A planet's dignity is the kind of sign it stands in. Parashara gives each dignity a share of the good the planet can give. Exaltation gives the full share. Moolatrikona gives three quarters. Its own sign, half. A friend's sign, a quarter. A neutral's sign, an eighth. An enemy's sign or debilitation, nil. This is a scale for weighing a planet. It is not a forecast.
☕ A measuring cup, not a promise
Every planet stands in some sign. That sign may be its exaltation, its moolatrikona or its own. Or it may belong to a friend, a neutral or an enemy, or be its debilitation. This is called its dignity.
Parashara turns dignity into a fraction (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (Santhanam–Kapoor ed.), ch. 3, vv. 59–60, p. 42). Full in exaltation. Three quarters in moolatrikona. Half in its own sign. A quarter in a friend's sign. An eighth in a neutral's sign. Nil in an enemy's sign or in debilitation. He adds that for unfavourable results the scale runs the other way.
Brihat Jataka gives the same top four (Brihat Jataka, ch. XX, v. 11). It says an enemy's sign gives less than a quarter, and a debilitated or combust planet gives nothing. It names no neutral share. In that book the reversal for unfavourable results is a commentator's note, not the verse.
Jataka Parijata gives the same scale: little in an enemy's sign, nil when debilitated or combust (Jataka Parijata (tr. Subramanya Sastri), ch. VII, v. 58, p. 413). Later it states the scale twice in a row, and the two slokas disagree. One counts a debilitated or combust planet as if it stood in an enemy's sign, so it keeps a little (Jataka Parijata (tr. Subramanya Sastri), ch. VIII, v. 115, p. 581). The next gives it nil (Jataka Parijata (tr. Subramanya Sastri), ch. VIII, v. 116, pp. 581–582). Its translator says the second repeats the earlier sloka.
At a glance
- Exaltation: full
- Moolatrikona: ¾
- Own sign: ½
- A friend's sign: ¼
- A neutral's sign: ⅛
- An enemy's sign, or debilitation: nil
- This is Parashara's scale for favourable results. It weighs; it does not forecast.
- Mix-up: a share of nil means something will go wrong. It means only that this one rule gives the planet no favourable share.
- Mix-up: dignity is the whole of a planet's strength. It is one factor; house, aspect and strength are others.
- Mix-up: a great friend's sign gives more than a friend's. The verses grade a friend's, a neutral's and an enemy's sign, and say nothing of great friends.
- Mix-up: every book agrees on debilitation. One book's two slokas give two answers.
Frequently asked questions
Where do great friend and great enemy fit?
The verses grade only a friend's, a neutral's and an enemy's sign. The five-fold friendship grades are a finer reading of the sign's lord. The books do not give the great grades a share of their own.
What about a combust planet?
Brihat Jataka and Jataka Parijata give it nil (Brihat Jataka, ch. XX, v. 11; Jataka Parijata (tr. Subramanya Sastri), ch. VII, v. 58, p. 413). Parashara's translation does not name combustion here. One reading of his Sanskrit may include it, but that reading is not certain.
Does a full share mean a planet will give full results?
No. The share is a weight for one factor, the sign. A chart is read from many rules together. This page explains how the share is counted, nothing more.
How does the Nava app use this scale?
The horoscope page shows each planet's dignity, from exalted to debilitated. The written reading uses the scale to decide how firmly to word a line. The deep dive below gives the details.
Deep dive: where the books leave gaps
What the app fills in, and what this builds on.
⚖️ Filling the gaps
The books leave three gaps. Parashara names a neutral share, the others do not. They differ on an enemy's sign: nil, or less than a quarter. And none gives the great friend or great enemy grade a share.
What Nava follows: Parashara’s scale for the favourable share. A great friend’s sign counts as a friend’s (¼). An enemy’s sign counts as ⅛, our choice between nil and less than a quarter, and a great enemy’s as half of that. A combust planet gives no favourable share. For unfavourable lines the order is reversed, debilitation first.
These are choices for weighing words in a reading. They are not a book's numbers.
🧭 What this builds on
The signs of exaltation and debilitation are on exaltation and debilitation. Whether a sign's lord is a friend, a neutral or an enemy is on temporary and five-fold friendship.