This article looks at various factors that signify discord in a marriage and the influence of various planets that results in separation (वियोग) between a husband and wife and destroys a marriage. We will also look at factors that denote lack or absence of marriage in a chart vs. presence, but resulting in a separation.

The main factors that we should be looking at are:

1. Lord of seventh house and lord of 7th from Moon
2. Location of benefics and malefics in 7th house or that in 7th from the moon.
3. Venus and its combination with other planets for a man and Jupiter’s position in a woman’s chart

If we want to understand the difference between (1) lack of marriage and (2) separation and (3) separation resulting in a divorce, then we need to look at all these factors and combination with various malefics/benefics. If one of the malefic factors does not exist or is replaced by a strong benefic aspect, e.g., 7th or 9th aspect of Jupiter, then it denotes that marriage will indeed take place, but may result in separation. We should also consider that aspect is to be considered far more harmful than conjunction. If Moon and Rahu are conjunct, then Rahu’s aspect on 7th will case more trouble in its dasha/antardasha compared to the case if Rahu was to be situated in 7th. Presence of Rahu/Sun in 7th house in their capacity of malefic planets will result in an unhappy marriage and/or separation. 7th lord in 8th or vice versa also has the same effect.

By the way, Rahu’s conjunction with Moon will cause other psychological problems in the way of mental health that can anyway cause marital discord, in this case indirectly though. Moon/Saturn can cause problem similarly due to depression, but I will try to come up with a totally different article on this topic.

Although both 5th and 7th houses are considered auspicious and together they can cause rajyoga, their conjunction or exchange is not good for marriage. Presence of 7th lord in 5th house causes discord with wife and denotes lack of children. Similarly 5th lord in 7th indicates lack of happiness in marriage.

Just with these aspects, we cannot directly predict divorce. Since divorce has a legal angle, presence of 6th house lord in this equation is required. The influence could again be through aspect or conjunction.

For predicting multiple marriages or remarriage after divorce, benefic + malefic combination on the above mentioned factors should be looked at accordingly. Aspect of a benefic like Jupiter could check this factor, but we have to finally look at the balance of benefic and malefic aspects to predict the final outcome. Some of the important combinations for multiple marriages are:

1. 2 planets located in 11th house
2. Venus and/or Jupiter (accordingly) and 7th lord in dual signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces)
3. Mercury or Saturn in 7th house
4. Mars in 8th house

If any of you want to look at detailed explanation on remarriage or multiple marriages, I would strongly suggest reading Chapter 4 in “The Art of Matching Charts” by Gayatri Devi Vaasudev.

After a lot of research and fight against spammers, I have been able to reopen the comment section on the blog. And what contentious topic than love marriage!

I was going through Express Star Teller for month of April 2012 and saw a comment on an article on 7th house. The name of the article is “Seventh house and its implications”. The author, Dr. E.S. Neelakantan states that:

Conjunction of Venus with Rahu will also predispose a person to opt for a life partner of his/her choice.

I would like to draw attention of astrologer community online to this statement and invite comments on the site. For providing comments, please use Mozilla and/or Chrome browsers only because the site has some major problem with all flavours of Internet Explorer.

Please put on your thinking caps and bring on the comments…

This was an interesting cartoon in DNA, Bangalore. Funny in some sense, after the current furor by Supreme Court on pre-marital sex and live-in relationships.

Marriage is defined based on a ceremony, whether it is a ceremony in front of Agni dev, Nikaah in front of a kazi, a church wedding in front of a priest or a court wedding in front of a registrar. The importance of a ceremony is such that in 2002 when I applied for a dependent US visa for my wife, the US consulate insisted on seeing wedding photographs along with the marriage certificate.

A relationship can exist without a ceremony as well – in fact one of the types of wedding defined in Indian culture called Gandharva Vivah, is nothing but a man and woman accepting each other as husband and wife and then going ahead with life.

Without sounding judgmental, I have a very honest and personal advice for folks here: if you are in a committed relationship, please do not look for an astrologer’s approval. If you must, please try to get the approval/blessings of your loved ones, which is what a ceremony is anyway.

