Planetary Relationships in Vedic Astrology
This chapter will explain relationship between planets i.e. whether they are frends, enemies or neutral to each other. Understanding this relationship is important for learning predictions.
Natural Relationships of Planets
For each planet, its friends and enemies are found as follows:
Take the moolatrikona of the planet.
Lord of the rasi where it is exalted is its friend.
Lords of 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th and 12th rasis from it are also its natural friends.
Lords of other rasis are its natural enemies.
If a planet becomes a friend and an enemy on account of owning two rasis, then it is a neutral planet.
The list of friends, neutral planets and enemies of all planets is listed in below Table.
| Planet | Friend | Neutral | Enemy |
| Sun | Moon, Mars Jupiter | Mercury | Venus, Saturn |
| Moon | Sun, Mercury | Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn | – |
| Mars | Sun, Moon, Jupiter | Venus, Saturn | Mercury |
| Mercury | Sun, Venus | Mars, Jupiter, Saturn | Moon |
| Jupiter | Sun, Moon, Mars | Saturn | Mercury, Venus |
| Venus | Mercury, Saturn | Mars, Jupiter | Sun, Moon |
| Saturn | Mercury, Venus | Jupiter | Sun, Moon, Mars |
Temporary Relationships of Planets
In addition to the permanent relationship, we have temporary relationships based on the planetary position in a chart. These temporary (tatkaala) relationships are specific to a chart.
Planets occupying the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th and 12th rasis counted from the rasi occupied by a planet are its temporary friends. Planet occupying other rasis are its temporary enemies.
Example: Let us consider Lord Sree Rama’s chart given below and find the temporary friends and temporary enemies of Sun and Moon.
Sun: Sun is in Ar. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th and 12th rasis counted from Ar are Ta, Ge, Cn, Cp, Aq and Pi. Planets in those rasis are Mercury, Moon, Jupiter, Mars and Venus. They are temporary friends of Sun in this chart.
Saturn is the only temporary enemy.
Moon: Moon is in Cn. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th and 12th rasis counted from Cn are Le, Vi, Li, Ar, Ta and Ge. Planets in those rasis are Saturn, Sun and Mercury. They are temporary friends of Moon in this chart.
Temporary enemies are Mars, Jupiter, Venus.
Note that Moon and Jupiter have the same temporary friends and temporary enemies. That is because they occupy the same rasi and temporary relationships are based on the rasis occupied by planets.
Compound Relationships (Panchadha Maitri)
We get the compound relationships between planets by combining permanent and temporary relationships as shown below.
| Temporary Friend | Temporary Enemy | |
|---|---|---|
| Natural Friend | Adhimitra (Good Friend) | Sama (Neutral) |
| Natural Neutral | Mitra (Friend) | Satru (Enemy) |
| Natural Enemy | Sama (Neutral) | AdhiSatru (Bad Enemy) |
Example: Let us continue from above Example and find the friends and enemies of Sun and Moon in Lord Sree Rama’s chart given in above Horoscope.
Sun: We found in Example 4 that Sun’s temporary friends are Mercury, Moon, Jupiter, Mars and Venus. Of these, Moon, Mars and Jupiter are natural friends and they become adhimitras (good friends). Mercury is a neutral planet in natural relationship and he becomes a mitra (friend) in compound relationship. Venus is a natural enemy. Being a temporary friend, Venus becomes a sama (neutral) planet in compound relationship.
Saturn is the only temporary enemy of Sun. Being a natural enemy too, he becomes an adhisatru (bad enemy) of Sun.
Moon: We found in Example 4 that Moon’s temporary friends are Sun, Mercury and Saturn. Of these, Sun and Mercury are natural friends and they become adhimitras
(good friends). Saturn is a neutral in natural relationship and he becomes a mitra (friend) in compound relationship.
Moon’s temporary enemies are Mars, Jupiter and Venus. They are all natural neutrals and they become satru (enemies) in compound relationship.
A planet occupying a rasi owned by a mitra or adhimitra is in a friendly house. A planet occupying a rasi owned by a satru or adhisatru is in an inimical house.