Chandra Yogas are four yogas (planetary combinations) in Vedic astrology, called Sunapha, Anapha, Durudhara and Kemadruma, that depend only on which planets sit in the signs next to the natal Moon. A planet other than the Sun in the 2nd sign from the Moon gives Sunapha, in the 12th gives Anapha, in both gives Durudhara, and in neither, with none beside the Moon, leaves the Moon alone as Kemadruma.
They are also called Moon yogas or Chandra-based yogas (चन्द्र योग), and Kemadruma (केमद्रुम योग) is the one most people search for. The Sun's own equivalents are Vesi, Vasi and Ubhayachari. You can read the sign of the Moon and every planet in the free Lagna calculator.
Kemadruma is the fourth and least favourable of the four, but most charts labelled Kemadruma in a quick reading turn out to have at least one classical cancelling condition, which meaningfully softens the reading popular sources give it.
The four Chandra Yogas depend only on which planets sit next to the Moon - the second and twelfth houses counted from it.
The four Chandra Yogas at a glance
Yoga
Condition (counted from the Moon)
General reading
Sunapha
A planet other than the Sun in the 2nd from the Moon
Favourable; support from what "follows" the Moon
Anapha
A planet other than the Sun in the 12th from the Moon
Favourable; support from what "precedes" the Moon
Durudhara
Planets in both the 2nd and 12th from the Moon
Most favourable; the Moon held on both sides
Kemadruma
No planet in the 2nd or 12th, and none conjunct the Moon
Difficult by default, but frequently cancelled
How are the four Chandra Yogas defined?
The four yogas are read from the houses counted from the Moon itself, treating the Moon as if it were the lagna for this one purpose. The classical count uses five planets: Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. The Sun is left out because its relationship with the Moon is read separately, through combustion and the lunar phase, and the Moon cannot count for itself. Some modern practice also counts Rahu and Ketu, so a reading has to pick one convention and keep it.
Sunapha forms when one of those planets occupies the sign immediately following the Moon's sign. Anapha forms when a planet occupies the sign immediately preceding it. Durudhara forms when both the following and preceding signs are occupied. Kemadruma is what remains when neither condition is met and no planet shares the Moon's own sign either. The four are mutually exclusive by construction - a chart cannot carry two of them at once - which is part of why classical authors treat identifying the correct one as the first, mechanical step before any interpretation begins. A chart in which a planet shares the Moon's sign but none sits in the 2nd or 12th does not meet the strict Kemadruma wording used here, and it forms none of the other three either.
What is Sunapha Yoga?
Sunapha Yoga forms when a planet other than the Sun sits in the 2nd sign from the Moon, the sign that follows it. That planet lends its own signification to the Moon's emotional and mental life, and the classical reading varies with which planet it is. Jupiter here is read as the most auspicious of the variants, adding breadth of outlook and a generosity that the older texts connect to dharmic learning. Venus adds relational warmth and aesthetic sensitivity. Mercury adds articulateness - the capacity to put feeling into words clearly. Mars adds practical drive, giving the Moon's receptivity a more decisive edge. Saturn is the most demanding of the five: it adds patience and discipline, but often only after a harder, slower start than the other variants describe.
In every case, the planet's own dignity matters as much as its mere presence. An exalted or own-sign planet in the second from the Moon gives Sunapha its fullest expression; a debilitated or heavily afflicted one still forms the yoga but delivers a thinner version of the same support.
What is Anapha Yoga?
Anapha Yoga forms when a planet other than the Sun sits in the 12th sign from the Moon, the sign that precedes it. It mirrors Sunapha but reads the support as coming from what already existed before the Moon, rather than from what follows it - closer, in the classical framing, to an inherited foundation than to forward momentum. Jupiter in the twelfth from the Moon is again the most favourable variant, read as fortune the native did not have to build from nothing. Venus adds a foundation of relational ease that tends to compound across long friendships and marriages. Mercury supports the capacity to make sense of one's own emotional history through reflection or writing. Mars gives a foundation built on the family's history of decisive action. Saturn gives a foundation of endurance, at the cost of a heavier emotional register in the early years.
As with Sunapha, the supporting planet's dignity - not merely its placement - determines how much of this description actually shows up in the life.
What is Durudhara Yoga?
Durudhara Yoga is what results when the second and twelfth from the Moon are both occupied, combining the forward-support of Sunapha with the foundational support of Anapha in a single chart. Classical authors treat it as the most structurally stable of the four, since the Moon is flanked on both sides rather than supported from only one direction. A Durudhara formed by two natural benefics - Jupiter and Venus, for instance - is read as one of the more favourable Moon configurations available; one formed by two natural malefics, such as Mars and Saturn, is more demanding but still described as giving a durable, disciplined kind of emotional resilience rather than the isolation that Kemadruma implies.
What is Kemadruma Yoga and how is it cancelled?
Kemadruma Yoga is the Moon standing alone, with no planet other than the Sun in the 2nd or 12th sign from it and none beside it, and it is usually cancelled by at least one classical condition. It has the harshest popular reputation of the four, sometimes described online as guaranteeing poverty or lifelong loneliness. That reading is an overcorrection the classical sources themselves do not support - the same texts that name the configuration also list the conditions under which its difficulty is substantially reduced, and a chart carrying several of these conditions reads much closer to an ordinary, moderately unsupported Moon than to the catastrophic version the popular account describes.
