Planets Together

Chapter 14 · Part of our series on the Brihat Jataka of Varahamihira

When two planets stand in the same sign at birth, they are said to be together, or conjunct. Their natures do not simply sit side by side. They mix, and the mixture can be something neither planet would give alone. This short chapter of five verses describes what each pair of planets produces when they share a sign.

Twenty-one pairs

With seven planets, there are exactly twenty-one different pairs. Varahamihira describes all of them, starting with the Sun and moving through the planets in their usual order (14.1):

तिग्मांशुर्जनयत्युषेशसहितो यन्त्राश्मकारं नरं भौमेनाघरतं बुधेन निपुणं धीकीर्तिसौख्यान्वितम् । क्रूरं वाक्पतिनान्यकार्यनिरतं शुक्रेण रङ्गायुधैर्लब्धस्वं रविजेन धातुकुशलं भाण्डप्रकारेषु वा ॥

tigmāṃśur janayaty uṣeśasahito yantrāśmakāraṃ naraṃ bhaumenāgharataṃ budhena nipuṇaṃ dhīkīrtisaukhyānvitam | krūraṃ vākpatinānyakāryanirataṃ śukreṇa raṅgāyudhair labdhasvaṃ ravijena dhātukuśalaṃ bhāṇḍaprakāreṣu vā ||

The hot-rayed Sun, joined with the lord of the night, produces a worker in machines and stone. With Mars, one given to wrongdoing. With Mercury, one who is skilled, with intelligence, fame and happiness. With the lord of speech, one who is harsh and devoted to the work of others. With Venus, one who gains wealth through the stage and through weapons. With the son of the Sun, one skilled in metals or in making vessels of every kind.

The poetry of the names continues: the Moon is "lord of the night" and Jupiter is "lord of speech".

The next four verses go on through the remaining pairs (14.2 to 14.5). Here are all twenty-one:

Reading the pairs

Each pair blends the natures we met in the second chapter. A few patterns stand out.

Mercury brings skill wherever it goes. With the Sun it gives skill and fame; with the Moon, courteous speech and skill with wealth; with Jupiter, the performing arts; with Venus, eloquence and rule. Mercury, the clever prince, sharpens whatever planet it joins. With Mars and Saturn, though, that cleverness can turn to deception.

The gentle planets together bring the best. Jupiter and Venus, the two counsellors, together give learning, wealth, a good spouse and many virtues. Mercury and Venus together give eloquence and even rule.

The harsh planets together bring difficulty. Mars and Saturn, the commander and the servant, together bring sorrow and broken promises. The Sun and Mars bring wrongdoing.

The crafts are everywhere. Many of the pairs describe a particular trade: the stone-worker, the metal-smith, the cloth-maker, the potter, the cook, the barber, the painter. The chapter gives a vivid picture of the working world of ancient India, with each trade linked to a meeting of planets.

Some results may seem surprising, such as the Sun with Jupiter making a person harsh and dependent on others. One way to understand this is that a planet very close to the Sun is lost in its glare, as we saw in the chapter on length of life. Jupiter, the planet of wisdom, beside the Sun may struggle to shine on its own.

Three or more planets

The last verse ends with a short instruction (14.5):

असितसितसमागमेऽल्पचक्षुर्युवतिसमाश्रयसम्प्रवृद्धवित्तः । भवति च लिपिपुस्तकचित्रवेत्ता कथितफलैः परतो विकल्पनीयाः ॥

asitasitasamāgame 'lpacakṣur yuvatisamāśrayasampravṛddhavittaḥ | bhavati ca lipipustakacitravettā kathitaphalaiḥ parato vikalpanīyāḥ ||

When the dark one and the bright one meet, the person has weak eyesight, gains wealth through the support of a woman, and knows writing, books and painting. Combinations beyond these are to be worked out from the results already given.

The pair here is Saturn, "the dark one", and Venus, "the bright one". The last line gives the method for larger groups. When three or more planets share a sign, there is no separate list. Instead the group is broken down into its pairs, and the results of each pair are combined. The commentators give the example of four planets in one sign: the Sun, the Moon, Mars and Mercury make six pairs, and all six results apply together.

Later authors, such as the writer of the Jātaka Pārijāta, gave separate lists for groups of three, four and more planets. Varahamihira's own method is simpler: understand the pairs, and the larger groups follow.

Reading this chapter today

Many of these descriptions belong to a very different world, with its stonemasons, potters and wrestlers. The principle behind them still holds: when two planets stand together, their natures merge. The Moon, the mind, joined with Mercury, speech, gives graceful speech and a quick mind. Jupiter, wisdom, joined with Venus, refinement, gives learning and grace. The occupations change with the age, but the blend of planetary natures stays the same.

Verses are from Varahamihira's Brihat Jataka, chapter 14. English renderings are our own, made from the Sanskrit and checked against the public-domain translation by N. Chidambaram Aiyar (1885; second edition 1905) and against the word-by-word analysis in Michael D. Neely's edition.