Karka

Karka, the crab, is the fourth sign, written Kataka in the English translation of the Brihat Jataka by N. Chidambaram Iyer. In the book's body list it corresponds to the heart. Iyer's note says the fourth quarter of Punarvasu is where Cancer begins, so Karka holds that quarter, all of Pushya and all of Ashlesha.

The Moon, which has just this one sign, is its lord. Jupiter is exalted here at the fifth degree and Mars is in its fall at the twenty-eighth. Iyer's notes list Karka as movable, female, northern and a night sign that rises feet first, with the color of the Patali flower, and as one of the aquatic signs. The book treats the last navamsa, or ninth part, of Cancer, along with those of Scorpio and Pisces, as a Riksha sandhi, a junction between signs.

For a Moon in Cancer, the chapter on the Moon in the signs lists a fast walk with a bent body, a good friend, a wealth that rises and falls with the Moon, a short frame, and a liking for water and forests. Kulira is the name for it in the sign list, and Iyer excepts that one from his remark that the names are Greek. On the calculator, Karka is sidereal longitude 90 to 120 degrees.