Shadbala Meaning: Six Strengths vs Supported Metrics
Understand shadbala’s six categories and why dignity, BAV or SAV fields do not establish a complete shadbala score in an OpenFate report.
Overview
Shadbala combines six traditional categories of planetary strength: placement, time, direction, aspects, motion and inherent nature. It is not another name for dignity or ashtakavarga, and it must not be inferred when the calculation is unavailable.
At a glance
- Six categories
- Placement, time, direction, aspects, motion, nature
- Separate data
- Dignity labels and BAV/SAV counts
- OpenFate contract
- Shadbala explicitly unavailable in career evidence
- Source scope
- Rao outlines categories, not the full algorithm
What would a complete shadbala result need?
It needs a declared formula for each of the six components, the inputs required by those formulas, their units and the aggregation convention. Rao’s §15.3 identifies the categories but explicitly leaves full computation outside the book’s scope.
The presence of an ephemeris longitude or a retrograde flag does not demonstrate that all components have been calculated. Likewise, a program’s generic “strength” heading is not sufficient provenance for a shadbala number.
Keep an unavailable field unavailable
Suppose a stored report shows Venus at 27° Pisces, an exaltation label and a raw SAV value of 31 for Pisces. Those are placement and sign-aggregate facts. They cannot be combined into a verified six-component strength score.
The inspected OpenFate career-evidence contract marks shadbala unavailable. The correct report preserves that status while presenting supported fields separately; it does not rename 31 as shadbala or invent missing component values.
Does unavailable mean weak?
No. Unavailable describes a data or implementation boundary, not a planet’s weakness and not a person’s lack of ability. Zero, absent and not calculated must remain distinct states.
If comparing with software that supplies shadbala, request its component breakdown and settings. Even a reproducible traditional score is not a scientifically calibrated career, health or financial forecast, and it does not override real-world evidence.
Sources and editorial basis
- P. V. R. Narasimha Rao: Vedic Astrology — An Integrated ApproachRao, Chapter 15, §§15.1–15.3, printed pp. 187–189: distinct purposes of strength methods and six categories of shadbala. §15.3 explicitly excludes the full shadbala algorithm from the book. Chapter 3, §3.3 and Table 6, pp. 34–35 supplies the cited dignity examples; Chapter 12, §§12.3–12.4, pp. 151–153 defines BAV and SAV separately. OpenFate support claims use the separate implementation review; none of these sources validates a success probability.A named practitioner’s introduction to Jyotish. Used for terminology and a stated method, not universal school agreement or scientific validation. The added March 18, 2010 note describes changed views; it does not establish a fully revised 2010 edition.
- OpenFate Editorial MethodologyOpenFate Editorial Methodology, stable sections #editorial-principles, #editorial-workflow, #editorial-ai, and #editorial-context. Used for the calculation/interpretation and evidence-boundary policy.OpenFate separates deterministic chart calculation, traditional interpretation, and modern editorial explanation.
- OpenFate Vedic implementation: local source review, 2026-09-08OpenFate local implementation review, 2026-09-08: app/modules/vedic/logic/policy.ts VEDIC_ENGINE_POLICY.karakaScheme and supportsVedicBav; facts.ts computeKarakas and computeSarvashtakavarga; constants.ts SAV_TABLES, SAV_EXPECTED_TOTALS and SAV_EXPECTED_GRAND_TOTAL; career-evidence.ts buildVedicCareerEvidence.unavailable. The reviewed policy uses seven roles without Rahu and a fixed classical-order exact-tie break. Raw BAV rows total 48/49/39/54/56/52/39, summing to 337; the Moon/Venus variant entries differ from Rao’s stated preference. BAV visibility depends on stored contract, and career evidence explicitly marks shadbala unavailable. This is a dated code review, not proof of current deployment or empirical prediction accuracy.An editorial review of local policy and calculation source files, not an independently accessible publication or proof of the deployed version. Implementation limitations and discrepancies remain separate from traditional arithmetic.