What is a yogakaraka planet? Yogakaraka for each ascendant

The houses counted from the lagna fall into two groups. Kendra houses (the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th) are read as houses of sustenance; trikona houses (the 1st, 5th and 9th) are read as houses of prosperity.

The Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (BPHS, R. Santhanam's translation) states the rule in chapter 34, verse 13: 'If one and the same Grah gets the lordships of a Kon, as well as a Kendr, or, if a Grah is in a Kendr, or in a Kon, it will prove specially a Yog Karak.' Here Grah means planet, Kon means trikona and Kendr means kendra.

P.V.R. Narasimha Rao (PVR), author of Vedic Astrology: An Integrated Approach, puts it plainly: 'Planet owning a quadrant and a trine becomes a yogakaraka (excellent planet).' B.V. Raman, in Hindu Predictive Astrology, glosses the word as 'the planet producing success'.

The three-step stepper above shows the practical method: list the lords of the kendras, list the lords of the trikonas, and any planet on both lists is the yogakaraka.

The hero table is PVR's Table 30. Find your lagna in the first column, then see which planet rules both a kendra and a trikona for that lagna, and which houses it rules.

Take two rows as examples. For Taurus lagna, Saturn rules the 9th (a trikona) and the 10th (a kendra), so Saturn is the yogakaraka. For Cancer lagna, Mars rules the 5th (a trikona) and the 10th (a kendra), so Mars takes the role.

For Aries, Gemini, Virgo, Scorpio, Sagittarius and Pisces lagna, no planet other than the lagna lord rules both a kendra and a trikona. The lagna lord itself rules the 1st house, which is both a kendra and a trikona; BPHS says 'The Lord of Lagn is specially auspicious, as Lagn is a Kendr, as well as a Kon.' PVR's Table 30 does not list lagna lords as yogakarakas, so those six rows show none.

In BPHS chapter 3, the Sun, Mars and Saturn are named natural malefics, planets whose basic nature is read as harsh. Yet chapter 34, verse 14 says: 'It has been said, that a malefic, owning a Kendr, will become auspicious, which is true, only when it simultaneously Lords over a Kon and not by merely owning a Kendr.' A malefic does not become favourable by owning a kendra alone; it needs a trikona as well.

Verse 15 adds a limit: 'If the Lords of a Kendr, or a Kon own simultaneously an evil Bhava, he does not cause a Raj Yog by mere relations.' A Bhava is a house; an evil bhava is a house read as difficult.

The nodes, Rahu and Ketu, are two shadow points rather than visible planets. BPHS verses 16 and 17 say they 'give predominantly the effects, as due to their yuti with a Bhava Lord, or, as due to the Bhava they occupy', and that a node in a kendra, receiving an aspect from (Drishti) or joined with the lord of a kendra or trikona, can become a yogakaraka.

Skybond's engine gives the nodes no sign of their own, so they never appear as house lords in its charts. BPHS chapter 47 and PVR's Table 6 do assign them signs (Rahu Aquarius, Ketu Scorpio), so other texts differ on their signs.

Traditionally, when the lord of a kendra and the lord of a trikona are associated, by conjunction, mutual aspect or exchange of signs (parivartana), they form a raja yoga. A yogakaraka carries both roles in one planet, so it can form such a combination on its own.

The texts name this directly for most of them. Raman writes that for Taurus 'Saturn alone produces Rajayoga', for Cancer 'Mars is the Rajayogakaraka (conferor of name and fame)', for Libra 'Saturn alone causes Rajayoga', and for Aquarius 'Venus alone is auspicious'; for Capricorn he says Venus, in conjunction with Mercury, produces Rajayoga. BPHS says of Taurus 'Śani will cause Raj Yog' (Śani is Saturn), of Cancer that Mars 'is capable of conferring a full-fledged Yog', of Capricorn that 'Only Śukr is capable of causing a superior Yog' (Śukr is Venus), and of Aquarius that 'Śukr is the only Grah, that causes Raj Yog'.

When the 9th and 10th lords combine this way it is called Dharma-Karmadhipati yoga; for Taurus and Capricorn lagna the 9th and 10th lord is one planet, Saturn and Venus respectively.

PVR adds a note on placement (§13.2): a functional benefic placed in quadrants (sustenance) and trines (prosperity) is read as bringing good results. These are traditional readings of combinations in a chart, not promises about any person.

For Aries lagna, Raman calls Jupiter 'the Yogakaraka or the planet producing success'. PVR's Table 30 names none, because Jupiter rules the 9th and the 12th, and the 12th is not a kendra.

For Scorpio lagna, BPHS says 'Sūrya, as well as Candr are Yog Karakas' (the Sun and the Moon), and Raman says they 'produce Rajayoga'. Table 30 names none for Scorpio.

For Taurus lagna, the Bhavartha Ratnakara, a treatise attributed to Ramanuja, says Saturn is not a yogakaraka even though it owns the 9th and 10th; BPHS, Raman and PVR all make Saturn the yogakaraka.

One more difference sits inside BPHS itself. Verse 13 also adds a placement clause, 'or, if a Grah is in a Kendr, or in a Kon', which is wider than PVR's ownership-only rule. Skybond treats PVR's table as the default and reports the other views alongside it.