Marriage (vivaha) in Astrology
Updated: Jun 14, 2020
Vivaha is a samskruta word. "Vishishtataya Vahayathi Ithi Vivhaham" - The one which prepares and also directs you to lead a different, special life following Vedic dharma..
Everyone has their own views on Marriage. And these perspectives are influenced by the environment in which we are brought up like our family, customs, traditions and mainly the teachings of our parents. In some special cases, the person’s positive attitude, mentality and the way he/she resolves the problems in a very positive and spiritual manner could be different from his/her childhood environment. Such individuals can swim the ocean of life successfully.
Generally, most of the people are very curious to know about their marriage in advance or a few seek solutions for the marital problems they face in their day-to-day life. All the queries are answered by Jyotishya (Astrology) and also the remedial actions are suggested to improve the person’s marital life.
Let us understand some basic rules regarding marriage in Astrology.
Seventh House: This house governs marriage and the promises of marriage are seen from this house.
Seventh Lord: The seventh lord is the owner of the house. This planet takes the responsibility to look after the house. The lord who is free from all malefic aspects will manage the house very well but the afflicted lord will not be able to manage, instead creates problems in the married life.
Karaka: The karaka of marriage is the planet Venus. Venus indicates wife in male chart whereas the planet Jupiter indicates husband in female chart. Venus also represents lust and luxury for both sexes. The sexual energy of male is controlled by Venus and in case of female it is controlled by Mars.
The Kaalpurusha chart is the basic chart. This chart explains the fundamentals regarding marriage through the lordships, exaltation, and debilitation signs of planets in this chart.
Sign – Libra is the seventh house in Kaalpurusha chart. Hence Libra is also seen for the promise and quality of the marriage.
Planet Saturn gets exalted in the seventh house of Venus, gives status in the marriage where as Sun gets debilitated here which gives no ego and no status in the marriage.
Planet Sun exalts in the Lagna, and gives rise to ego in the marriage.
Planet Guru the lord of 9th and 12th house gets exalted in the 4th house of happiness. Thus, this planet indicates the happiness, divine blessings and the spirituality exists in the marriage.
Planet Mars shows the authority in the marriage life.
whereas Planet Mercury the lord of 6th house gets exalted here and causes rift in marriage life.
And most importantly, among 16 Divisional Charts, Navamsha/ D9 chart is given more importance for confirming the promise of marriage, marriage life and its prospects, spouse’s nature and character etc. Some are of the opinion that, effects emanating from Navamsha chart are similar or equal to those of Rashi Chart.
Many of us definitely end up with the query, “Why Navamsha plays a major role in marriage analysis, when,the 9th house/ Dharma trikona in the Rashi chart signifies the bhagyasthana, luck, prosperity, guru, father, religious, spiritual progress, knowledge of the scriptures, sadhana, pilgrimages, foreign travel and foreign trade, global business etc?”
Dharma is examined in the ninth house and the one-ninth division of signs is called Navamsa. The 11th house from the 9th house is 7th house which shows gains/increase of Dharma. And the gain from marriage is progeny which is the 5th house (11th from 7th). It is well known by the tradition that marriage is part of Dharma. The actual objective of Marriage is to pursue the 4 types of Purusharthas, which are - Dharma, Artha, Kama and then lastly Moksha.
Parashara advises us to examine this divisional chart (Navamsa) for spouse as it is the fruit/gains of Dharma. Thus the 11th sign from the 9th house is the 7th house which shows gains/increase of Dharma and the 12th sign from the 9th house in the 8th house which shows loss/decrease of Dharma. Thus, marriage indicates an increase of Dharma. The 12th house of 7th that is 6th house indicates fight and breaking of the marriage, or losing the relationships – Divorce.
Generally, we analyze the 7th house, 7th lord and the Karaka for any matter related to marriage. The planet in the 7th house of the Kundali is very important in judging the appearance of the spouse in Astrology. If there are no planets in the 7th house, we need to see the 7th Lord. Planets in the 1st house will influence your physical appearance and planets in the 7th house will influence the physical appearance, thinking etc of your Life Partner.
Planets that are positioned in the 7th house of Navamsa also play a vital role in predicting the appearance of the spouse. The first house in the Navamsha Kundali reveals about the person’s desire and thoughts regarding marriage.
Along with 7th house, we also need to examine:
2nd house – the house of wealth, finance and values etc
11th house for financial gains through marriage.
