Shani

Shani is Saturn. The Brihat Jataka lists Kona, Manda, Suryaputra, the son of the Sun, and Asita, the black planet, among its names. Its place in the Kalapurusha, the figure drawn from the twelve signs, is sorrow, and in the court of the planets it is the servant. Iyer's translation describes a thin, tall body with stiff hair, large teeth and eyes the color of gold, and the book ties Saturn to air, iron, the west, a bitter flavor, and the months of January and February.

Makara and Kumbha are Saturn's signs. It is exalted in Libra at the twentieth degree and falls in Aries at that same degree. Aquarius is the mulatrikona, a further strong sign, and the Wikisource text of the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, edition unknown, gives the first 20 degrees of it. Venus and Mercury are friends, Jupiter is neutral, and the Sun, the Moon and Mars are enemies in Varahamihira's table.

The quoted verse, from the Sanskrit of the Brihat Jataka as typed on Wikisource, edition unidentified, sets out the graded aspects in which Saturn, Jupiter and Mars take the fuller sight. For Saturn the full sight falls on the third and tenth houses, in addition to the seventh. Saturn is strong in the west, the seventh sign, and at night, and Varahamihira lists the planets in rising order of natural strength with Saturn first and the Sun last. In the Vimshottari scheme Saturn rules 19 years, over Pushya, Anuradha and Uttara Bhadrapada.

Popular guides speak of Sade Sati, a long Saturn period tied to the Moon's sign. The books read for this site contain no such rule by that name, although the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra chapters on transits were not among the pages read.