Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Category

Vargas (Divisional Charts)

16 entries. Click any to see everything it connects to.

The vargas are the divisional charts of Vedic astrology, produced by subdividing each sign and reading the result as a chart in its own right. The set of sixteen runs from the rasi (D-1) through the navamsa (D-9), used for marriage and inner character, to the shastiamsa (D-60). Each division is assigned a subject, and a placement is judged by how it fares across several vargas rather than in the birth chart alone.

Facts
Overview
Entries in the Atlas
16
What Defines This Grouping
Divisional charts: each sign subdivided into equal parts and the resulting arrangement read as a chart in its own right, with a subject assigned to each division. 1
Size of the Traditional Set
16 vargas (the sodasavarga) 2
Origins
Whose Classification This Is
The set of sixteen is the Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra's sodasavarga; other classical texts give sets of six, seven or ten. 2
Sources
  1. Jyotihsastra: Astral and Mathematical Literature David Pingree, 1981
  2. Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra Sage Parashara (attributed), 1984
Learn More
The divisional charts

The vargas are the divisional charts of Vedic astrology, produced by subdividing each sign into equal parts and reading the result as a chart in its own right. The set of sixteen runs from the rasi (the basic birth chart, D-1) through the navamsa (D-9, the ninth-part chart) to finer divisions, each magnifying a particular area of life.

Each varga is dedicated to a theme: the navamsa to marriage and inner strength, the dasamsa (D-10) to career, the saptamsa (D-7) to children, and so on. A planet strong in the birth chart but weak in the relevant varga is read differently from one strong in both.

Magnifying an area of life

The divisional charts let the astrologer zoom in: rather than judging marriage from the seventh house of the birth chart alone, the tradition also reads the navamsa; rather than judging career from the tenth house alone, it reads the dasamsa. The navamsa in particular is treated as almost a second birth chart, essential to any serious reading.

The atlas gives each varga its division, its theme, and its use. The vargas build on the twelve rashis, treated in their own category, and belong to the Vedic Astrology section.