This is the third of the article series on the topic of the Bhava classification, and it is an excerpt from the third chapter named Bhava: The houses of Visti Larsen’s book Jyotisha Fundamentals – My Master’s words (this book is now available as E-book on all Amazon platforms).
Among the twelve houses, four houses are called Upachaya. Upachaya means accumulation, quantity, elevation, increase, growth, etc. These houses have the special ability to help one’s growth and make one fulfill one’s objectives in life.

The Upachaya houses are:
- Third (action/initiative, weapons, enemies action, copulation, actions needed for growth)
- Sixth (sins, strife, punishment and hard work)
- Tenth (profession, social activity, karma yoga)
- Eleventh (fulfillment of desires and gains, fruits)
The houses, which are not upachaya, are called anupachaya.
Natural Zodiac
The basis of the upachaya houses becomes clear if we treat Aries as lagna, and depict the natural zodiac. The third and sixth houses from Aries become Gemini and Virgo respectively, which are both lorded by Mercury. Mercury signifies communication, learning, relations with ones friends and kin, and ones ability to smile/joke/laugh, it is the student among the grahas and is eager to learn. These traits of Mercury become very important for ones growth. If Mercury becomes negative, one will not be able to adapt to social groups, new knowledge, work, etc which cause a negative impact in ones growth. Having expressed such negative traits in ones previous lives, we experience the results in this life through enmity, strife, punishment, diseases and such negative 3rd/6th house indications.
Similarly, the tenth and eleventh become Capricorn and Aquarius respectively, which are both lorded by Saturn. Here Saturn decides our karma yoga and from whom we shall reap the fruits of the same. This is decided based on how much good karma (tenth) we did in the past as well as how much we took/reaped (eleventh) from the world in the past lives.
The negative aspect arising from the upachaya houses is that with one’s own growth and success, another’s growth will be hampered/destroyed. This is especially so with the 3rd, 6th and 11th houses known as the trishodaya houses, as in the natural zodiac, these are the exaltation, multrikona and own signs of Rahu (Gemini, Virgo, and Aquarius respectively).
Read about the Trines or Trikona houses here.
– om tat sat –