Vesi, Vasi and Ubhayachari are yogas (planetary combinations) in Vedic astrology formed by which of Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn sit in the 2nd sign from the Sun (Vesi), the 12th sign from the Sun (Vasi), or both (Ubhayachari). They are often mislabelled Sankhya yogas, a different family that counts how many signs the planets occupy.
The names are also spelled Veshi, Voshi and Ubhayachari (वेशि, वाशि, उभयचारी योग), and together they are called the Sun's companion yogas or Ravi yogas. They describe which planets keep the Sun company, not the Sun's own strength, and they are different from Budha-Aditya Yoga, where Mercury shares the Sun's sign. You can read the Sun's sign and every planet's sign in the free Lagna calculator.
Vesi, Vasi, and Ubhayachari are read from what sits beside the Sun — not from a sign count across the whole chart.
Vesi, Vasi, and Ubhayachari at a glance
Configuration
Position relative to the Sun
Benefics present
Malefics present
Vesi
2nd sign from the Sun
Shubhavesi
Ashubhavesi (Papavesi)
Vasi
12th sign from the Sun
Shubhavasi
Ashubhavasi (Papavasi)
Ubhayachari
Both the 2nd and 12th
Shubhobhayachari
Ashubhobhayachari
Only Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn can form these yogas. The Moon is read separately (through its own waxing/waning relationship to the Sun), and Rahu and Ketu — having no sign rulership of their own — are excluded entirely.
Are Vesi, Vasi and Ubhayachari the same as Sankhya yogas?
No. If you arrived here searching for "Sankhya yoga," this is probably not what you were looking for, though it is likely what a search engine gave you, since a great deal of online writing misapplies that label to Vesi, Vasi, and Ubhayachari. The two families share nothing structurally. The Sankhya yogas are a group within the Nabhasa yogas, determined by counting how many signs, out of twelve, the seven visible grahas occupy between them — seven signs occupied gives Veena, six gives Damini, and so on down to one sign giving Gola. Nothing in that family concerns the Sun specifically.
Vesi, Vasi, and Ubhayachari are Ravi yogas — Sun yogas — defined by what sits immediately beside the Sun. Mantreswara's Phaladeepika gives them together with their lunar counterparts (Sunapha, Anapha, Durudhara, and Kemadruma), which follow the identical structure applied to the Moon instead.
How are Vesi, Vasi and Ubhayachari read?
Count from the Sun's own sign: the next sign forward is the 2nd from the Sun, and the sign immediately behind is the 12th from the Sun. Phaladeepika names six configurations from what occupies those two positions — three benefic, three malefic:
Benefics in the 2nd from the Sun: Shubhavesi
Benefics in the 12th from the Sun: Shubhavasi
Benefics in both: Shubhobhayachari
Malefics in the same three positions: Ashubhavesi, Ashubhavasi, Ashubhobhayachari
Two exclusions matter and are commonly dropped in casual treatments. The Moon does not form these yogas — its relationship to the Sun (waxing or waning) is read as a separate matter entirely. And Rahu and Ketu do not form them either: the nodes hold no sign of their own and no independent benefic or malefic nature apart from their dispositor, so the classical enumeration leaves them out. Only five planets — Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn — can form any of the six configurations.
Phaladeepika's results are direct: the Shubhavesi native is described as personable and meritorious; the Shubhavasi native as well-regarded, prosperous, and generous; the Shubhobhayachari native as well-formed and eloquent. The malefic forms are given the opposite: difficulty with reputation and standing that does not hold easily.
What does each planet add to these yogas?
Which benefic forms Shubhavesi or Shubhavasi shapes the texture of the reading. Jupiter beside the Sun tends to bring standing that reads as principled rather than pursued — authority granted rather than seized. Venus beside the Sun ties standing to presence: how the person is experienced in a room, which is genuinely useful where being well-liked matters and slightly risky where it substitutes for being right. Mercury beside the Sun is the most common of the three, since Mercury never strays more than about 28 degrees from the Sun; standing here tends to arrive through clear articulation. This is a different configuration from Budha-Aditya Yoga, which involves Mercury conjunct the Sun rather than beside it — the two are easily confused.
Saturn beside the Sun forms the malefic Ashubhavesi or Ashubhavasi rather than the benefic form, and the classical reading of delayed, contested recognition is genuine — but so is the observation that standing which does eventually arrive under this placement tends to be unusually durable. Mars beside the Sun likewise forms a malefic configuration, read as standing that must be actively defended rather than simply held; in a competitive or physically demanding field this reads very differently than in one that isn't.
Is Ubhayachari the same as Kartari?
Around the Sun, yes: Shubhakartari and Shubhobhayachari are the same fact counted twice. A separate configuration, Shubha Kartari or Papa Kartari — a point "hemmed" by benefics or malefics on both sides — is often presented online as an additional layer stacked on top of the Ubhayachari reading. It is not a second layer. Kartari means shears, and around the Sun specifically, Shubhakartari and Shubhobhayachari describe the exact same six planets in the exact same two positions. Phaladeepika treats Kartari as a general principle applicable to any sensitive point in the chart — most usefully the Lagna or its lord — not as something that doubles the Sun reading already given. Check Kartari around your Lagna, where it adds new information; applying it a second time to the Sun simply counts the same fact twice.
