Vimshopaka bala table: planet strength across the divisional charts
The 20-point dignity score from Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra chapter 7, with the weights for all four schemes, the points per dignity and a worked example on the India 1947 chart computed with the engine.
What Vimshopaka bala measures
Vimshopaka comes from vimsha, the Sanskrit word for twenty, and bala, strength. It is a score out of 20 that asks one question of a planet, sixteen times over: in this division of the chart, how good is the sign you are standing in? A planet in its own sign everywhere scores a perfect 20. A planet in enemy signs everywhere scores well under 10. Most planets in most charts land somewhere between 10 and 15, because a planet that is comfortable in the birth chart is usually uncomfortable in several of the finer divisions.
The divisional charts, or vargas, are the derived charts that split each 30-degree sign into 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12, 16, 20, 24, 27, 30, 40, 45 or 60 equal parts and assign each part to a sign. The Navamsa or D9 is the best known; the Hora or D2, Drekkana or D3, Dasamsa or D10 and Shashtiamsa or D60 each have a page on this site. Vimshopaka bala is the classical device for reading all of them at once. Where a single divisional chart answers a topical question (career from the D10, children from the D7), the Vimshopaka score answers a structural one: does this planet keep its dignity as the chart is examined at finer and finer resolution, or does it fall apart?
Parashara sets the method out in chapter 7 of Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, immediately after the chapter that defines the divisions themselves. Verses 17 to 20 give the weights for the six-chart, seven-chart and ten-chart schemes; verses 21 to 25 give the sixteen-chart weights and the points per dignity; verses 26 and 27 give the formula and the reading bands. The Santhanam translation (volume 1, pages 95 to 101 in the edition this site holds) is the text used here, and its worked example, a Venus in Capricorn scored across the six-chart scheme, is the pattern the India example below follows. The engine's divisional rules follow the same chapter 6 construction that the Navamsa page documents, so the varga signs below are the same ones every other varga page on this site would show.
The four schemes and their weights
The four schemes differ only in which divisions are included and how the 20 points are spread across them. The table collects all four. A blank cell means the division is not part of that scheme. Every column sums to 20, which the generating script asserts before it prints anything.
| Division | Name | Shadvarga (6) | Saptavarga (7) | Dashavarga (10) | Shodashavarga (16) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | Rasi, the birth chart | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3.5 |
| D2 | Hora | 2 | 2 | 1.5 | 1 |
| D3 | Drekkana | 4 | 3 | 1.5 | 1 |
| D4 | Chaturthamsa | 0.5 | |||
| D7 | Saptamsa | 2.5 | 1.5 | 0.5 | |
| D9 | Navamsa | 5 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 3 |
| D10 | Dasamsa | 1.5 | 0.5 | ||
| D12 | Dwadasamsa | 2 | 2 | 1.5 | 0.5 |
| D16 | Shodasamsa | 1.5 | 2 | ||
| D20 | Vimsamsa | 0.5 | |||
| D24 | Chaturvimsamsa | 0.5 | |||
| D27 | Bhamsa | 0.5 | |||
| D30 | Trimsamsa | 1 | 1 | 1.5 | 1 |
| D40 | Khavedamsa | 0.5 | |||
| D45 | Akshavedamsa | 0.5 | |||
| D60 | Shashtiamsa | 5 | 4 | ||
| Total | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
Three things stand out in the table. First, the birth chart's share falls as the scheme widens: 6 of 20 in the six-chart scheme, 3.5 of 20 in the sixteen-chart scheme. The more divisions are examined, the less the surface placement decides. Second, the Navamsa keeps a large share in every scheme except the ten-chart one, where Parashara flattens eight divisions to 1.5 each and gives the extra weight to the D60. Third, the D60 carries the single largest weight wherever it appears: 5 of 20 in the ten-chart scheme and 4 of 20 in the sixteen-chart scheme, above the birth chart itself. That is the textual basis for the common teaching that the Shashtiamsa outranks the other divisions once the birth time is trusted.
