D4 Chaturthamsha: the Vedic chart of home and property

What is the D4 Chaturthamsha?

Chaturthamsha comes from the Sanskrit chaturtha, “fourth”, and amsha, “part”: each sign of the zodiac is cut into four. It is one of the sixteen divisional charts Parashara describes in the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, the founding text of Vedic astrology, which assigns it to fortune: the share of luck that settles you in life.

Astrologers read this fortune in a very concrete way: the home you live in, land and real estate, and a sense of being settled, of having your feet on solid ground. Where the D2 Hora speaks of the money you accumulate, the D4 speaks of walls, land and the place that roots you. Like all divisional charts, it never replaces the D1: it confirms or nuances what the D1’s 4th house already promises.

How is the D4 chart calculated?

Each 30° sign is split into four parts of 7°30′. In the D4, a planet takes the sign of the part it falls in, counted from its own sign:

• from 0° to 7°30′: the sign itself;
• from 7°30′ to 15°: the 4th sign from it;
• from 15° to 22°30′: the 7th sign;
• from 22°30′ to 30°: the 10th sign.

Vedic degrees are sidereal: about 24° less than in your Western chart (see the ayanamsa). So read your D4 on your chart page rather than working it out by hand.

A sign and its four pillars: what the rule changes

A Venus at 5° Taurus stays in Taurus in the D4; at 10°, it moves to Leo; at 18°, to Scorpio; at 25°, to Aquarius. Its D4 degree is its degree within the sign multiplied by four, minus 30 as many times as needed: at 10° Taurus, Venus sits at 10° Leo.

The sign and its 4th, 7th and 10th are its angles, the kendras, the pillars of a chart. So the D4 never changes a planet’s mode: born in a movable sign (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn), it stays in a movable sign; the same goes for fixed and dual signs. The chart of home keeps each planet’s way of acting and only changes its setting.

What do you look at in the D4?

In the D4, as in every divisional chart, houses are counted as whole signs from the chart’s own Ascendant. Look first at:

• The D4 Ascendant and its lord: the way you put down roots, the energy you bring to settling.
• The 4th house of the D4 and its lord: the home itself, the walls, the peace you find there.
• The lord of the D1’s 4th house: the sign and dignity it falls in within the D4 show whether the birth chart’s promise holds.
• Mars, the natural significator of land and real estate, the Moon, the heart of the home and of inner peace, and Venus, the comfort and beauty of the place.
• Planets in the angles (houses 1, 4, 7 and 10 of the D4): they colour the whole chart.

A planet exalted or in its own sign in the D4 supports whatever it touches; a debilitated planet asks for more effort, without closing anything. Saturn slows the purchase down so that it lasts: a property that comes late, but stays. Rahu brings bursts of urges to move: order and a written plan are your antidote.

How to read the D4 with the 4th house of the D1

In the D1 Rasi, the 4th house is the house of well-being (sukha): mother, home, land, vehicles, peace of heart. It carries the promise; the D4 puts that area under a magnifying glass. The method comes down to three questions: is the lord of the D1’s 4th house strong in the D1? Where does it fall in the D4, and with what dignity? What does the D4’s own 4th house show?

When the three answers point the same way, the reading is clear; when they diverge, the nuance is what matters: a D1 that promises and a D4 that holds back describe a home that has to be earned. Your Western chart speaks of the same area through its 4th house, the IC: that is the site’s principle, crossing the charts rather than trusting just one. For vehicles and comfort, Parashara points to the D16 Shodashamsha.

An example D4 reading

Take a chart with a Capricorn Ascendant in the D1. Its 4th house is Aries, ruled by Mars, and Mars sits at 12° Capricorn: in the Ascendant, exalted. In the D4, 12° falls in the second part, the one of the 4th sign: counting from Capricorn, that is Aries, at 18°. Mars is in its own sign there. The reading takes its usual shape:

• The verdict: the promise of home and property, strong in the D1, is confirmed in the D4.
• The signatures: Mars, lord of the 4th house and significator of land, dignified in both charts.
• The timing: the Mars period in the Vimshottari dashas, when questions of place, buying or renovation often come to the fore.
• The confirmations: the Moon and the 4th house of the D4, then the 4th house of the Western chart.
• The lever: Mars gives the drive to buy, build and renovate, and pushes for quick decisions; taking time to compare is its best ally.

The same Mars at 20° Capricorn would fall in the third part: Cancer, its sign of debilitation. The D1 would keep its strength; the D4 would describe a home reached through repairs, a second attempt or a delay, and a patience that makes what the drive starts last. Eight degrees apart in the D1, two readings in the D4: that is the whole point of the chart.

How accurate does the birth time need to be for the D4?

The D4 Ascendant changes sign every thirty minutes on average, four times faster than the D1’s, a little more or less depending on the signs rising. To read its houses, you need a reliable time: a quarter of an hour can be enough to change its sign.

Planets move far more slowly: even the Moon takes twelve to fifteen hours to cross a 7°30′ part. With an approximate time, their D4 signs almost always stay correct; it is their houses that become uncertain.

A rounded time can be put to the test: calculate your chart at the recorded time, then a quarter of an hour before and after. If the D4 Ascendant does not move, read it; if it does, rely on the planets’ signs. In France, the full copy of the birth record shows the time. Without a birth time, the site does not calculate the Vedic charts.

How to see your D4 on the site

The D4 is one of the twenty divisional charts the site calculates, in the sidereal zodiac with the Lahiri ayanamsa, whole-sign houses and mean nodes. It opens in four steps:

1. Calculate your birth chart with your exact time of birth.
2. At the wheel, choose Vedic (sidereal): the D1 Rasi opens.
3. In the list of charts, choose D4.
4. The wheel, the positions (sign, degree, house) and the line that gives the chart’s meaning change: you are reading your Chaturthamsha.