Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra

Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (बृहत्पाराशरहोराशास्त्र), usually abbreviated to BPHS, is a Sanskrit work on birth-chart astrology traditionally attributed to Parashara.

The text presents a dialogue between Parashara and Maitreya. Its subjects include planets, signs, houses, divisional charts, planetary strengths, yogas and dashas, the periods used in traditional chart interpretation.

Why it appears on panchang.now

BPHS is one of the sources named under Conventions in a Kundli result, alongside Phaladeepika and Saravali. Those references concern the rules for recognising named planetary combinations.

Each yoga listed in a result states the condition being checked and the placements that satisfy it. This is useful when comparing texts: the same yoga name may come with different conditions, exceptions or ways of counting houses.

For example, the site's Nabhasa section describes patterns made by the seven visible grahas across signs and houses. BPHS discusses these as a group of named yogas. The pattern displayed in a chart and the traditional result attached to it are separate parts of a reading.

A starting point for reading

Begin with the terms used in the chart: lagna is the ascendant, rashi a zodiac sign, and bhava a house. A kendra is the first, fourth, seventh or tenth house from the reference point specified by a rule.

Then follow one yoga through its full passage. Note the starting point for counting, which planets are included and any strength or cancellation conditions. A familiar name alone is not enough to establish that two descriptions use the same rule.

Here, yoga means a planetary combination. It is different from the daily Nitya Yoga shown on the Panchang page.

Editions and references

R. Santhanam's English translation and commentary is issued in two volumes. The Nabhasa yoga discussion is chapter 35 in that edition's numbering. When consulting another edition, locate the topic by its heading and check the surrounding verses as well as the number.

For comparing a rule, an edition with the Sanskrit text, numbered verses and clearly separated commentary makes the passage easier to trace. Record the translator and volume alongside any verse reference.

The books overview explains how the four texts relate to the site. Open the Kundli page to see the chart and its stated conventions.