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Shad Bala Calculator
All six sources of planetary strength, per planet — each judged against its own BPHS minimum, with the approximations stated rather than hidden.
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What Shad Bala measures, and why one number is not enough
Shad Bala is the classical answer to 'how strong is this planet'. Six separate strengths are computed and added: sthana bala from position, dig bala from direction, kaala bala from time, cheshta bala from motion, drig bala from aspects received, and naisargika bala, the planet's natural standing. The total is quoted in virupas, and in rupas — one rupa is sixty virupas, so they are two units for the same figure rather than two measurements.
The part most calculators skip is the comparison. BPHS does not set one passing mark for all seven planets; it sets a different requirement for each. Mars and Saturn need 300 virupas, Venus 330, the Moon 360, the Sun and Jupiter 390, and Mercury 420. A planet is judged against its own bar, not a shared one.
That is why this tool prints the threshold next to every score. Two planets with almost identical totals can land on opposite sides of their own requirements, and a table showing only totals would present that as a near-tie.
How to read your result
The headline counts how many of the seven planets clear their own minimum. Under it, each planet appears with its total, its threshold, how far above or below it sits, and a bar drawn against its own requirement rather than against the strongest planet on the page.
Rows are ordered by total strength, because the question people arrive with is which planets are strong. That ordering can mislead on its own, so the threshold travels with every row — a planet can sit higher in the list and still be the weaker verdict.
Open the breakdown on any planet to see the six sources separately. That is usually more informative than the total: a planet can be strong overall because of naisargika bala, which is fixed and says nothing about this particular chart, or because of sthana bala, which very much does.
A worked example — where a single cutoff goes wrong
Take the chart used across these pages: born 15 April 1990 in Mumbai. Mercury computes to 394.4 virupas (6.57 rupas). That beats the Sun's requirement of 390, beats the Moon's 360, and would clear any single cutoff a site picked around the middle of the range. Mercury is still not strong, because Mercury's own requirement is 420.
The same chart shows the error running the other way. Mars computes to 316.5 virupas — below almost any flat cutoff — and is strong, because Mars only needs 300.
So on one chart, a calculator applying one threshold would report Mercury strong and Mars weak, and be wrong about both. Four of the seven planets clear their own bar here: the Sun at 441.7 against 390, Jupiter at 489.8 against 390, Venus at 383.9 against 330, and Mars. The Moon, Mercury and Saturn fall short of theirs.
Method and provenance — including what is approximated
The formulation is BPHS chapter 27, computed from a Swiss Ephemeris chart, sidereal with the Lahiri ayanamsa — the same chart every other tool here reads.
Two groups of components are approximated rather than computed in full: Saptavargaja is taken at its mean of 30 virupas, and the Tribhaga, Hora, Abda, Masa and Vara components at their canonical mean of 90 virupas. Measured against published charts the resulting drift stays under 8 virupas per planet.
We print that on the result rather than in a footnote, because Shad Bala is the hardest computation in the classical toolkit and the easiest to get quietly wrong. A calculator that will not tell you which components it approximated is asking for trust it has not earned — and 8 virupas is enough to move a planet sitting within a few points of its threshold.
The engine's own note travels with your result, so if that approximation ever changes the page will say so rather than continuing to quote this paragraph.
What this does not tell you
A strong planet is not a good planet. Shad Bala measures capacity to act, not benefit: a well-strengthened malefic ruling difficult houses acts more forcefully, not more kindly. The number says how loudly a planet speaks, not what it says.
It is not a prediction and carries no timing. Nothing here says when anything happens; that is the dasha system's business.
It does not include Bhava Bala, the parallel reckoning of house strength. That is a separate computation on the twelve houses rather than the seven planets, and it answers a different question.
And it moves with your birth time. Kaala bala and cheshta bala are both clock-dependent, so an unknown time shifts the totals and can flip a planet sitting near its threshold. The tool says so on screen when no time was given.
Frequently asked
- What is a good Shad Bala score?
- There is no single figure, and that is the most common mistake made about Shad Bala. BPHS sets a different requirement per planet: 300 virupas for Mars and Saturn, 330 for Venus, 360 for the Moon, 390 for the Sun and Jupiter, and 420 for Mercury. A planet is strong when it clears its own bar, so 400 virupas is comfortable for Mars and a shortfall for Mercury.
- What is the difference between virupas and rupas?
- None, beyond the unit. One rupa is sixty virupas, so a total of 441.67 virupas is 7.36 rupas — the same quantity written twice. Thresholds are usually quoted in virupas, which is why this tool leads with them, and published charts often print rupas, which is why both are shown.
- What are the six balas?
- Sthana bala (positional strength), dig bala (directional), kaala bala (temporal), cheshta bala (motional), drig bala (from aspects received) and naisargika bala (the planet's natural, fixed standing). Each planet's breakdown is shown separately on the result, because the composition matters — strength coming from naisargika bala is the same in every chart, while sthana bala is specific to yours.
- Does Shad Bala include Rahu and Ketu?
- No. The classical formulation computes Shad Bala for the seven planets only; the nodes are not assigned strength in this scheme. Any calculator showing a Shad Bala figure for Rahu or Ketu has introduced it from somewhere other than BPHS.
- Is Shad Bala the same as Bhava Bala?
- No — they are the planet and house halves of the same idea. Shad Bala scores the seven planets; Bhava Bala scores the twelve houses using a partly different set of components. This tool computes Shad Bala. If you have seen the two named together, that is why.
- How much does birth time matter here?
- Enough to care about. Two of the six sources — kaala bala and cheshta bala — depend on the clock, so an uncertain time changes the totals. It rarely reverses a planet that is far from its threshold, but it can easily flip one sitting within a few virupas of it. With no time entered the chart is read at noon and the tool says so.