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. Influence from Rahu also brings in a degree of “unusual”.

These 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?

The present guest article is based on research directed towards marriages between bride and groom belonging to different religions or faiths.

Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam? I think not…
We, as a society, irrespective of caste or religion, are fairly traditional and high premium is placed on conformance to a set of rules. As a result, we find it difficult to accept change and are not comfortable in unfamiliar situations and circumstances. Throughout our lives, we tend to maintain a very strong sense of “native” vs. “foreign”. Marriage is one such institution in our society which is subject to lot of customs and traditions. Compatibility of horoscopes, wealth, social stature etc. is given a lot of importance. The procedure of marriage is highly ritualistic and the entire family of bride and groom has a part to play.

Marriages outside of religion are still not accepted properly in our society. There is opposition from the immediate family. Spouses are expected to convert, but it is not easy to accept a faith or culture that one is not born with. If there is no conversion, couples usually reach a compromise on the faith children follow. Overall, inter-faith marriages present a lot of challenges that need to be worked out. The ratio of such marriages being entirely successful is also not very high.

Lifelong relationship
In Indian culture, more often than not, marriage is for a lifetime. We choose to share our life with one individual and the conduct, behavior and idiosyncrasies of one have a profound effect on the other. In a manner of speaking, the husband and wife share a destiny. An encouraging, sincere and devoted spouse is a blessing.

Relevant Astrological Combinations
Nitin Kashyap has done this research and he presents the following principles and logic behind the observations.

The karakas and bhavas for marriage, religion and “foreignness” are:

1. Jupiter and Venus: In female chart Jupiter represent husband and in male chart Venus represent wife.
2. Fifth House: Fifth house represent our mentality and love affairs.
3. Seventh house: Seventh house shows one’s married life.
4. Ninth House: Ninth house represent religion and luck. This is what you would see to judge “religion” in this context.
5. Saturn, Rahu and Ketu: These three planets indicate the separating influence in the chart. They represent the foreign element that we should be looking for.

Based on the above, some principles which have been observed in different combinations leading to inter religion marriages are:

1. Principle I: For males, Venus should be afflicted by Saturn, Rahu or Ketu. In charts of females, Jupiter should come under separating influence of Saturn, Rahu or Ketu.
2. Principle II: Fifth or seventh house should be afflicted by Saturn. Saturn in fifth house has a special influence and significance on inter religion marriages because from the fifth house, Saturn’s 3rd drishti would be automatically be on the seventh house.
3. Principle III: Ninth house and its lord should be affected by Trik bhavas and their lords. Since one is going “against” his/her religion, there should be some bad effect seen on the ninth house. Additionally, ninth house should be afflicted by Rahu/Ketu.
4. Principle IV: Seventh house and its lord should be connected with a debilitated planet or Rahu/Ketu.
5. Principle V: According to Jaimini System, the planet having lowest longitude in a birth chart is called Dara-karak graha (planet representing wife). This planet should be afflicted by Rahu/Ketu or Saturn.

Three or more rules can be observed to be in play in these charts of individuals who have married outside their religion. To protect the privacy, names are not provided and place of birth is obfuscated. The editor had thought that just the chart data should be provided here, but the realization came that a lot of you have your own methods to calculate the chart and may not agree with the calculation of nodes and values of ayanmsha correction used in the birth chart generation application on this site. All the times are in IST and the time zone is +530.

Readers are requested to share charts if it can add to analysis present here in this article. As usual, comments on this article are most welcome.

[Editor: Till the directory page is complete, the contact details of Nitin Kashayap (kashyap_nitin at rediffmail _dot_ com, phone number - +91-9968039321) can be found here.]

A lot of people still mail me about the exceptions that Manglik Dosha is subject to. For the full list of these exceptions, please go through the post on Manglik Dosha and Chart Matching. Exception number 2 says that there is no dosha if  Mars is in second house in the signs of Gemini and Virgo. This means that if Mars is situated in second house in the horoscope and if the sign in house number two happens to be Gemini and Virgo, Mars does not cause any manglik dosha. This condition would be true for Taurus and Leo lagnas only. Similarly, exception number 6 should be read as Mars would cease to cause a dosha if it were in house number 12 and if the sign in the house is Taurus and Libra. The lagna for this condition would be Gemini and Scorpio.

Some readers seem to think that the exception is for a particular lagna or a rashi. Some readers also like to relate it to their Western Astrology sun sign. I would request all of them to read and re-read this statement in the light of the explanation presented above.

I get a lot of queries about the Tara element and why it is not being displayed in the Guna Milap applet. This element is not missing in the overall computation that is finally displayed as Nakshatra match. I just did not code it because it is one of the not-so-important fields unlike Graha Maitri, Bhakoot or Nadi Dosha. It is supposed to give good health and longevity to the partner, but these are some of the factors must be judged not from this field, but from the chart itself. We cannot expect a person with alpayu, as indicated by the chart, living to an old age just because he/she is married to a person and Tara contributed the maximum allowed value of three points in their horoscope match.

Therefore, if you do not see Tara in the chart, it does not necessarily mean that it contributes zero points.

As compared to a lower value, a higher value in Guna Milap neither indicates a better relationship, nor indicates a happier married life for the life span of the couple. Factors like alpayu and periods of health problems, financial duress etc. can bring lot more stress in the married life of a couple than what we comprehend, anticipate, and acknowledge. I have always maintained that predicting this is a job of an experienced astrologer with a human touch.

Tags: Horoscope Compatibility