Astrology words

Astrology words, explained simply

The words used on this site, each in one or two plain sentences. You do not need to learn them all. Come back here whenever a word is new.

Your birth chart

Kundli (janam kundli, birth chart): A map of the sky at the moment and place you were born. Astrologers read your life from it. It is also called a horoscope.
Rashi (Moon sign): The zodiac sign the Moon was in when you were born. In India, “your rashi” usually means your Moon sign.
Lagna (rising sign, ascendant): The zodiac sign that was rising in the east at the moment you were born. It changes about every two hours, so it needs your birth time. The houses of the chart are counted from it.
Graha (planet): The nine “planets” of Indian astrology: Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu.
Rahu and Ketu: Two points in the sky where the Moon's path crosses the Sun's path. They are not real planets, but astrology treats them as planets and calls them shadow planets.
Zodiac sign: The sky is divided into twelve signs, from Aries (Mesh) to Pisces (Meen). Each planet sits in one sign at any moment.
Bhava (house): The chart is divided into twelve houses. Each house stands for a part of life, such as money (2nd house), marriage (7th house) or career (10th house).
Nakshatra (birth star): The sky is also divided into 27 star groups. Your nakshatra is the one the Moon was in when you were born.
Pada (quarter): Each nakshatra has four quarters, called padas. Each pada has a sound that many families use as the first letter of a baby's name.
Navamsa (D-9 chart): A second chart made by dividing each sign into nine parts. It is read for marriage and for how strong each planet really is.
Divisional charts (vargas): Extra charts made by dividing each sign into smaller parts, from D-2 to D-60. Each one is read for one area of life. The finer ones need a very exact birth time.

Houses and their rulers

House ruler (lord): Each of the twelve houses is looked after by one planet, called its ruler or lord. Where that planet sits, and how strong it is, tells you how that part of life is doing.
Kendra (main houses): The 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses. They are the strongest houses of the chart, and many yogas need a planet in one of them.
Trikona (lucky houses): The 1st, 5th and 9th houses. They are read as the houses of luck and good fortune.
Dusthana (difficult houses): The 6th, 8th and 12th houses. They are linked with illness, sudden changes and loss, so planets ruling or sitting in them are read with more care.
Karaka (significator): The planet that naturally stands for something: for example Venus for marriage, Jupiter for children and the Sun for the father.
Aspect (drishti): A planet “looks at” certain houses from where it sits. Every planet looks at the 7th house from itself, and Mars, Jupiter and Saturn look at some other houses too.

Planet periods and movements

Dasha (planet period): Your life is divided into periods, and each is ruled by one planet. The tradition reads each period in the light of its planet.
Mahadasha and antardasha: A mahadasha is a main planet period, lasting from 6 to 20 years. Each one is divided into shorter sub-periods, called antardashas.
Transit (gochar): Where the planets are moving today, compared with where they were in your birth chart.
Sade Sati: The seven and a half years when Saturn passes through the sign before your Moon sign, your Moon sign, and the sign after it. It is read as a time of effort and lessons.
Dhaiya (small panoti): Two and a half years when Saturn is in the 4th or the 8th sign from your Moon sign.
Retrograde (vakri): From time to time a planet seems to move backwards in the sky, as seen from Earth. Such a planet is called retrograde and is marked R. Rahu and Ketu always move this way.
Varshaphal (year chart): The reading for one year of your life, from a chart made for the moment of your birthday that year.

Yogas, doshas and strength

Yoga (in a kundli): A special combination of planets that the old books read as a strength, such as Raja yoga (rise in status) or Dhana yoga (wealth).
Dosha: A combination the old books see as a difficulty, such as Mangal dosha or Kaal Sarp dosha. The books also give remedies for them.
Mangal dosha (Manglik): When Mars sits in certain houses of the chart. Many families check it before a marriage. The books list several exceptions that cancel it.
Kaal Sarp dosha: When all seven planets sit on one side of the line between Rahu and Ketu.
Exalted, own sign, debilitated: A planet is “exalted” in the sign where it is strongest, “in its own sign” where it is at home, and “debilitated” in the sign where it is weakest.
Benefic and malefic planets: The tradition sees some planets as mostly gentle (Jupiter, Venus, and usually the Moon and Mercury) and others as mostly harsh (Saturn, Mars, the Sun, Rahu and Ketu).
Ashtakavarga (points of support): A count of how much support each sign gets in your chart, from 0 to 8 points per planet. More points mean more support for that part of life. An average sign has about 28.
Upay (remedy): A simple act the tradition suggests to ease a difficulty, such as feeding someone, giving something away or saying a prayer.
Ayanamsa: The gap between the Western zodiac and the Indian zodiac, about 24 degrees today. This site uses the Lahiri ayanamsa, the one most Indian calendars use.

The Hindu calendar (panchang)

Panchang: The Hindu calendar for one day and one place. Its five parts are the tithi, the nakshatra, the yoga, the karana and the weekday.
Tithi (lunar date): The date by the Moon, based on how far the Moon is from the Sun. A lunar month has 30 tithis, 15 in the bright half and 15 in the dark half.
Karana: Half of a tithi. There are 11 kinds, and one of them, Vishti (Bhadra), is avoided for good work.
Yoga (in a panchang): One of the 27 yogas of the panchang, worked out by adding together the positions of the Sun and the Moon. Each lasts about a day. It is not the same as a yoga in a kundli.
Rahu kaal: About an hour and a half every day that the tradition avoids for starting new work. Its time changes with the weekday and the place.
Muhurat: A good time chosen for starting something important, such as a wedding, a journey or moving house.
Choghadiya: The day and the night are each split into eight parts, and each part is marked good, neutral or poor.

Matching and other methods

Gun milan (Ashtakoot): The marriage-matching score out of 36 points, from eight areas of compatibility. Traditionally 18 or more is taken as acceptable.
Porutham: The South Indian (Tamil) way of matching two charts, with ten checks instead of a score.
Lal Kitab: A North Indian astrology book from the last century, with its own rules and simple, cheap remedies.
KP (Krishnamurti Paddhati): An exact method that splits the sky into 249 small parts to answer specific questions. It needs an exact birth time.