Saturn in 9th House

Ninth house of the horoscope is considered most beneficial and lucky. It is the trikona house after the lagna and fifth house. It is the house of our past. 9th house represents our father, spirituality, religion, ideology, worldview, higher learning, travel, law, ideals, ethics, dutifulness, uprightness, good karma, and immigration. Along with your father, the 9th house also stands for your brother-in-law, mentor and teacher. Jupiter being the natural karaka of the 9th house, good luck, wealth, wisdom and fortune can also be associated with the 9th house. The invention, research and exploration fall in the jurisdiction of this house. The body parts associated with the 9th house include buttocks and thighs. It is the first bhava of our spiritual journey. When Shani dev is sitting in the 9th house, the native behaves like Duryodhan of Mahabharata. Shani is a natural malefic planet and 9th house is the most benefic house, so placement of shani in the 9th house bestowed upon native a variant impact. They always come in a blend of good & bad. Here, Saturn or Shani would provide a strong understanding of philosophies and great intellect but with some stubbornness. Natives with this placement are well learned and educated. They are wise and knowledgeable. They are stable personalities with some firmly placed beliefs and norms in their lives for which they are not at all flexible and this is why they are perceived to be quite orthodox at times. They possess great powers to stick to their own stand and making them move a bit would require a lot of effort. Such natives are very capable of understanding their dharma but due to their obstinate behaviour, they may engage in adharam.

Story of Duryodhana - In Mahabharata, Duryodhana is the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra by Queen Gandhari, the eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers. When Gandhari's pregnancy continued for an unusually long period of time, she beat her womb in frustration. Due to actions of Gandhari, a hardened mass of grey-colored flesh produced from her womb. Gandhari was very shocked and upset. She worshiped Vyasa, the great sage who had blessed her with one hundred sons, to redeem his words. Vyasa divided the flesh ball into one hundred equal pieces, and put them in pots of ghee, which are sealed and buried into the earth for one year. At the end of the year, the first pot is opened, and Duryodhana emerges. 

Literally, Duryodhana means "hard to conquer". His chariot bore a flag depicting a hooded cobra. Duryodhana's body is said to be made out of thunder, and he is extremely powerful. He is revered by his younger brothers, especially Dushasana. Learning martial skills from his gurus, he was extremely powerful with the mace weapon, and the equal of Bhima. One good quality in Duryodhana was his deep affection for his friend Karna. In the Kurukshetra War, when Karna is killed, Duryodhana mourns his death intensely.

Duryodhana is mentored by his maternal uncle Shakuni. Shakuni masterminds most of Duryodhana's plots to humiliate and kill the Pandavas. Point to note here is that 6th house is the house of karma of the 9th house being 10th from the 9th house. 6th house also denotes maternal uncle. So his karma was driven by his maternal uncle. He bore a deep hatred of Bhima for his immense physical power and strength.

In the war, Duryodhana's hopes are finally shattered when Karna is killed by Arjuna after an intense and legendary battle. When he faces the Pandava brothers and Krishna alone, Yudhisthira offers him the option of fighting any of the Pandava one-on-one. If he defeated that Pandava, Yudhisthira would hand the kingdom to Duryodhana, despite having won the wider war. Out of pride, Duryodhana picks his arch nemesis Bhima instead of any of the other Pandava brothers who would have been overwhelmed by his skill at fighting with the mace. Both possessed exceptional physical strength and had trained under Balarama in mace fighting and wrestling to the same level of prowess. After a long and brutal battle stretching many days, Duryodhana begins to exhaust Bhima.

At this point, Krishna, who is observing the fight, motions to Bhima, reminding him of his oath to crush Duryodhana's thigh. Bhima viciously attacks Duryodhana with a mace and strikes at his thigh which is not protected by Gandhari's blessing, and Duryodhana finally falls, mortally wounded.

Although Duryodhana bemoans that he was slain by unfair means, given that it was illegal to attack below the waist according to the rules of mace-fighting, Krishna points out to the dying prince that his humiliation of Draupadi, murder plots and cheating of the Pandavas and the killing of Abhimanyu did not comply with dharma or the norms of battle either. It was useless thus, for Duryodhana to hope that religious values would protect him, when he had honoured them not once in his whole life.

• By Jyotish Nidhi