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Prastāra and kakṣyā

Prastāra shows which of eight contributors supplied each Aṣṭakavarga bindu. Its 96-cell grid covers twelve signs in kakṣyā order. Mạghā provides a Prastāra table for each planet and the Ascendant, revealing the contributions behind each total.

Sun Prastāra · all eight contributors

Sun Prastāra by contributor and sign
Contributor	Lib	Sco	Sag	Cap	Aqu	Pis	Ari	Tau	Gem	Can	Leo	Vir	Total
Saturn	●	●	●	0	●	●	0	●	0	0	●	●	8
Jupiter	0	0	0	0	●	●	0	0	●	0	●	0	4
Mars	●	0	0	●	●	●	●	●	0	●	●	0	8
Sun	●	0	●	0	0	●	●	●	●	●	0	●	8
Venus	0	0	0	0	0	●	●	0	0	0	0	●	3
Mercury	0	0	●	0	●	●	0	0	●	●	●	●	7
Moon	●	●	0	0	0	●	0	0	●	0	0	0	4
Ascendant	0	0	●	●	0	●	0	0	0	●	●	●	6
BAV total	4	2	4	2	4	8	3	3	4	4	5	5	48

● = one bindu; 0 = zero. Columns follow Libra through Virgo. Pisces receives all eight contributions; Scorpio receives Saturn’s and the Moon’s. Row and column totals both sum to 48.

All eight contributors give Nila's Sun a bindu in Pisces

In Mạghā's table each cell reads 1 for a bindu and 0 for none. Nila's Sun Prastāra starts its columns at her ascendant, Libra. The Pisces column reads 1 in all eight rows, so the Sun's count there is the full 8. The Scorpio column has bindus only from Saturn and the Moon, a count of 2.

Each row total is one contributor's share of the Sun's 48: 8 each from Saturn, Mars and the Sun, 7 from Mercury, 6 from the ascendant, 4 each from Jupiter and the Moon, and 3 from Venus. The bottom row adds up each column, giving the Sun's count for every sign.

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Each sign divides into eight kakṣyās of 3°45′

Mantreśvara splits every sign into eight equal parts of 3°45′ and gives them to the planets in the order of their orbits: Saturn, the slowest, first, then Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and the Moon, with the ascendant last. A bindu in a sign bears fruit while the transiting planet crosses the part owned by the contributor that gave it.

C. S. Patel and C. A. Subramania Aiyar teach the same rule and note that a few texts begin the order with the Sun. At the Sun's pace each kakṣyā lasts about four days; the Moon crosses one in about seven hours.

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Reading the Prastāra Table

Below the main Aṣṭakavarga table, choose a planet or the Ascendant in Prastāra. From Ascendant, From Planet and From Aries set the first column. Contributor rows show individual totals; the BAV row gives each sign’s combined count and the grand total.

Note: Mạghā does not mark kakṣyā degrees, occupied kakṣyās or timing. Read them from row order: the first row corresponds to each sign’s first 3°45′.

Eight equal kakṣyās of 3°45′

Scorpio’s kakṣyā contributions
Portion	Ruler	Range	Sun’s bindu
1	Saturn	0°–3°45′	1
2	Jupiter	3°45′–7°30′	0
3	Mars	7°30′–11°15′	0
4	Sun	11°15′–15°	0
5	Venus	15°–18°45′	0
6	Mercury	18°45′–22°30′	0
7	Moon	22°30′–26°15′	1
8	Ascendant	26°15′–30°	0

Scorpio receives bindus from Saturn and the Moon. Nila’s Sun at 26°40′ Virgo is in the Ascendant’s kakṣyā, whose contributor gives a bindu there.

The Sun's two Scorpio bindus fall in two short stretches

Take the Sun's two bindus in Scorpio. Saturn's sits in the first row, so it belongs to the first kakṣyā, 0° to 3°45′ of Scorpio. The Moon's sits in the seventh row, the seventh kakṣyā, 22°30′ to 26°15′. By Mantreśvara's rule, those two stretches, about a week of the Sun's month in Scorpio, bring its favourable results there.

Birth positions follow the same arithmetic. Nila's Sun at 26°40′ Virgo stands in the eighth kakṣyā, the ascendant's, and the ascendant's row has a bindu in Virgo.

Questions astrologers ask about Prastāra and Kakṣyā

What is Prastāra Aṣṭakavarga?

It is one planet's Aṣṭakavarga spread out by contributor: eight rows for the seven planets and the ascendant, twelve columns for the signs, and a 1 wherever that contributor gave a bindu. A column adds up to the planet's count for that sign, and a row to that contributor's share of the planet's total.

What is a kakṣyā in astrology?

A kakṣyā is one eighth of a sign, 3°45′ long. The word also means a planet's orbit, and the eight kakṣyās of every sign belong to the seven planets in the order of their orbits, from Saturn to the Moon, with the ascendant last. Mantreśvara uses them to time when a bindu bears fruit during a transit.

Which planet rules each kakṣyā?

By Mantreśvara's order, in every sign: Saturn 0° to 3°45′, Jupiter 3°45′ to 7°30′, Mars 7°30′ to 11°15′, the Sun 11°15′ to 15°, Venus 15° to 18°45′, Mercury 18°45′ to 22°30′, the Moon 22°30′ to 26°15′ and the ascendant 26°15′ to 30°. Mạghā's Prastāra rows follow the same order.

How are kakṣyās used to time transits?

Find the transiting planet's Prastāra column for the sign it is crossing. Each row with a 1 marks a kakṣyā where the transit brings that bindu's good results; a 0 marks a stretch without it. The more rows with a 1, the longer the favourable time in that sign.

Trace your bindus in the Prastāra Table

Nila Raman's real Prastāra Sun table with contributor rows and grand total 48. — Nila Raman’s chart is based on 14 October 1994 at 06:30 IST in Bengaluru and uses Lahiri. This preview ends on the real Sun Prastāra, with columns starting from Libra and total 48. It shows no Kakṣyā degrees, birth positions or transit timing. The phone frame presents app sources in a browser; it is not a verified native build. The prepared sample cannot calculate visitors’ birth details.

See which contributor gave each bindu in any of your eight tables. Like every astrology feature in Mạghā, it is free for life; the preview uses the chart.

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