A man sets a lit lamp afloat on a lotus pool that reflects a white marble pavilion, while a girl holds a basket of lamps beside him.

Ārūḍha padas

Ārūḍha padas are derived signs associated with how a house's matters appear in the world. Mạghā calculates all twelve, from Ārūḍha Lagna (A1) to Upapada Lagna (A12), using the house-lord count and its exceptions.

Count to the lord, then repeat the count

Upapada Lagna · A12

12th house · VirgoCount 2 to Mercury in Libra
From LibraCount 2 to Scorpio

9th house · GeminiCount 5 to Mercury in Libra
From LibraCount 5 to Aquarius

Both examples use inclusive sign counts. Mercury in Libra rules both starting houses in Nila Raman’s chart.

The count runs from the house to its lord, then as far again

Parāśara gives the rule in chapter 29 of Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra. Count the signs from the house to the sign holding its lord, then count the same number of signs onward from the lord; the sign you reach is the pada of that house. The count always runs forward through the zodiac and includes the sign you start from, so a lord in the next sign gives a count of two.

Nila's 12th house is Virgo, and its lord Mercury sits in Libra, a count of two. Counting two from Libra reaches Scorpio, so her Upapada Lagna, the pada of the 12th, is Scorpio, the 2nd sign from her Lagna. Her 9th house, Gemini, counts five signs to Mercury, and five signs from Libra reach Aquarius, her A9.

When the ordinary count needs an exception

Four pada exceptions
Pada	House and lord	Count / landing	Final sign
Ārūḍha Lagna (A1)	Libra · Venus in Libra	1 → Libra	Cancer
Dārapada (A7)	Aries · Mars in Cancer	4 → Libra	Cancer
A10	Cancer · Moon in Capricorn	7 → Cancer	Aries
A5	Aquarius · Saturn in Aquarius	1 → Aquarius	Scorpio

A pada never stays in its own house or the seventh from it

If the ordinary pada count lands on its source house, move to that house's tenth sign. If it lands on the seventh, move to the source house's fourth. Mạghā follows this Parāśara/Rao exception; some Jaimini translations apply none. In Nila's chart it moves A1 and A7 to Cancer, A10 to Aries and A5 to Scorpio. The annotated example preserves each lord's placement and count.

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Jaimini astrologers read the Ārūḍha Lagna as the self the world sees

P. V. R. Narasimha Rao describes the padas as the māyā, the outward appearance, attached to each house. The Lagna stands for the person as they are, and the Ārūḍha Lagna for how they are perceived: their image and standing in the world. The houses counted from the Ārūḍha Lagna are read the same way, for how each matter appears to others.

Parāśara uses it for money in the same chapter. He reads gains from planets in or aspecting the 11th sign from the Ārūḍha Lagna, through fair means when they are benefic and questionable ones when malefic, and expenses from the 12th.

Nila's Ārūḍha Lagna is Cancer, her 10th house, a sign her Dārapada (A7) shares.

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The Upapada Lagna, the pada of the 12th house, is read for marriage

Upapada is usually read as the twelfth house's pada. Parāśara relates its occupants/aspects and second sign to spouse and family; Rao also examines its second, seventh and eighth signs for continuity. Some commentaries instead use the second house for even Lagnas. Mạghā always uses the twelfth. Nila's odd Libra Lagna gives Scorpio under either reading. A7, Dārapada, concerns partners and associates and is a separate reference.

Twelve padas in the fixed-sign chart

Nila’s pada placements
Sign	Padas
Pisces	A2 · A4, A8
Aries	A10
Taurus	A6
Cancer	AL (A1), A7
Leo	A3
Libra	Lagna, A11
Scorpio	A5, UL (A12)
Aquarius	A9

AL = Ārūḍha Lagna, A1. UL = Upapada Lagna, A12. Zodiac signs stay fixed in this South Indian layout; Libra is Nila’s rising sign.

Each of the twelve houses has its own named pada

The padas carry the names of their houses. Parāśara names several, such as the Mātṛ pada of the 4th, the Mantra pada of the 5th and the Roga pada of the 6th, and Rao's list adds others, such as the Dhana pada of the 2nd and the Lābha pada of the 11th.

Rao also reads padas inside the divisional charts, where they take on that chart's subject: the pada of the 10th in the daśāṁśa (D10), for example, for one's workplace. Mạghā derives every pada inside each divisional chart from that chart's own houses and lords.

The diagram shows where Nila's twelve padas fall in her birth chart. Pisces holds three of them, and Cancer and Scorpio two each.

A woman treasurer and a young guard each fit a brass key into one of two locks on a heavy teak chest.

Mạghā lists all twelve padas under the planets on your chart page

The Planetary ledger can show all twelve ārūḍhas or selected rows, including named A1, A7 and A12. Each has a sign and house, without degree/nakṣatra. Divisional chart selection changes the rows; chart overlays can mark up to five points.

Mạghā uses only seven traditional sign lords. It does not weigh Rāhu/Ketu as co-lords. Rao's stronger-co-lord rule would give Nila's A5 to Rāhu and place it in Gemini rather than Scorpio.

What people ask about ārūḍha padas

How do you calculate the Ārūḍha Lagna?

Count the signs from the Lagna to the sign holding the Lagna lord, then count the same number again from the lord. If you land on the Lagna itself or the 7th from it, take the 10th sign from where you landed. For Nila, Venus in her Libra Lagna gives a count of one, which lands on the Lagna, so her Ārūḍha Lagna moves to Cancer.

What is the difference between the Lagna and the Ārūḍha Lagna?

The Lagna is the sign rising at birth and stands for the person as they are. The Ārūḍha Lagna is derived from it as the pada of the 1st house, and Jaimini astrologers read it for how that person is seen: their image and status. Many astrologers judge both, counting houses from each to compare the person with their public picture.

What does the Upapada Lagna show about marriage?

Parāśara reads it for happiness from spouse and children, weighing the planets that join or aspect it and the sign after it. P. V. R. Narasimha Rao reads planets in the Upapada for the kind of spouse, and the 2nd, 7th and 8th signs from it for how long the marriage holds. Astrologers weigh it with the 7th house and the Dārakāraka; it does not decide a marriage on its own.

Why do apps give different ārūḍha padas for the same chart?

Three choices move them. Some follow Parāśara's exception for padas that land on the house or its 7th, and some count straight through. Some take the stronger of two lords for Scorpio and Aquarius, while Mạghā always uses Mars and Saturn. A few commentaries take the Upapada from the 2nd house when the Lagna is an even sign. A birth time near a change of Lagna moves every pada as well.