Last Updated on August 13, 2024 by Tejaswini

The malefic and benefic planets for a chart depend on the ascendant sign. I have written on this earlier (index). There was a question on the parampapi planet, the worst malefic in the chart, thus this post.

Briefly,

• Lagnesh, 1^st lord is always auspicious, he is how you link your personality with the environment around you. The 1^st house is simultaneously a trikon and a kendra so it and its lord is always auspicious.
• Yogkarak, simultaneously a Kendra and Kona lord, is the most auspicious planet in the chart. Both the houses he controls are auspicious, one is a source of energy and the other is a material pillar.
• Trikon lords, ie 5^th 9^th house lords are always auspicious as they control the movement of energy.
• 8^th lord is always inauspicious, as he controls catastrophic changes, risky transformations which include physical death.
• Trishaday lords, 3^rd house, 6^th house,  11^th house are always inauspicious, very insidious houses who have a overt/ subtle highly damaging dark side.
• “Cruel /kroor Kendra lords are not inauspicious. And Saumya/ gentle Kendra lords are not auspicious.” These lines cause a lot of confusion because ‘kroor/saumya’ is wrongly translated as ‘malefic/benefic’. Kroor/saumya = cruel/gentle, ie the inherent nature of the planet. And malefic/benefic is the chart specific functional role of the planet. The 4 Kendra are the pillars of the material life and have to be capable of handling actual situations with courage, pragmatism, power and logic. Cruel planets, when in charge of the pillars of the chart, with their characteristic roughness and force, ensure that you easily handle problems and make the most of the material opportunities in life. So they cannot be said to be inauspicious. On the other hand, saumya planets here are not very capable of handling the emergent situations of the material life and that is why they are considered ‘not auspicious’. Saumya planets here give an average life but you will not have the necessary drive to gain heights in life or feel very motivated to make life better for you. (This is seen in its exaggerated form in the kendradhipati dosh of the Mercury and Jupiter ascendant charts.)

• 2^nd and 12^th lords are considered to be neutral or at max to be mildly inauspicious. This, despite the fact that the 2^nd is a marak sthan and the 12^th is a dusham sthan. The reason is that the  2^nd is a less efficient marak than the 7^th and the 12^th is the least effective dusham among the three, 6^th 8^th 12^th.

But when it comes to applying all these concepts to the chart, we see that the 5 tara graha own two signs each. Sun and Moon own one sign each and Rahu Ketu do not own any signs. So, even with this indicative list, how do we evaluate the auspicious/ inauspicious nature of the planets?

So if you have to determine the worst malefic/parampapi graha or best benefic/atishubh graha for an ascendant sign this is how you should go about it.

The 5 Tara graha, non luminous planets

Any Tara graha, whose 2 signs simultaneously occupy a trishaday house (3^rd 6^th 8^th 11^th) and /or a dushamsthan (6^th 8^th 12^th) is the worst malefic for that ascendant. The worst malefic, the parampapi tara graha does not own a Kendra and neither does he own a Kona.

• Aries – Mercury who owns 3^rd 6^th
• Taurus – Jupiter who owns 8^th 11^th
• Gemini – Mars who owns 6^th 11^th
• Cancer – Mercury who owns 3^rd 12^th
• Leo – does not have any graha in the parampapi level
• Virgo – Mars who owns the 3^rd and 8^th
• Libra – Jupiter owns the 3^rd and 6^th
• Scorpio – mercury who owns 8^th and 11^th
• Sagittarius – Venus who owns the 6^th and 11^th
• Capricorn – Jupiter owns the 12^th and 3^rd
• Aquarius – does not have a planet in the parampapi category
• Pisces – Venus who owns the 3^rd and 8^th

The next level of maleficity is called papi graha. Here the planet owns one malefic house ie one of these, 3^rd 6^th 8^th 11^th or 12^th and one benefic house ie 4^th 5^th 7^th 9^th or 10^th. You can easily work out the papi level Tara graha for your ascendant sign.

Then are the shubh graha, favourable planets. In this case the planet will own one benefic house ie 4^th 5^th 7^th 9^th or 10^th and a neutral house, ie 2^nd.

The Lagnesh is considered to be a shubh graha. He owns the ascendant sign which is simultaneously a kendra and kona so he is quite auspicious but we have to also consider the nature of the second sign that he owns.

• A Lagnesh, ie lord of the 1^st cannot own the 5^th or 9^th.
• When Mercury or Jupiter are the Lagnesh, they own another kendra house, which can lead to the kendradhipati dosh manifesting in life.
• When Venus, Mars and Saturn are Lagnesh, they own one of the dusham or trishadaya or neutral houses in addition to the ascendant.
• Thus we consider the Lagnesh to be a shubh graha, auspicious force but not an atishubh/highly auspicious force.

Then there is the single atishubh graha, extremely auspicious planet, ie the Yogkarak who simultaneously owns a Kendra – 4^th 7^th or 10^th and a Kona – 5^th or 9^th. Both the signs owned by this planet occupy these auspicious houses, so there is not the slightest chance that he will cause harm. If he is powerful then he can elevate the person to the greatest heights possible. Yogkarak graha exists only for the ascendants Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Libra, Capricorn and Aquarius.

• But, and evaluate this properly, if the Yogkarak is incapable of giving auspicious results, eg debilitated, or further afflicted by malefics, etc ie spoilt in any way, then these two very important houses suffer badly and this reflects on the entire personality, the environment, the mind set, the energy levels etc. A badly placed Yogkarak has the capacity to put the entire personality and the environment out of balance.

Now the two luminaries, Sun and Moon. They own one sign each, Leo and Cancer, and are called ek rashi adhipati.

• Sun and Moon are never put in the parampapi category.
• They are only papi level graha for those ascendants where their signs occupy the 3^rd 6^th 8^th 11^th or 12^th house (dusham and tridashay).
• They are shubh planets when their sign occupies the 2nd house or a kendra or a kona.
• They are atishubh planets when their sign occupies the Lagna /ascendant.

For the Chhaya graha, Rahu and Ketu,

• generally they are considered to be inauspicious, papi graha.
• they become malevolent, ie parampapi when they are aspected or conjunct a parampapi graha in the chart.
• If they are conjunct or aspected by shubh graha in the 2nd or a kendra or a kona house then they can be considered to be shubh graha.
• In case they are placed alone in the 2nd or a kendra or a kona house and are unaspected by any planet even then they are shubh.
• In rare cases they can be the Yogkarak graha, ie the most auspicious forces (post here).

When you apply these guidelines, do remember that the planet has to be strong ie must be exalted, in mooltrikon, in own sign, in a friend’s sign, in an auspicious house, have good shadbala, vimshopaka bala, high ishta phal score, good points in ashtakvarga etc. Only then does the results promised by him materialise. If he is afflicted in any way his capacity to give auspicious results will diminish.