What is Vedic astrology? Jyotish and the Western zodiac

Vedic astrology, or Jyotish, is the Indian tradition of reading the sky at the moment of birth: the sign rising in the east, the Moon's sign and star, and the nine grahas placed in twelve houses. It uses the sidereal zodiac, measured from the fixed stars, and reads time through the dashas, the planetary periods that structure a life.

What a kundli is

A kundli is a map of the sky for one moment and one place. Everything in it comes from three facts, the date, the time and the place of birth, and from them the tradition derives:

• the lagna, the sign rising in the east, which anchors the twelve houses;
• the rashi, the sign the Moon occupies, which is the sign an Indian astrologer means by "your sign";
• the nakshatra, the Moon's star, which names the birth and starts the dasha cycle;
• the grahas, the nine planets of Jyotish, in their signs and houses.

How Jyotish differs from Western astrology

	Jyotish	Western
Zodiac	Sidereal: measured from the fixed stars	Tropical: measured from the spring equinox
"Your sign"	The Moon's sign (rashi)	The Sun's sign
First house	The rising sign, whole-sign houses	Various house systems
Planets	Nine grahas, including Rahu and Ketu, the lunar nodes	Ten, including Uranus, Neptune and Pluto
Timing	Dashas (planetary periods) and transits	Transits and progressions
Stars	27 nakshatras	Not used

The two zodiacs differ by about 24 degrees today, the ayanamsa, which lesson 2 explains. That is why someone who is a Western Leo is usually a Vedic Karka.

What this course covers

Four modules: the foundations (zodiac, signs, planets, stars), the grahas and bhavas (Moon, lagna, houses, strength, navamsa), reading a kundli (method, chart styles, yogas, dosha, matching), and timing (dashas, Sade Sati, transits, panchang, muhurta). Every lesson ends with the calculator that applies it.

A word on what astrology is

Jyotish is a symbolic tradition with a precise astronomical core. The positions this site computes are astronomy and match NASA's to within an arcsecond; the meanings attached to them are tradition, reviewed before publication and flagged until then. The course teaches both honestly and treats every reading as a description to think with, never as a verdict.

Worked example

Born 14 August 1990 at 12:00 in Mumbai: a Western Leo (Sun at 141° tropical), but in the sidereal zodiac the Sun is at 117°, in Karka. The Moon is in Vrishabha in the nakshatra Krittika, and Tula is rising. Those three names, Karka Sun, Vrishabha Moon, Tula lagna, are the first thing a Jyotishi would say about the chart.

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)

:

Minute

I don't know the time

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.

Calculate