The commonly cited cancelling conditions are:
The Moon in its own sign (Cancer) or exaltation (Taurus). The Moon's own strength compensates for the missing planetary company.
The Moon in a kendra (1st, 4th, 7th, or 10th house) from the lagna. Angular placement gives the Moon structural standing in the chart that offsets the absence of the yoga-forming planets.
The Moon aspected by a benefic. A strong aspect from Jupiter, Venus, or a well-placed Mercury supplies, from a distance, the support the strict second/twelfth condition would otherwise require.
A planet conjunct the Moon. Some classical sources treat any planet sharing the Moon's own sign as sufficient to prevent Kemadruma outright, rather than merely mitigating it; where sources disagree on this point, the stricter definition (no planet in the second, twelfth, or conjunct) is the safer one to apply consistently.
The Moon's dispositor (the lord of the Moon's sign) well placed. A strong dispositor compensates for the Moon's own structural exposure.
Where none of these apply, the classical description is of an emotional life that runs somewhat more on its own steam than most - a native who does not experience the same automatic sense of being supported that the other three yogas describe, and who may need to build that support deliberately through relationships and practice across adult life, rather than relying on it as a given. That is a real, if demanding, starting position - not the fixed misfortune the more sensational summaries claim.
Does the planet that forms the yoga change the reading?
Yes. For Sunapha, Anapha, and Durudhara, the specific planet involved matters more than the bare fact that the yoga exists. A chart's practising reading always goes past "which yoga is present" to "which planet forms it, and how strong is that planet" - the same yoga formed by an exalted Jupiter and formed by a combust, debilitated Mercury are not read the same way even though both technically qualify. This is also where Rahu-Ketu convention matters: some classical sources include the nodes in the second/twelfth count and some exclude them, and a consistent reading has to pick one convention and apply it throughout rather than mixing the two.
When do Chandra Yogas activate in the dasha sequence?
The Mahadasha of the Moon itself, and the Mahadasha of whichever planet forms the yoga, are classically read as the periods when a Chandra Yoga's signature is most visible. A Sunapha formed by Jupiter, for instance, is read as most active during the Jupiter Mahadasha; an Anapha formed by Saturn during the Saturn Mahadasha. For Kemadruma specifically, the years outside any strongly supportive dasha are often where the "standing alone" quality is most keenly felt, while a benefic Mahadasha elsewhere in the chart can carry the native through it comfortably.
How to find your Chandra Yoga
Your Chandra Yoga can be found in five steps.
Enter your birth date, time and place in the Lagna calculator to get the sign of your Moon and the sign of every planet.
Take the sign after your Moon sign as the 2nd from the Moon, and the sign before it as the 12th.
Note which of Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn (and Rahu or Ketu if you use that convention) sit in each. Ignore the Sun.
One planet in the 2nd is Sunapha, one in the 12th is Anapha, planets in both make Durudhara, and none in either, with none in the Moon's own sign, is Kemadruma.
For Kemadruma, check whether the Moon is in Cancer or Taurus, in a kendra from the lagna, aspected by a benefic, or has a well-placed dispositor. A full chart at /kundli/new shows these together with your current Mahadasha.
Frequently asked questions
What is Kemadruma Yoga and is it always bad?
Kemadruma forms when no planet sits in the second or twelfth from the Moon and none is conjunct it. It has a harsh popular reputation, but the classical sources list several cancelling conditions - the Moon in its own sign or exaltation, in a kendra from the lagna, aspected by a benefic, or with a well-placed dispositor - and most charts carrying the bare configuration have at least one of these present.
What is the difference between Sunapha and Anapha yoga?
Sunapha forms when a planet other than the Sun sits in the second house from the Moon (the sign following it); Anapha forms when a planet sits in the twelfth from the Moon (the sign preceding it). Both are generally favourable, and the specific planet involved shapes the exact texture of the support each gives.
Can a chart have both Sunapha and Anapha yoga?
No. If planets occupy both the second and twelfth from the Moon at once, the combination is named Durudhara, not "Sunapha and Anapha together." The four Chandra Yogas are mutually exclusive, so a chart with no planet in the Moon's own sign carries exactly one of them.
Does the Sun count for these Moon yogas?
No. The classical definition explicitly excludes the Sun from the second/twelfth count, because the Sun-Moon relationship is read separately through combustion and lunar phase. Including the Sun in this specific calculation is one of the most common errors in casual chart reading.
How do I know if my Kemadruma Yoga is cancelled?
Check whether your Moon sits in Cancer or Taurus, in the first, fourth, seventh, or tenth house from your lagna, receives an aspect from Jupiter or Venus, or has a well-placed dispositor. Any one of these is treated as a cancelling condition in classical practice, and most Kemadruma charts have at least one.
Which Chandra Yoga is considered the strongest?
Durudhara is considered the strongest of the four, since it combines the support Sunapha and Anapha each provide individually, with the Moon flanked by planets on both sides. Its exact strength still depends on the dignity of the two planets forming it, the same way Sunapha and Anapha do.
Related reading
For the wealth-specific version of a Moon combination, see Chandra-Mangal Yoga, where the Moon pairs specifically with Mars rather than any of the six planets considered here. For how house-lord relationships (rather than Moon-based ones) produce wealth combinations, see the Dhana Yogas overview. For the classical Jupiter-Moon combination often confused with these four, see Gaja Kesari Yoga.
