The Drekkana (D3) chart is the divisional chart that divides each sign into three parts of 10° to show siblings and courage. Each part is assigned a sign by the 1-5-9 rule: the sign itself, the fifth sign from it and the ninth sign from it. The chart refines what the third house of the birth chart says about siblings, effort and initiative (parakrama).
The Drekkana is also spelled Dreshkana or written D-3 (द्रेष्काण). It is the third of the sixteen vargas and a layer of your birth chart, not a separate horoscope, and it is not the same thing as the third house it refines. The wider system is in Reading the Divisional Charts.
The Drekkana divides each sign into three ten-degree parts, each carrying its own sign of sub-rulership.
Drekkana (D3) at a glance
Fact
Detail
Also known as
Drekkana, Dreshkana, D3, D-3
Division
3 parts per sign (36 across the zodiac)
Arc per division
10° (30° ÷ 3)
Life area
Siblings, courage (parakrama), physical effort, short journeys
Sub-rulership pattern
1st division = the sign itself; 2nd = the 5th sign from it; 3rd = the 9th sign from it
Karaka (significator)
Mars
Iconography
Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra gives a symbolic image (rupa) for each of the 36 drekkanas
How to calculate the D3 (Drekkana) chart
Each thirty-degree sign divides into three parts of 10°, and the three parts map to the sign itself, the fifth sign from it and the ninth sign from it. This is the Parashari drekkana assignment, as opposed to the Parivritti method some regional traditions use. Charts on this site use the Lahiri ayanamsha and the Swiss Ephemeris; the method is described under /tools.
Enter your birth date, time and place in the Lagna calculator to get the sign and degree of your Lagna and every planet.
Find which ten-degree segment the degree falls in: 0° to 10° is the first drekkana, 10° to 20° the second, 20° to 30° the third.
Apply the 1-5-9 rule: first drekkana = the sign itself, second = the fifth sign from it, third = the ninth sign from it, counting the sign itself as 1.
That sign is the planet's D3 sign. Do the same for your Lagna degree to find the D3 lagna.
A worked example. A planet at 17°40′ Leo. The degree is between 10° and 20°, so it is in the second drekkana. The fifth sign from Leo is Sagittarius (Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius), so the planet's D3 sign is Sagittarius. A planet at 4° Leo would stay in Leo; one at 25° Leo would go to the ninth sign from Leo, which is Aries.
The 1-5-9 pattern means the three drekkanas of any sign fall on the three signs of the same element. Aries, a fire sign, gives Aries, Leo and Sagittarius, all fire. The same holds for earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn), air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) and water (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces). A planet in the first drekkana expresses a sign's nature directly; in the second, its fifth-house trine refinement; in the third, its ninth-house trine refinement. That is why the Drekkana gives a finer trinal reading of any planet than the rashi chart alone.
What are the 36 drekkana images (rupas)?
Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra gives a specific symbolic image, or rupa, for each of the thirty-six drekkanas, an unusually concrete detail for a classical text. These images are an additional interpretive layer alongside the sign, planet and house reading, not a replacement for it.
The three drekkanas of Aries illustrate the pattern. The first is depicted as a dark-complexioned figure with red eyes, holding an axe and guarding their own body, which is Mars's warrior nature expressed directly. The second is depicted as a red-clothed figure on horseback holding a vessel, marked by hunger and thirst from intense activity, the Sun-touched expression of Leo's rulership. The third is depicted as a wise, arts-skilled figure of yellowish complexion holding a staff, the Jupiter-touched expression of Sagittarius's rulership.
A planet placed in a given drekkana is read as taking on some of that image's flavour, integrated with the planet's own dignity, aspects and dasha timing. The full set of thirty-six is in standard published commentaries on Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra; the Aries three give the texture of the system rather than its full enumeration.
What does the D3 show about siblings?
The D3 shows the specific relational character of sibling bonds, their durability and their long-arc trajectory. The third house of the main birth chart gives the general sibling field: existence, approximate number, broad relational texture. Mars, the natural karaka for siblings, is read for the sibling's character and the shape their life is likely to take. The eleventh house speaks to elder siblings separately (see Eleventh House: Gains and Elder Siblings).
A native with an apparently strong third house in the rashi but a weakened third house in the Drekkana often finds that sibling relationships that looked solid early on prove harder to maintain across the decades. The reverse, a challenged rashi third but a strengthened Drekkana third, often produces relationships that deepen with time in ways the surface reading did not promise. Classical practice reads both together rather than choosing one.
What does the D3 show about courage (parakrama)?
