Each planet has natural friends, neutrals and enemies. The books do not ask you to learn them by heart. They give a rule. Start at the planet's moolatrikona sign. The lords of the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th and 12th signs from it are friends. So is the lord of its exaltation sign. The lords of the 3rd, 6th, 7th, 10th and 11th signs are enemies. A planet that gets both marks is neutral. Run this for all seven planets and you get the whole table: 42 cells.
☕ A table you can rebuild with a pencil
Parashara states the rule in one verse (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (Santhanam–Kapoor ed.), ch. 3, v. 55, p. 40). It needs two facts about each planet: its moolatrikona sign and its exaltation sign. He gives both a few verses earlier (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (Santhanam–Kapoor ed.), ch. 3, vv. 49–54, pp. 38–40).
Each sign has a lord. Counting from the moolatrikona sign, every other sign gives its lord either a friend mark or an enemy mark. The exaltation sign's lord gets one more friend mark. Most planets own two signs, so a lord can collect marks of both kinds. Then it is neutral.
Friendship is not mutual. The Moon counts Mercury a friend. Mercury counts the Moon an enemy. Each planet's row is built from its own signs, so the two directions can differ. The verse does not say so itself, but the translator adds, citing the Benares edition and Saravali, that the Moon holds no one as an enemy. The rule agrees.
Rahu and Ketu own no sign, so the rule cannot reach them. The translator of Parashara adds a separate list for them after the verse (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (Santhanam–Kapoor ed.), ch. 3, pp. 40–41). That list is his, not the verse's. This page prints only the seven the rule builds.
At a glance
- Sun — friends: Moon, Mars, Jupiter · neutral: Mercury · enemies: Venus, Saturn
- Moon — friends: Sun, Mercury · neutral: Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn · enemies: none
- Mars — friends: Sun, Moon, Jupiter · neutral: Venus, Saturn · enemies: Mercury
- Mercury — friends: Sun, Venus · neutral: Mars, Jupiter, Saturn · enemies: Moon
- Jupiter — friends: Sun, Moon, Mars · neutral: Saturn · enemies: Mercury, Venus
- Venus — friends: Mercury, Saturn · neutral: Mars, Jupiter · enemies: Sun, Moon
- Saturn — friends: Mercury, Venus · neutral: Jupiter · enemies: Sun, Moon, Mars
- Read each row as “how this planet regards the others”.
- Mix-up: if A is B's friend, B is A's friend. Not always: see the Moon and Mercury.
- Mix-up: the count starts from the planet's own sign. It starts from the moolatrikona sign.
- Mix-up: the exaltation lord is a friend no matter what. It is one friend mark; with an enemy mark it is neutral.
- Mix-up: the rule also gives Rahu and Ketu's friends. It cannot; they own no sign.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Satyacharya, and what is his rule?
Satyacharya is an earlier authority that Brihat Jataka quotes. Varahamihira gives the rule in his name: the lords of the 2nd, 12th, 5th, 9th, 4th and 8th from the moolatrikona sign, and the exaltation lord, are friends (Brihat Jataka, ch. II, v. 15). It is the same rule as Parashara's.
What is the “some say” table in Brihat Jataka?
Before Satyacharya's rule, Varahamihira reports a different set of friendships held by some. In it the Sun's only friend is Jupiter, and Mercury is friendly to every planet but the Sun. He reports it as some authors' view and then gives Satyacharya's rule (Brihat Jataka, ch. II, v. 15). The table most people use today is the rule's.
Does Jataka Parijata agree?
It lists the same friendships for the seven planets (Jataka Parijata (tr. Subramanya Sastri), ch. II, vv. 42–45, pp. 71–72). Its translator also shows a different way to count, with marks, that reaches the same table (Jataka Parijata (tr. Subramanya Sastri), ch. II, v. 45, pp. 72–73, translator's note). These books are one line of tradition. Their agreement is one voice, not three.
Where does the Nava app use this table?
In the day score. Each hour has a lord, and the app asks how that lord regards the lord of your rasi. It also weighs how your running dasha and bhukti lords regard each other. Its rows for Rahu and Ketu come from the translator's separate list, not from the rule.
Deep dive: building one row
The Sun's friendships, sign by sign.
✏️ The Sun, worked through
Worked example: the Sun. Its moolatrikona is Simha (Leo). Count Simha (Leo) as 1.
- 2nd Kanya (Virgo): Mercury — friend mark.
- 4th Vrischika (Scorpio) and 9th Mesha (Aries): Mars — friend marks. Mesha (Aries) is also the Sun's exaltation sign.
- 5th Dhanu (Sagittarius) and 8th Meena (Pisces): Jupiter — friend marks.
- 12th Kataka (Cancer): Moon — friend mark.
- 3rd Tula (Libra) and 10th Vrishabha (Taurus): Venus — enemy marks.
- 6th Makara (Capricorn) and 7th Kumbha (Aquarius): Saturn — enemy marks.
- 11th Mithuna (Gemini): Mercury again — an enemy mark.
Mercury has one of each, so it is neutral. The result: friends Moon, Mars and Jupiter; neutral Mercury; enemies Venus and Saturn. That is the Sun's row in the table, cell for cell.
🧭 What this builds on, and what comes next
The sign lords are on the twelve rashis, and the planets' natures on natural benefics and malefics. Natural friendship is only half of the picture. Where the two planets sit adds the other half: temporary and five-fold friendship.