Vedic · Glossary

Kendra · the angles

The four angles of the chart, where a planet gains power to act.

the fortunate and unfortunate points the trines
2356891112 14710 1 · 4 · 7 · 10 — THE PILLARS OF THE CHART

Reading

Kendra means angle, or pivot. The four kendras are the houses 1, 4, 7, and 10, spaced a quarter of the wheel apart, and the tradition treats them as the pillars that hold a chart up. They are the most active and visible ground in a chart, the places where a planet’s nature shows in the life rather than staying private.

An angle is where a planet is seen doing its work.

A graha placed in a kendra gains strength to act, and a benefic gains it most. One caution the schools keep is separate from placement: when a natural benefic rules a kendra it can lose some of its blessing power, what the texts call kendrādhipati doṣa, and a natural malefic ruling one can shed some of its harm. Occupation and ownership are read on different lines.

Where it rhymes

The same archetype, spoken in other systems.