Sunapha

Sunapha Yoga is formed when a planet other than the Sun occupies the second place from the Moon. It is one of a set of three lunar yogas that turn on what flanks the Moon: sunapha for a planet in the second from it, anapha for a planet in the twelfth, and durudhara when both are occupied, with kemadruma as the empty case. Sunapha is read for self-earned wealth, intelligence and good standing, and the particular planet involved colours the result, so that a Jupiter in that place is read differently from a Saturn. The set as a whole reflects the weight Jyotisha places on the Moon: where western astrology builds almost everything from the Ascendant, Indian practice runs a parallel reading from the Moon, and the chandra lagna is treated as a genuine second point of reference rather than as a supplement.

Classical commentary distinguishes the quality of Sunapha by which planet occupies the qualifying place: Jupiter or Mercury there is generally read for learning, sound judgment and a respected name attached to intellectual or advisory work, while Mars or Saturn in the same position is read for the same underlying self-made prosperity but achieved through harder effort, competition or a less comfortable path, the benefic or malefic nature of the occupying planet colouring the yoga much as it does elsewhere in the system. Sunapha and its companion yogas are counted among the oldest attested named combinations in Jyotisha precisely because they depend on nothing more than presence or absence in a fixed position relative to the Moon, a criterion that requires no judgment of dignity or strength to apply and so could be, and was, checked mechanically by any astrologer working from a calculated chart.

Sunapha belongs to a set of four, with Anapha, Durudhara and Kemadruma, that between them exhaust the ways the Moon may be accompanied. The definitions all exclude the Sun, and usually the nodes Rahu and Ketu, and that exclusion is the most interesting thing about the group.

The Sun is left out because of its relationship to the Moon rather than because of any judgement on its nature. The Moon's phase is a function of its angular distance from the Sun, so a rule that counted the Sun as an accompanying planet would be measuring the lunar phase under another name, and the tradition already has a separate doctrine for that, in which the waxing Moon is treated as strong and the waning Moon as weak. Excluding the Sun keeps the two doctrines independent.

The nodes are excluded on a different ground. Rahu and Ketu are shadow points rather than bodies, they have no sign rulership of their own in the classical scheme, and their inclusion in yoga definitions is inconsistent across the sources.

Sunapha itself, a planet in the second house from the Moon, is read as self earned resources, the second house's signification transferred to a lunar reckoning. The atlas describes the method rather than endorsing it.