The Sun (Surya)
सूर्य
The Sun, Surya or Ravi, is the first of the grahas and the one the others are measured from: every planet's distance from it decides whether that planet is lost in its light, and the day, the year and the seasons are its own. In the Vedas the Sun is the eye of the world and the one who sees all, and the Gayatri, the most repeated mantra in India, is addressed to Savitar, the Sun as the one who sets things moving. Graha means one who seizes, and the Sun seizes attention in a chart as the soul and the self, the father, authority and vitality. It is never retrograde, and it moves through one sign a month, so its sign at birth tells roughly the month of the year. Sunday is its day. This page gives what the site's tables hold for the Sun: the sign it rules, where it is exalted and where it falls, its friends and enemies, its directional strength, its dasha and its readings in the signs and houses.
At a glance
What the Sun signifies
The site's table of significations, the natural karakatva the birth report reads, gives the Sun: soul, father, authority, vitality, ego, government, leadership.
The Sun is one of the natural malefics in the site's table, with Mars, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu. Natural nature is only half the story: what a graha is for a particular chart depends on the houses it rules from that chart's Lagna, which each sign's page sets out.
Signs and dignities
The Sun rules Leo. Its dignities, as the site's table gives them, by degree where Parashara divides a sign (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, the chapter on the planets, tr. R. Santhanam):
- Exalted in Aries.
- Moolatrikona in Leo from 0° to 20°.
- Own sign in Leo from 20° to 30°.
- Fallen (debilitated) in Libra.
Friends and enemies
The natural friendships the site reckons with (Parashara's, in the table every dignity and strength is worked from):
A planet in the sign of a friend is comfortable there, in an enemy's ill at ease; the sign pages list who is where.
Aspects, combustion and direction
The Sun aspects the 7th sign from the one it occupies. Every graha aspects the seventh. Aspects are by sign, not by an orb of degrees. The Sun is the measure of combustion: each other planet is combust within its own distance of the Sun. It gains directional strength, dig bala, in the 10th house.
In transit, counted from the Moon sign, the classical gochara table the site uses counts the Sun favourable in the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th houses.
Its dasha and its nakshatras
The Sun rules Krittika, Uttara Phalguni and Uttara Ashadha, one in each third of the zodiac. Its period in the Vimshottari dasha lasts 6 years, of the cycle's 120; a person born with the Moon in one of its nakshatras begins life in it.
The Sun in the twelve signs
Varahamihira's readings of a birth with the Sun in each sign, as the birth report quotes them (Brihat Jataka, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer). He adds that a sign's effects come in full only when the planet, the sign and its lord are strong.
In Aries. With the Sun in Aries, Varahamihira describes a capable person of wide renown, given to travel and at home with arms or other hard, active work, though wealth stays modest. (Brihat Jataka 18.1, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Taurus. With the Sun in Taurus, Varahamihira describes a talent for music, vocal and instrumental, and a living in cloth, perfume and similar goods. (Brihat Jataka 18.1, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Gemini. With the Sun in Gemini, Varahamihira describes a learned person, a student of language and of astrology, who prospers. (Brihat Jataka 18.2, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Cancer. With the Sun in Cancer, Varahamihira describes an independent and fiery temper, work done for others, tiring journeys, and means that stay modest. (Brihat Jataka 18.2, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Leo. With the Sun in Leo, Varahamihira describes a strong, forceful person who loves the open country, forests, hills and pasture, and who is, in his words, stronger than learned. (Brihat Jataka 18.2, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Virgo. With the Sun in Virgo, Varahamihira describes skill in writing, painting, literature and mathematics, a practical knowledge of the world, and a slight, delicate build. (Brihat Jataka 18.2, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Libra. With the Sun in Libra, Varahamihira gives a hard reading: a wandering life, work with metals, chemistry or spirits, and a warning against dishonest dealings. (Brihat Jataka 18.3, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Scorpio. With the Sun in Scorpio, Varahamihira describes a fierce nature that acts without forethought, skill with arms or other dangerous work, and earnings from risky trades that may not stay. (Brihat Jataka 18.3, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Sagittarius. With the Sun in Sagittarius, Varahamihira describes an independent and prosperous person, respected by the wise and learned in medicine and in the crafts of image-making. (Brihat Jataka 18.3, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Capricorn. With the Sun in Capricorn, Varahamihira gives a hard reading: work beneath one's station, trade in humble goods, small means, a tight hand with money, and a living partly from others' resources. (Brihat Jataka 18.3, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Aquarius. With the Sun in Aquarius, Varahamihira gives a hard reading: work beneath one's station, little property or means, and few children. (Brihat Jataka 18.4, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Pisces. With the Sun in Pisces, Varahamihira describes wealth from trade in the produce of water and the sea, and the regard of women. (Brihat Jataka 18.4, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
The Sun in the twelve houses
The readings the birth report gives for the Sun in each house, counted from the Lagna:
In the 1st house. The Sun in the 1st house gives a strong sense of self, leadership and vitality; you carry natural authority and a confident, dignified presence.
In the 2nd house. The Sun in the 2nd house lends authority to your speech and earnings, often through government, leadership or self-made effort, though pride can colour family matters.
In the 3rd house. The Sun in the 3rd house makes you courageous, self-driven and assertive in communication; you act on your own initiative and may outshine siblings.
In the 4th house. The Sun in the 4th house brings ambition into home life and a desire for status; comfort and emotional ease come once you have earned your own standing.
In the 5th house. The Sun in the 5th house grants sharp intellect, creativity and leadership; you take pride in your children, learning and authoritative judgement.
In the 6th house. The Sun in the 6th house gives the power to defeat enemies, disease and obstacles; you excel in service, competition and disciplined problem-solving.
In the 7th house. The Sun in the 7th house seeks a dignified, capable partner; you value respect in marriage and business, though ego must be managed in partnerships.
In the 8th house. The Sun in the 8th house turns you towards research, the occult and transformation; it can test vitality and reputation, rewarding deep, hidden inquiry.
In the 9th house. The Sun in the 9th house blesses you with strong dharma, fortune and a respected father or guru; you are principled, fortunate and drawn to higher truth.
In the 10th house. The Sun in the 10th house is powerfully placed for career, authority and fame; you rise to positions of command and earn public recognition.
In the 11th house. The Sun in the 11th house brings substantial gains, influential friends and fulfilment of ambitions, often through leadership and elder support.
In the 12th house. The Sun in the 12th house turns the soul inward towards spirituality, foreign lands or seclusion; recognition may be quiet, and expenses linked to status.
Observances
The tradition's observances for the Sun, as the site's reference lists them. Sunday is its day and Lord Surya / Lord Rama its deity. Its mantra is "Om Suryaya Namah", and its beej mantra "Om Hraam Hreem Hraum Sah Suryaya Namaha", recited 108 times. The customary gifts: donate wheat, jaggery or copper on Sundays; offer water to the Sun at sunrise. Its stotra is the Aditya Hridayam.
Its stone is the Ruby (Manik). The site advises a stone only from a chart: its remedies page strengthens a planet whose Shadbala falls short of what it needs only where that planet is a friend of the chart, and never from a transit or a sign alone.
Use the tools
- See where the Sun stands in your chart and how strong it is by Shadbala: free birth chart.
- Its present sign and the day's panchang: panchang; its transit through your Moon sign: horoscope.
- All nine: the grahas.