A birth in the family is matter of great joy for everyone. The institution of marriage is created to protect the unit of family and provide the greatest care to children who will carry forward humanity on our planet. This article attempts to briefly look at the factors that bestow the blessings of childbirth to a couple. It is important to analyze the chart of both husband and wife in order to come to any conclusion.

In Vedic Astrology, the process starts right at the time when charts are matched at the time of marriage. Afflictions to 7th house and its lord can adversely impact the fertility of a person. Nadi dosha can lead to conception followed by mishaps like still birth, miscarriages etc. Nadi dosha is therefore considered a strict no-no for horoscope compatibility. These factors therefore must be avoided while kundalis are being matched.

What I am not going to discuss in this article is determination of sex of children. It may have been okay in the past, but in current age and time, it is not right. It is my humble opinion that couples should not engage in such activities.

The following elements are important from perspective of having children:

1. Naisargika Putrakaraka, i.e. Jupiter.
2. Fifth house and its lord
3. Divisional chart Saptamsha
4. 9th house, by the principle of bhavat bhavam. 9th house is considered to be important when looking at the horoscope of women.
5. Dasha factors – to determine if the currently running dasha is conducive towards conception.

Any afflictions to these factors or elements would be considered detrimental to the ability of having children. The usual afflictions come from Saturn, Mars etc., and lords of 6th and 8th houses. Based on these rules, some of the yogas or combinations that can potentially lead to childlessness are:

• Lord of 5th house in debilitation or positioned in 6th, 8th or 12th house. This yoga should also applicable to lord of 5th from Sun or Moon.
• Malefic influence of Sun and/or Mars on 5th house and its lord. The influence could be through presence, drishti (aspect) or by hemming the house. These are fiery planets and they “burn away” the prospects of having children.
• Malefic influence of Saturn and Mercury as these are considered to be impotent planets.
• Malefic influence of 6th and 8th lords on 5th house as explained above. 6th house is important as by being 2nd from 5th, it becomes a maraka for factors determined by 5th, i.e. children. The lord of 6th house carries this power.
• Jupiter’s presence in 6th or 8th house.
• Planets powerless in Saptamsha

Very interestingly, Rahu is not a part of this list of malefic planets. I would like to quote from Dr. Raman’s book, Combination #220:

Rahu in 5th house in a Navamsha other than that of Saturn gives rise to bahuputra (large number of children) yoga.

There are various curses or sutakshaya yogas that are mentioned in Dr. B.V. Raman’s book “Three Hundred Important Combinations” that lead to loss of children – please go through combinations #212 through #219 for the same. All these combinations revolve around afflictions of 5th house and its lord but rather than being general statements, the combinations are properly defined.

Any good influence benefic planets, but most importantly Jupiter, would mitigate the problem. In such a case, the couple would not be denied of children, but rather miscarriages and difficulty in conception should be predicted. Couple please note that influence from Rahu also brings in a degree of “unusual”, which essentially means that such problems could very well be solved by appropriately seeking medical help. Astrologically, it would be necessary to strengthen Jupiter and 5th lord to overcome such problems. Worshipping Lord Krishna in His “Santan Gopal” form helps.

There are three tests for judging fertility: (a) Kshetra Sphuta (for a female nativity), (b) Beeja Sphuta (for a male nativity) and (c) Santana Tithi test but the calculation and explanations are beyond the scope of this article.

A not so recent post in the forum referred to demonic nakshatra where the member was worried that most of the planets in his/her chart are in demonic nakshatra. From the post, I gather that by demonic nakshatra the member is referring to the gana factor on horoscope compatibility – dev, manushya and rakshasa.

In my knowledge, The only place gana factor is referenced in within horoscope compatibility. This factor requires that the gana of the woman (refer to the nakshatra where the Moon resides in the kundali) should be better than the man she intends to marry.

I have not seen anyone referring to this factor while interpreting a chart or while making any predictions. I went back and re-read some of the books and notes that I have and could not find anything to this effect.

Thoughts?