Planet condition and strength

Exaltation (uchcha) in Vedic astrology

A planet is exalted, or uchcha, in the one sign where tradition holds it is strongest. The Sun is exalted in Aries, the Moon in Taurus, Mars in Capricorn, Mercury in Virgo, Jupiter in Cancer, Venus in Pisces and Saturn in Libra. The opposite sign is its debilitation sign.

Updated Nov 3, 2026

More terms in Planet condition and strength

Exaltation: how the API computes it

The API keeps one exaltation sign for each of the seven planets (CH-02). The Sun is exalted in Aries, the Moon in Taurus, Mars in Capricorn and Mercury in Virgo. Jupiter is exalted in Cancer, Venus in Pisces and Saturn in Libra.

A planet anywhere in that sign gets the label exalted. The label is in the dignity field of POST /v1/planets. That field says how well a planet is placed.

The label uses the sign only. It leaves out the exact degree where the planet is strongest. So Saturn at 1 degree of Libra and at 29 degrees both read as exalted.

The degree does matter in shadbala, the six-part strength score (SB-02). There, the strength from exaltation drops in a straight line from the exaltation point. Exalted is the first state the API checks, so it wins over every other dignity.

A planet can still be exalted in the sign but weak in other ways. For example, it can be combust, which means weakened by being too close to the Sun. Look at the other fields in the response before you tell a user that a planet is strong.

Get it from the API

Planet positions and the ascendant. Here is the call to API for Astrology (apiforastrology.com) for our sample, John Doe, born Aug 15, 1990, 10:30 AM, New York.

POST /v1/planets

# John Doe, born Aug 15, 1990, 10:30 AM, New York
curl -X POST "https://apiforastrology.com/api/astrology/v1/planets" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ASTROLOGY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"year":1990,"month":8,"day":15,"hour":10,"minute":30,"second":0,"latitude":40.7128,"longitude":-74.006,"timezone":"America/New_York"}'

Answer (long lists shortened)200 OK

{
  "meta": {
    "ayanamsa": "lahiri",
    "ayanamsa_value": 23.7260727,
    "julian_day": 2448119.10483,
    "ephemeris": "JPL DE440s",
    "node": "true",
    "timezone": {
      "source": "zone",
      "offset_hours": -4,
      "zone": "America/New_York",
      "abbreviation": "EDT",
      "dst": true,
      "dst_hours": 1,
      "ambiguous_resolved_by_fold": null,
      "note": "read from the IANA tz database at this instant, so daylight saving and historical offset changes are included"
    }
  },
  "ascendant": {
    "name": "Ascendant",
    "longitude": 169.934155,
    "sign": "Virgo",
    "sign_number": 6,
    "degree_in_sign": 19.934155,
    "degree_dms": "19 : 56 : 03",
    "house": 1,
    "nakshatra": "Hast",
    "nakshatra_lord": "Moon",
    "pada": 3,
    "speed": 0,
    "retrograde": false,
    "combust": false,
    "dignity": "n/a",
    "vargottama": false,
    "pushkara": {
      "navamsa": false,
      "navamsa_number": 6,
      "bhaga": false,
      "bhaga_degree": 9,
      "bhaga_by_element": false,
      "bhaga_degree_by_element": 14,
      "sources_agree": true,
      "orb_degrees": 1
    }
  },
  "positions": [
    {
      "name": "Sun",
      "longitude": 118.7753409,
      "sign": "Cancer",
      "sign_number": 4,
      "degree_in_sign": 28.7753409,
      "degree_dms": "28 : 46 : 31",
      "house": 11,
      "nakshatra": "Ashlesha",
      "nakshatra_lord": "Mercury",
      "pada": 4,
      "speed": 0.9610665,
      "retrograde": false,
      "combust": false,
      "dignity": "friend",
      "vargottama": false,
      "pushkara": {
        "navamsa": false,
        "navamsa_number": 9,
        "bhaga": false,
        "bhaga_degree": 8,
        "bhaga_by_element": false,
        "bhaga_degree_by_element": 7,
        "sources_agree": true,
        "orb_degrees": 1
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Moon",
      "longitude": 54.5750352,
      "sign": "Taurus",
      "sign_number": 2,
      "degree_in_sign": 24.5750352,
      "degree_dms": "24 : 34 : 30",
      "house": 9,
      "nakshatra": "Mrigashira",
      "nakshatra_lord": "Mars",
      "pada": 1,
      "speed": 14.258194,
      "retrograde": false,
      "combust": false,
      "dignity": "mulatrikona",
      "vargottama": false,
      "pushkara": {
        "navamsa": false,
        "navamsa_number": 8,
        "bhaga": false,
        "bhaga_degree": 14,
        "bhaga_by_element": false,
        "bhaga_degree_by_element": 14,
        "sources_agree": true,
        "orb_degrees": 1
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Mars",
      "longitude": 27.7149328,
      "sign": "Aries",
      "sign_number": 1,
      "degree_in_sign": 27.7149328,
      "degree_dms": "27 : 42 : 54",
      "house": 8,
      "nakshatra": "Krittika",
      "nakshatra_lord": "Sun",
      "pada": 1,
      "speed": 0.5753266,
      "retrograde": false,
      "combust": false,
      "dignity": "own sign",
      "vargottama": false,
      "pushkara": {
        "navamsa": true,
        "navamsa_number": 9,
        "bhaga": false,
        "bhaga_degree": 21,
        "bhaga_by_element": false,
        "bhaga_degree_by_element": 21,
        "sources_agree": true,
        "orb_degrees": 1
      }
    }
  ],
  "planetary_war": []
}

Where the API returns it

POST	/v1/planets	Planet positions and the ascendant
POST	/v1/strength/vimshopaka	Divisional-chart strength, ishta and kashta phala, and planet friendships
POST	/v1/varshaphal	The Tajik annual chart (varshaphal) for one year
POST	/v1/shadbala	Planet and house strength (shadbala and bhava bala)
POST	/v1/dasha/narayana	Narayana dasha: the Jaimini sign periods

What the API reference says

Each line is quoted from the reference page of the endpoint named above it.

POST /v1/strength/vimshopaka · Divisional-chart strength, ishta and kashta phala, and planet friendshipsExaltation is not a separate grade, as in the source text.
POST /v1/dasha/narayana · Narayana dasha: the Jaimini sign periodsStrength is tested rule by rule: more planets in the sign, then more of Jupiter, Mercury and the sign's own ruler joining or aspecting it, then more exalted planets, then the ruler sitting in a sign of the other kind (odd or even), then the ruler further through its sign.

Feature page: Planetary strength. Who uses it: Astrologer consultation platforms. The classical rules the API follows are in the rulebook.

How we check the numbers

Every value here starts from planet positions worked out from NASA JPL planet data (DE440). We test them against NASA JPL Horizons, NASA's planet position service. On 25,571 positions from 1850 to 2149, the Sun and planets agree within 0.001 arc seconds. The Moon agrees within 0.011. On 2,000 random birth charts, the rising sign agrees with Swiss Ephemeris within 0.004 arc seconds. An arc second is 1/3,600 of a degree. A practicing astrologer reviews the rules behind these answers. See how we test.

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Your first answer

John Doe, New York

POST /v1/planets200 OK

RisingVirgoHast
SunCancerAshlesha
MoonTaurusMrigashira
MarsAriesKrittika

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