5th house in Vedic astrology: meaning and significations

P.V.R. Narasimha Rao (PVR), author of Vedic Astrology: An Integrated Approach, lists these matters for the 5th house: children, poorvapunya (a Sanskrit term for the good deeds of previous lives), intelligence, knowledge and scholarship, devotion, mantras (prayers), authority or power, fame, love, affection, emotions, judgment and speculation.

The Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (BPHS, R. Santhanam's translation) gives its own list in chapter 11: amulets, sacred spells, learning, knowledge, sons, royalty (authority) and fall of position.

The two lists overlap but are not identical. That is normal. PVR points out that each house shows many matters, and picking the right one for a given chart 'becomes easier with experience'.

A karaka is a planet that signifies a matter. Every house has a natural significator, a planet traditionally linked to that house's themes.

For the 5th house, PVR's Table 15 gives Jupiter as the primary naisargika karaka (natural significator), for children.

Karakas also give another way to count houses. PVR notes that 'the 4th house from Moon shows mother', so houses can be counted from a karaka as well as from the lagna.

PVR groups houses in several ways, and the 5th house appears in each.

It is a trikona (trine), one of the houses 1, 5 and 9 counted from a reference. PVR writes: 'Trines are the abode of Goddess Lakshmi, who rules prosperity', and says trines from any reference 'bring prosperity and well-being to the reference'.

It is also a panaphara (succedant), meaning it follows an angular house.

The trines 1, 5 and 9 form the dharma trikona. Dharma means duty or righteousness, and it is one of the four aims of life (purusharthas) in Indian thought.

Finally, the 5th house sits in the invisible half of the chart. PVR says houses in the visible half (7th to 12th) 'give results that can be seen in the material world', while those in the invisible half (1st to 6th) 'give results that cannot be easily seen'.

PVR's quick summary of the groups: kendras (angular houses) relate to sustenance and vital activity, trikonas to prosperity and flourishing, upachayas (houses of growth) to gains, and dusthanas (difficult houses) to setbacks and obstacles.

The lord of a house is the planet that rules the sign placed in it. Because the sign depends on your lagna, the 5th lord differs from chart to chart.

BPHS ch. 34 says of such lords: 'The Lord of a Kon will give auspicious results', and 'Putr and Dharm Bhava are specially for wealth' (Putr bhava is the 5th house, Dharm bhava the 9th).

To judge how a house fares, BPHS ch. 11 gives a rule: 'Predict prosperity of the Bhava, which is yuti with, or drishtied by a benefic'. In plain words, a house does well when it is joined with or aspected by a benefic (a planet traditionally considered helpful). BPHS adds that a house also does well when its lord is in the 10th house or strong, and is harmed when its lord is with a malefic (a planet traditionally considered difficult) or with the lords of the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th or 12th.

The 5th house also gets its own chapter in BPHS, ch. 16, 'Effects of Putr Bhava'.