Ṣaḍbala — Six-Fold Strength

Ṣaḍbala — literally “the six strengths” — is the classical quantitative measure of how strongly each of the seven traditional planets in your chart can deliver its results. Six independent strength-sources combine into a single composite number per planet, compared against per-planet classical thresholds.

What This Reading Tells You

• •The Ṣaḍbala-Piṇḍa (composite strength) of each of the seven luminary planets.
• •Per-planet pass/fail against the classical BPHS thresholds (Sun 390 V, Moon 360 V, Mars 300 V, Mercury 420 V, Jupiter 390 V, Venus 330 V, Saturn 300 V).
• •Sub-bala breakdown — Sthāna (position), Dig (direction), Kāla (time), Ceṣṭā (motion), Naisargika (natural), Dṛk (aspect).
• •Each planet’s motion state — retrograde, fast, slow — for Ceṣṭā strength reading.

Classical Tradition

The Ṣaḍbala system is fully documented in BPHS Ch.27 (Spaṣṭa-Bala-Adhyāya) across forty verses. Modern systematizations by C.S. Patel & C.A.S. Aiyar (Ashtakavarga, Ch.III on strength integration), K. Jaya Sekhar (Best Way to Use Shad Bala), and K.S. Charak (Elements of Vedic Astrology Vol.I) make the formulas practitioner-deployable.

How We Compute It

For each of the seven planets we compute six strength sub-totals using the classical formulas, then combine into a composite Piṇḍa expressed in Virūpas (60 Virūpas = 1 Rūpa, the classical strength unit). Saptavargaja (seven-divisional) strength is computed across D1, D2, D3, D7, D9, D12, and D30 charts with full BPHS 7-level dignity including compound friendship.

How To Read The Result

A planet meeting its threshold (ratio_to_threshold ≥ 1.0) is considered strong by classical standards — it can deliver its natal-yoga and daśā promises reliably. Cross-planet comparison should use the ratio (each planet has a different threshold), not the raw Virūpa total. A planet below threshold underdelivers regardless of how favorable its yogas appear.