Shadbala (six-fold planetary strength)

Shadbala (षड्बल, “six strengths”) is the classical Vedic metric for “how strong is a planet in this chart”. The strength is summed across six components. The components and totalVirupa are in virupa, with totalRupa alongside (1 rupa = 60 virupa). The result is an objective number - useful for ranking planets, evaluating dasha lords, and judging the quality of yogas. AstroWay exposes the six components individually plus both totals.

What we calculate

Six strengths from Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (BPHS), chapter 27 “Grahabala-adhyaya”:

• Sthana Bala (sthāna, “positional”): strength from sign, navamsa, vargas; outlined by 5 sub-components (Uchcha Bala, Saptavargaja Bala, Ojha-Yugma Bala, Kendradi Bala, Drekkana Bala).
• Dig Bala (“directional”): Jupiter/Mercury strong in the east, Moon/Venus in the north, Saturn in the west, Sun/Mars in the south.
• Kala Bala (“temporal”): 9 sub-components: Nathonnatha, Paksha, Tribhaga, Abda/Masa/Vara/Hora, Ayana, Yuddha. Depends on time-of-day, weekday, month, year, planetary war state.
• Cheshta Bala (“motional”): planetary speed vs the mean. Retrograde planets max out; very slow (stationary) planets also score high.
• Naisargika Bala (“natural”): fixed scale: Sun 60, Moon 51.43, Venus 42.85, Jupiter 34.28, Mercury 25.71, Mars 17.14, Saturn 8.57 virupa.
• Drik Bala (“aspectual”): sum of incoming/outgoing aspects from other planets, weighted by orb and aspect type.

Total: Total Bala = Sthana + Dig + Kala + Cheshta + Naisargika + Drik. Compared to Required Bala (minimum threshold per BPHS Table 27.1) - a planet is “strong enough” when Total ≥ Required.

Endpoints

Endpoint	Credits	Returns
/v1/vedic/shadbala/sthana	20	Sthana Bala + 5 sub-components for 7 planets
/v1/vedic/shadbala/dig	20	Dig Bala (directional strength)
/v1/vedic/shadbala/kala	20	Kala Bala + 9 sub-components
/v1/vedic/shadbala/cheshta	20	Cheshta Bala (with speed & retro status)
/v1/vedic/shadbala/naisargika	20	Naisargika (fixed table)
/v1/vedic/shadbala/drik	20	Drik Bala (aspectual sum)
/v1/vedic/shadbala/full	20	All 6 + total + ratio to Required Bala
/v1/vedic/shadbala/ishta-kashta	20	Ishta and Kashta phala from Uchcha and Cheshta
/v1/vedic/ashtakavarga/shodhana	20	Trikona and Ekadhipatya shodhana, Rasi, Graha and Shodhya pinda
/v1/vedic/ashtakavarga/prastara	20	Prastara: which of the eight gives a bindu in which sign

Ishta and Kashta phala

/v1/vedic/shadbala/ishta-kashta returns, for the seven grahas, the Uchcha bala, the Cheshta bala and two forms of the result. parashara follows BPHS 28.5-6: the shubha ray is half the sum of the two rays, the ashubha ray 8 less it, Ishta is half the sum of (ray less one, times ten), Kashta is 60 less Ishta. geometric gives the square root of Uchcha × Cheshta and of (60 - Uchcha) × (60 - Cheshta), the form most software prints. The Sun’s and the Moon’s Cheshta come from the BPHS 28.4 kendra (sayana Sun less 90°; Moon less Sun); Mars onwards use /v1/vedic/shadbala/cheshta. Status YELLOW: the ray is read on the virupa scale, and no printed example has been checked yet.

Ashtakavarga shodhana and Prastara

/v1/vedic/ashtakavarga/shodhana takes the seven Bhinna Ashtakavarga tables and reduces them: first Trikona shodhana (BPHS 67.4-5: the least of a trine is taken from all three signs, a trine with a zero is left alone), then Ekadhipatya shodhana (68.2-6: the two signs of one lord, by whether grahas occupy them and how many bindus they hold; Cancer and Leo are not reduced). Each pair comes with the rule that applied. Then Rasi pinda, Graha pinda and Shodhya pinda with the 69.2-4 multipliers. Occupancy counts the seven grahas, not Rahu and Ketu. /v1/vedic/ashtakavarga/prastara splits the same table into the eight contributions (seven planets and the lagna) by sign. On the Free plan both are closed, like /v1/ashtakavarga.

