Budh in the 1st House
Mercury in the 1st house, by Phaladeepika and Lal Kitab
What Budh gives in the 1st house by Lal Kitab and by Phaladeepika, its upay, the houses it looks at from there, and what it means for each lagna.
Mercury in the 1st house gives intelligence, wit, and communication skills but the person may be fickle-minded.
In a kendra (one of the four angles of the chart, the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses, where a graha acts with most force), in Mithun (Gemini) or Kanya (Virgo), Budh forms Bhadra Yoga, one of the five Pancha Mahapurusha (“great person”) yogas of Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra. The table below marks the lagnas where that happens.
Lal Kitab reads Budh in the 1st house by the house, not by your lagna; Parashara’s view for your own lagna is further down, and Phaladeepika and Brihat Jataka may differ. How Lal Kitab and Parashara differ · Lal Kitab: pakka ghar, rin and upay
Lal Kitab upay
Wear a copper coin with a hole in it around the neck.
This is Lal Kitab’s one upay for Budh in the 1st house, to keep its good results strong; it is a suggestion, and your whole kundli may call for another. All upay for Budh
What Phaladeepika says
Mantreswara, Adhyaya 8, sloka 11Phaladeepika 8.11 holds that Budh (Mercury) in the lagna (the ascendant, 1st house) gives a long life and sweet, clever speech. The text adds a sharp wit and learning in all the shastras (the classical sciences).
How much of this holds turns on the rest of the chart: the rashi Budh sits in, the 1st house’s lord and the grahas with it or looking at it. The old texts speak of a man; their readings apply to anyone.
What Brihat Jataka says
Varahamihira, sloka 20.6BJ 20.6: Budh in the 1st gives learning.
When Budh in the 1st house shows, and where it looks
Its results show most in Budh’s own mahadasha (17 years) and in its antardashas inside the others. The 1st house’s matters also come forward in the periods of the house’s lord, which depends on your lagna.
Its drishti (a graha’s glance: the houses it looks at feel its influence) from the 1st, by the rules our kundli reading weighs houses with:
- on your 7th house (marriage): is counted neither way in our reading
The 1st house, Tanu bhava, rules self, body, health and how others see you; it is a kendra and a trikona (the 1st, 5th and 9th houses, the houses of fortune); its karaka (the graha that naturally signifies a house’s matters, whatever the lagna) is Surya. The 1st house, and every graha in it
Budh in the 1st house, for each lagna
the rashi it sits in, and the houses it rules| Lagna | Budh sits in | Its state there | Lord of your | For this lagna |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mesh (Aries) | Mesh (Aries) | Neutral | 3rd and 6th | Malefic |
| Vrishabh (Taurus) | Vrishabh (Taurus) | Friendly | 2nd and 5th | Mildly malefic— lord of the 2nd and 5th, which the verse calls 'somewhat inauspicious' (34.23) and does not name among the killers |
| Mithun (Gemini) | Mithun (Gemini) | Own rashi · Bhadra Yoga | 1st and 4th | Lagna lord— the lagna lord, which the verse leaves unjudged: 34.25 names only Shukra auspicious for Mithun |
| Kark (Cancer) | Kark (Cancer) | Enemy | 3rd and 12th | Malefic |
| Singh (Leo) | Singh (Leo) | Friendly | 2nd and 11th | Malefic— lord of the 2nd, but the killers the verse names for this lagna are Shani and Chandra (34.29–30) |
| Kanya (Virgo) | Kanya (Virgo) | Exalted · Bhadra Yoga | 1st and 10th | Benefic · Yoga— gives yoga together with Shukra (34.32) |
| Tula (Libra) | Tula (Libra) | Friendly | 9th and 12th | Benefic · Yoga— gives yoga together with Chandra (34.34) |
| Vrishchik (Scorpio) | Vrishchik (Scorpio) | Neutral | 8th and 11th | Malefic |
| Dhanu (Sagittarius) | Dhanu (Sagittarius) | Neutral | 7th and 10th | Benefic · Yoga— gives yoga together with Surya (34.38)— lord of the 7th, but the killers the verse names for this lagna are Shani and Shukra (34.37–38) |
| Makar (Capricorn) | Makar (Capricorn) | Neutral | 6th and 9th | Benefic |
| Kumbh (Aquarius) | Kumbh (Aquarius) | Neutral | 5th and 8th | Neutral— gives mixed results (34.42) |
| Meen (Pisces) | Meen (Pisces) | Debilitated | 4th and 7th | Malefic · Maraka |
Budh’s state in each rashi, and the houses it rules for each lagna, as our free kundli reads them (BPHS chapter 34); each house links to what Parashara says of its lord sitting in the 1st. “Its state there” is how that rashi treats Budh: exalted, own, friendly, neutral (sam), enemy or debilitated. “For this lagna” is Parashara’s verdict on the houses it rules. The two answer different questions.
The labels, from Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, chapter 34:
- Yogakaraka: the strongest graha a lagna can have: the one Parashara names as bringing yoga, or the one lord of both a kendra (1st, 4th, 7th, 10th) and a trikona (1st, 5th, 9th) (34.13)
- Benefic, Malefic, Neutral: works for the lagna; brings its harder matters; neither
- Lagna lord: the lagna’s own graha, where the verse calls it neither good nor hard
- Maraka: a killer Parashara names for the lagna, watched for health and longevity; printed alone, or after another label. It is not always the lord of the 2nd or 7th: where it differs, the line under it gives the verse
- · Yoga: one of two grahas he says give yoga together for this lagna
One lagna, read through
Take Kanya lagna. Budh sits in Kanya there (exalted) and rules your 1st and 10th houses, which makes it a benefic for Kanya lagna (BPHS 34). Both point the same way, a graha good for the lagna and strong in its rashi: the best this table holds. The Lal Kitab reading above is the same for every lagna; this row is the part that changes with yours.
By Brihat Jataka 20.11, Budh in the 1st house gives its good in full for Kanya lagna, half for Mithun lagna, a quarter for Vrishabh, Singh and Tula lagna, little for Kark lagna and none for Meen lagna, by the rashi it sits in. The verse gives no share for a neutral rashi, which is where it sits for Mesh, Vrishchik, Dhanu, Makar and Kumbh lagna. BJ 20.10–11
Budh in the 1st house: where it works best, and where hardest
read off the table aboveBudh passing through the 1st from your Moon
the gochar of Budh, not the birth chartNot the birth placement above: here Budh is moving through the 1st counted from your Moon rashi. Phaladeepika does not count the 1st among Budh’s good transit houses (all twelve, on the Budh page). Our Monthly Prediction reads it as mixed: a busy mind, lots of talk, some restlessness.
Common questions
3 questionsIs Budh in the 1st house good?
Lal Kitab counts it a good placement, one of the 10 houses where Budh does well (with the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th and 11th). By its rashi, it is strongest for Mithun and Kanya lagna; it is debilitated for Meen lagna.
What is the Lal Kitab upay for Budh in the 1st house?
Lal Kitab’s upay for it: Wear a copper coin with a hole in it around the neck.
Which houses does Budh look at from the 1st?
The 7th (marriage).
A graha reads the same for everybody. Your chart does not.
Where each graha sits in your kundli, which bhavas it rules for your lagna and which dasha is running decide what it does for you. Make your free kundli to see all nine.
Create free kundli
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