first part is ruled by the 5th planet from the lord of weekday and then we cover planets in the order of weekdays. For example, the first 1/8th of a Thursday night is ruled by the 5th planet from Jupiter, i.e. Moon (Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Sun, Moon – that’s the 5th one). Next part is ruled by Mars. The 3rd part is ruled by Mercury. The 4th part is ruled by Jupiter. The 5th part is ruled by Venus. The 6th part is ruled by Saturn. The 7th planet is lord-less. The 8th part is ruled by the Sun.
Once we divide the day/night of birth into 8 equal parts and identify the ruling
planets of the 8 parts, we can find the longitudes of upagrahas using the
following procedure:
(1) Kaala rises in the middle of Sun’s part9. In other words, we find the time in the
middle of the Sun’s part and find lagna rising then. That gives Kaala’s longitude.
(2) Mrityu rises in the middle of Mars’s part.
(3) Artha Praharaka rises in the middle of Mercury’s part.
(4) Yama Ghantaka rises in the middle of Jupiter’s part.
(5) Gulika rises in the middle of Saturn’s part.
(6) Maandi rises in the beginning of Saturn’s part.
Suppose one is born on Thursday night and we want Yamaghantaka’s longitude in
his chart. Suppose night starts at 6 pm and ends at 6 am on the next day. We see from
the table that Jupiter rules the 4th part of a Thursday night. Each part is 12/8 = 1.5
hours. The 4th part starts 4.5 hours after sunset, i.e. at 10:30 pm, and ends 1.5 hours
later. So Jupiter’s part extends from 10:30 pm to midnight. The middle point of this
part is at 11:15 pm. We find lagna rising at 11:15 pm and that will be Yama
Ghantaka’s longitude.