The D4 Chart in Jyotish

Your Blueprint for Roots, Property & Inner Happiness

by Katya Faris, MA, MA

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Welcome to my series on the divisional charts of Jyotish. These articles provide an accessible overview for my clients, explaining how each chart adds unique depth to your astrological profile.

Today, we explore the D4 or Chaturthamsa chart—a specialized map dedicated to your foundation, property, fixed assets, and deepest sources of emotional happiness. It reveals the karmic blueprint of your “roots” and your ability to build lasting security.

A Quick Note: An accurate birth time is essential for this and any divisional chart beyond the D1.

What is the D4 Chart?

The D4 chart is created by dividing each 30-degree zodiac sign into 4 equal parts of 7.5 degrees each.

• Core Purpose: To analyze matters of the 4th house: home, land, real estate, vehicles, childhood, emotional peace, and the mother’s influence. It provides a detailed view of your karmic relationship with stability, nourishment, and the tangible world you build around you.

Suggested Addition: The D4 vs. D16 (Shodasamsa)

Understanding the Distinction: Property (D4) vs. Comforts/Vehicles (D16)
Two charts deal with material security: the D4 (Chaturthamsa) and the D16 (Shodasamsa). Here’s how they differ:

• D4 – The Foundation: Focuses on immovable assets—land, houses, real estate—and the emotional happiness derived from your roots, childhood, and mother. It’s about your permanent base.

• D16 – The Fruits & Vehicles: Focuses on movable assets and pleasures—cars, luxury items, inherited movable wealth—and the karmic enjoyments from past lives. It’s about the comforts you accumulate and move through life with.

In practice: You might have a strong D4 (a stable home you own) but a challenged D16 (frequent car troubles, dissatisfaction with luxuries). Or, a phenomenal D16 (many fine vehicles and comforts) but a weak D4 (renting, or emotional unrest at home). The D4 is your castle; the D16 is the chariots and treasures within it.

The 4th House Lord in the D4 Chart: Your Architect of Security

While planets in the 4th house show the qualities of your home and happiness, the lord of the 4th house is the architect and project manager. This planet represents your active principle for building security, your strategy for acquiring assets, and the karmic energy you must wisely direct to create a stable foundation.

The 4th Lord in the 4th House (Swagati)

When the lord of the 4th house is placed in the 4th house itself in the D4 chart (a condition known as Swagati, or “in its own sign”), it creates a powerful, self-sufficient energy.

• Interpretation: This is a strong indication of self-made stability. You have an innate, focused drive to build and secure your own foundation. Property and home life are central, personal projects. You are likely to be deeply involved in all matters of home, land, and family security, often successfully. There is a natural talent for creating emotional and material comfort. However, this intense focus can also mean your sense of self is heavily tied to your possessions and domestic situation.

The 4th House Lord by Planet: Your Building Style

The nature of the planet ruling your D4 4th house defines how you go about creating your foundation.

1. Sun as 4th Lord: You build security through authority, leadership, and integrity. Property may be tied to your father, government, or your own public status. You seek a home that commands respect and reflects your identity.

2. Moon as 4th Lord: You build security through nurturing, intuition, and emotional connection. Your home is your sanctuary, and your assets are acquired through caring for others or leveraging public sentiment. Security is deeply emotional.

3. Mars as 4th Lord: You build security through initiative, courage, and effort. You may acquire property through competitive means, in law or engineering fields, or by literally building it yourself. Your approach is active and sometimes confrontational.

4. Mercury as 4th Lord: You build security through intellect, communication, and adaptability. You may acquire property through writing, business, contracts, or family discussions. You might own multiple properties or use your home as a base for intellectual work.

5. Jupiter as 4th Lord: You build security through wisdom, expansion, and good fortune. Property comes through blessings, higher education, ethical dealings, or inheritance. You seek a spacious, prosperous, and harmonious home that supports growth.

6. Venus as 4th Lord: You build security through relationships, beauty, and harmony. Property may come through marriage, partnerships, or artistic pursuits. You are driven to create a beautiful, comfortable, and relationship-centered home.

7. Saturn as 4th Lord: You build security through discipline, patience, and long-term planning. Property comes later in life, through hard work, saving, or in fields like mining, agriculture, or construction. Your home is a place of duty, structure, and earned rest.

8. Rahu as 4th Lord: You build security through innovation, unconventional means, and ambition. Property matters may be sudden, involve technology, or be non-traditional (e.g., foreign land, unique structures). You may have a complicated relationship with traditional roots.

9. Ketu as 4th Lord: You build security through detachment, intuition, and simplification. Your drive is to find a spiritual or minimalist base. Property matters may involve past-life connections, mysteries, or a need to release attachment to physical roots to find true peace.

