Jyotish
Vedic astrology
Vedic astrology, Jyotish, reads the sky in the zodiac of the stars. The site calculates your Vedic chart, its twenty divisional charts, your nakshatras and your life periods, and crosses them with your Western chart. Pick a page to understand, or open the Vedic view on the wheel of your chart.
Calculate
- Calculate my Vedic chart →Your Vedic birth chart, the kundli of Indian astrology, calculated by the site from your date, time and place of birth: the wheel in the sidereal zodiac, the twenty divisional charts from D1 to D60, and three layers to show or hide, your nakshatras, your dashas and your karakas.
- Nakshatra calculator →The calculator above gives your Janma nakshatra, the lunar mansion the Moon occupied when you were born, with its pada, its ruling planet and its deity.
- Dasha calculator →What is my mahadasha?
Understand
- What is Vedic astrology? →Vedic astrology, or Jyotish (“the science of light”), is the traditional astrology of India.
- Tropical or sidereal →The tropical zodiac of Western astrology starts from the spring equinox; the sidereal zodiac of Vedic astrology starts from the stars.
- The ayanamsa →The ayanamsa is the gap, in degrees, between the tropical zodiac and the sidereal zodiac: about 24°13′ in 2026.
- Crossing the charts →Combining Western and Vedic astrology means reading your tropical chart, your sidereal D1, the divisional chart for the area of life on your mind, the Jaimini karakas and the timing of the dashas, then keeping what they say together.
The tools of Jyotish
- The 27 nakshatras →A nakshatra is one of the 27 lunar mansions of the Vedic zodiac: a 13°20′ segment, counted from 0° sidereal Aries, that the Moon crosses in about a day.
- Vimshottari dashas →The Vimshottari dasha divides life into nine great periods, ruled in turn by Ketu, Venus, the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury, over a 120-year cycle.
- The Atmakaraka and the karakas →Your Atmakaraka is the planet furthest along in its sign, to the degree: for Jaimini, it shows what your soul came to accomplish in this life.
- The divisional charts →A divisional chart, or varga, splits each sign of your birth chart into equal parts and gives each part a sign: your planets and your Ascendant take a new place there, and a new chart is born, devoted to one area of life.
The divisional charts
- D1 · Rasi →The D1, or Rasi (“the sign”), is your birth chart in Vedic astrology: your planets in the sidereal zodiac, about 24° behind the Western zodiac, and whole-sign houses counted from the Ascendant.
- D2 · Hora →The D2, or Hora chart, is the divisional chart of wealth in Vedic astrology: it splits each sign into two halves of 15°, the Sun’s hora (Leo) and the Moon’s hora (Cancer).
- D3 · Drekkana →The D3, or Drekkana chart, is the divisional chart of siblings, courage and initiative in Vedic astrology.
- D4 · Chaturthamsha →The D4, or Chaturthamsha (“the fourth part”), is the divisional chart of Vedic astrology that details fortune, home, property and the ground you stand on: where you settle and what keeps you steady.
- D5 · Panchamsha →The D5, or Panchamsha (also spelled Panchamsa, “the fifth part”), is the divisional chart that reads fame, authority, power and the merit carried over from past lives, purva punya.
- D6 · Shashtamsha →The D6 Shashtamsha (“the sixth part”) is the divisional chart that enlarges the 6th house of your Vedic chart: health, conflicts, the obstacles to overcome.
- D7 · Saptamsha →The D7 Saptamsha (also spelled Saptamsa, “the seventh part”) is the chart of children in Vedic astrology: descendants, your bond with your children and, more broadly, everything you pass on: students, projects, works.
- D8 · Ashtamsha →The D8 Ashtamsha (also spelled Ashtamsa) is the divisional chart of eighths: each sign is cut into eight parts of 3°45′.
- D9 · Navamsha →The Navamsa (or Navamsha, D9) divides each sign into nine parts of 3°20′ and redistributes your planets into a new chart.
- D10 · Dashamsha →The Dashamsha (D10) divides each sign into ten parts of 3° to draw a whole chart of your working life: your profession, your career, your achievements and the place you take in the world.
