6th 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 6th house in §7.2: enemies, service, servants, relatives, mental tension, injuries, health, diseases, agriculture, accidents, and mother's younger brother.

The Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (BPHS, R. Santhanam's translation), a classical Sanskrit text, gives its own shorter list in chapter 11: maternal uncle, enemies, and step-mother.

The two lists overlap on enemies but differ elsewhere. 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. Some significators are fixed for everyone, regardless of the chart: these are the naisargika karakas, the natural significators.

PVR's Table 15 gives Mars as the primary natural significator of the 6th house, for enemies.

Karaka planets also open a second way of counting. PVR notes, for example, that 'the 4th house from Moon shows mother', so houses can be counted from a karaka as well as from the lagna.

Houses in Vedic astrology belong to several overlapping groups.

• Apoklima (precedant): houses 3, 6, 9 and 12.
• Upachaya: PVR says upachayas from a reference 'show forces causing gains and growth to the matters signified by the reference'.
• Dusthana (also called trik sthana): PVR says dusthanas 'show forces causing setbacks to the matters signified by it'.

The 6th house also belongs to the artha trikona, the triangle of houses connected with artha, one of the four aims of life (purusharthas). Artha means money and career.

Finally, it 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 houses in the invisible half (1st to 6th) 'give results that cannot be easily seen'.

One nuance from PVR on dusthanas: 'If a dusthana is weak, it shows that obstacles will be easily overcome'.

The lord of a house is the planet that rules the sign placed in it. Because the sign depends on your Vedic ascendant (lagna), the 6th lord changes from chart to chart.

BPHS ch. 34 says of this lord: 'Any Grah, owning Sahaj, Ari, or Labh Bhava, will give evil effects.' In English, any planet owning the 3rd, 6th or 11th house gives difficult effects.

PVR follows this in §13.2: the lords of the 3rd, 6th and 11th are functional malefics, meaning malefic for a specific chart rather than malefic by nature.

How do you judge the house itself? BPHS ch. 11 gives a general 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 gentle planet).

It also does well when its lord is in the 10th house or strong. It is harmed when its lord sits with a malefic, or with the lords of the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th or 12th.

The 6th house has its own chapter in BPHS: chapter 17, 'Effects of Ari Bhava'.

PVR (§7.2) lists servants under the 6th house. The BPHS translation, however, lists them under the 3rd house in chapter 11.

This kind of difference is common in classical texts, and neither assignment is picked as the winner here. Each text is read within its own frame.