Introduction
The Moon's path is tilted a little against the Sun's path (the ecliptic). The two paths cross at two points. The point where the Moon heads north is Rahu, and the point exactly opposite, 180° away, is Ketu. That is why both are called shadow grahas. Eclipses happen near these points.
Rahu moves backwards and spends about a year and a half in a sign. The ePandit engine uses the mean node. Some software uses the true node, so Rahu's degree can differ by up to about a degree and a half.
What it signifies
Tradition associates Rahu with:
- new and unusual things, new technology
- curiosity, big ambitions and the drive to move ahead
- distant lands, travel abroad and other cultures
- thinking outside the usual track
For work, tradition associates Rahu with fields that involve technology, experiment, foreign contact or reaching a wide public.
These are tendencies, not settled facts. The house, the sign and Rahu's companions give the meaning together.
Signs and dignity, in plain words
Rahu is a point, not a body, so in our engine it owns no sign. Texts and traditions hold different views on its exaltation and debilitation, so ePandit gives no dignity table for Rahu.
Tradition holds that Rahu takes on the colour of the lord of the sign it sits in and of the planets it sits with. So to read Rahu, one looks at that sign's lord and its companions.
Shadbala and this planet, in plain words
Shadbala covers seven planets, the Sun to Saturn. B. V. Raman's method in Graha and Bhava Balas, which ePandit follows, gives Rahu and Ketu no strength, because they are points, not bodies. So Rahu has no shadbala ratio.
For the other planets we show one ratio: total shadbala ÷ Raman's traditional minimum. Above 1 means the planet has more than the traditional minimum; below 1 says nothing bad, only that other factors lead in that chart.
If Rahu is missing from the shadbala table, that is not a gap or an error; it is the method. Rahu is read through its sign lord, its house and the dasha.
Mahadasha
In Vimshottari, Rahu's mahadasha lasts 18 years. Tradition holds that new paths, new places, technology and big ambitions come forward; tradition links it with starting something new.
Rahu takes the colour of its sign lord, so the real colour of this dasha is read from that lord, Rahu's house and the antardasha running inside it. Every mahadasha holds nine antardashas.
Faith
If you wish, you can chant Rahu's name-mantra 11 or 108 times in the morning, with a calm mind:
ॐ राहवे नमः (Om Rāhave Namaḥ) (planet name-mantra: tradition)
You may give a meal to someone in need. (folk belief, optional)
This is a matter of faith, not a condition. No costly remedy is needed.