A Practical Guide: Synthesizing the 4th Lord’s Role

To understand your blueprint for security, synthesize these three factors:

1. The Lord’s Nature (list above): How you build.

2. The Lord’s House Placement: Where you focus your building energy (e.g., in the 10th—through career; in the 2nd—through family wealth).

3. The Lord’s Condition: Is it strong (exalted, in own sign) or challenged (debilitated, afflicted by malefics)? This shows the ease or struggle in the process.

Example: A person with Saturn as 4th lord in the 10th house (career) builds their foundation (Saturn) through disciplined, long-term effort in their profession (10th house). Their home and assets are likely a direct result of career success, and they may take a serious, responsible approach to property. If Saturn is strong, this leads to a solid, lasting estate. If Saturn is weak, it may indicate delays or burdens in achieving this through their career.

By understanding your D4 4th house lord, you move from seeing your foundation as a static inheritance to recognizing it as an active, karmic project—one your soul is uniquely equipped to undertake.

The Core of Stability: The 4th House in the D4

The condition of the 4th house in the D4 chart is paramount. Planets here directly influence your foundational happiness and material security.

1. Sun: A home filled with confidence, authority, and tradition. Property may be a source of pride and status. A strong paternal influence on your sense of security.

2. Moon: A deeply emotional, nurturing, and intuitive connection to home. Security is tied to family bonds and emotional peace. Strong maternal influence. Fluctuating fortunes in property matters possible.

3. Mars: An energetic, active, and potentially competitive home environment. Property may be acquired through initiative or conflict. A need for independence within the home.

4. Mercury: A communicative, intellectual, or busy household. Property may be used for business, study, or be subject to frequent changes/improvements. Security through knowledge and adaptability.

5. Jupiter: An expansive, fortunate, and harmonious home. Property brings growth and blessings. Strong likelihood of inheriting or acquiring valuable assets. A philosophical approach to comfort.

6. Venus: A beautiful, harmonious, and comfortable home. Property associated with art, luxury, or relationships. Security is found in beauty, peace, and partnership.

7. Saturn: A home life built on discipline, responsibility, and patience. Property may come later in life, through hard work, or involve structures (land, buildings). Lessons in finding emotional security through perseverance.

8. Rahu: An unconventional, modern, or unpredictable home environment. Sudden gains or losses in property. Unusual living situations or a detachment from traditional roots. A desire for a unique or technologically advanced home.

9. Ketu: A spiritually oriented, detached, or minimalist approach to home. Property matters may involve past-life karma, mysteries, or require letting go. Finding peace in solitude or non-attachment to material bases.

Key Principles for D4 Analysis

1. The 4th House Lord: The planet ruling your D4 4th house and its placement is crucial. It shows the energy that governs your fortune in property and happiness.

   • Example: A 4th lord like Jupiter in the 11th house could indicate gains (labha) in property through friends, networks, or fulfilling hopes. Saturn in the 10th might show property acquired through career success or long-term professional efforts.

2. Connection to D1: The strength of the 4th house lord from your D1 chart and its position in the D4 reveals how your innate potential for security (D1) actually manifests in tangible assets and emotional fulfillment (D4).

3. Benefic vs. Malefic Influence: Benefics (Jupiter, Venus, strong Mercury) in the 4th house or aspecting its lord bestow ease, comfort, and fortune in property matters. Malefics (Saturn, Mars, Rahu) indicate that your foundation and assets are areas of karmic work, delay, effort, or transformation, ultimately leading to strength through mastery.

The D4 in Practice: Beyond Just Real Estate

While property is a key signification, the D4’s depth is broader:

• Emotional Inheritance: It can reveal the karmic emotional patterns (comfort, neglect, duty, intensity) inherited from the family line.

• Vehicles & Moveable Comforts: As an extension of the “home,” it also governs cars and major movable assets that provide security and comfort.

• The “End of the Matter”: In Prashna (horary) astrology, the D4 is consulted to see the final outcome and foundation of any question.

Synthesis: The Foundation of Your Life

The D4 Chaturthamsa Chart shows the ground upon which you stand—both physically and emotionally. A strong D4 indicates a soul with good karma in building a secure, peaceful, and nourishing life. A challenging D4 doesn’t deny assets or happiness, but shows they are the curriculum of your soul’s growth, requiring you to build your own foundation through effort, wisdom, or spiritual perspective.

Conclusion

The D4 Chaturthamsa Chart is your karmic deed to land and your emotional bedrock. It reveals not just if you will own property, but the quality of your relationship with security, comfort, and family roots. Understanding this chart helps you see your material and emotional foundation not as a given, but as a dynamic area of life where you are meant to create, invest, and ultimately find your peace.

All research and writing are done by me. My primary sources are my class notes, traditional teachings, and the foundational text, the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra.

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