Divisional charts: the twenty Vedic charts and how to read them

What is a divisional chart in Vedic astrology?

In Sanskrit, varga means “division” and amsha means “portion”. The principle is the same for every chart: each 30° sign is split into n equal parts, a rule handed down by Parashara gives each part a sign, and a planet takes the sign of the part it occupies.

The Ascendant follows the same rule: each chart has its own Ascendant, and its houses are counted as whole signs from it, as in the D1 Rasi, the mother chart. A planet that shines in the D1 can turn out quiet in the career chart: this is the relief the divisional charts bring to light.

How is a divisional chart calculated? An example

Take a Venus at 12° Leo in your D1 and look for its place in the Navamsha, the D9, the chart of partnership.

1. Leo is split into nine parts of 3°20′ each.
2. At 12°, Venus is in the fourth part, which runs from 10° to 13°20′.
3. Leo is a fire sign: in the D9, fire signs count their parts from Aries. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer: the fourth part is Cancer.
4. So Venus is in Cancer in your D9, at 18°: the 2° it has covered within its part, multiplied by nine.

The degree follows a simple rule: the degree within the sign multiplied by n, minus the full rounds of 30°. Here, 12 × 9 = 108, which gives 18°. Only the D30, with its unequal parts, is an exception.

What are Parashara’s sixteen divisional charts?

The great treatise of Jyotish, the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, describes sixteen divisional charts: the Shodashavarga, “the sixteen divisions”, namely the D1, D2, D3, D4, D7, D9, D10, D12, D16, D20, D24, D27, D30, D40, D45 and D60. Parashara also draws shorter sets of six, seven or ten charts from them to weigh a planet’s strength from one chart to the next.

My Birth Chart adds four charts used by other lineages of the tradition, outside the sixteen: the D5, D6, D8 and D11. They help when the question is precisely about their area. The story of Parashara is told in what is Vedic astrology.

The twenty divisional charts and what each one covers

Here are the twenty charts the site calculates and the area each one covers; each name opens its own page.

• D1 Rasi, the sign: the body, the whole life, the mother chart.
• D2 Hora, the half: wealth, resources, what you accumulate.
• D3 Drekkana, the decan: siblings, courage, initiative.
• D4 Chaturthamsha, the quarter: home, property, your footing in life.
• D5 Panchamsha, the fifth: fame, authority, merit from past lives.
• D6 Shashtamsha, the sixth: health, conflicts, obstacles to overcome.
• D7 Saptamsha, the seventh: children, the creativity you pass on.
• D8 Ashtamsha, the eighth: sudden events, transformations, resilience.
• D9 Navamsha, the ninth: the spouse, dharma, inner strength; the most important after the D1.
• D10 Dashamsha, the tenth: profession, career, your place in the world.
• D11 Rudramsha, Rudra’s share: the trials that renew; for others, gains.
• D12 Dwadashamsha, the twelfth: parents, lineage, what you receive from them.
• D16 Shodashamsha, the sixteenth: vehicles, comfort, material joys.
• D20 Vimshamsha, the twentieth: spiritual life, practice, devotion.
• D24 Chaturvimshamsha or Siddhamsha: education, studies, acquired knowledge.
• D27 Bhamsha or Nakshatramsha: strengths and weaknesses, vitality.
• D30 Trimshamsha, the thirtieth: rough patches, tendencies to watch.
• D40 Khavedamsha: auspicious and inauspicious effects, the maternal legacy.
• D45 Akshavedamsha: character, conduct, the paternal legacy.
• D60 Shashtiamsha, the sixtieth: past-life karma, the fabric of the whole life.

The D6, D8 and D30 are read as areas for vigilance, with their levers, never as a diagnosis or a verdict.

How accurate must your birth time be for divisional charts?

The Ascendant changes sign every two hours on average; in a Dn chart, it moves n times faster. Planets, on the other hand, keep their divisional signs for hours, often days, and only the Moon changes its D60 part roughly every hour. So it is the Ascendant of each chart, and its houses, that need the exact time.

The site shows, for each chart, the accuracy it needs. On average, the D2 holds to within an hour, the D4 to half an hour, the D9 to a quarter of an hour, the D10 and the D12 to about ten minutes, the D30, with its five unequal parts, to about twenty minutes, and the D60 to two. These are averages.

Without a birth time, the site switches the Vedic charts off. In France, the full copy of the birth record (copie intégrale) shows the time; elsewhere, the long-form certificate often does. Find it before you calculate your rising sign and read the finer charts.

Does your time come from family memory? Calculate your chart ten minutes earlier, then ten minutes later: if the D9 Ascendant changes, keep both versions in mind. The D60 needs a birth time you are sure of to the minute.

What is a vargottama planet?

A planet is vargottama, “the best of the division”, when it occupies the same sign in the D1 and in the D9. Tradition considers it strengthened: it confirms in the chart of maturity what it promises in the birth chart.

This happens in the first part of a movable sign (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn), the middle part of a fixed sign (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius) and the last part of a dual sign (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces). A Sun at 2° Aries or a Moon at 15° Taurus is vargottama. A vargottama Ascendant makes the way you meet the world and your deeper nature speak with one voice.

How do you read a divisional chart with the D1?

A divisional chart is never read alone: the D1 promises, the divisional chart refines. A career the D1 shows as solid does not collapse because of a weak planet in the D10; that planet shows rather where the effort will go. And you choose the chart that fits the question: the D10 for career, the D9 for marriage, the D7 for children, the D2 for money, the D24 for studies.

1. In the D1, find the house of the area (the 10th for career, the 7th for partnership), its lord and the planet that signifies the area: Venus for partnership, Saturn for work. Add the matching Jaimini karaka.
2. Open the divisional chart and see where these planets fall: exalted, in their own sign, debilitated, and in which house.
3. Read the Ascendant of the divisional chart and its lord: they give the overall colour of the area.
4. Place the timing with the Vimshottari dashas: the period of a planet that is strong in the chart of the area is when that area opens up.

An example: your Saturn rules the 10th house of the D1 and falls in Libra, its sign of exaltation, in the D10. The career builds slowly, but it lasts. To bring all these pieces together, see how to cross the charts.

How do you open the divisional charts on the site?

My Birth Chart calculates the twenty charts in the sidereal zodiac with the Lahiri ayanamsa, the mean nodes (Ketu always opposite Rahu, in every chart), Parashara’s division rules and whole-sign houses from each chart’s own Ascendant.

1. Calculate your chart with your exact birth time.
2. At the wheel, choose Vedic (sidereal) instead of Tropical (Western): the D1 opens.
3. In the list of charts, choose one of the twenty: the wheel, the positions and the line that gives the chart’s meaning change with it.
4. Note the time accuracy shown for that chart before relying on its Ascendant.

Vedic astrology also enters Your chart answers you: a career question draws on the D10, a relationship question on the D9, a money question on the D2, and the answer says clearly when it speaks in Vedic terms.