The Arudha - Pada Lagna

The Arudha
The arudha means, image, or reflection if you will. In Jyotish astrology there are Arudha's for grahas and for houses. We will stay simple and just talk about the Arudha of the Ascendent, the Lagna ( pronounced lug-nah).
Now, most explanations will just tell you the calculation on how to do this and move on...one sits there and says , yes I know the calculation, now what to do with it? So lets start with what this Arudha, this reflection, image means in a practical way.

Consider this. You are known at home and you, your behavior is known and what you think of yourself, you have an impression of yourself, yes? Now what of the outside world? How does the world see you? [ kinda part of maya].

The world sees you as a reflection of yourself. That reflection is called the Arudha of the lagna, and this new location, outlined by Parashara and Jamini, is called the Pada Lagna ( Not Paka... I will talk of this , so we want to keep the Paka and Pada lagna's distinct, ok).
Each house has an Arudha, or Bhava Arudha, each graha has an Arudha, but lets start simple and only deal with the Pada Lagna ( and of great import).

The Calculation by example [edited 5th July '07 for corrections]
Lets say the native is Aries Lagna ( the rising sign at birth was Aries or Mesha). The Lord of that sign, Aries is Mars.
Part 1 - We look in ones chart to see where mars is placed. For this example, lets say its placed in Virgo.
We count from Aries to Virgo, how many signs are there? There are 6. Note that when we start the count, Aries is counted as the 1st house and Virgo is the last house, like that we count the start-and-stop houses, ok. So, we get 6 signs.
Part 2 - We note 6 signs. We now count from Virgo, where Mars resides and count 6 signs. We arrive at Aquarius. Aquarius is called the AL, or Arudha Lagna for this individual with Aries as the Lagna.
Exceptions: There a few exceptions to this rule given by Jaimini muni:
A. The AL cannot end up in the 1st house, or the original Langa ( in this example it would be Aries), nor can it end up in the 7th house from the original lagna ( in this example, Libra).
B. If when doing the calculation , the AL comes to the Lagna, this is to be rejected, and the AL is the 10th house from the Lagna.
C. If when doing the calculation , the AL comes to the 7th house, that is to be rejected, and the 4th house from the Lagna is considered the AL.

I our example above We have to adjust it to show how the Exceptions work.
Example 2.
Lets say Aries remains the Lagna. Now we look to see where where Mars resides...lets now say Mars is in Libra, the 7th house from Aries. That is, 7 signs from Aries, correct? If we then apply the rule and count 7 signs from Libra, we end up back at Aries, and that has to be rejected due to Exception A above. We then place the AL in the 10th house from the Lagna (Aries) and the AL is Cancer, based upon Exception B instructions.
Example 3.
Aries remains the Lagna. Now we look to see where where Mars resides...lets now say Mars is in Cancer, or 4 houses from Aries, the lagna. Now if we count 4 houses from Cancer, we arrive at the 7th house, Libra;this due to Exception A must be rejected as the AL. We look to Exception C above, and place it in the 4th house from the Lagna, or Capricorn.

Now why is this? why cannot the AL end up back in the Lagna position or the 7th position. It is very interesting. The 1st and 7th houses are considered those houses of truth, without maya, the birth and the opposite of birth, death. All that happens between these points are life and various forms of maya. That is the principle at work.

So, when one looks at some individual from the outside , a political leader, that looks wise, perceived as an honest man, of great Jovian (Jupiter) qualities. Yet we come to find come to find out he is corrupt, of meager intelligence, etc. The AL or Arudha is how we perceived him, how the world sees him. But one gets to know the person from an incident, a news story, etc. the AL of him is no longer a logical view. This happens all the time.

We know now the AL. We also know the Paka Lagna. How so? The Paka Lagna is the location of where the Ascendent Lord resides. Very important for calculations and a 'must' consideration for interpretations.
So, in our example above, Lets say the Lagna is Aries. Lets also say Mars, the owner of Aries, resides in Leo. Leo is considered the Paka Lagna and an evaluation of ones birth chart needs to also be viewed from these two locations. Aries and Leo.
Now, you are saying , am I glad we're done with different lagna's!. We have the native's rising sign Lagna , we have the Paka Lagna and the AL or Arudha lagna... Well, Jyotish is much more robust that that, as we are complicated beings yes?
There is the Hora Lagna - a view of you from the point of wealth
Ghati Lagna - a view of you from power and authority
Sri Lagna - from the point of prosperity, and blessings of Sri and Lakshmi