Mangal Dosh

Astrology reading and making of birth charts came into practice much later than the Vedic times. By that time chart making had become a general practice; not only had a lot of time elapsed but the culture, society and human values had changed. All over the world human societies were dependent on agriculture and manpower was used in all activities.
It is an irony of fate that all the shastras or texts were written by men which favour him to the maximum as compared to women. The bias of men can easily be seen in all these texts when one starts looking at them minutely. The same is true for ‘mangal dosha’ or ‘Mars evil’ in astrology. Mars is the most potent planet of the zodiac after the Sun and every astrologer worth his salt, will praise the quality of Mars if it is present in the lagna of his male client. He may say that this person is very strong, courageous, energetic, forceful, dynamic, fearless, can conquer his enemies easily, may become commander –in-chief etc. etc.. However if the same Mars is present in a girl’s chart the astrologer gets depressed himself and makes sure that his client remains depressed for the rest of his life. His total reversal will be seen as he uses words like arrogance, stubborn, aggressive, negative, intolerant, dominating, housebreaker and god-forbid her husband may die due to this harmful Mars. Alas one wonders what has happened to Mars all of a sudden.

According to the prevalent understanding of mangal dosha, the placement of Mars can create havoc if placed in the following houses – 12th, 1st, 4th, 7th and 8th. According to South Indian system of astrology mangal dosha extends to two more houses 2nd and 5th. Mangal dosha is calculated from lagna, Moon and Venus. Acording to this calculation more than 80% people are born ‘manglik’. In other words, if five people are present in a group then four of them are bound to be manglik. It is very difficult to find non-manglik persons according to this calculation.

Lagna represents the physical aspect of human being; Moon denotes the mental makeup of a person and Venus decides the sexual aspect of a human being. The 12th house is considered bad for the placement of Mars because it deals with bed comforts or loss of energy. It is believed that if Mars is present in the 12th house in a woman’s chart especially then her sexual desires may be much more than what her husband can cope with. Therefore a girl born with Mars in the 12th house is generally discarded without giving much importance to the other aspects of her chart.

Lagna or 1st house represents self. If Mars is present in this house especially vis-a-vis to the girl then we had explained what would be the outcome. The 4th house deals with family, comfort and peace of mind. If Mars is placed in the 4th house in a girls chart then sure shot she is going to be a house-breaker sooner or later therefore she is rejected for the happiness of the groom’s family.

The 7th house represents spouse or partner and the placement of Mars in this house can make the girl very demanding from her husband which he cannot easily fulfil. God forbid placement of Mars in the 8th house is a sure shot passport for the death of her husband. The 8th house is considered death house in astrology and Mars being a violent planet one imagines destruction only if it is present in the girls chart.