Budh (Mercury)

Budh in the 5th House
Mercury in the 5th house, by Phaladeepika and Lal Kitab

What Budh gives in the 5th house by Lal Kitab and by Phaladeepika, its upay, the houses it looks at from there, and what it means for each lagna.

ChildrenLal Kitab
147102356891112Me
Budh in the 5th house; the top square is the 1st, the lagna

Mercury in the 5th house gives intelligent children and success in investment and education.

Lal Kitab: a good placement

Lal Kitab reads Budh in the 5th 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

Donate green items or moong dal on Wednesdays.

This is Lal Kitab’s one upay for Budh in the 5th 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 12

Phaladeepika 8.12 holds that Budh (Mercury) in the 5th house (the house of children and intellect) makes a person learned, happy and courageous. The text adds many children and a knowledge of mantras.

How much of this holds turns on the rest of the chart: the rashi Budh sits in, the 5th 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 20.6

BJ 20.6: Budh in the 5th gives the standing of a minister.

When Budh in the 5th 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 5th 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 5th, by the rules our kundli reading weighs houses with:

  • on your 11th house (income): is counted neither way in our reading

The 5th house, Putra bhava, rules children, study, intelligence and love affairs; it is 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 Guru. The 5th house, and every graha in it

Budh in the 5th house, for each lagna

the rashi it sits in, and the houses it rules
LagnaBudh sits inIts state thereLord of yourFor this lagna
Mesh (Aries)Singh (Leo)Friendly3rd and 6thMalefic
Vrishabh (Taurus)Kanya (Virgo)Exalted2nd and 5thMildly malefic— lord of the 2nd and 5th, which the verse calls 'somewhat inauspicious' (34.23) and does not name among the killers
Mithun (Gemini)Tula (Libra)Friendly1st and 4thLagna lord— the lagna lord, which the verse leaves unjudged: 34.25 names only Shukra auspicious for Mithun
Kark (Cancer)Vrishchik (Scorpio)Neutral3rd and 12thMalefic
Singh (Leo)Dhanu (Sagittarius)Neutral2nd and 11thMalefic— lord of the 2nd, but the killers the verse names for this lagna are Shani and Chandra (34.29–30)
Kanya (Virgo)Makar (Capricorn)Neutral1st and 10thBenefic · Yoga— gives yoga together with Shukra (34.32)
Tula (Libra)Kumbh (Aquarius)Neutral9th and 12thBenefic · Yoga— gives yoga together with Chandra (34.34)
Vrishchik (Scorpio)Meen (Pisces)Debilitated8th and 11thMalefic
Dhanu (Sagittarius)Mesh (Aries)Neutral7th and 10thBenefic · 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)Vrishabh (Taurus)Friendly6th and 9thBenefic
Kumbh (Aquarius)Mithun (Gemini)Own rashi5th and 8thNeutral— gives mixed results (34.42)
Meen (Pisces)Kark (Cancer)Enemy4th and 7thMalefic · 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 5th. “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

By Brihat Jataka 20.11, Budh in the 5th house gives its good in full for Vrishabh lagna, half for Kumbh lagna, a quarter for Mesh, Mithun and Makar lagna, little for Meen lagna and none for Vrishchik lagna, by the rashi it sits in. The verse gives no share for a neutral rashi, which is where it sits for Kark, Singh, Kanya, Tula and Dhanu lagna. BJ 20.10–11

Budh in the 5th house: where it works best, and where hardest

read off the table above
Strong in its rashiVrishabh and Kumbh lagna, where it sits exalted or in its own rashi
Good for the lagnaKanya, Tula, Dhanu and Makar lagna, for which Parashara counts it benefic or a yogakaraka
Weak in its rashiVrishchik lagna, where it is debilitated
The hardest mixVrishchik and Meen lagna: a hard graha for the lagna, in an enemy’s or its debilitation rashi

Budh passing through the 5th from your Moon

the gochar of Budh, not the birth chart

Not the birth placement above: here Budh is moving through the 5th counted from your Moon rashi. Phaladeepika does not count the 5th among Budh’s good transit houses (all twelve, on the Budh page). Our Monthly Prediction reads it as challenging: muddled decisions, worry over children’s studies, risky bets go wrong.

Budh in the other bhavas

Is Budh in the 5th house in your kundli?Astro Vyasa reads it with your lagna, its rashi and your dasha.

Common questions

3 questions
Is Budh in the 5th house good?

Lal Kitab counts it a good placement, one of the 10 houses where Budh does well (with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th and 11th). By its rashi, it is strongest for Vrishabh and Kumbh lagna; it is debilitated for Vrishchik lagna.

What is the Lal Kitab upay for Budh in the 5th house?

Lal Kitab’s upay for it: Donate green items or moong dal on Wednesdays.

Which houses does Budh look at from the 5th?

The 11th (income).

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

Chat with an AI astrologer

24 AI astrologers trained in Vedic Jyotish. Chat in any Indian language; call in Hindi and English.Astro VyasaVedic JyotishAstro PremLove & RelationshipAstro KuberWealth & FinanceAstro VaidyaHealth & VitalityChat from Call from Billed per minute, only while your chat or call is on. End it any time.

Reports from your kundli

9 detailed reports, including Janam Kundli, Annual Prediction and Monthly Prediction.English, Hindi & HinglishExplore reports
Ask about Budh in the 5th houseAstro Vyasa · Ask