Ashtakavarga Explained: Bindus, Tables and a Worked Example

What Ashtakavarga counts

• BAV is one planet's twelve-sign row; SAV combines seven such rows.
• Write whether 1 means a qualifying rekha/point.
• Do not interpret one score as a guaranteed transit result.

The name describes a grouping of eight reference factors in the traditional calculation. For each BAV, the selected source rules say which relative positions of those contributors give a point to a sign. A calculator first applies those rules to the sign placements, then displays the twelve values for that planet. The rows can be compared, but a BAV number is not a direct percentage or probability.

Bhinna means separate or individual: Sun BAV is one row, Moon BAV another, and so forth through Saturn. Sarva means combined: for each sign, add its values across the seven planetary rows. The resulting SAV map answers a different question from any one planet's BAV. A printed table may show bindu/rekha notation, points, dots, or zeros and ones, so identify the display before reading it.

The guide is a calculation lesson, not a personalized forecast. It uses one declared Sun BAV rule table and one synthetic set of sign positions so the arithmetic can be repeated without pretending the example is a real birth chart.

BAV, SAV, bindu and rekha: name the convention

In the English translation of Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra used for this example, the chapter's notation describes an inauspicious mark as a bindu or dot valued 0, and an auspicious mark as a rekha or line valued 1. Other calculators use the word bindu more broadly for the counted positive point. To avoid switching meanings halfway through, this article uses the neutral word point and explicitly records 1 for a qualifying rekha and 0 when that contributor gives no point.

BAV has one row per planet. Each sign's value ranges from 0 to 8 because the row counts eight reference contributors. SAV is normally calculated by summing the seven planetary BAV rows. The Lagna contribution is already included inside each BAV calculation; it does not become a separate eighth planetary row in the SAV addition. This keeps the contribution rule separate from the later combination.

In this conventional calculation, all twelve SAV values together total 337. That total is a useful arithmetic check for a complete, unreduced seven-planet SAV table. It is not a promise that a particular sign above a threshold will produce a specific event. Individual BAV row totals and post-shodhana totals follow their own stages.

A page that labels every table 'Ashtakavarga' without saying BAV, SAV or Prastara makes it difficult to know which arithmetic has already been performed. Ask whether a number is raw, combined, or reduced by shodhana.

The Sun BAV rule and the teaching-chart inputs

The Sun example uses one published set of favorable relative positions: from Sun, houses 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11; from Moon, 3, 6, 10 and 11; from Mars, 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11; from Mercury, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11 and 12; from Jupiter, 5, 6, 9 and 11; from Venus, 6, 7 and 12; from Saturn, 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11; and from Lagna, 3, 4, 6, 10, 11 and 12.

For the synthetic exercise, the eight reference signs are Sun Aries, Moon Gemini, Mars Taurus, Mercury Pisces, Jupiter Libra, Venus Sagittarius, Saturn Aquarius and Lagna Virgo. To fill a target sign, count its inclusive offset from each reference sign and write 1 if that contributor's offset belongs to its listed set; otherwise write 0. For example, Aries is the first sign from Sun, so the Sun column contributes 1 to Aries. Aries is the eleventh sign from Gemini, and 11 is in the Moon list, so Moon also contributes 1 to Aries.

This is deliberately a schematic arrangement of sign positions for teaching the rule. It is not an ephemeris-calculated horoscope for a person, and it should not be used to infer an actual transit or life outcome. The complete cell matrix below lets a reader audit all twelve sign totals.

Reproduce the 12-by-8 contribution matrix

Read one row at a time. The target sign names the BAV cell; each following column is one contributor. A 1 means the contributor's relative offset to the target sign qualifies in the chosen Sun rule, and a 0 means it does not. Add the eight cells to get the raw value at the right. This is the Prastara-style view behind the individual BAV row, not a row of already combined planetary totals.

