28.8 Sahams 28.8.

1 Calculation

Sahams are significant points in Zodiac related to specific matters. For example, “Rajya” means
kingdom and “Rajya Saham” is a significant point in Zodiac related to obtaining kingdom. “Paradesa”
means a foreign country and “Paradesa Saham” is a significant point in Zodiac related to going
abroad. Each Saham has a formula that looks like A – B + C. What this means is that we take
longitudes of A, B and C and find (A – B + C). This is equivalent to finding how far A is from B and
then taking same distance from C. However, if C is not between B and A (i.e. we start from B and go
zodiacally till we meet A and we do not find C on way), then we add 30° to value evaluated above.

For example, finding (Chandr – Surya + Lagna) is equivalent to finding how far Chandr is from Surya
and taking same distance from Lagna. If we start from longitude of Surya and go zodiacally till
longitude of Chandr and do not find Lagna on way, then we have to add 30°. The list of important
Sahams is given in Table 74. For most Sahams, formula given as (A – B + C) is for daytime charts. For
nighttime charts, it changes to (B – A + C). This will not be explicitly mentioned for each Saham and a
mention will be made only when there is a difference.