Module 10 · Lesson 10-2 · 16 min
A student opens the ashtakavarga lab, clicks a cell, and sees a stack of eight tiny checkmarks and blanks light up — the Sun voted, the Moon abstained, Mars voted, and so on down the list. 'Five bindus,' the lab says, and now she can see the five yeses that make it. The number stopped being a mystery the moment it decomposed into eight named votes.
That is what a bhinnashtakavarga is: for one planet, every sign asks the same question — how many of the eight contributors favour me for this planet? — and the answer, 0 to 8, is the sign's bindu score. The rules for who favours what are fixed and ancient, one classical row per contributor. You will not memorise all fifty-six of them; you will hand-verify a single row until the mechanic is yours, then let the lab hold the rest, exactly as it holds the shadbala and varga tables.
This lesson gives you one full row to own, the habit of reading a cell as eight decomposed votes, the more-than-four rule that turns a count into a verdict, and the seven per-planet totals worth carrying in your head.
By the end: Build and read a planet's bhinnashtakavarga: learn one full contribution row by hand (the Moon's votes into the Sun's BAV), decompose any cell into its eight contributors' yes/no votes, apply the more-than-four favourable rule, and recall the seven per-planet totals that sum to 337.
A bhinnashtakavarga (BAV) scores, for ONE planet, how many of the eight contributors favour each sign — a number from 0 to 8 per sign. It maps where that planet's placements and transits are well-supported (high bindus) and where they are starved (low bindus). Seven BAVs exist, one per planet.
Jupiter's BAV shows which signs will host a Jupiter transit well and which poorly.
The row to own
Take one contributor's row and learn it by hand. In the Sun's BAV, the Moon grants a bindu in the 3rd, 6th, 10th, and 11th counted from the Moon's own sign. Priya's Moon is in Cancer, so the Moon drops Sun-BAV points into the 3rd (Virgo), 6th (Sagittarius), 10th (Aries), and 11th (Taurus). One row, four points placed — the whole system is this, done eight times per planet.
Verify this one row with a pencil; the lab then applies the other fifty-five for you.
A bindu count is never a bare number — it decomposes. Click any sign in a planet's BAV and the eight contributors show their votes: some grant the point, some withhold it, and the tally of yeses is the score. Reading the WHO behind a number is how you sanity-check a count and see why one sign outscores another.
A cell reading 5 means five of the eight contributors favoured that sign; three abstained.
The midpoint of the 0-to-8 range is four. A sign with MORE than four bindus for a planet is favourable for it; exactly four is neutral; fewer than four is unfavourable. This single threshold turns any BAV score into an instant verdict for that planet's placement or transit — above four delivers, below four disappoints.
Saturn transiting a sign with 6 bindus in its BAV delivers far better than one with 2.
Each BAV has a fixed total across all twelve signs: Sun 48, Moon 49, Mars 39, Mercury 54, Jupiter 56, Venus 52, Saturn 39. The benefics carry more points, the malefics fewer — Jupiter richest, Mars and Saturn leanest. These seven totals sum to 337, the sarvashtakavarga grand total.
Jupiter's 56 bindus over twelve signs average nearly five per sign — a generous planet.
A BAV grades where a planet is strong both NATALLY (a natal planet in a high-bindu sign is well-placed for its own affairs) and in TRANSIT (a transiting planet through a high-bindu sign delivers). The same map serves the birth chart and the moving sky — its transit use is the famous one, next lessons.
A natal Venus in a 6-bindu sign of its own BAV is comfortably supported.
The one idea to keep
A bhinnashtakavarga scores each sign 0 to 8 for one planet, built by overlaying the eight contributors' fixed rows; more than four is favourable, exactly four neutral, fewer unfavourable, and the seven planet-totals (Sun 48 to Jupiter 56) sum to 337. Hand-verify one row, read every cell as eight votes.
Set the view to BAV and pick a planet to see the bindus it earns in each sign — the twelve always sum to that planet's classical total (Sun 48, Jupiter 56, and so on). Click any sign to decompose the cell: the eight contributors show their yes/no votes, and the yeses are the score. Signs above 4 bindus glow green, the planet's strong ground. Switch charts to watch the map redraw.
Priya’s Sarvashtakavarga totals 337 (always 337 across the twelve signs). Signs above 30 bindus (green) are strong ground; below 25 (red) are weak. Tap a cell to select a sign — Aries carries 26 bindus.
The Moon's row in the Sun's BAV grants a bindu in the 3rd, 6th, 10th, and 11th from the Moon. Priya's Moon is in Cancer. Which sign receives the Moon's 6th-house Sun-BAV vote?
Count six signs inclusively from Cancer, Cancer being the 1st.
You open Priya's Sun BAV, click Leo, and see that the Sun, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus each granted a bindu there. Which three contributors abstained, leaving the cell at 5?
The eight contributors are the seven grahas plus the lagna. Subtract the five that voted.
How is a single planet's bhinnashtakavarga constructed?
What does each of the eight contributors supply?
Which planet's bhinnashtakavarga carries the most bindus overall, and what does that reflect?
Recall the per-planet totals — and which planets run rich.
6 cards added to your recall deck. First review: tomorrow.
Five fresh BAV reads — walk a row, decompose a cell, apply the line.
5 minutes · 5 questions · pass at 4/5.