- D11 · Rudramsha →The D11 Rudramsha cuts each sign into eleven parts.
- D12 · Dwadashamsha →The D12, or Dwadashamsha (“the twelfth part”), is the divisional chart of parents in Vedic astrology: it describes your bond with your father and your mother, the lineage you come from and what you receive from it.
- D16 · Shodashamsha →The D16, or Shodashamsha (“the sixteenth part”), is the divisional chart of comfort in Vedic astrology: your vehicles, the ease of your surroundings, the material joys that make you happy and what comes to disturb them.
- D20 · Vimshamsha →The D20, or Vimshamsha (“the twentieth part”), is the divisional chart Vedic astrology devotes to spiritual life: your practice, your devotion, what connects you to something greater than yourself.
- D24 · Chaturvimshamsha →The D24, called Chaturvimshamsha (“the twenty-fourth part”) or Siddhamsha (“the part of accomplishment”), is the divisional chart Vedic astrology devotes to education: the way you learn, the studies that suit you, the knowledge you keep.
- D27 · Bhamsha →The D27 chart, called Bhamsha or Nakshatramsha, is the divisional chart of your strengths and weaknesses: what holds under pressure, what wears out faster, and the vitality that carries you.
- D30 · Trimshamsha →The D30 chart, or Trimshamsha (the thirtieth part), is the divisional chart of trials: the hard stretches, the tendencies to watch, and above all the way through them.
- D40 · Khavedamsha →The D40 chart, or Khavedamsha, is the divisional chart that cuts each sign into forty parts of 45′.
- D45 · Akshavedamsha →The D45 chart, or Akshavedamsha, cuts each sign into forty-five parts of 40′.
- D60 · Shashtiamsha →The D60, or Shashtiamsha (“the sixtieth part”), cuts each sign into sixty portions of half a degree.
The dashas, the periods of life
- What is a dasha? →A dasha is a period of life ruled by a planet.
- Ketu mahadasha →The Ketu mahadasha lasts 7 years in the Vimshottari, between the seventeen years of Mercury and the twenty years of Venus.
- Venus mahadasha →The Venus mahadasha lasts 20 years: it is the longest of the nine great periods of the Vimshottari.
- Sun mahadasha →The Sun mahadasha, or Surya dasha, is the shortest of the nine great periods of the Vimshottari: 6 years.
- Moon mahadasha →The Moon mahadasha, or Chandra dasha, lasts 10 years in the Vimshottari.
- Mars mahadasha →The Mars mahadasha, or Mangala dasha, lasts 7 years in the Vimshottari.
- Rahu mahadasha →The Rahu mahadasha lasts 18 years in the Vimshottari, between the seven years of Mars and the sixteen years of Jupiter.
- Jupiter mahadasha →The Jupiter mahadasha lasts 16 years in the Vimshottari: it follows Rahu’s and comes before Saturn’s.
- Saturn mahadasha →The Saturn mahadasha lasts 19 years, the second longest in the Vimshottari, between Jupiter’s period and Mercury’s.
- Mercury mahadasha →The Mercury mahadasha, or Budha dasha, lasts 17 years in the Vimshottari.
The 27 nakshatras
- Ashwini nakshatra
- Bharani nakshatra
- Krittika nakshatra
- Rohini nakshatra
- Mrigashira nakshatra
- Ardra nakshatra
- Punarvasu nakshatra
- Pushya nakshatra
- Ashlesha nakshatra
- Magha nakshatra
- Purva Phalguni nakshatra
- Uttara Phalguni nakshatra
- Hasta nakshatra
- Chitra nakshatra
- Swati nakshatra
- Vishakha nakshatra
- Anuradha nakshatra
- Jyeshtha nakshatra
- Mula nakshatra
- Purva Ashadha nakshatra
- Uttara Ashadha nakshatra
- Shravana nakshatra
- Dhanishtha nakshatra
- Shatabhisha nakshatra
- Purva Bhadrapada nakshatra
- Uttara Bhadrapada nakshatra
- Revati nakshatra