How to read a kundli, step by step

Reading a kundli is a method, not a trick: look at a fixed sequence of things, describe each in the tradition's terms, and let the picture assemble. This lesson gives the sequence used by most Jyotish teachers, applied to the reference chart the course has used throughout, so that the Kundli generator's table turns into a reading.

The sequence

1. Lagna and lagna lord. Note the rising sign (the person's manner) and find its lord in the table: which house, which sign, with whom. This is the chart's spine.
2. The Moon. Its sign (the mind), nakshatra (the finer texture), house (where the mind lives) and company.
3. Planets by house. Go round the twelve houses and note what sits where, giving most weight to the kendras (1, 4, 7, 10) and trikonas (1, 5, 9).
4. House lords. For the houses you care about, find the lord and see where it went; that is the link between two areas of life.
5. Dignity. Mark the exalted, own-sign and debilitated planets and the retrogrades (lesson 9).
6. The dasha. Which mahadasha and antardasha are running now (lesson 16); their lords' placements are the chart's current emphasis.
7. Summarise in three sentences. If you cannot, you have not finished.

Applied to the reference chart

Born 14 August 1990, 12:00, Mumbai. Tula lagna; lagna lord Venus in the 10th house in Karka with the Sun, Jupiter and Ketu.

• Spine. A Tula manner (gracious, partnership-minded) whose ruler sits in the house of career among a crowd: the person's central theme is public work and relationships inside it.
• Mind. Moon exalted in Vrishabha in the 8th, in Krittika: a steady, comfort-seeking mind placed in the house of depth and transformation; stable inside, drawn to what is hidden.
• Houses. Four grahas in the 10th: career dominates. Mars in the 7th in its own sign: a forceful partner or forceful partnerships. Saturn retrograde in the 3rd: effort and siblings carry weight. Rahu in the 4th: restlessness about home.
• Lords. The 10th lord (the Moon) in the 8th links career to research, crisis or inheritance. The 7th lord (Mars) in the 7th: partnership stands on its own.
• Dignity. Moon and Jupiter exalted, Mars in own sign, Saturn retrograde: a chart with unusual strength in the mind and in effort.
• Dasha. In 2026, Rahu mahadasha with Mars antardasha; Rahu in the 4th, Mars in the 7th: a period of restlessness at home and intensity in partnership, in the tradition's terms.

Summary. A gracious, publicly-oriented person with a stable inner life, whose career is the stage, whose partnerships are forceful, and who is in a long period of change until Jupiter's dasha begins in 2027.

What to avoid

• Reading one placement as the whole person. Every chart has twelve houses.
• Treating debilitation or a dusthana as doom. They are difficulties with known cancellations.
• Predicting. The method above describes; events are not in it.

Calculate yours

Try the calculator this lesson explains.

Date of birth

Day

Month

Year

For example 14 08 1990 · Remembered on this device only, never sent anywhere.

Time of birth

Hour (24h)

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Minute

24-hour clock, for example 14 30 for 2:30 pm

Place of birth

Type at least two letters and pick a town or city. Place data from GeoNames.

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