Exaltation and debilitation · uccha and nīcha

A planet’s dignity by sign runs from a high to a low. Uccha, exaltation, is the sign where the tradition reads a planet at its most effective, its own qualities clearest and best expressed. Nīcha, debilitation or fall, is the sign directly opposite, where the same planet is read as weakest and least at ease. Every graha has exactly one exaltation sign and one debilitation sign.

Within the exaltation sign there is one exact degree of deepest exaltation, and the same degree in the opposite sign marks the deepest fall. The Sun is exalted in Aries and fallen in Libra; the Moon exalted in Taurus, fallen in Scorpio; Saturn exalted in Libra, fallen in Aries. The seven classical grahas each carry their pair, and the pairs are fixed.

Highest and lowest sit exactly opposite each other.

Exaltation is one measure of strength among several, not a verdict on the whole chart. A debilitated planet is read as under strain in its sign, and yet other conditions, including a cancellation the tradition calls nīcabhaṅga, can lift it. The codex treats these as dignities to weigh, not sentences to pronounce.