For Aries the matrix reads 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, which sums to 2. For Scorpio it reads 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, which sums to 7. The row total is never larger than 8 because there are eight possible contributors. An independent check of every row should produce the raw Sun BAV vector 2, 5, 4, 3, 6, 1, 2, 7, 5, 3, 6, 4.

The English translation's text first presents negative dot positions and then the corresponding favorable lines. The matrix above displays the favorable line as 1. If your software instead prints a positive bindu count, verify that its underlying cells represent the same convention before comparing totals.

Raw total and Trikona Shodhana, shown separately

Add the raw Sun row: 2 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 6 + 1 + 2 + 7 + 5 + 3 + 6 + 4 = 48. The sum is a check on this example's BAV row, not an SAV total. The next operation shown is Trikona Shodhana. The cited BPHS chapter groups signs three apart: Aries–Leo–Sagittarius, Taurus–Virgo–Capricorn, Gemini–Libra–Aquarius, and Cancer–Scorpio–Pisces.

For each triad in this example, subtract its smallest raw value from all three entries. Aries–Leo–Sagittarius is 2, 6, 5; subtract 2 to get 0, 4, 3. Taurus–Virgo–Capricorn is 5, 1, 3; subtract 1 to get 4, 0, 2. Gemini–Libra–Aquarius is 4, 2, 6; subtract 2 to get 2, 0, 4. Cancer–Scorpio–Pisces is 3, 7, 4; subtract 3 to get 0, 4, 1. These four reduced groups sum to 24.

The BPHS passage describes an exception when any sign in a triad has no rekha: it says Trikona Shodhana is not needed for that group. Here all four raw triads have values above zero, so each one is reduced. This explicit condition matters; the shortest online summaries that always subtract the minimum can miss it.

What Ekadhipatya Shodhana changes—and what this example omits

Trikona Shodhana is not the final reduction in the cited Parashara sequence. Chapter 68 describes Ekadhipatya Shodhana after the Trikona step for pairs of signs owned by the same planet, with conditions based on whether either sign contains a planet and how their values compare. The text says not to apply it when one owned sign has a number and the other has none, and it keeps the Sun's and Moon's single owned-sign values unchanged.

Our synthetic chart names the positions of the eight contributors because that is enough to reproduce the raw Sun row. It is not a declared full birth chart for all planets and all ownership decisions, and this article stops at the clearly marked 24 subtotal after Trikona Shodhana. It does not label that subtotal a fully rectified or final transit score. A real next step would require the chosen source's complete ownership and occupancy rules.

Pinda Shodhana is a further stage after the two reductions in the described sequence. Some websites show a final pinda or a reduced SAV; those numbers are not interchangeable with raw BAV, raw SAV or this first reduced Sun row. A table should name its stage so readers do not compare unlike values.

How to read these tables without promising a result

Use BAV to inspect one planet's point distribution under a named convention. Use SAV when the question is about the sum of seven planetary BAV values by sign. A transit reader may compare the transiting planet or sign with one or more of these values, but thresholds and interpretive steps belong to a particular school. A number by itself does not guarantee promotion, wealth, illness, travel or an event date.

Before comparing two calculators, check the ayanamsha and planetary positions, sign order, whether Lagna is included as a contributor, whether values are bindu or rekha marks, and whether Trikona, Ekadhipatya or Pinda Shodhana has already been applied. A 48 raw Sun row and a 24 post-Trikona Sun subtotal are different stages even though both are legitimate outputs in this worked process.

If you want to learn the houses where these sign values are interpreted, read our guide to the twelve Vedic houses. For differences in calculation settings, see why kundli results differ between websites and the overview of Lahiri, Raman and KP ayanamsha. This keeps the arithmetic lesson connected to the wider chart without turning a point total into a personal forecast.

Frequently asked questions

The answers below distinguish the raw BAV row, combined SAV and the two reductions discussed above. Confirm which stage a chart or calculator is showing.