Rahul S Kamat Varieties of Charts - Bhava Chart

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Bhava Chart

In the regular birthchart, each house is equivalent to one sign. Grahas are placed in the
Bhavas according to the sign they occupy.

In the bhava chart, the houses are not equivalent to one sign, and may have a span of more
or less than 30 degrees. Grahas are placed in the Bhavas according to the span of the Bhava.
The junction points between the bhavas are called the Bhava Sandhis, and the midpoints of the
Bhava is called the Bhava Madhya. When a Graha is placed close to the Bhava Madhya, it
will have a pronounced effect on the Bhava, and from the Bhava. A Graha that is close to one
of the Sandhis of the Bhava, has very little effect on and from the Bhava.

There are three methods to calculate the span of the Bhavas.

1. The "Shripati method", also given in one of the versions of Brihat Parashara Hora
Shastra. In this method, the Ascendant and midheaven point are used as basis. The 10th house
degree (Bhava Madhya of the 10th house) is the midheaven point. The 7th house degree
(Bhava Madhya of the 7th house) is taken as the point opposite of the Ascendant degree, and
the 4th house degree is taken as the point opposite of the 10th house degree. Now there are 4
cardinal points. The spaces in between are further divided in 3 equal portions, and the 2
junction points are the Bhava Madhyas of the 2nd /3rd, the 5th / 6th, 8th / 9th, and 11th/12th
houses. The Bhava Sandhis are placed halfway between each pair of adjacent houses.

2. The "Equal house method". This method could be implied from a Shloka in Brihat
Parashara Hora Shastra where the beginning of each house (Pravarti) is said to be 15 degrees
before the Bhava Madhya, and the end of the house (Poorti) is 15 degrees past the Bhava
Madhya. In this system, every house is the same size, but the Bhava Madhya is determined by
the Ascendant degree. If the Ascendant degree would be exactly 15 degrees, all bhavas would
align with the signs, in all other cases the bhavas are shifted forward or backward relative to
the signs.

3. The "placidus method" which is used in the Krishnamurti Paddhati system. In this
system, the House boundaries are calculated by dividing the sky in 30 degree portions, and
projecting them onto the zodiac. The Ascendant, Descendant, 10th house midpoint and 4th
house midpoint turn out to be the same as in the Shripati method. The Houses in between have
slightly different midpoints.

For people born in places far away from the equator (far North or far South), the house
placements in the Bhava chart according to the Shripati and placidus methods can be very
different from the regular chart. Grahas may move up one or even two bhavas, due to the more
extreme variation of the sizes of the rashis.

For people born close to the equator, the signs rise with very similar duration, and as a
consequence, the bhavas will also be similar in size.

In the equal house method, Grahas may move up one house, but never more than that.
There is no difference for people born far or close to the equator, as the sizes of the bhavas are
not variant.

The Bhava chart and associated details are given in Chandra, Navamsha and Bhava report.