Navamsa (D9)
The Navamsa is the ninth division of a sign and the most important of the divisional charts in Jyotish. An Indian saying goes: "the rashi is the tree, the Navamsa is its fruit". It is used to judge the inner strength of the planets and, above all, marriage: what the spouse will be like and how solid the union will be. The calculator builds the D9 chart and reads it the way a master astrologer would.
If you don't know the time, tick the box: the grahas' Navamsa signs will be calculated for noon, but there will be no D9 lagna or houses. Latitude, longitude and UTC offset are only needed if your city is not on the list; north latitude and east longitude take a plus sign.
How to calculate the Navamsa
A sign (30°) is divided into nine navamsas of 3°20′ each. The nine navamsas of a sign correspond to the nine padas of two and a quarter nakshatras, so a navamsa is essentially a nakshatra pada transferred onto the signs. The first navamsa of a sign depends on its element:
| Fixed element | Signs | First navamsa |
|---|---|---|
| Fire | Mesha, Simha, Dhanu | Mesha (Aries) |
| Earth | Vrishabha, Kanya, Makara | Makara (Capricorn) |
| Air | Mithuna, Tula, Kumbha | Tula (Libra) |
| Water | Karka, Vrishchika, Meena | Karka (Cancer) |
Example: the Sun at 12° Vrishabha. 12 ÷ 3°20′ = 3.6 → 4th navamsa. For an earth sign the count starts from Makara: Makara, Kumbha, Meena, Mesha — the Sun is in the Mesha navamsa, where it is exalted.
In short: the navamsa is the number of the 3°20′ segment counted from 0° Mesha around the whole circle, taken modulo 12. That is how the calculator does it too.
How to read the Navamsa
- D9 lagna — who a person becomes in intimacy and what their character is maturing towards; its lord shows the mainstay of the second half of life.
- 7th house of D9 — the spouse: the sign describes their character, grahas in the house add traits, and the lord shows where the marriage "lives".
- Shukra (Venus) — the karaka of marriage and love; Guru (Jupiter) — the karaka of the husband in a woman's chart, and of children.
- Darakaraka — according to Jaimini, the graha with the lowest degree in its sign; its nature and its sign in D9 describe the spouse.
- Vargottama — a graha in the same sign in D1 and D9: strong and integrated.
- Strength in D9 — a graha that is debilitated in the rashi chart but exalted or in its own sign in the Navamsa regains strength (neecha bhanga); one exalted in the rashi chart but debilitated in the Navamsa looks brighter on the outside than it is within.
- The lord of the birth chart's 7th house in D9 — confirms or weakens the promise of marriage from the rashi chart.
Vargottama and pushkara
Vargottama occurs in the first navamsa of movable signs (Mesha, Karka, Tula, Makara), the fifth of fixed signs (Vrishabha, Simha, Vrishchika, Kumbha) and the ninth of dual signs (Mithuna, Kanya, Dhanu, Meena). For example, 0°–3°20′ Mesha, 13°20′–16°40′ Vrishabha, 26°40′–30° Mithuna.
There are 24 pushkara navamsas — two in each sign: in fire signs the 7th and 9th, in earth signs the 3rd and 5th, in air signs the 6th and 8th, in water signs the 1st and 3rd. All of them fall in the signs of Shukra, Guru, Chandra and Budha.
An Honest Look at the Method
The Navamsa is a classic tool of Parashara and Jaimini, and no marriage reading in India is done without it. But it is very sensitive to the birth time, and astrology has no scientific confirmation. Use the reading as the language of the tradition, and make decisions about marriage with your heart and your head.
Frequently asked questions
What does the D9 Navamsa show?
The Navamsa is the ninth division of a sign and the main divisional chart in Jyotish. It shows the inner strength of the planets, dharma, the second half of life and, above all, marriage: the character of the spouse and the stability of the union.
How do you calculate the Navamsa?
Each sign is divided into 9 parts of 3°20′. For fire signs the count of navamsas starts from Mesha, for earth signs from Makara, for air signs from Tula and for water signs from Karka. A planet at 15° Vrishabha falls in the 5th navamsa of Vrishabha counting from Makara — which is Vrishabha.
What is vargottama?
A graha (or the lagna) that sits in the same sign in both the rashi chakra and the Navamsa. Vargottama is considered strong, almost like being in its own sign: its themes express themselves cleanly and steadily.
How important is the exact birth time?
Very: the Navamsa lagna changes on average every 13 minutes, and the Moon's Navamsa sign every 6 hours. The calculator shows by how many minutes the time can be off without the D9 lagna changing.
How can the Navamsa show what your spouse will be like?
Astrologers look at the 7th house of the Navamsa, its sign and lord, the grahas in it, Shukra (Venus) as the karaka of marriage, and Jaimini's Darakaraka — the graha with the lowest degree in its sign. The calculator analyses all of these indicators.
What is a pushkara navamsa?
One of 24 especially auspicious navamsas, which always fall in the signs of Shukra, Guru, Chandra and Budha. A graha in a pushkara navamsa is "nourished" and gives good results even if it is weak in the rashi chart.