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Rahu in Vedic Astrology · Shadow Graha · Astrovene
Rahu is a shadow point rather than a body: one of the two places where the Moon's path crosses the Sun's, the points at which eclipses can happen. Ketu stands permanently opposite, exactly a hundred and eighty degrees away, so the two are one axis described from both ends.
That nature means much of what is said about the seven classical grahas does not apply. Rahu lords no sign and has no moolatrikona.
In the classical Parashari scheme Rahu casts no drishti of its own. Schools that grant the nodes aspects exist and do not agree on which houses, so the position taken here is the conservative one. What the tradition says consistently is that Rahu acts through others: through the lord of the sign it occupies, and through whichever grahas it sits with.
In the Vimshottari dasha, by contrast, Rahu holds a full and undisputed place, eighteen of the hundred and twenty years, the third largest share, behind only Venus and Saturn. In the sequence it follows Mars and precedes Jupiter.
Three nakshatras answer to it: Ardra, Swati and Shatabhisha. All three sit wholly inside their signs, and those signs are the air trine: Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. A point with no body of its own draws the three seats furthest from any boundary.
It is commonly counted among the malefics, though some schools hold the shadow points outside that classification; the convention here counts them in. Technology, foreign trade, aviation and research are the domains associated with it. Its position is computed from the mean node by default, the true node being a labelled alternative.