Which scheme to use is a judgement. The six-chart scheme is the oldest and the one Parashara's own example uses. The sixteen-chart scheme is the one most modern software reports by default and the one this page's worked example leads with. Santhanam's note after verse 27 states a preference for all sixteen divisions "for a truer picture", with the proviso that the finer divisions demand an accurate birth time, a point the limits section returns to.
Points per dignity
In each division the planet is placed in a sign, and the sign has a lord. The planet's relationship to that lord sets the dignity grade, and verses 21 to 25 convert the grade to points out of 20.
| Dignity in the division | Points (out of 20) | How it is decided |
|---|---|---|
| Exaltation | 20 | The planet's exaltation sign. Not named in the verses; this page scores it at the own-sign grade. |
| Own sign | 20 | The planet rules the sign it occupies. |
| Great friend's sign | 18 | Natural friend of the lord and a temporary friend by position in the birth chart. |
| Friend's sign | 15 | Natural neutral and temporary friend. |
| Neutral's sign | 10 | Natural friend and temporary enemy, or natural enemy and temporary friend. |
| Enemy's sign | 7 | Natural neutral and temporary enemy. |
| Great enemy's sign | 5 | Natural enemy and temporary enemy. |
| Debilitation | 5 | The planet's debilitation sign. Not named in the verses; this page scores it at the lowest grade. |
The relationship is the compound one, which Parashara in verse 26 asks the reader to take from chapter 3. Natural friendship is fixed for all time: the Sun counts the Moon, Mars and Jupiter as friends and Venus and Saturn as enemies; the Moon counts the Sun and Mercury as friends and nobody as an enemy; Mars counts the Sun, Moon and Jupiter as friends and Mercury as an enemy; Mercury counts the Sun and Venus as friends and the Moon as an enemy; Jupiter counts the Sun, Moon and Mars as friends and Mercury and Venus as enemies; Venus counts Mercury and Saturn as friends and the Sun and Moon as enemies; Saturn counts Mercury and Venus as friends and the Sun, Moon and Mars as enemies. Every pair not listed is neutral.
Temporary friendship depends on the chart. A planet standing in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th sign from another planet is that planet's temporary friend; one standing in the same sign or in the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th or 9th is a temporary enemy. Natural friend plus temporary friend gives a great friend; natural enemy plus temporary enemy gives a great enemy; the mixed cases give friend, neutral or enemy as the table above sets out. The convention on this page, which is the one Santhanam's example uses, is that the compound relationship is worked out once from the birth chart and then applied to the lord of every divisional sign. Some software recomputes temporary friendship inside each division; the two conventions can differ by a point or two per planet.
The formula and the reading bands
For each division, multiply the division's weight by the dignity points and divide by 20. Add the results across the scheme. The sum is the Vimshopaka bala, out of 20. A planet in its own sign in the D1 of the sixteen-chart scheme collects 3.5 times 20 over 20, which is the full 3.5; in a great enemy's sign it collects 3.5 times 5 over 20, which is 0.875. The weight caps what a division can contribute, and the dignity decides how much of the cap is collected.
Santhanam's note after verse 27 gives the reading bands that most practitioners use: under 5 points, the planet is read as unable to deliver its favourable results; 5 to 10, some good results; 10 to 15, middling; 15 to 20, fully favourable. In practice the extremes are rare. A planet needs own-sign or exalted placement in the D1, D9 and D60 together to clear 15 comfortably, and it takes enemy signs in the three heavy divisions at once to fall under 8. The band labels are coarse and the score is better used to rank the planets of one chart against each other than to grade any planet in isolation.
