Planet condition and strength
Vargottama in Vedic astrology
Updated
Vargottama: how the API computes it
A planet is vargottama when it falls in the same sign in the birth chart (D1) and in the navamsa (D9). The navamsa splits each sign into nine parts of 3 degrees 20 minutes. Where its count starts depends on the sign type (VG-04). It starts from the sign itself for a movable sign. It starts from the 9th sign for a fixed sign, and from the 5th sign for a dual sign.
Because of how the count starts, a planet lands in the same sign again in only one part of each sign. That is the first part of a movable sign, the middle part of a fixed sign, and the last part of a dual sign. The movable signs are Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, and their window is 0° to 3°20′.
The fixed signs are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius, and their window is 13°20′ to 16°40′. The dual signs are Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces, and their window is 26°40′ to 30°. So only one ninth of the zodiac is vargottama.
The ascendant (rising sign) crosses one of these parts in about 13 minutes. So whether the ascendant is vargottama depends on an exact birth time. POST /v1/planets returns a vargottama field, true or false, for the ascendant and for each planet.
Take John Doe. His ascendant is at about 20 degrees of Virgo, a dual sign, outside the window of 26°40′ to 30°. So it comes back with vargottama set to false.
POST /v1/karma also flags the atmakaraka, the planet with the highest degree in its sign. There, its karakamsa (its navamsa sign) carries the flag.
Get it from the API
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"}'{
"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/varshaphal | The Tajik annual chart (varshaphal) for one year |
| POST | /v1/ascendant | The ascendant only |
| POST | /v1/karma | Karma reading: what you bring and where you are headed |
| POST | /v1/spiritual | Spiritual path reading: devotion and release |
What the API reference says
Each line is quoted from the reference page of the endpoint named above it.
- POST /v1/planets · Planet positions and the ascendant
vargottamais true when the planet is in the same sign in the birth chart and the navamsa (D9).
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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John Doe, New York
- RisingVirgoHast
- SunCancerAshlesha
- MoonTaurusMrigashira
- MarsAriesKrittika
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