What do the classical results claim, and what holds up?
Phaladeepika's stated results use the language of a court society, where standing was largely a matter of proximity to power. Read as literal prediction, that language does not hold up against most charts carrying the yoga. Read as a description of texture — this person's relationship to recognition will be supported rather than resisted, or the reverse — it holds up considerably better. Notably, none of these six configurations say anything about the Sun's own strength, sign, or house. A debilitated Sun with Jupiter beside it still forms Shubhavesi exactly as an exalted Sun would; the yoga describes company, not the Sun's own dignity, and that is a narrower and more testable claim than the popular treatments suggest.
When do Vesi, Vasi and Ubhayachari activate?
A yoga that never runs in a life's active dasha periods shows itself only faintly. These configurations come forward most clearly during the Sun's own six-year Mahadasha — covered on its own terms in Sun Mahadasha: The Six-Year Reign of Surya — and during the Mahadasha of whichever planet forms the yoga: Jupiter's sixteen years, Venus's twenty, and so on. The sub-period combination of the Sun's Mahadasha with the forming planet's Antardasha, or the reverse, marks the window in which the configuration is least ambiguous.
How do Vesi and Vasi compare with the Moon's yogas?
The Moon's equivalent configurations, the four Chandra Yogas Sunapha, Anapha, Durudhara and Kemadruma, use the identical structure. Reading both pairs together is more informative than either alone: a chart with Shubhobhayachari around the Sun but Kemadruma around the Moon describes a person well-regarded publicly but privately unsupported — a pattern worth naming directly to a client, since they will usually recognize it. The reverse pairing describes someone with real private resource whose public standing has to be built without that same support. There is no lunar-style "unaccompanied" yoga on the Ravi side; an unaccompanied Sun simply forms none of these six configurations.
Worked example: Sun in Leo, Venus in Virgo
Sun at 14° Leo, Mercury at 19° Leo, Venus at 7° Virgo. Mercury sits in the same sign as the Sun, not the 2nd from it, so it plays no part here — that is Budha-Aditya Yoga, a different reading entirely. Venus in Virgo is the 2nd from Leo, and Venus is a benefic: this forms Shubhavesi through Venus. Nothing occupies Cancer, the 12th from the Sun, so there is no Vasi component — the honest reading reports a one-sided Vesi, not an inflated Ubhayachari.
What goes wrong when reading these yogas?
The recurring errors are worth naming directly: calling these the Sankhya yogas (a different, sign-counting family); including Rahu or Ketu as forming planets (the classical texts exclude both); counting Kartari a second time around the Sun after already reading Ubhayachari; and treating formation alone as sufficient without checking the forming planet's dignity and whether its dasha ever runs at a useful point in the life. A configuration is a claim about potential; dignity and timing decide how much of it shows.
How to check if you have Vesi, Vasi or Ubhayachari
The check takes five steps.
Enter your birth details in the Lagna calculator to get the sign of the Sun and of every planet.
Take the sign after the Sun's sign as the 2nd from the Sun, and the sign before it as the 12th.
Note which of Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn sit in each. Ignore the Moon, Rahu and Ketu, and ignore anything in the Sun's own sign.
A planet in the 2nd is Vesi, in the 12th is Vasi, and planets in both make Ubhayachari. Jupiter, Venus and Mercury give the Shubha (benefic) forms and Mars and Saturn the Ashubha forms.
Look up the periods of the Sun and the forming planet in the Dasha calculator. A full chart at /kundli/new shows all of these placements together.
Frequently asked questions
Are Vesi, Vasi and Ubhayachari the same as Sankhya yogas?
No. Sankhya yogas are a separate Nabhasa family determined by counting how many signs all the planets occupy across the whole chart. Vesi, Vasi and Ubhayachari are Ravi yogas formed specifically by planets in the 2nd and 12th signs from the Sun.
Can Rahu or Ketu form a Vesi or Vasi yoga?
No. The classical texts exclude the nodes from this configuration entirely, since they hold no sign of their own. Only Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn can form Vesi, Vasi or Ubhayachari, and the Moon is read separately through its phase.
What is the difference between Vesi and Vasi?
Vesi is formed by a planet in the 2nd sign from the Sun; Vasi is formed by a planet in the 12th sign from the Sun. Ubhayachari forms when planets occupy both positions at once. Classical texts give each its own results without ranking one above the other.
Is Ubhayachari the same as Shubha Kartari around the Sun?
Yes, when the benefics fall specifically in the 2nd and 12th from the Sun, Shubhobhayachari and Shubhakartari describe the identical configuration. Kartari is a separate, more general principle best checked around the Lagna, where it adds new information rather than repeating the Sun reading.
How do I know if Vesi or Vasi is active in my life now?
These configurations show most clearly during the Sun's own Mahadasha or the Mahadasha of whichever planet forms the yoga. Checking your current dasha period against the placements in your chart tells you whether the configuration is active now, already past, or still ahead.
Do I need both a Vesi or Vasi reading and a Pancha Mahapurusha check on the same chart?
They answer different questions and are worth checking separately. The Pancha Mahapurusha Yogas describe a single planet at full dignity in an angular house from the Lagna, while Vesi, Vasi and Ubhayachari say nothing about the Sun's strength and describe only which planets keep it company. A chart can carry one, both, or neither.
