THE FIRST HOUSE (The Ascendant or the Lagna)

This house has several names in Sanskrit but most commonly known names are, Lagna (Ascendant) or “Tanu” (Self). Often the names of birth-chart, yearly-chart, monthly-chart, question-chart are prefixed to the word ‘Lagna’ for the sake of clarity, distinction and quick grasp, viz., Janma-Lagna (Ascendant at birth), Varsh-Lagna (Ascendant in the yearly chart), Masa-Lagna (Ascendant in the monthly chart), and Prashna Lagna (Ascendant in the Question chart).  

In a way, the First House (Ascendant or the Lagna) is concerned with every aspect/ event/ development in life because it is the House of Self, and everything that affects or concerns the Self, is co-related to this House. However, the more important and directly related subjects to this House are as given below:  

1. Personality, physical build, complexion, height, general physiology, facial appearance, first-glance-impression created on or carried by others.  
2. Physiognomy, cult, culture, nature, habits, traits and tendencies, attitude towards self and others; style of walking/ sitting/ eating/ gesturing while talking; facial indications exposing the inner traits of thought and action; exposition of sexual personality (for example, while walking/ talking/ laughing/ eating/ gesturing some males appear or behave like females, while females appear/ behave/ act like a masculine person).  
3. Built of body, body weight; special feature of some particular part or limb of body including of head/ neck/ eyes/ nose/ lips shoulders/ chest/ belly/ waist/ arms and hands/ thighs and legs/ feet etc.  
4. Behaviour towards parents and grandparents (of self / spouse), teachers (Guru/ priest), elders and youngsters in the immediate family and in the wider family and towards distant relations of self/ spouse; towards seniors and juniors in school/ college/ university/ training institute, towards colleagues/ co-workers/ co-commuters, towards superiors and subordinates, towards associates/ partners, towards employees or employees/ servants/ domestic help, towards general public and other people with whom the individual comes in contact.  
5. Basic instinct of honesty and dishonesty, integrity and otherwise, that of kindness and generosity or of conservativeness, cruelty, liberal or miserly attitude towards those needing help/ compassion.  
6. Maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother.  
7. Natural faculty of intelligence/ IQ/ grasp, thinking/ imagination, capacity for guess-work/ intuition, to express one’s self so as to become understandable to listeners.  
8. Parts of the body from neck/ throat/ upwards of chin including eyes, ears, mouth, lips, cheeks, teeth, tongue, head, skull, hair on head and other parts of the face, entire vocal chord and mechanism.  
9. 3rd pregnancy or the 3rd child; 6th brother or sister.  
10. Mistress of husband and paramour of wife (sexual relationship in it).  
11. Tendency to dominate the spouse or vice versa; likewise domination over the opposite sex or vice versa.  
12. Participation or tolerance of group orgies.  
13. Courage and capacity of oratory/ to speak/ lecture to a gathering/ audience/ general public or lack of these qualities, quality and capacity of teaching and imparting knowledge.  
14. System and order (or lack thereof) in style of living/ working, general cleanliness, quality of handwriting, drawing, sketches, colouring and painting etc.
15. Vocal power, including capacity for singing/ crying/ shouting etc.  
16. Brother/ sister of daughter-in-law and son-in-law.  
17. Baldness, pimples, skin ailment of any part of the head/ cheeks, any other ailment of skull, eyes, ears, lips, teeth, tongue, mouth, tonsils, nose, jaw bones, chin; inner or external injury to any of these parts; disfigurement of face or any of these parts by birth or subsequently by any accident or injury by a human being.  
18. Physical invalidity/ deformity by birth, by accident, by human mistake or by human mischief.  
19. Odor of the body including that of mouth, armpits, thigh joints, private parts; its good or bad impact on spouse or companion.  
20. Sense of shyness/ shame/ modesty vis-à-vis expression on the face, physical gestures, apparent lack of these qualities, veil/ purdah/ burqa for females (its use and non-use) by custom/ tradition/ own choice.  
21. Malicious and hideous attitude/ behaviour (by thought/ words/ action).  
22. Courageous/ humane/ dignified behaviour/ attitude (by thought/ words and action).  
23. Boldness mixed with patience and tolerance or absence of these qualities; the opposite of these qualities (including arrogance and bragging, insulting others).  
24. Addiction to drinks/ drugs from childhood/ youth/ at advanced age.  
