Guru (Bṛhaspati, Jupiter) is the greatest of the natural benefic grahas and the kāraka of wisdom (jñāna), children (putra), husband (in a woman’s chart), wealth (dhana in the form of accumulated spiritual and material abundance), and dharma — the principle of right conduct that aligns the individual life with cosmic order. Parāśara describes Guru as having a large body, tawny or golden complexion, excellent intelligence, a kapha constitution with some vāta, and a fundamentally sattvic (pure, luminous, harmonizing) nature. Jupiter is the teacher of the gods (deva-guru), in contrast to Śukra (Venus) who serves as the teacher of the asuras — a mythological polarity that encodes the essential difference between Jupiterian wisdom oriented toward dharma and Venusian wisdom oriented toward pleasure, acquisition, and the arts of this world.
The kārakatva of Guru is extensive: children, husband (jāmi-kāraka in female charts), wealth and abundance, dharma, religion, the teacher and the teaching relationship, philosophy, higher education, law, the liver, fat tissue (medas), hearing, the sacred scriptures, gold, tin, yellow things, temples and holy places, the northeast direction, and the general principle of expansion, growth, and good fortune (bhāgya). As the most powerful natural benefic, Jupiter aspects in a natal chart are among the most protective and growth-enabling forces available — a well-placed Guru, through its graha dṛṣṭi (planetary aspects), casts a benevolent light on the houses it aspects, expanding their positive potential and reducing the harmful effects of malefic influences there.
Guru’s unique quality among the planets is that it aspects not only the 7th house from its position (as all planets do) but additionally the 5th and 9th houses — the two most powerful trikona positions. This triple aspect gives Jupiter an exceptionally broad sphere of influence, and classical texts consistently note that any house aspected by Guru receives a measure of protection and expansion. The ninth house is particularly significant for Jupiter — as the lord of dharma and bhāgya, Jupiter in the ninth is considered among the most auspicious natal placements in the entire scheme.
Jupiter’s exaltation in Karka at 5° is one of the most discussed placements in classical texts. In the emotional, nurturing, intuitive field of Karka, Jupiter’s wisdom becomes compassionate and empathic — wisdom rooted in the heart rather than in mere doctrine. Its debilitation in Makara at 5° reveals the essential tension: in the most practically structured, career-oriented, Saturnine sign, Jupiter’s expansive, faith-oriented, philosophically generous nature is constrained and undermined by the demand for concrete, measurable results. Jupiter in Makara tends toward a skeptical, materially-oriented pragmatism that mistrusts the invisible, the speculative, and the spiritually abundant.
Mythologically, Guru is identified as Bṛhaspati, the preceptor of the gods, the cosmic teacher who guides the devas in their eternal contest with the asuras for the sustenance of dharmic order. The Bṛhaspati Sūktas in the Ṛgveda celebrate him as the lord of sacred speech (brahmaṇaspati), the one through whom the gods access divine wisdom. In the Purāṇic tradition, Bṛhaspati is the husband of Tārā and the teacher of the Vedic arts — his abduction of his wife by the Moon (Candra) precipitates the famous Tārakāmaya war, which frames Mercury’s origin and reveals the complex dynamics between the three wisdom planets (Jupiter, Moon, Mercury).
In Praśna Jyotiṣa, the strength of Guru is the most decisive factor for questions involving children, marriage (particularly in female charts), legal matters, religious or spiritual guidance, and any question where the fundamental issue is whether fortune and dharmic support are present. A strong, well-placed Jupiter in a Praśna chart is among the most favorable indicators available — it suggests that the invisible hand of fortune is engaged and that the matter will find resolution through grace, wisdom, and the alignment of the querent’s actions with dharmic principle. The Jupiter Mahādaśā spans 16 years in the Viṃśottarī Daśā scheme — the longest of the three superior planet periods — and typically produces the most sustained period of growth, learning, and expansion in the native’s life.