Each chart has some rasis and planets that are called marakas (killers). Since death is an event relating to the physical existence, rasi chart is of utmost importance in seeing death. Rudramsa (D-11) shows the forces of death and destruction and it can also give insight into death. D-30 shows one’s evils and punishment for the evils. Death can be a punishment for one’s evils and so we should look at D-30 also. However, the most important chart is the rasi chart.
The 3rd and 8th houses are the houses of life. The 3rd house shows the vitality of one’s existence and the 8th house shows the longevity. The 12th house from any house shows losses related to the matters signified by that house. So the 12th house from these two houses shows death. So the 2nd and 7th houses are the houses of death. For good longevity, the 3rd and 8th houses and their lords should be strong and the 2nd and 7th houses and their lords should be weak.
The rasis containing the 2nd and 7th houses are called maraka sthanas (killer stations). When we use rasi-ruled dasas that can show death, dasas of these rasis can bring death. Lords of the 2nd and 7th houses are called maraka grahas (killer planets). When we use planet-ruled dasas that can show death, dasas of these planets can bring death.
There are other maraka grahas too. If a malefic planet powerfully conjoins or aspects, using graha drishti, the 2nd and 7th houses or their lords, then it qualifies as a maraka graha. Let us look at an example. Suppose lagna is in Le, Saturn is in Sg and Mars is in Ge. Then Saturn is a maraka on account of owning the 7th house (Aq). Mars is a malefic and he is in Ge. He aspects the 2nd house (Vi, with the 4th house aspect) and the 7th lord (Saturn in Sg – with the 7th house aspect). Because of these two factors, Mars is a maraka. Let us take another example. Suppose lagna is in Pi, Mars is in Ge, Mercury is in Cp and Saturn is in Ar. On account of owning the 2nd and 7th houses, Mars and Mercury are marakas. Look at Saturn. He is in the 2nd house and aspects the 2nd lord Mars (with the 3rd house aspect) and the 7th lord Mercury (with the 10th house aspect). So Saturn is also a maraka and he may in fact be a stronger maraka than Mars and Mercury.
When we time one’s death using a dasa, we should look for the involvement of maraka sthanas and maraka grahas. We can also use marakas when timing death using the transits of planets.