Worked example: the India 1947 chart
The anchor is the chart most Indian astrologers use for the country: 15 August 1947, 00:00 Indian Standard Time, New Delhi (28.6139 N, 77.2090 E). Cast with the Swiss Ephemeris and the True Pushya Paksha ayanamsa the engine uses (21.99 degrees on that date), the ascendant is Taurus 8 degrees 52 minutes. Positions as the engine returns them: Sun Cancer 29 degrees 07 minutes, Moon Cancer 5 degrees 07 minutes, Mars Gemini 8 degrees 35 minutes, Mercury Cancer 14 degrees 48 minutes, Jupiter Libra 27 degrees 01 minutes, Venus Cancer 23 degrees 41 minutes, Saturn Cancer 21 degrees 36 minutes. Four planets in Cancer, which is why the compound friendships on this chart are so lopsided: anything standing in Cancer is a temporary enemy of everything else standing there.
The script scores all seven planets in all four schemes. Rahu and Ketu are left out, as they are in Parashara's chapter, because they rule no signs.
| Planet | Birth-chart position | Shadvarga (6) | Saptavarga (7) | Dashavarga (10) | Shodashavarga (16) | Band (16-chart) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | Cancer 29°07' | 14.70 | 14.10 | 11.68 | 12.60 | 10 to 15, middling |
| Moon | Cancer 5°07' | 16.00 | 14.62 | 15.65 | 15.43 | 15 to 20, fully favourable |
| Mars | Gemini 8°35' | 11.05 | 12.05 | 15.43 | 14.55 | 10 to 15, middling |
| Mercury | Cancer 14°48' | 10.50 | 11.00 | 11.25 | 11.28 | 10 to 15, middling |
| Jupiter | Libra 27°01' | 11.80 | 11.80 | 12.10 | 11.40 | 10 to 15, middling |
| Venus | Cancer 23°41' | 10.50 | 10.25 | 11.12 | 11.00 | 10 to 15, middling |
| Saturn | Cancer 21°36' | 12.50 | 12.25 | 14.75 | 14.62 | 10 to 15, middling |
The ranking is stable across schemes at the top and bottom. The Moon leads in all four schemes; Venus and Mercury sit at the bottom in all four. The middle moves. Mars is weak in the six-chart scheme (11.05) and strong in the ten-chart scheme (15.43), because its own-sign placements in the D16 and D60 count for nothing in the former and for 6.5 of 20 in the latter. Saturn tells the same story: a great enemy's sign in the D1 and D2, then own sign in the D4, D9, D30, D40 and D60. The surface placement says one thing about Saturn on this chart and the deeper divisions say another, and the score makes that disagreement visible as a number.
The Moon's full breakdown shows how a 15.43 is assembled. Every row is one division; the points column is weight times dignity points over 20.
| Division | Moon's sign | Lord | Dignity | Dignity points | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D1 Rasi | Cancer | Moon | Own sign | 20 | 3.5 | 3.500 |
| D2 Hora | Cancer | Moon | Own sign | 20 | 1 | 1.000 |
| D3 Drekkana | Cancer | Moon | Own sign | 20 | 1 | 1.000 |
| D4 Chaturthamsa | Cancer | Moon | Own sign | 20 | 0.5 | 0.500 |
| D7 Saptamsa | Aquarius | Saturn | Enemy | 7 | 0.5 | 0.175 |
| D9 Navamsa | Leo | Sun | Neutral | 10 | 3 | 1.500 |
| D10 Dasamsa | Aries | Mars | Friend | 15 | 0.5 | 0.375 |
| D12 Dwadasamsa | Virgo | Mercury | Neutral | 10 | 0.5 | 0.250 |
| D16 Shodasamsa | Gemini | Mercury | Neutral | 10 | 2 | 1.000 |
| D20 Vimsamsa | Cancer | Moon | Own sign | 20 | 0.5 | 0.500 |
| D24 Chaturvimsamsa | Scorpio | Mars | Debilitation | 5 | 0.5 | 0.125 |
| D27 Bhamsa | Taurus | Venus | Exaltation | 20 | 0.5 | 0.500 |
| D30 Trimsamsa | Virgo | Mercury | Neutral | 10 | 1 | 0.500 |
| D40 Khavedamsa | Aries | Mars | Friend | 15 | 0.5 | 0.375 |
| D45 Akshavedamsa | Scorpio | Mars | Debilitation | 5 | 0.5 | 0.125 |
| D60 Shashtiamsa | Taurus | Venus | Exaltation | 20 | 4 | 4.000 |
| Total | 20 | 15.425 |