Example

cURL

curl -X POST https://api.astroway.info/v1/vedic/shadbala/full \
  -H "X-Api-Key: aw_live_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "date": "1990-07-14",
    "time": "14:30:00",
    "timezoneOffset": 3,
    "latitude": 50.45,
    "longitude": 30.52,
    "ayanamsa": "lahiri"
  }'

Node.js

const r = await fetch('https://api.astroway.info/v1/vedic/shadbala/full', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'X-Api-Key': process.env.ASTROWAY_API_KEY!,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    date: '1990-07-14', time: '14:30:00', timezoneOffset: 3,
    latitude: 50.45, longitude: 30.52, ayanamsa: 'lahiri',
  }),
});
const { data } = await r.json();
const strongest = data.items.reduce((a, b) => (b.totalRupa > a.totalRupa ? b : a));
console.log(`Strongest planet: ${strongest.planetName} (${strongest.totalRupa.toFixed(2)} rupa)`);

Python

import os, requests

r = requests.post(
    'https://api.astroway.info/v1/vedic/shadbala/full',
    headers={'X-Api-Key': os.environ['ASTROWAY_API_KEY']},
    json={
        'date': '1990-07-14', 'time': '14:30:00', 'timezoneOffset': 3,
        'latitude': 50.45, 'longitude': 30.52, 'ayanamsa': 'lahiri',
    },
)
data = r.json()['data']
for p in sorted(data['items'], key=lambda x: -x['totalRupa']):
    print(f"{p['planetName']:8s} {p['totalRupa']:6.2f} rupa  ({p['totalVirupa']:8.2f} virupa)")

Sample response

{
  "type": "shadbala-summary",
  "unit": "virupa",
  "items": [
    {
      "planet": 0,
      "planetName": "Sun",
      "sthana": 135.235432,
      "dig": 53.046192,
      "kala": 248.856213,
      "cheshta": 0,
      "naisargika": 60,
      "drik": -15,
      "totalVirupa": 482.137837,
      "totalRupa": 8.035631
    },
    {
      "planet": 1,
      "planetName": "Moon",
      "sthana": 209.110876, "dig": 41.190833, "kala": 100.903909, "cheshta": 0,
      "naisargika": 51.43, "drik": 0, "totalVirupa": 402.635619, "totalRupa": 6.710594
    }
  ]
}

Accuracy & sources

• Canonical text: Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (BPHS), chapter 27: formulae of all six balas plus the Required Bala tables.
• Reference implementation: PyJHora (Apache 2.0), module shadbala.py. Our figures match PyJHora within ±0.05 rupa across all components except Drik Bala (we use the full BPHS orb table, PyJHora uses a simplified one).
• Status: GREEN for Sthana/Dig/Kala/Cheshta/Naisargika, YELLOW for Drik (due to orb differences). Details - /en/accuracy/.
• Ayanamsa: the same 9 options used elsewhere across our Vedic suite (Lahiri default).
• Kala Bala is intricate. Its 9 sub-components require an exact sunrise/sunset for the given location - make sure latitude/longitude/timezoneOffset are accurate.

Caution

Shadbala isn’t an oracle. High strength doesn’t mean “good events” - it means the planet is going to manifest actively. A weak planet inside a strong yoga can deliver better outcomes than a strong planet without one. Use Shadbala as one input to your analysis, not the sole predictor.

Related

• Dashas: Shadbala is critical when assessing the current dasha lord
• Panchang: the timestamp for Kala Bala depends on tithi/vara
• Vargas: Saptavargaja Bala (a Sthana sub-component) is built from 7 divisional charts
• Accuracy: detailed audit of components and drift vs PyJHora
• Credits: full pricing table
• Authentication: how to obtain an aw_live_* key