Viśeṣa lagna are enumerated by Maharṣi Parāśara and we start with understanding the meaning of the word ‘viśeṣa’ which means special, having a peculiarity. These viśeṣa lagna are different from the lagna in that they have a completely circular motion at uniform speed. It is the speed, relative to the average speed of the lagna that determines the bhāva they map to. For example, the Lagna moves 12 signs in 24 hours of the day and its ‘average speed’ is 2 hours per sign. The Bhāva Lagna (BL) has this exact uniform speed of 2 hours per sign. Therefore, the Bhāva Lagna maps to the first house. Then there are the vital Horā Lagna (HL) and Ghāṭikā Lagna (GL).
| Bhāva Lagna | Maps to First House | BL |
| Horā Lagna | Maps to Second House | HL |
| Ghāṭikā Lagna | Maps to Fifth House | GL |
There are many other special ascendants like vighāṭika lagna, varṇadā lagna. Can you make a list of these special ascendants and keep track of what they mean and which house they focus on?
In this lesson we study the three viśeṣa lagna and try to calculate it manually to get a better feeling of this brilliant topic of circular motion – the way the mind visualises this world.
