Rule 10 cancels 10 points when Mars occupies Aries, Scorpio or Capricorn in the Navamsa (D9) chart. The Navamsa is the divisional chart classical practice weights most heavily in marriage matters, which is why a dosha method consults it at all.
This page covers how rule 10 is evaluated, what it is worth, the cases where it interacts with other rules, and a worked example with the actual arithmetic.
How is rule 10 evaluated?
The Navamsa divides each sign into nine parts of 3°20′ each, and assigns each part to a sign. Mars’s D9 sign is therefore determined by its exact degree, not merely by the sign it occupies in the main chart.
The consequence is that this rule varies within a single sign. Mars in Scorpio produces a different D9 sign at 2°, 8°, 15°, 22° and 28° — Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn and Pisces respectively. Two people with Mars in Scorpio in the 4th house can correctly receive different cancellation totals, and that is not an inconsistency.
Why is rule 10 never absorbed by rule 8?
Because it describes a second chart rather than the same placement renamed. Rules 1, 2, 3 and 7 are absorbed by rule 8 because they restate Mars’s sign or the Ascendant that the exception already fixes. The D9 position is independent of both — it varies by degree within the same sign-and-house combination, which is precisely the test of genuine independence.
Which D9 signs count as dignified?
Aries and Scorpio (own signs) and Capricorn (exaltation) — the same three that count in the main chart. Debilitation in the D9 is not scored, which is the subject of the caveat below.
What does rule 10 do to a real score?
Mars in Scorpio in the 4th house from a Leo Ascendant, at two different degrees.
| Mars degree | D9 sign | Rule 10 | Total cancellation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2° Scorpio | Cancer | Does not apply | 35% |
| 15° Scorpio | Scorpio | Applies | 45% |
Both charts share the same Ascendant, the same Mars sign and the same house. The 13-degree difference in Mars’s position is the only variable, and it changes the cancellation by 10 points. This is also why birth-time accuracy matters beyond the Ascendant: a shifted birth time moves Mars’s degree and can move its D9 sign.
What should you know before relying on this rule?
This rule works in one direction only, and that is our choice rather than a classical rule.
A dignified Mars in the D9 reduces the score by 10. An undignified or debilitated Mars in the D9 adds nothing — there is no Navamsa penalty in our scoring. Classical practice would generally read a debilitated D9 Mars as a weakening factor worth noting, so a symmetric implementation is defensible and would produce different results.
We chose the asymmetry because the Dosha Bhanga tradition is a list of cancellations, and importing penalties into it would mean building a different framework than the one we claim to implement. But that is a Layer 3 scoring decision, not a classical instruction, and it is labelled as such in our methodology.
For what the Navamsa means more broadly, see Mars in the Navamsa.
How does rule 10 compare with the other nine?
Rule 10 carries 10 of the 100 points available across the ten rules, and cancellation is capped at 85% in total — classical tradition treats a dosha as mitigated rather than erased, so no chart reaches zero.
The rules most worth reading alongside this one:
- Rule 8 — exceptions — read the rule
- Rule 1 — own sign — read the rule
- Rule 6 — Chandra-Mangal — read the rule
The complete ten-rule reference sets all of them out together with their weights and sources.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Navamsa chart? The D9 divisional chart, dividing each sign into nine parts of 3°20′. Classical practice weights it heavily for marriage matters.
Which D9 positions cancel the dosha? Mars in Aries, Scorpio or Capricorn in the D9 — its own signs and its exaltation.
Is there a Navamsa penalty for a weak D9 Mars? Not in our scoring. The rule is one-directional, which is a scoring decision on our part rather than a classical rule, and we label it as such.
Why does my D9 result differ from another site? Most often because of a different ayanamsa or a small birth-time difference. The D9 sign changes every 3°20′, so it is more sensitive than the main chart.
Is rule 10 ever absorbed by rule 8? No. It is genuinely independent — it varies by degree within the same sign and house.
Does the Navamsa affect the dosha detection itself? No. Detection uses the main chart only. The Navamsa enters through this cancellation rule alone.
Where to go next
To see which of the ten rules actually fire on your chart rather than reading them in the abstract, run the cancellation calculator — it reports every rule tested, including those that did not apply and those that could not be evaluated. Our methodology documents how the weights are derived and where our scoring decisions depart from classical instruction.