Two divisions do most of the work. The Moon is in its own sign in the birth chart, worth the full 3.5, and exalted in Taurus in the D60, worth the full 4. Those two rows alone give 7.5 of the 15.43. The Moon's Navamsa in Leo, a neutral sign, collects half of its 3-point cap. The two debilitated placements, in the D24 and D45, cost little because those divisions carry only 0.5 each. The reason the Moon's relationships on this chart read as they do is the Cancer cluster: the Sun, Mercury and Venus all stand in the same sign as the Moon, which makes each a temporary enemy, so the Sun drops from natural friend to compound neutral and Venus from natural neutral to compound enemy. Mars in Gemini, the 12th sign from Cancer, is a temporary friend and rises from neutral to friend, which is why the Moon's Aries placements in the D10 and D40 score 15.
Venus, the ascendant lord on this chart, sits at the bottom with 11.00. In the birth chart it stands in Cancer, ruled by the Moon, a natural enemy and a temporary enemy at once, so the D1 row collects only 0.875 of its 3.5 cap. Its Hora is Leo, the Sun's, another great enemy. It recovers in the D3 (exalted in Pisces), the D10 (own sign in Libra), the D27 and D40 (own sign) and the D45 (exalted), but those divisions together carry only 3 of the 20 weights. A planet can be comfortable in eight of sixteen divisions and still score under 11 if the heavy divisions go against it.
What the score is used for
The classical use is in reading dasha periods, the planetary periods that assign stretches of years to each planet in turn. When a period opens, the first question is whether its lord can deliver what its house positions and lordships promise. Vimshopaka bala is one of the answers. A lord above 15 is expected to deliver its promise with less friction; a lord under 10 is expected to deliver it partially, late or at a cost. On the India chart, a Moon period and a Venus period would be read with very different expectations of delivery even before the houses are examined.
The second use is separation. Two planets can look alike in the birth chart, both in neutral signs, both in middling houses, and the divisional charts pull them apart. On this chart Mars and Mercury sit in adjacent signs in the D1 with nothing obvious to choose between them, and the sixteen-chart scheme scores them 14.55 and 11.28. That gap comes from own-sign placements in the D16 and D60 for Mars against great enemy's signs in the D1, D2 and D10 for Mercury.
The third use is as a consistency check on the Navamsa alone. A planet can be vargottama, that is, in the same sign in the D1 and D9, and still score poorly across sixteen divisions if that sign is an enemy's; and a planet whose D9 placement looks poor can hold a high score because the D60 and D16 favour it. Reading the D9 as a yes or no misses what the score shows as a gradient.
Limits
It is dignity only. The score knows the sign a planet occupies in each division and the lord of that sign. It knows nothing of the house the planet occupies, the aspects it receives, whether it is combust (too close to the Sun), retrograde, at war with a neighbour, or placed in a division's angular or hidden house. A Moon with 15.43 points in the 8th house under Saturn's aspect is still a Moon in the 8th house under Saturn's aspect. The score is one input to the planet's reading and should never stand in for the reading.
The birth time decides the deep divisions. Each D60 arc spans half a degree. The Moon moves about half a degree an hour, so an hour's uncertainty in the birth time moves the Moon one D60 sign and can swing its sixteen-chart score by up to 4 points. The other planets move far less, under a tenth of a degree a day for the slow ones, so their D60 placements are stable to the day. The ascendant moves half a degree in about two minutes of clock time at Delhi's latitude, which is why Parashara's chapter also scores the ascendant and why this page does not: for most readers the ascendant's D60 sign is unknowable to the precision the score requires.
