Yogas
Raja Yogas
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Origin 500 to 800 CE
Amala yoga, also called Amala Kirti yoga (the yoga of spotless fame), is formed when a natural benefic (Jupiter, Venus, well-associated Mercury, or a waxing Moon) occupies the 10th house counted from the Lagna or from the Moon. The 10th house of career and public standing, graced by a benefic, confers lasting reputation, honorable conduct, virtue, and enduring fame that outlives the native. Such a person is respected for integrity and good works and prospers through righteous means. The strength of the yoga depends on the dignity of the benefic and the freedom of the 10th house from malefic affliction; a strong Amala yoga marks a career built on an unblemished name.
Facts
Origins
Origin Period500 to 800 CE 1Tradition: Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra Origin PeriodThis planetary yoga belongs to the classical catalogue the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra sets out; Pingree's survey of jyotihsastra literature situates the text within the sixth to eighth century CE stratum of classical Sanskrit horoscopy. 1Tradition: Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra Structure
Formation ConditionA natural benefic in the 10th house from the Lagna or Moon 1 Status
Standing as a Comparative CategoryA standard analytic category in the study of religion 1 Attributions
EffectsLasting reputation, honorable conduct and enduring fame 1 Learn More
Amala Yoga
Amala Yoga, the spotless combination, is formed when a benefic planet occupies the tenth place counted from either the Ascendant or the Moon. The tenth is the house of action, profession and public standing, and the tradition reads a benefic there as giving a clean reputation, lasting fame and conduct that earns respect; the name means stainless.
Jupiter, Venus and an unafflicted Mercury count as benefic for this purpose, and a waxing Moon is usually included, while the Sun, Mars, Saturn and the nodes are not. The yoga is among the simpler ones and is correspondingly common, which again argues for reading it as one factor among many. Its interest lies in the value it places on reputation as such: a good deal of classical Indian astrology is concerned with dharma, right conduct within one's station, and yogas of this kind reflect that concern rather than a purely material one.
Counting from the Moon or from the Ascendant
Amala turns on a technical point that shapes the whole of jyotisha and that a newcomer meets here for the first time: from where do you count.
The combination requires a benefic in the tenth house. But the tenth counted from what? Jyotisha routinely counts houses from three different reference points, and the tradition uses all three. The ascendant is the primary reference and concerns the body, the circumstances and the visible life. The Moon is the secondary reference and concerns the mind and the emotional experience of the same events. The Sun is used in some schools for vitality and status. Amala is usually defined as the tenth from either the ascendant or the Moon, and different sources prefer different ones.
The consequence is that a chart may show the combination on one reckoning and not on another, and a reader comparing two interpretations will often find the difference lies here rather than in any dispute about what the yoga means.
The significations attributed to Amala are reputation and a clean name, which fits the tenth house's association with public standing and with what a person is known for.
The atlas describes the method. It makes no claim that a chart determines anyone's reputation.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Originates in Language
The term is Sanskrit, and the technical vocabulary of the Panchanga and of jyotisha more widely is Sanskrit throughout, whatever the vernacular in which a given almanac is printed. The name is a Sanskrit term. Regional almanacs render it in the local script and pronunciation, so a reader will meet the same term in several transliterations without any difference of reference.
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