Chart basics
Trikona in Vedic astrology
Updated
Trikona: how the API computes it
The word trikona means triangle. The trikonas are houses 1, 5 and 9. They sit exactly four signs apart, so they form a triangle around the chart. They stand for the self, good deeds from the past and fortune.
House 1 is also a kendra (house 1, 4, 7 or 10). That is why it is treated as the strongest house of all. In the API a trikona is simply house 1, 5 or 9, counted from the ascendant with whole-sign houses.
The planet that rules a trikona counts as helpful for that rising sign, no matter what its usual nature is. Raj yoga looks for the lord of a kendra joined with the lord of a trikona (YG-30). They can join by sitting together, by swapping signs or by aspecting (looking at) each other.
A planet that rules both a kendra and a trikona is the yogakaraka (CH-09). POST /v1/yogas shows each yoga it found and the rule that formed it, so you can explain it to users. The API uses the same houses when it checks ashtakavarga (a point score for the signs).
Get it from the API
POST /v1/yogas
# John Doe, born Aug 15, 1990, 10:30 AM, New York
curl -X POST "https://apiforastrology.com/api/astrology/v1/yogas" \
-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"}'{
"formed": [
{
"name": "Sarala",
"category": "vipareeta raja",
"rule": "lord of house 8 placed in a dusthana (6,8,12); free of conjunction or aspect from a natural benefic or a kendra/trikona lord (1,4,5,7,9,10), and the lagna lord stronger in shadbala",
"detail": "Mars in house 8, unafflicted; lagna lord Mercury stronger in shadbala (532.98 vs 526.26 virupas)"
},
{
"name": "Anapha",
"category": "lunar",
"rule": "a graha other than the Sun and the nodes in the 12th from the Moon",
"detail": "Mars"
},
{
"name": "Vesi",
"category": "solar",
"rule": "a graha other than the Moon and the nodes in the 2nd from the Sun",
"detail": "Mercury"
}
],
"not_formed": [
{
"name": "Ruchaka",
"rule": "Mars in its own or exaltation sign AND in a kendra (1,4,7,10)",
"reason": "Mars is dignified but house 8 is not a kendra"
},
{
"name": "Hamsa",
"rule": "Jupiter in its own or exaltation sign AND in a kendra (1,4,7,10)",
"reason": "Jupiter is dignified but house 11 is not a kendra"
},
{
"name": "Harsha",
"rule": "lord of house 6 placed in a dusthana (6,8,12); free of conjunction or aspect from a natural benefic or a kendra/trikona lord (1,4,5,7,9,10), and the lagna lord stronger in shadbala",
"reason": "Saturn is in house 4"
}
],
"neecha_bhanga": [],
"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"
}
},
"lagnesh": "Mercury",
"yogakaraka": null,
"kartari": {
"by_house": {
"1": {
"sign": "Virgo",
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [
"Mercury"
],
"in_second": []
},
"2": {
"sign": "Libra",
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [],
"in_second": []
},
"3": {
"sign": "Scorpio",
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [],
"in_second": [
"Saturn"
]
},
"4": {
"sign": "Sagittarius",
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [],
"in_second": [
"Rahu"
]
},
"5": {
"sign": "Capricorn",
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [
"Saturn"
],
"in_second": []
},
"6": {
"sign": "Aquarius",
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [
"Rahu"
],
"in_second": []
},
"7": {
"sign": "Pisces",
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [],
"in_second": [
"Mars"
]
},
"8": {
"sign": "Aries",
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [],
"in_second": [
"Moon"
]
},
"9": {
"sign": "Taurus",
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [
"Mars"
],
"in_second": []
},
"10": {
"sign": "Gemini",
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [
"Moon"
],
"in_second": [
"Sun",
"Jupiter",
"Venus"
]
},
"11": {
"sign": "Cancer",
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [],
"in_second": [
"Mercury"
]
},
"12": {
"sign": "Leo",
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [
"Sun",
"Jupiter",
"Venus"
],
"in_second": []
}
},
"by_graha": {
"Sun": {
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [],
"in_second": [
"Mercury"
]
},
"Moon": {
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [
"Mars"
],
"in_second": []
},
"Mars": {
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [],
"in_second": [
"Moon"
]
},
"Mercury": {
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [
"Sun",
"Jupiter",
"Venus"
],
"in_second": []
},
"Jupiter": {
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [],
"in_second": [
"Mercury"
]
},
"Venus": {
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [],
"in_second": [
"Mercury"
]
},
"Saturn": {
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [],
"in_second": [
"Rahu"
]
},
"Rahu": {
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [
"Saturn"
],
"in_second": []
},
"Ketu": {
"state": "none",
"in_twelfth": [],
"in_second": [
"Mercury"
]
}
},
"rule": "Hemmed by occupation only: grahas in both the 12th and the 2nd sign from the house or graha. papa = malefics on both sides and no benefic; shubha = the reverse; none otherwise. The Moon by paksha, Mercury by its company. Aspects never form…"
}
}Where the API returns it
| POST | /v1/yogas | Yogas: planetary combinations found and not found |
| POST | /v1/ashtakavarga | Ashtakavarga: strength points for each sign |
| POST | /v1/dasha/ashtottari | Ashtottari dasha periods (a 108-year cycle) |
| POST | /v1/dasha/narayana | Narayana dasha: the Jaimini sign periods |
| POST | /v1/matching/parasparam | Each person's planets placed in the other's chart |
What the API reference says
Each line is quoted from the reference page of the endpoint named above it.
- POST /v1/ashtakavarga · Ashtakavarga: strength points for each signTwo standard reductions, trikona and ekadhipatya shodhana, are returned next to the raw figures, each labelled.
- POST /v1/dasha/ashtottari · Ashtottari dasha periods (a 108-year cycle)The first is Rahu in an angle or a trine counted from the ascendant's ruler, but not in the first house.
- POST /v1/dasha/narayana · Narayana dasha: the Jaimini sign periodsA dual start takes each angle sign with its two trine signs (1, 5, 9, then 10, 2, 6, and so on).
Feature page: Kundli and birth charts. Who uses it: Astrology apps. 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
- RisingVirgoHast
- SunCancerAshlesha
- MoonTaurusMrigashira
- MarsAriesKrittika
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