The ayanamsa changes the answer. Sidereal positions depend on the ayanamsa, the offset that anchors the zodiac to the stars. This site computes with the True Pushya Paksha ayanamsa; most Indian software uses Lahiri. At the 1947 moment the engine's offset is 1.13 degrees smaller than the Swiss Ephemeris Lahiri value, which pushes every planet forward by that amount under Lahiri. In the birth chart only the Sun moves sign, from the last degree of Cancer into Leo. In the finer divisions a great deal moves: the script's check shows 54 of the 112 placements (seven planets across sixteen divisions) landing in a different sign under Lahiri, and the sixteen-chart scores shifting by between 0.25 and 2.31 points. The Moon drops from 15.43 to 13.12 because its exalted D60 in Taurus becomes a Gemini D60 under Lahiri. Any D60-heavy score published without naming its ayanamsa is unverifiable. The dates and positions on this page were computed with the Swiss Ephemeris and the True Pushya Paksha ayanamsa; Lahiri-based listings differ for the reasons the Saturn transit page sets out.
Conventions vary. Parashara names six dignity grades and omits exaltation and debilitation; software fills the gap in different ways, some giving exaltation a grade above own sign, some giving debilitation 0 and some 5. Some programs add a seventh grade for the planet's special portion of its own sign. Some recompute temporary friendship inside each division. Each of these choices moves scores by a point or two. This page states its choices so the numbers can be checked, and it does not claim they are the only defensible ones.
No calibration. Tempora has not yet run Vimshopaka scores against a dated outcome set, so there is no measured lift to report for a high or low score. The bands quoted above are Parashara's and Santhanam's and remain untested thresholds. The score is published here as a computed classical reference with its conventions stated, which is what makes it checkable, and it should be read in that spirit.
Beside Shadbala and Ashtakavarga
Three strength measures appear across this site, and they answer different questions. Shadbala, the six-fold strength, totals positional, directional, temporal, motional, natural and aspect strength into a figure in rupas (the classical unit) and asks how much power a planet has to act in this chart at this moment of birth. Vimshopaka bala asks how consistently dignified a planet is across the divisions, with no term for power. Ashtakavarga asks a third question, how much benefic support a sign receives from all planets, and is read sign by sign for transits as much as planet by planet. A planet can be high on one and low on another; the India Moon is high on Vimshopaka, and its Shadbala and the Ashtakavarga count of Cancer would each need to be read separately before any statement about the Moon's periods on that chart is made. Where the three agree, the reading is firmer. Where they disagree, the disagreement is the finding.
How to run it on your own chart
- Get the exact degree of each planet in your birth chart, with the ayanamsa named. The degree fixes the sign in every division; the sign alone is too coarse.
- For each of the sixteen divisions, find the planet's sign. The construction rules are on the Navamsa page for the D9 and on the individual varga pages for the rest; software will do this step for you.
- Work out the compound relationship of the planet to each of the other six planets from the birth chart alone: natural friendship from the fixed table above, temporary friendship from the sign count, combined as the dignity table sets out.
- For each division, grade the dignity (exaltation, own, great friend, friend, neutral, enemy, great enemy, debilitation) and take its points.
- Multiply each division's weight by its points, divide by 20, and add across the scheme. Compare the planets against each other before reading any one against the bands.
Kaal does this computation as part of drawing a chart. Kaal Imprint draws the chart for free from date, time and place of birth on the same engine this page uses, and the Full briefing on Kaal briefings reads the whole chart, including which periods are due to deliver and which lords have the dignity to deliver them. For the mechanics of the individual divisions the D10, D7, D12, D30 and D16 pages each walk through one chart in detail.
Frequently asked questions
What is Vimshopaka bala?
