Sarvashtakavarga adds the seven planets' ashtakavarga charts sign by sign, so each of the twelve signs gets one total. Jataka Parijata adds the seven and gets 337 in every horoscope; Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra also adds the lagna's own chart and gets 386. Both band a sign at 25 and 30, each on its own total. Nava reads the seven-chart total on Jataka Parijata's bands, with 25 counted as middling.
☕ One number per sign
Each planet's ashtakavarga chart gives every sign a few bindus. Lay the seven charts on top of each other and add them sign by sign: that is the samudaya, the sum of all of them (Jataka Parijata (tr. Subramanya Sastri), ch. X, vv. 1–2, p. 664). The seven charts always hold 337 between them, so an average sign carries about 28.1.
Jataka Parijata reads a sign's total in three bands (ch. X, v. 53, p. 698 of that book): up to 25 gives little, 25 to 30 is middling, and over 30 is good. Those printed ranges both include 25, so the verse alone does not say which side a total of exactly 25 falls on. Nava reads them in the card “Bands Nava reads a sign total on” below.
Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra builds its total differently. Its verse adds the rekhas of all the charts, and its own worked example shows that includes the lagna's chart as an eighth, which holds 49 (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (Santhanam–Kapoor ed.), ch. 72, vv. 1–2, p. 897). That total is 386, an average sign about 32.2. Its bands are below 25, 25 to 30 and above 30 (ch. 72, vv. 3–5, pp. 897–898), with a further step above 40 (ch. 72, v. 29, p. 904), as in “Parashara's bands on the eight-chart total” further down.
So the two books print nearly the same cut-offs on totals that differ by a whole chart. A sign that is middling on one count can be good on the other, which is why each band belongs to its own total.
What Nava follows: the seven-chart total on Jataka Parijata's bands for everything it weighs, and a total of exactly 25 read as middling, as Parashara's “25 to 30” has it. The eight-chart total is worked out beside it but scores nothing, and neither book's bands are ever read off the other book's total.
Reading a sign's total
- up to 24: weak
- 25 to 30: middling
- 31 or more: good
- Mix-up: the bands fit either total. Each book states its bands on its own total; on the eight-chart total the average sign is higher, so the same cut-offs read it more kindly.
- Mix-up: a sign's total is about one planet. It adds all seven charts; a single planet's transit is read on its own chart.
- Mix-up: the two books disagree on the cut-offs. Both use 25 and 30; what differs is the total they are read on, and whether 25 sits in one band or two.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the total always 337?
Each contributor marks a fixed number of houses in each chart, so each planet's chart holds the same bindus in every horoscope; the seven together hold 337. Adding the lagna's own chart, 49 more, gives Parashara's 386.
How does Nava read a total of exactly 25?
As middling. Jataka Parijata's printed ranges both include 25; Parashara's verse puts 25 to 30 in the middle band, and Nava follows that wording. It is a choice, made openly.
Where does Nava use the sign totals?
When Your Period weighs what the chart promises for an area of life, it reads the total of that area's house sign: a good total lifts the promise, a weak one lowers it, and the line names the house and its points. Your reading, also on the You tab, weighs the same totals.
Deep dive: Parashara's count, and the next step
The table “Parashara's bands on the eight-chart total”, the reductions that come next, and what this builds on.
🧮 Parashara's bands on the eight-chart total
Read only on the total that includes the lagna's chart; the step above 40 is this book's alone.
| Eight-chart total | Band |
|---|---|
| up to 24 | weak |
| 25 to 30 | middling |
| 31 to 40 | good |
| 41 or more | very good |
✂️ Before any reduction
Both books add the raw counts; neither reduces a chart before summing it. The two reductions of a single chart are on trikona and ekadhipatya shodhana.
🧭 What this builds on
The eight contributors, the bindu and each planet's chart are explained on ashtakavarga basics.