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Śrīpati houses

Śrīpati divides the arcs between a chart's four angles into twelve unequal houses. The Lagna marks the first house's centre, not its beginning. Mạghā shows each house's midpoint and boundaries in the D1 Bhāva view.

Śrīpati house middles and boundaries

Śrīpati madhyas and sandhis
House	Starting sandhi	Madhya	Ending sandhi
10 · Midheaven	Gemini 14°33′56″	Gemini 29°19′35″	Cancer 14°33′56″
11	Cancer 14°33′56″	Cancer 29°48′16″	Leo 15°02′37″
12	Leo 15°02′37″	Virgo 0°16′57″	Virgo 15°31′18″
1 · Lagna	Virgo 15°31′18″	Libra 0°45′38″	Libra 15°31′18″
2	Libra 15°31′18″	Scorpio 0°16′57″	Scorpio 15°02′37″
3	Scorpio 15°02′37″	Scorpio 29°48′16″	Sagittarius 14°33′56″
4 · Nadir	Sagittarius 14°33′56″	Sagittarius 29°19′35″	Capricorn 14°33′56″

Midheaven → Lagna: 91°26′, in thirds of 30°28′41″. Lagna → Nadir: 88°33′57″, in thirds of 29°31′19″. The remaining bhāvas lie opposite.

Each quarter of the zodiac is cut into thirds, and each sandhi falls halfway

Lagna, Midheaven and their opposites form the first, tenth, seventh and fourth middles. Trisect each intervening zodiac arc to find the other middles; boundaries lie halfway between neighbors. Nila's alternating quadrants span 91°26′ and 88°34′, giving intermediate houses of 30°28′41″ and 29°31′19″. Angular houses remain 30° because adjoining quadrants total 180°. Her first house extends from Virgo 15°31′18″ to Libra 15°31′18″.

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Śrīpati says a planet on a sandhi gives no result

Śrīpati uses the bhāvas to decide which house a planet's results belong to. In V. Subrahmanya Sastri's translation, a planet in a bhāva sandhi produces no effect; one short of the sandhi gives the results of the preceding bhāva, and one beyond it those of the bhāva to come.

Unequal bhāvas also raise the question of lordship. Parāśara, in Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra, judges a bhāva that extends over two signs through both sign lords, and in B. V. Raman's Bhāva Bala the lord of a bhāva is the planet whose sign holds its madhya.

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Mạghā shows each sandhi and madhya in the Bhāva tab

Choose Śrīpati in Bhāva for planetary moves and a geometry table of start boundary, middle and end boundary. A planet exactly on a boundary belongs to neither house. Śrīpati is available for D1 counted from Lagna; other divisions/references offer Rāśi and equal houses.

Bhāva retains Rāśi sign lordships even when middles shift. Nila's tenth remains Moon-ruled Cancer there, whereas Bhāva Bala uses its Gemini middle and therefore Mercury.

The positions stay fixed; house membership changes

Whole-sign and Śrīpati houses
Position	Whole-sign house	Śrīpati house
Sun 26°40′ Vi	12	1
Lagna 0°46′ Li	1	1
Mer 11°13′ Li	1	1
Rāhu 22°10′ Li	1	2
Jup 23°55′ Li	1	2
Ven 24°13′ Li	1	2

Śrīpati’s 1st house runs from Virgo 15°31′18″ to Libra 15°31′18″; the next boundary is Scorpio 15°02′37″.

Nila's Sun moves from the 12th house into the 1st

Nila's Sun is at Virgo 26°40′, in the sign before her Libra Lagna, so counting whole signs puts it in the 12th house. Her first Śrīpati bhāva begins at Virgo 15°31′18″, and the Sun falls inside it, 4°05′ before the Lagna. On the other side, Rāhu, Jupiter and Venus, between Libra 22° and 25°, lie past the sandhi at Libra 15°31′18″ and move into the 2nd bhāva, while Mercury at Libra 11°13′ stays in the 1st. The Moon moves from the 4th to the 5th and Ketu from the 7th to the 8th, so six of the nine planets change house.

Questions about Śrīpati houses

What is the difference between Śrīpati and Placidus houses?

Śrīpati cuts each quarter between the angles into equal thirds of the zodiac and treats those points as house middles. Placidus divides the time each degree takes to cross the sky and treats its points as house starts. In Nila's chart the two sets of points lie within a degree of each other, so each Śrīpati house begins about 15° before the Placidus house of the same number.

What is a bhāva sandhi?

It is the junction between two bhāvas. In Śrīpati's method it lies halfway between two neighbouring madhyas, and Śrīpati says a planet standing on it gives no result. Mạghā's Śrīpati geometry table lists each house's start and end sandhi. In Nila's chart Saturn sits 2°34′ short of the sandhi between her 5th and 6th bhāvas, so by Śrīpati's rule it gives the results of the 5th.

How are Śrīpati houses different from equal houses?

Equal houses give every house exactly 30°. In the version centred on the Ascendant the Lagna is also the middle of the 1st house, so the two first houses nearly coincide. Śrīpati also builds on the Midheaven, so the houses between the angles widen or narrow wherever the quarters are unequal. For Nila both systems move the same six planets, but her 2nd Śrīpati bhāva spans 29°31′19″.

Which house system should I use for Vedic astrology?

Traditions differ, and no one system is accepted by all. Many Parāśari astrologers count whole signs from the Lagna, Śrīpati's bhāvas refine placements by degree, and KP astrologers use Placidus cusps. In Mạghā you can compare Rāśi, two equal systems, Śrīpati and Placidus on the same chart and see which planets change house.