8th house for the length of the marriage and,
12th house for analyzing the bed pleasure of the couple
Also the 9th house of Dharma which is the upachaya house of 7th to understand the progress of married life.
The 7th house in the Chart mainly shows the interaction between the couple or the status of partnership between them. Actually, as it is mentioned in the beginning of this article, it is very much necessary to analyze his/her birth chart Kendras(1,4,7,10) and also the Trikonas(1,5,9) to understand his/her inner emotions, happiness and the strength to withstand his/her ongoing difficulties. If a person is really happy with whatever he is having and strong enough to resolve all the tantrums of his/her life then definitely he/she is capable of managing the shortcomings of married life.
The state of Lagna, 7th house and the karaka of marriage-Venus plays major role in the Navamsha chart to confirm the predictions made in D1(Rashi) chart. And also it is necessary to examine the state of the Lagna and 7th lord of Rashi chart (D1) in the D9 chart.
If any one of the houses or owner of the respective houses or the Karaka is badly afflicted then, it will deny its signification and end up with miseries and troubles.
A brief explanation on the signification of every house in Navamsha:
1st house – It says about the native desires, view and opinion on marriage.
2nd house –How much you value the wealth, food, family etc. Basically, wealth through marriage, the accumulated wealth through marriage, and represents your own family (you, spouse and your children)
3rd house - The effort it takes to sustain your marriage
4th house - Comfort and happiness from marriage
5th house –Creativity, quality of affection and the enjoyment in marriage
6th house –Accumulation of debts through marriage, the arguments and also how quickly you will or will not be able to overcome it.
7th house –It represents your spouse in general like spouse’s personality and character etc
8th house - Longevity of the marriage, joint assets you accumulate through the spouse, your in-laws
9th house - The spirituality within the marriage
10th house - Represents the public image of the marriage, how people view you two as a couple together
11th house - The hopes, wishes and desires and its fulfillment
12th house - Bed pleasures in the marriage
Let us now see couple of examples to understand the above.
CHART - 1
DOB: August 2nd 1899, TOB: 1:45 am, POB: Delhi, Gender: Female
First, let’s check for the promise of marriage. In the Rashi chart, the 7th house is occupied by Saturn who is also the friend of Venus (the Lagna lord) and also it is the Yogakaraka for Taurus Ascendant. As mentioned in the beginning of the article, Saturn gives status to the marriage in 7th house and there is no major affliction to the 7th house.
And now in Navamsha, the 7th house is aspected by the benefic planet Mercury. Hence, it is assured that this lady will surely get married.
Generally it is known as, the marriage related issues exist when:
7th house is under Papakartari yoga or it is afflicted by natural malefics by aspect or the placement of Dusthana house lords. (6th, 8th, 12th house).
7th lord is under Papakartari yoga or in Dusthana,
The karaka of marriage Venus is afflicted by natural malefics or placed in Dusthanas. And in case of female chart, if Karaka Jupiter is afflicted.
The same combinations mentioned above in the Navamsha chart also brings bad luck in marriage related areas.
It is known that, if the birth chart shows problems in marriage but Navamsha promises a good married life then the person’s married life would be good in the later part of life and the effect is vice versa if birth chart promises good married life and Navamsha doesn’t.
Let us take another example to understand the above.
CHART - 2
DOB: October 2nd1976, TOB: 3:21 am, POB: Narwana, Gender: Female
The girl was not married for a long period after which her marriage was fixed for November 2010. But after her marriage, she returned to her parental home.
When you analyze her Rashi chart, the 7th lord Saturn who is not having good relationship with Lagna lord Sun, is in the 12th house(Dusthana) indicates loss of marriage and also aspects her 6th house of divorce. Secondly, the Karaka of marriage Venus is afflicted by two malefics Mars and Rahu which says that she must have had problems in relationships throughout her life.
And in the Navamsha, Sun being in the first house indicates ego in relationship and again here 7th lord Mars is placed in the 6th house (Dusthana). And also the 7th lord Saturn in the D1 chart is afflicted by Mars and Rahu. Though the Jupiter aspect on the seventh house promised her marriage in the Navamsha, this could not continue for long since retrograde Jupiter is also afflicted by planet Saturn.
Note: The well-known very popular Jaimini system has given principals (Sutras) that are when applied with Parashara principals for judging the quality of marriage would bring out best results.