Your free kundli: what it shows and how to read it

A kundli (janam kundli, or birth chart) is a map of where the Sun, Moon and planets were at the moment you were born, seen from the place you were born. Our free kundli works it out for you; this guide explains what you are looking at.

What you need to enter

• Date of birth. Enough for the planet signs and your numerology numbers.
• Time of birth. Needed for the lagna, the houses and the dasha timeline. The ascendant moves about one sign every two hours, so a few minutes can matter; check your birth certificate if you can.
• Place of birth. Pick your city from the list, or enter its latitude and longitude if you were born outside India.

The key facts

• Lagna (ascendant): the sign rising on the eastern horizon when you were born. It sets up the whole chart and is often read as your outward personality.
• Moon sign (rashi): the sign the Moon was in. Vedic astrology gives it great weight, and most Indian horoscopes are written for it.
• Nakshatra: the Moon's lunar mansion, one of 27 divisions of 13°20′ each, split into four padas. It decides where your dasha timeline starts.
• Sun sign (Vedic): usually the sign before your Western sun sign, because the Vedic zodiac sits about 24° behind the Western one.

Reading the chart

The chart is drawn in the North Indian style:

• The diamond at the top is always the 1st house (your lagna). Houses then run anticlockwise.
• The small number in each house is the sign that falls there: 1 is Aries, 2 Taurus, and so on to 12, Pisces.
• Planets are abbreviated: Su (Sun), Mo (Moon), Ma (Mars), Me (Mercury), Ju (Jupiter), Ve (Venus), Sa (Saturn), Ra (Rahu), Ke (Ketu). (R) means the planet was retrograde.

The table under the chart gives each planet's exact degree, nakshatra and house.

Dasha periods

The Vimshottari dasha divides life into planetary periods totalling 120 years. Astrologers use the running mahadasha and antardasha for timing questions such as career moves or marriage.

What still needs an astrologer

The chart is the raw material. Reading it (yogas, divisional charts like the navamsa, transits, marriage matching, remedies) is interpretation, and that is what a consultation is for. The free kundli also shows a basic Mangal dosha check, but many charts have cancellations, so do not draw conclusions from it alone.

How it is calculated: Lahiri ayanamsa, whole-sign houses and mean lunar nodes, with planet positions accurate to a few arc-minutes.