Mars in Jyotisha is Mangal, also Kuja — the warrior, and also the engineer. It governs energy, courage, physical strength, siblings, land and property, and everything that happens only when force is applied. Its nature is hot, dry, fast, direct.
Mechanically, Mars is at home in Aries and Scorpio, exalted in Capricorn and debilitated in Cancer. Capricorn is discipline: Mars at its best is disciplined force — the engineer, the surgeon, the athlete. Cancer is feeling: what Mars handles worst is softness, and there it either wounds others or itself. The tradition's particular attention to Mars's placement (the so-called mangal dosha) is exactly this: the force misplaced burns relationships.
Where you'll recognise it: heat, hurry, quick reaction to unfairness, a body that needs to move, siblings who feature heavily. Running well, Mars is your most executive part: brave, fast, protective, turning ideas into things. Stuck, it's temper or recklessness — moving for the sake of moving, making every matter a battle. Mars's lesson is to give the force a target: fire with an aim is an engine, fire without one is a fire.
