Pārāśara opens BPHS with cosmogony (Ch. 1) and immediately defines the grahas in Ch. 2. The nine grahas are not equal-citizens: Sūrya represents the ātman (soul), Candra the manas (mind), Maṅgala parākrama (vigor), Budha vāk (speech-intellect), Bṛhaspati jñāna (wisdom-knowledge), Śukra kāma (desire-aesthetics), Śani duḥkha-kāraka (hardship), Rāhu and Ketu the chāyā-grahas (shadow-grahas, north and south nodes of the Moon).
BPHS Ch. 14 gives the kārakatva matrix — each graha is the natural significator (kāraka) for specific life-domains. The 5th house signifies children in general, but Jupiter is the putra-kāraka — wherever Jupiter sits, children-related analysis converges. This dual-pointer system (bhāva + kāraka) is one of the foundational interpretive moves of Pārāśara's school.
Phaladīpikā Chapter 1 (Maṇṭreśvara, 15th c.) parallels BPHS but introduces some refinements — particularly on graha-complexion and gender. The two traditions are largely consonant; minor divergences are scholarship-worthy but not contradictory.