The D3 shows courage-as-action, the willingness to take the next step, more clearly than the rashi alone. A native with a well-disposed Drekkana third house (benefics tenanting or aspecting it, the third lord well placed, Mars in good dignity) tends to carry parakrama as a constitutional feature, quietly the first to move in a difficult moment. A native whose Drekkana third is more challenged has to develop the faculty deliberately rather than rely on it as given. The third house is classically an upachaya house, one that grows through sustained effort, so this deliberate development is a viable and classically supported path rather than a consolation prize. The house itself is covered in Third House: Siblings and Courage.
What does Mars mean in the Drekkana?
Mars, the natural significator for siblings, courage and third-house affairs, carries particular weight in the D3. Mars in his own sign (Aries or Scorpio) in the Drekkana gives a strong karaka reading: the sibling field is supported and the parakrama faculty is constitutionally robust. Mars exalted (Capricorn) gives an even stronger reading, tempered with Saturn's patient, long-arc quality. Mars debilitated (Cancer) weakens the karaka reading; siblings, parakrama and hand-skill matters may show real strain, and the classical recommendation is sustained Mars-related practice through the relevant dasha periods rather than resignation. Mars in a kendra or trikona of the Drekkana generally supports these matters; Mars in the 6th, 8th or 12th warrants the more careful reading any dusthana placement asks for.
What does the rashi lagna lord's placement in the D3 mean?
The rashi lagna lord's house in the Drekkana modulates how third-division matters deliver. In a kendra (1st, 4th, 7th, 10th), sibling and courage matters tend to align with the native's main life themes. In a trikona (5th or 9th), they carry dharmic or fortune-related amplification, with siblings supporting the native's spiritual or vocational path. In a dusthana (6th, 8th, 12th), sibling relationships may carry more distance or difficulty, read with attention to the dasha periods when these matters come forward. When the rashi lagna lord occupies the same sign in both charts (vargottama), the alignment is at its most reliable.
How does dasha timing work with the D3?
The Vimshottari Dasha periods of the planet ruling the third drekkana, of planets sitting in the rashi third, and of planets prominent in the Drekkana chart all bring third-division matters to the foreground. A well-disposed Drekkana third tends to make the period one where sibling relationships deepen and parakrama comes into mature form; a more challenged one tends to make it a period where those relationships and that courage are tested and have to be built rather than simply drawn on.
What are the common misreadings of the D3?
Treating the Drekkana as a chart only for siblings undersells it: its scope extends to parakrama generally and to a trine-refined reading of any planet. Applying the rupa images mechanically, without integrating dignity, aspect and dasha timing, overstates what one symbolic image can say. Confusing the standard Parashari (1-5-9) system with the regional Parivritti system produces a different chart entirely, so if two readings disagree, check which system was used. And relying on the Drekkana alone for sibling questions, without the rashi third house, the eleventh house and dasha timing, produces confident but partial readings.
Where to find your D3 lagna, third house and Mars
Whether your Mars sits in its own sign, exaltation or debilitation in your Drekkana depends on your exact birth details, and the Drekkana changes every ten degrees, so a Lagna or planet near 10° or 20° of a sign deserves a second look at your birth time. The Lagna calculator gives you the degrees to apply the four steps above. If you would rather see the rashi and D3 third houses side by side, with your Mars and the rupa of your key placements, the full reading at /kundli/new calculates the Drekkana alongside your main chart.
The Drekkana is the divisional chart classically read for siblings and parakrama, meaning courage expressed as action, personal initiative and effort. It refines what the third house of the main birth chart shows about both, adding detail about the character and durability of sibling bonds rather than replacing the third house reading.
How is the D3 chart calculated?
Each 30° sign divides into three parts of 10°. The first drekkana is ruled by the sign itself, the second by the fifth sign from it, and the third by the ninth sign from it. This 1-5-9 pattern keeps all three drekkanas of a sign within the same element: fire, earth, air or water.
What do the 36 drekkana images (rupas) mean?
Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra assigns each of the 36 drekkanas a symbolic image, such as a figure, an implement or an activity. A planet placed in that drekkana is read as taking on some of the image's flavour, alongside its own sign, dignity and aspects, rather than in place of them.
Which planet is the significator for siblings in the D3 chart?
Mars is the natural karaka, or significator, for siblings and for parakrama. His placement, dignity and house in the Drekkana carry particular weight whenever a chart reading turns to sibling matters or personal courage, and he is checked before the other planets in the third house reading.
Can the D3 chart tell me exactly how many siblings I have?
Classical use of the Drekkana is for the quality, durability and character of sibling relationships rather than a precise headcount. The broader sibling field is read from the rashi third and eleventh houses, and the Drekkana refines the relational texture rather than supplying a number.
What is the difference between the Parashari and Parivritti drekkana systems?
The Parashari system, the 1-5-9 rule used here, is the standard for general chart reading. The Parivritti system assigns a sign's three drekkanas to that sign and the next two in order, and some regional traditions use it. The two produce different charts, so it matters which one a reading is based on.
