> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.jyotiguide.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Rāśis and Grahas: Signs and Planets in Jyotiṣa

> A complete reference for the 12 sidereal signs and 9 grahas — their lords, natures, dignities, retrogression, and combustion as shown in Jyoti Guide.

Two vocabularies do most of the interpretive work in a birth chart: the twelve **rāśis** (signs) and the nine **grahas** (planets, including the two lunar nodes). Every placement, dignity flag, and strength score in the app traces back to these two lists. This page serves as a reference for both, and for the **dignity** system — the `Status` column you see in the Planets table — which measures how well-supported a planet is in the sign it happens to occupy.

## The twelve rāśis (signs)

Each *rāśi* is a 30° slice of the sidereal zodiac. It carries a ruling planet, an element, and a quality that colour every planet placed within it.

| #  | Sanskrit | English     | Lord    | Element |
| -- | -------- | ----------- | ------- | ------- |
| 1  | Meṣa     | Aries       | Mars    | Fire    |
| 2  | Vṛṣabha  | Taurus      | Venus   | Earth   |
| 3  | Mithuna  | Gemini      | Mercury | Air     |
| 4  | Karka    | Cancer      | Moon    | Water   |
| 5  | Siṁha    | Leo         | Sun     | Fire    |
| 6  | Kanyā    | Virgo       | Mercury | Earth   |
| 7  | Tulā     | Libra       | Venus   | Air     |
| 8  | Vṛścika  | Scorpio     | Mars    | Water   |
| 9  | Dhanu    | Sagittarius | Jupiter | Fire    |
| 10 | Makara   | Capricorn   | Saturn  | Earth   |
| 11 | Kumbha   | Aquarius    | Saturn  | Air     |
| 12 | Mīna     | Pisces      | Jupiter | Water   |

The **lord** of a sign is crucial: when you ask what a house promises, you look at the house itself, the planets occupying it, *and* the planet that rules the sign on that house — the **house lord** (bhāva-īśa). See [Bhāvas & Aspects](/concepts/bhavas-and-aspects) for how lords work in practice.

## The nine grahas (planets)

*Jyotiṣa* uses seven physical bodies and two calculated points — together the **navagraha**, or nine grahas.

| Graha   | English    | Nature           | Signifies (kāraka)                    |
| ------- | ---------- | ---------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| Sūrya   | Sun        | Mild malefic     | Soul, vitality, father, authority     |
| Chandra | Moon       | Benefic (waxing) | Mind, emotions, mother, the public    |
| Maṅgala | Mars       | Malefic          | Energy, courage, siblings, property   |
| Budha   | Mercury    | Neutral          | Intellect, speech, commerce           |
| Guru    | Jupiter    | Great benefic    | Wisdom, fortune, children, dharma     |
| Śukra   | Venus      | Benefic          | Love, beauty, spouse, comfort, art    |
| Śani    | Saturn     | Great malefic    | Discipline, longevity, loss, labour   |
| Rāhu    | North Node | Malefic (shadow) | Obsession, foreignness, amplification |
| Ketu    | South Node | Malefic (shadow) | Detachment, spirituality, loss        |

"Benefic" and "malefic" are tendencies, not verdicts. A well-placed malefic can be the making of a chart, and a weakened benefic can disappoint. The planet's **dignity** and **strength** (Shadbala) determine how its nature actually expresses in a life.

## Dignity: how comfortable is a planet in its sign?

A planet's **dignity** depends on the sign it occupies. The app flags the strongest and weakest cases in the `Status` column of the Planets table.

| Dignity                                 | Meaning                                                                    |
| --------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Exalted** (*uccha*)                   | The sign of the planet's greatest strength — it acts at its best.          |
| **Own sign** (*sva-rāśi*)               | The planet rules the sign it sits in — comfortable and self-reliant.       |
| **Debilitated** (*nīcha*)               | The sign opposite its exaltation — its weakest, least-supported placement. |
| *(Mūlatrikoṇa, friend, neutral, enemy)* | Intermediate degrees of comfort used inside the strength calculations.     |

The exaltation and debilitation signs are fixed across all classical texts:

| Planet  | Exalted in | Debilitated in |
| ------- | ---------- | -------------- |
| Sun     | Aries      | Libra          |
| Moon    | Taurus     | Scorpio        |
| Mars    | Capricorn  | Cancer         |
| Mercury | Virgo      | Pisces         |
| Jupiter | Cancer     | Capricorn      |
| Venus   | Pisces     | Virgo          |
| Saturn  | Libra      | Aries          |

<Info>
  **Example from the sample chart.** With the Moon in **Scorpio**, the app flags it `DEBILITATED`. With Mars in **Aries** and Mercury in **Gemini**, both appear as `OWN SIGN`. These dignity flags feed directly into the *Uccha-bala* component of the Shadbala strength score.
</Info>

## Retrogression and combustion

Two further conditions modify how a planet performs beyond its dignity:

**Retrograde** (*vakra*) — when a planet appears to move backwards against the stars from Earth's perspective. Classical *jyotiṣa* treats retrograde planets as unusually strong because apparent reversal indicates the planet is near its closest approach to Earth. This condition forms the basis of *Cheṣṭā-bala* in the Shadbala calculation.

**Combustion** (*astaṁgata*) — when a planet draws too close to the Sun and is "burnt" by its light, weakening the planet's significations. The app's **Combustion** panel reports each planet's current distance from the Sun, the classical orb used for that planet, and whether it qualifies as combust. See [Bhāvas & Aspects](/concepts/bhavas-and-aspects) for the full combustion detail.

<Tip>
  **Continue reading:** explore how the twelve houses structure a chart and how planets influence one another through aspects — [Bhāvas & Aspects](/concepts/bhavas-and-aspects).
</Tip>