Ashtakavarga — The Eight-Source Strength System

Ashtakavarga ("eight-source" + "category") is one of the great calculation systems of Vedic astrology. It scores each placement in your chart by counting contributions from eight reference points (the seven non-nodal planets plus the Lagna). The result is a numerical "bindu" map — sometimes presented as a heatmap — showing where in your chart strength is concentrated and where it's deficient.

KarmaWheel includes a full Ashtakavarga card with both the per-planet Bhinna Ashtakavarga (BAV) and the combined Sarva Ashtakavarga (SAV).

The basic idea

For each planet, classical texts give a list of which signs it considers "favorable" relative to its own position, the Lagna, and each other planet. When you add up which signs are favorable to a given placement from all eight reference points, you get a bindu count for each sign.

A sign with 8 bindus is maximally favorable for that planet — it's getting a "yes vote" from every reference point
A sign with 0 bindus is maximally unfavorable — no one votes for it
Average is around 3.5 to 4.5 bindus per sign

You can do this for each planet (giving you BAV — seven separate 12-sign tables) and you can sum them all up for a combined view (SAV — one 12-sign table summing all the planets).

Bhinna Ashtakavarga (BAV)

BAV gives you 7 tables, one for each non-nodal planet (Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn). For each planet, the 12 signs are scored 0–8 bindus.

How to read it:

5 or more bindus in a planet's BAV for the sign it occupies — that planet is comfortable in that sign and can deliver good results
3 or fewer bindus — the planet is in an environment that doesn't support its expression, even if technically the sign is its own/exalted (this can be a "neecha bhanga" candidate)
8 bindus exactly — extremely auspicious; whatever the planet rules will manifest powerfully

For transit analysis: a transiting planet through a high-bindu sign in its own BAV produces good results during that transit; through a low-bindu sign, it struggles.

Sarva Ashtakavarga (SAV)

SAV is the sum of all 7 BAV tables — one combined 12-sign score showing the total strength concentration in your chart.

Average SAV total: around 337 bindus across 12 signs (~28 per sign).

How to read it:

A sign with 28+ bindus in SAV is a power center in your chart — whatever house occupies that sign delivers significantly
A sign with less than 25 bindus in SAV is a weak point — transit and dasha events affecting that house tend to underperform
The Lagna sign's SAV is particularly important — high SAV at the Lagna gives a strong chart overall

The classical Sarvashtakavarga tradition uses these numbers extensively for prediction and remedy.

Practical applications

1. Predicting transit results

A transit of a slow planet (especially Saturn or Jupiter) through a sign with high BAV (for that planet) gives much better results than the same transit through low-BAV territory.

Saturn transit through your 7th house is usually difficult. But if Saturn's BAV in the 7th sign is 6+ bindus, the transit is much smoother. If it's 2 bindus, it's grueling.

2. Identifying functional strengths

Look at SAV across all 12 houses. The houses with highest SAV are where you have classical "structural strength" — and this can override what dignity-only analysis suggests.

3. Timing major events

Periods when the dasha lord transits through high-SAV territory tend to produce major positive events. KarmaWheel's transit-events feature flags these.

4. Remedial guidance

Houses with very low SAV can be supported through targeted remedies (mantras for the house lord, charity related to the house's significations, deity worship aligned with the house theme).

Reading KarmaWheel's Ashtakavarga card

Open the Ashtakavarga — Bindu Strength card on any chart. You'll see:

A grid showing each planet's BAV across the 12 signs (the heatmap)
The SAV row at the bottom — the combined total per sign
Your Lagna and Moon highlighted for reference
Color coding: red for low bindus, yellow for medium, green for high

A glance shows you where strength is concentrated in your chart and where attention is needed.

Using BAV with dasha

Combine BAV with your active dasha for refined predictions:

The Mahadasha lord's BAV in the sign it currently occupies (by transit) tells you how its current period unfolds
The Mahadasha lord's BAV in the natal sign tells you how its dasha fundamentally expresses
The Antardasha lord's BAV modifies — friendly bindu counts give smooth sub-periods, hostile ones give friction

A Saturn Mahadasha is structurally heavier when Saturn's BAV in its natal sign is 3 or fewer; lighter when it's 5+.

Beyond Parashara

Ashtakavarga is one of the systems in the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, but later texts (Sarvarth Chintamani, Phaladeepika, Saravali) develop it further. Some traditions add reduction techniques (Trikona Shodhana, Ekadhipatya Shodhana) that refine the bindu counts before reading them. KarmaWheel reports the standard pre-reduction bindus; serious students may want to compute reductions for advanced work.