Tajika Aspects — Ithasala & Ishrafa

What makes Tajika aspects different

In the annual Tajika chart, planets aspect each other by a completely different rule than the natal Parashari system uses. Two differences matter most:

1. They are mutual and sign-distance based. Parashari drishti is one-way and planet-specific — Mars throws special aspects, Jupiter throws others, and only the 7th is shared by all. A Tajika aspect depends only on how many signs apart two planets are, and it is the same rule for every pair. If A aspects B, B aspects A.
2. An aspect only acts when the degrees are close. A sign-distance aspect that exists on paper does nothing unless the two planets are also within an orb, measured by their degrees within their signs — never by absolute longitude. This “exchange of light” is what Parashari drishti has no analogue for.

The aspects by sign distance

Counting the sign distance from one planet to the other, only five distances are aspects:

Distances of 2/12 and 6/8 are no aspect at all — dissociate signs that cannot see each other, where nothing forms. Note the 7th is inimical, the open enemy: a common implementation error is to treat the opposition as a strong benefic aspect. In Tajika it is strong and hostile.

The deeptamsha orbs

An aspect acts only within the mean of the two planets’ orbs. Each planet’s orb — its deeptamsha — is fixed:

The orb for a pair is the average of the two. Sun and Mars, for example, interact within (15 + 8) ÷ 2 = 11.5°; Mercury and Venus within (7 + 7) ÷ 2 = 7°. AstroShruti uses the mean because it is the only convention stated with worked arithmetic in the classical sources; two rival conventions (the smaller of the two orbs, or the swifter planet’s orb alone) also circulate, and the choice is a deliberate one.

The nodes have no deeptamsha and take no part in Tajika yogas — only the seven planets do.

Applying vs separating: Ithasala and Ishrafa

Once a pair holds an aspect and lies within orb, which planet moves faster decides the yoga. Tajika uses a fixed speed order (slowest first) rather than instantaneous motion, so a yoga stays stable across a retrograde loop:

Saturn → Jupiter → Mars → Sun → Venus → Mercury → Moon

Saturn is treated as slowest, the Moon as fastest. Let diff be the faster planet’s degree-in-sign minus the slower’s. Then AstroShruti classifies:

• Not within orb → the aspect exists but no light is exchanged; nothing forms.
• diff ≥ +1° → Ishrafa (Musarifa), separating. The faster planet has already passed the slower — the exchange has happened, so the matter is concluding or slipping away.
• −1° < diff < +1° → Ithasala, Poorna (exact). The two are within a degree of each other; the exchange is perfecting now, and the pair’s matters mature this year.
• diff ≤ −1° (within orb) → Ithasala, Vartamana (applying). The faster planet is still short of the slower — an applying aspect whose promise completes later in the year.

The one-degree band (the constant is exactly 1.0°) is the dividing line: inside it the aspect is treated as exact rather than either applying or separating. So Ithasala is the promise, Ishrafa is the past.

A worked reading

Suppose Jupiter is at 10° of its sign and Mars at 14° of a sign five houses away — a trine (Pratyaksha Mitra). By the fixed speed order Mars is faster than Jupiter. Their orb is (9 + 8) ÷ 2 = 8.5°. The separation is |10 − 14| = 4°, well within orb, and diff (faster Mars 14 − slower Jupiter 10) = +4°, which is ≥ +1°. So this is Ishrafa: Mars has already passed Jupiter’s degree, and the matter signified is finishing rather than opening. Had Mars been at 6° instead, diff would be −4° and the same pair would read as an applying Ithasala.

The derived yogas

On top of the pairwise exchanges, AstroShruti computes the classical yogas that can be decided mechanically:

• Ikkavala — every planet occupies an angle or a succedent house, with all four cadent houses (3, 6, 9, 12) empty. A benefic year of name and standing.
• Induvara — every planet falls in a cadent house. Malefic: thwarted effort.
• Nakta — two planets that hold no aspect are bridged by a faster third planet that applies to both, carrying the light across. What the two cannot join is accomplished through a third party.
• Yamaya — the same bridge, but by a slower intermediary. The matter completes with delay, through an elder or superior.
• Principal Ithasala — the annual lagna lord and the Varshesh (year-lord) themselves in Ithasala: the year’s central promise is live.
• Kamboola — the Moon forms an Ithasala with the Varshesh. Classically the single most supportive combination a year can carry.
• Manau — Mars or Saturn strikes the faster planet of an Ithasala, by conjunction or an inimical aspect, from within orb — forbidding the promise.
• Radda — an Ithasala one of whose participants is spoilt (retrograde, combust, or in the 6th, 8th or 12th). The promise is offered, then withdrawn.
• Duruph — an Ithasala with both participants spoilt. Neither can deliver.

A planet counts as spoilt (for Radda and Duruph) when it is retrograde, combust, or occupies a dusthana — the 6th, 8th or 12th.

What is deliberately not computed

Several classical yogas turn on the Moon’s forward motion into a following sign, or on a question-specific Karyesha (significator), and AstroShruti does not guess at them: Gairi Kamboola, Khallasara, Tambira, Kuttha, Duphali Kuttha and Dutthotha Davira are left out rather than approximated. This is the same honesty principle as elsewhere in the app — a rule that cannot be decided from the standing chart alone is omitted, not faked.

Contrast with Parashari and Western aspects

• Vs Parashari: Parashari drishti is one-way, planet-specific, and has no orb — a planet either aspects a house or it does not. Tajika is mutual, uniform across pairs, and gated by degree.
• Vs Western: the Western applying/separating idea is close kin — the Tajika tradition absorbed it from Perso-Arabic astrology. But Tajika measures the separation by degrees within the signs, not by absolute longitude, and it uses the fixed Tajika speed order rather than live ephemeris speed.

Where the aspects connect

• Ithasala and Ishrafa animate the Sahams: a sensitive point activated by an applying aspect is where the year delivers.
• The Varshesh whose Ithasala the yogas turn on is the year-lord chosen by the Varshesh selection.
• The whole scheme sits inside Varshaphala, the annual solar-return chart.