A varga is a divisional chart. Each sign of 30° is cut into equal parts, and each part is given a sign of its own. Cut a sign into nine and you get the navamsa; cut it into ten and you get the dasamsa. Parashara names sixteen such charts and gives each a subject: the navamsa for the spouse, the dasamsa for work and standing, and so on. Nava's horoscope page draws all sixteen.
☕ One sky, sixteen lenses
Your birth chart, the rasi chart, places each planet in one of twelve signs. That is a coarse picture: two planets anywhere in the same 30° share a sign. A varga looks closer. It cuts each sign into parts and gives every part a sign of its own, so a planet early in a sign and one late in it can land in different signs of the new chart.
Parashara names sixteen vargas (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (Santhanam–Kapoor ed.), ch. 6, vv. 2–4, p. 68). Each one is a different way of cutting: in halves, in thirds, in quarters, in sevenths, in ninths, and so on up to sixtieths. The size of each part is in the card “Each varga and its part” below.
He then says what each chart is for (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (Santhanam–Kapoor ed.), ch. 7, vv. 1–5, p. 92). The rasi chart is read for the body; the hora for wealth; the drekkana for siblings; the chaturthamsa for fortune and home; the saptamsa for children; the navamsa for the spouse; the dasamsa for power and position; the dvadasamsa for parents; the shodasamsa for vehicles and comforts; the vimsamsa for worship; the siddhamsa for learning; the bhamsa for strength and weakness; and the trimsamsa for troubles. The last three, the khavedamsa, akshavedamsa and shashtiamsa, he gives broad, general uses.
Not every book uses all sixteen. Jataka Parijata gives ten in its verse (Jataka Parijata (tr. Subramanya Sastri), ch. I, v. 30, p. 17), and its translator notes that most astrologers work with six or seven. Six and seven are the sets the next pages call the shadvarga and the saptavarga.
The sixteen at a glance
- Rasi (D1): the whole sign, 30°
- Hora (D2): 2 parts of 15°
- Drekkana (D3): 3 parts of 10°
- Chaturthamsa (D4): 4 parts of 7°30′
- Saptamsa (D7): 7 parts of 4°17′8.57″
- Navamsa (D9): 9 parts of 3°20′
- Dasamsa (D10): 10 parts of 3°
- Dvadasamsa (D12): 12 parts of 2°30′
- Shodasamsa (D16): 16 parts of 1°52′30″
- Vimsamsa (D20): 20 parts of 1°30′
- Siddhamsa (D24): 24 parts of 1°15′
- Bhamsa (D27): 27 parts of 1°6′40″
- Trimsamsa (D30): five unequal parts (5°, 5°, 8°, 7°, 5°)
- Khavedamsa (D40): 40 parts of 45′
- Akshavedamsa (D45): 45 parts of 40′
- Shashtiamsa (D60): 60 parts of 30′
- Mix-up: a varga is a separate sky. It is the same planets at the same degrees, read through a finer cut of each sign.
- Mix-up: a planet in a good sign of the navamsa settles the question it is read for. Each chart is one piece of evidence among many; the books read them together.
- Mix-up: the saptamsa tells the sex of a child. This page keeps to what the book reads it for, children, and Nava draws it as a chart only.
- Mix-up: all sixteen are always used. Many teachers work with six or seven, and Jataka Parijata's verse names ten.
Frequently asked questions
Which varga matters most?
The rasi chart comes first, and the navamsa is read beside it in almost every tradition. In the six-varga set of Parashara's twenty-point Vimsopaka score, the rasi and the navamsa carry the two largest weights.
Is the navamsa the same as the nakshatra pada?
They are the same size, 3°20′, and they line up exactly: 108 navamsas, 108 padas. The page on the 108 quarters shows how they map.
Where do I see my divisional charts?
On Nava's horoscope page. The rasi and navamsa charts are drawn first; the other fourteen are under Divisional charts, each with the subject the book reads it for.
Deep dive: the sets of six, seven, ten and sixteen
How the vargas are grouped, and what this builds on.
🧮 Four sets
Parashara groups the vargas into four sets (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (Santhanam–Kapoor ed.), ch. 7, vv. 17–25, pp. 94–95). The shadvarga is six: rasi, hora, drekkana, navamsa, dvadasamsa and trimsamsa. The saptavarga adds the saptamsa. The dasavarga adds the dasamsa, shodasamsa and shashtiamsa. The shodasavarga is all sixteen.
Each set has its own weights for the twenty-point Vimsopaka score, which is the next step: Vimsopaka, the 20-point varga strength.
🧭 What this builds on
The twelve signs, odd and even, movable, fixed and dual, are on the twelve rashis. Every varga is built from those classes; the rule for each is on how each varga is built.