25. Faithfulness and honesty in conduct, dealings and behaviour towards parents, teachers, Guru, elders, friends and outsiders, or lack thereof.  
26. Exhibitive tendency.  
27. Sexual impotence, complete or partial, physical/ psychological or both, dislike for sex in spite of competence/ capacity and stamina.
28. Frigidity in females, complete or partial, physical/ psychological, dislike for actual sex without physical reason.  
29. Fickle-mindedness/ insanity/ madness – occasional or chronic, partial or complete, causing depression or violence.  
30. Secretive or open-mindedness, if secretive, would it lead to any job related to spying/ intelligence/ investigations.  
31. Appearance – younger/ older to one’s actual age; including mental maturity or immaturity visibly reflecting in personality.  
32. Habits influencing eating/ gulping – slow or fast; heavy or light and fond of eating as if living only for eating, or eating for living and Critical/ fastidious or simple-natured about quality/ variety/ cooking of food/ water/ drinkable items (referral house 4th). 
33. Fashionable/ critical/ fastidious in dress including its quality, colour, stitching, make, manufacture, texture, overall presentation or accepting whatever comes one’s way.  
34. Critical or non-critical about dress/ eating habits/ style of eating by spouse, members of immediate family/ wider family, outsiders.  
35. Habit of gossip/ carrying stories/ anecdotes/ jokes/ humours/ rumours or lack of this type of habit.  
36. Qualities of leadership or lack of it – total or partial.  
37. Active and self-oriented worker with initiative or without initiative; attending entrusted work only; lazy/ lethargic/ time-killer.  
38. Eyes (big or small) communicating/ expressive/ impressive, sober, average, squint or any other abnormality of the eye(s).  
39. Blind by birth or by subsequent event; reduction in or loss of vision in one eye or both eyes, by natural causes or human cruelty, or by old age. This includes night blindness, or colour blindness by birth or subsequent development, causes thereof.  
40. Ears – large/ long/ small/ well-formed or deformed, lobes distinct and unjoined or joined to the skin – any defect of hearing since birth or subsequent – attributable to any injury (accidental or intentional).  
41. Deaf, complete or partial, by birth or by subsequent event; natural or man-made.  
42. Back hunch, by birth or subsequent development; causes thereof. It includes any defect or deformity in hand/ legs or deformity of any other part of the body by birth or subsequent development, causes thereof (remedies too).  
43. After-effects of diseases like child polio/ small pox/ high fever. 
44. Epilepsy, by birth or subsequent development, causes and remedies.  
45. Extra thin or extra fat body by birth or by subsequent development, likeable or unlikable, its impact on self & others.  
46. Adoption within the immediate or wider family; by outsiders; its impact on relations with natural parents/ brothers/ sisters. It includes the outcome of adoption with regard to rights of inheritance in the original family of birth, disputes/ litigation etc. It also includes disputes/ litigation with regard to inheritance in the family of adoption.  
47. Impact of adoption by such persons as having their own child; problems/ disputes/ litigation with regard to inheritance. 
48. Status and situation of the adopted person in the event of parents getting a child/ successor of their own by natural birth subsequent to adoption; Legal status of a child born by insemination some-times vis-à-vis adopted person.  
49. Fondness for music/ dancing/ painting/ sculpture/ sports/ games/ hunting – involvement of self or mere interest.  
50. Fondness for farming/ agriculture, gardening and such other hobbies as involve manual labour and attention by self and also by others.  
51. Intellectual hobbies such as photography, knowledge and practice of medicine/ any future-telling science/ other branches of science.

Important Note:  

Many of the subjects listed above fall within the scope of 1st House (Ascendant=Lagna) as well several other Houses in the birth chart. For example, illness/ disease fall under the 6th and 8th houses; adoption of children falls under the 4th, 9th and 10th houses; disputes about ancestral property/ inherited assets come under the 4th, 6th and 9th houses, and if violence figures in relation to these disputes, the 8th house is directly concerned. Effort has been made to refer to the other concerned Houses wherever feasible by mentioning them as the “Referral House”. However, one’s own experience would gradually give an insight as to which particular Houses have to be studied in coordination with a particular House. Advice may be sought from the authors too in cases of special and genuine doubt.

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