Vimshopaka bala is a planetary strength score out of 20 described in Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, chapter 7. It looks at the sign a planet occupies in each of a set of divisional charts, grades the dignity of that placement (own sign, friend's sign, enemy's sign and so on), converts each grade to points and weights the points by the importance of each chart. The weights in every scheme add up to 20, so a planet in its own sign in every chart scores a full 20. Four schemes exist, using 6, 7, 10 or 16 divisional charts.
What are the Vimshopaka weights for the 16 divisional charts?
In the sixteen-chart (Shodashavarga) scheme the weights are: D1 birth chart 3.5, D9 Navamsa 3, D60 Shashtiamsa 4, D16 Shodasamsa 2, D2 Hora 1, D3 Drekkana 1, D30 Trimsamsa 1, and 0.5 each for D4, D7, D10, D12, D20, D24, D27, D40 and D45. These sum to 20. The source is Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra chapter 7, verses 21 to 25, in the Santhanam translation, which also gives the six-chart weights (D1 6, D2 2, D3 4, D9 5, D12 2, D30 1), the seven-chart weights (D1 5, D2 2, D3 3, D7 2.5, D9 4.5, D12 2, D30 1) and the ten-chart weights (D1 3, D60 5, the other eight charts 1.5 each).
How many points does each dignity earn in Vimshopaka bala?
Parashara gives six grades: own sign 20, great friend's sign 18, friend's sign 15, neutral's sign 10, enemy's sign 7 and great enemy's sign 5. The friendship is the compound relationship, which combines the fixed natural friendship between planets with the temporary friendship that depends on where the two planets sit in the birth chart. The score for one divisional chart is the chart's weight multiplied by the dignity points and divided by 20. Exaltation and debilitation are not named in those verses; this page scores exaltation at the own-sign grade (20) and debilitation at the lowest grade (5) and says so.
What is a good Vimshopaka score?
The commentary on chapter 7 of Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra gives four bands. Under 5 points the planet is read as unable to deliver its good results. 5 to 10 points gives some good results. 10 to 15 points is middling. 15 to 20 points is read as fully favourable. In practice most planets in most charts land between 9 and 15, because few planets sit in friendly signs across all sixteen divisions, so a score above 15 is unusual and a score under 8 is also unusual.
How is Vimshopaka bala different from Shadbala?
Shadbala is a six-part strength model that adds positional strength, directional strength, temporal strength, motional strength, natural strength and aspect strength, and it is expressed in rupas. Vimshopaka bala measures one thing only: the quality of the signs a planet occupies across the divisional charts. It has no term for house position, aspects received, speed, retrograde motion or the time of day. The two are complementary. Shadbala says how much power a planet has to act; Vimshopaka says how consistent its dignity is across the layers of the chart. Ashtakavarga is a third measure again, counting benefic points by sign from the positions of all planets.
What is Vimshopaka bala used for in practice?
Its main use is ranking planets before reading their dasha periods, the planetary periods that time events. A period lord with a high Vimshopaka score is expected to deliver the results its house positions promise with less friction; a low-scoring lord is expected to deliver them partially or late. It is also used to decide between two planets that look similar in the birth chart alone, since the divisional charts separate them. It is a dignity measure, so it has to be read alongside house position, aspects and the dasha sequence, never on its own.
Read next
This page is a computed reference on Vimshopaka bala as set out in Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra chapter 7, verses 17 to 27 (Santhanam translation, volume 1). Scheme weights and dignity points are taken from that text; the scoring of exaltation at 20 and debilitation at 5, and the use of a compound friendship computed once from the birth chart, are stated conventions of this page. The worked example was computed for the India independence chart (15 August 1947, 00:00 IST, New Delhi) with the Swiss Ephemeris and the True Pushya Paksha ayanamsa; Lahiri-based software will show different divisional placements and scores. No Vimshopaka threshold has been tested against a dated outcome set. The page does not constitute financial, medical, legal or personal advice. First published 7 November 2026 by Tempora Research.