What the 7th house shows
The seventh sign from the Lagna is the 7th house, directly opposite it: the sign setting in the west at birth. Jyotish associates it with:
- the life partner and the marriage bond
- business partnerships and agreements
- one-to-one relationships: clients, associates, dealing with the public
- give-and-take, balance and equality with others
- in some texts, journeys and life away from home
Tradition holds that the 7th shows how a person connects with others and the kind of company they are at ease in. It does not tell the whole story of a relationship; relationships are made by two people's understanding and effort, and the full chart is read together.
Its place in tradition: group, karaka, dig bala
The 7th house is a kendra (1, 4, 7, 10), one of the pillars of the chart. Among the four aims of life it is a kama house: companionship, desire and connection.
Its natural karaka is Venus, which tradition links with love, beauty and harmony; in a woman's chart tradition also reads Jupiter for the partner. The seventh sign of the kalapurusha is Tula, ruled by Venus: the scales, a symbol of balance and equality. In dig bala Saturn gains full directional strength in the 7th house, the west (Raman, Graha and Bhava Balas); it is a technical calculation.
Whole-sign house and bhava chalit
ePandit shows the 7th house in two ways. In whole-sign houses the 7th sign counted from the Lagna is the whole 7th house. In the bhava chalit the house boundaries are set from the exact degree of the ascendant, so a planet near the edge of a sign can appear in the neighbouring house.
Suppose the Lagna is at Kumbha 5° and Venus at Karka 28°: in whole-sign houses Venus is in the 6th, but in the chalit it can fall within the 7th. Tradition then reads Venus in matters of partnership as well.
These are two views of the same sky, not a mistake. ePandit uses whole-sign houses (D1) as the base; when the two differ, tradition reads the themes of both houses together.
The 7th lord and planets here, read calmly
The ruler of the 7th is the saptamesha. Tradition holds that the house it occupies shows what partnership connects with: with the 7th lord in the 10th, a link with one's working world; in the 9th, shared values and faith.
Planets in the 7th are said to colour the way of relating: Venus tenderness and taste, Jupiter wisdom and guidance, Mercury conversation and friendship, Saturn responsibility and staying power. Mars here is not a verdict on its own either; traditions differ on it, and the full chart decides. An empty 7th house is not a lack.
The 7th house in the navamsa (D9)
The Shodashavarga chapter of BPHS assigns the navamsa (D9) to the spouse, so tradition gives the navamsa the most weight when reading the 7th. The navamsa's 7th house and its lord, Venus, and the navamsa sign of the birth chart's 7th lord are read together.
The navamsa is very sensitive to birth time, so an accurate time matters.
Ashtakavarga: the numbers for this house
Ashtakavarga adds the bindu tables of seven planets into the Sarvashtakavarga (SAV); in every chart the twelve signs hold exactly 337 points, about 28 per sign on average. The 7th house's number is the SAV of the sign that falls in your 7th house; with a Simha lagna, for example, that is Kumbha.
ePandit shows these figures unreduced. They are a count, not a verdict, and we do not call them good or bad. You can see the number in the Ashtakavarga tab of your free kundli.