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The twelve houses (bhavas)

From the 1st house of the self to the 12th of rest and letting go: what each house covers, how it is read from your own lagna, and what a placement there does not mean.

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Twelve houses, counted from your lagna

A bhava, or house, is a field of life: the self, money, effort, home, children, work, partnership and so on. We use whole-sign houses, the oldest system and the one most Indian astrologers use: the sign rising at birth is the 1st house, the next sign the 2nd, and so on round the twelve. So your houses are fixed by your lagna, which is why the birth time matters so much — four minutes can move the lagna.

A house is read from three things together: the sign on it, its lord (the graha that rules that sign) and wherever that lord sits, and any grahas placed in it or aspecting it. An empty house is not a weak house; its lord still carries its matters. No house is a bad house: the 6th, 8th and 12th ask for effort, rest and letting go, and they also give the strength to compete, research and recover.

The twelve at a glance

Names, group, natural sign and significator
House	Names	Group	Natural sign	Karaka
1st	Tanu or Lagna	kendra, trikona	Mesha	Surya
2nd	Dhana	panaphara	Vrishabha	Guru
3rd	Sahaja or Parakrama	upachaya	Mithuna	Mangal
4th	Sukha or Bandhu	kendra	Karka	Chandra
5th	Putra or Buddhi	trikona	Simha	Guru
6th	Ari or Ripu	upachaya, dusthana	Kanya	Mangal, Shani
7th	Kalatra or Yuvati	kendra	Tula	Shukra
8th	Randhra	dusthana	Vrishchika	Shani
9th	Dharma or Bhagya	trikona	Dhanu	Guru, Surya
10th	Karma	kendra, upachaya	Makara	Surya, Budha, Guru, Shani
11th	Labha	upachaya	Kumbha	Guru
12th	Vyaya	dusthana	Meena	Shani

How to use these pages

Open the house your question is about — the 7th for marriage, the 10th for work, the 2nd and 11th for money — and the box at the top will tell you which sign sits on it in your own chart, where its lord is, and which grahas are in it. Each page explains how the house is read, when its matters tend to come up, and what a placement there does not mean.

Houses also work in pairs and chains. The 1st and 7th face each other, as do the 4th and 10th; the lord of one house sitting in another ties their matters together, so a 10th lord in the 7th links work and partnership. Counting from the Moon (Chandra lagna) gives a second view that the texts read alongside the first.

Questions people ask

Which house system do you use?

Whole-sign houses: the rising sign is the 1st house and each following sign the next. It is the oldest system in Jyotish and the one most Indian astrologers use, and it is drawn in the North Indian diamond chart.

What does an empty house mean?

Very little on its own. A chart has nine grahas and twelve houses, so at least three houses are always empty. An empty house is read from its lord and the aspects on it; its matters still come up in life, through that lord’s dasha and through transits.

Are the 6th, 8th and 12th houses bad?

No. They are called dusthanas, houses of effort, and they cover things every life has: work and competition, change and research, expenses, rest and journeys abroad. Grahas there are read with care, never as a sentence.

How do I find my houses?

Cast your free kundali with your date, time and place of birth. The North Indian chart numbers your houses from the lagna at the top; without a birth time the houses are counted from the Moon and marked approximate.

Every position on this page is calculated sidereal with the Lahiri ayanamsa from the astronomy-engine library (MIT licence). The classical texts describe tendencies; this page is for guidance and reflection, not a verdict, and no outcome is promised. How we calculate. This is the English page and the legal reference. The same page is available in Hindi. Checked October 2026.