Atmakaraka: Your Soul's Planet

Every chart has nine planets, but in one branch of Jyotish, only one is king. It's called the Atmakaraka, the significator of the soul, and finding it takes about ten seconds.

How to find your Atmakaraka

Look at the degrees of each planet within its sign, ignoring which sign it's in. The planet with the highest degree is your Atmakaraka.

That's the whole rule, as Parashara states it in Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (chapter 32): "Among the Grahas from Surya etc. whichever has traversed maximum number of degrees in a particular Rasi is called Atma Karak." If two planets have the same degree, compare the minutes of arc, then the seconds.

You only compare the seven planets from the Sun to Saturn. Some schools also include Rahu, using its degree counted backwards (30 minus its degree), since Rahu moves in reverse.

A worked example

Take a real chart from Vedhora's engine: someone born in Delhi on 14 March 1992 at 7:45 am. The degrees within signs are:

• Moon 25°58′ (Gemini)
• Mars 25°25′ (Capricorn)
• Saturn 20°31′ (Capricorn)
• Mercury 16°58′ (Pisces)
• Jupiter 14°07′ (Leo)
• Venus 6°23′ (Aquarius)
• Sun 0°01′ (Pisces)

The Moon has the highest degree, so the Moon is this person's Atmakaraka. Mars, just behind it, is the second karaka. The Sun, with the lowest degree, is the last.

The king of the chart

Parashara doesn't hold back on its importance:

"Out of these Karakas, Atma Karak is the most important and has a prime say on the native, just as the king is the most famous among the men of his country and is the head of all affairs and is entitled to arrest and release men."

And then:

"As the minister cannot go against the king, the other Karakas cannot predominate over Atma Karak... If the Atma Karak is adverse, other Karakas cannot give their benefic effects. Similarly, if Atma Karak is favourable, other Karakas cannot predominate with their malefic influences."

The Atmakaraka is the planet whose lessons and desires your soul came to work through. Its condition (dignity, house, navamsa) colours everything else.

The eight chara karakas

Ranking all the planets by degree gives you a whole cabinet, the chara karakas or "movable significators" (Parashara, 32.13–17):

1. Atmakaraka (AK): the self, the soul
2. Amatyakaraka (AmK): the minister, career and counsel
3. Bhratrikaraka (BK): siblings and courage
4. Matrikaraka (MK): the mother
5. Pitrikaraka (PiK): the father
6. Putrakaraka (PK): children and creativity
7. Gnatikaraka (GK): rivals, relatives, obstacles
8. Darakaraka (DK): the spouse

With only seven planets, some schools merge the Matri and Putra karakas. The lowest-degree planet, the Darakaraka, is widely used in Jaimini astrology to describe the spouse. In our example that's the Sun, pointing to a partner with a strong, dignified, perhaps authoritative nature.

These are called "movable" because they change from chart to chart. They're different from the fixed significators every chart shares, like Venus for spouse or the Sun for father. Parashara lists both, and astrologers read them together.

The Karakamsa: where the soul shows itself

The navamsa sign your Atmakaraka occupies is called the Karakamsa (what the navamsa is). Parashara (chapter 33) gives it a whole chapter. A few highlights:

• Atmakaraka in a Pisces navamsa grants "final emancipation", a soul oriented towards liberation.
• In a Libra navamsa: a trader, skilled with fine goods.
• In a Capricorn navamsa: gains from water and its treasures, such as pearls, conch and coral.
• In an Aquarius navamsa: one who builds tanks and waterworks, public works for others.
• Benefics in the angles and trines from the Karakamsa, free of malefics, give wealth and learning.

Planets in the Karakamsa describe a calling:

• Sun: royal or government work
• Full Moon: pleasures and scholarship
• Strong Mars: weapons, fire, metal and chemistry, today engineering or surgery
• Strong Mercury: arts, trade, intelligence and education
• Jupiter: good deeds, spirituality and Vedic learning
• Venus: a long life, refinement and public affairs
• Saturn: the livelihood traditional to your family
• Rahu: machinery, and doctors who treat poisons

How common is each Atmakaraka?

Each planet is equally entitled to the throne. In 60,000 charts run through Vedhora's engine, every one of the seven planets was the Atmakaraka for somewhere between 11% and 18% of people. There's no "rare" Atmakaraka, only yours.

Living with your Atmakaraka

A simple way to work with it:

• Know its lesson. A Sun Atmakaraka learns about ego and dignity. A Moon one learns about feeling and care, Saturn about patience and duty, Venus about love and its limits.
• Respect its condition. If it's weak or afflicted, its period and transits often bring the soul's hardest lessons. If it's strong, they bring your clearest purpose.
• Honour it daily. The planet's mantra, its day of the week, and above all its virtue practised in ordinary life.

The takeaway

Your Atmakaraka is the planet that has gone furthest in its sign, and in Jaimini's view, the one that rules your chart like a king. Find it, find its navamsa, and you've found the thread your soul is following.

Calculate your chart free. Vedhora shows your planets' exact degrees, and its astrologer can read your Atmakaraka and Karakamsa with you. For the broader question of planetary strength, see which planet is the most powerful in your chart.