What is Vedic Astrology and Kundali (Horoscope)?

Astrology is a very famous art or science in Bharat (India). Many people believe in it, and so you will find a lot of people providing professional service in reading Kundali and providing tips to reduce the future probable wrongdoings.

After all, if any form of art/science can predict the future (even to some extent), then it’s definitely worth exploring.

Note

As per some models of the universe, we may be living in a universe with no “free will”, i.e. where the future is already written (Deterministic view). What’s about to happen, will definitely happen. As per some, we may even be living in an augmented reality, kind of a computer program made by some more powerful entity. We will shed more light on these theories of Cosmology and Quantum Physics in separate articles.

Moreover, as far as this article is concerned, we will be dealing with Vedic Astrology, not the Western Astrology.

Though I do not believe in anything till I get solid proofs, but studying something or doing research in some area does not necessarily need you to believe in it. It’s curiosity that drives you. Scientists all over the world make various hypothesis, and then conduct experiments on them to prove or disprove them. Same can be done with Astrology too.

But to prove or disprove something, we need to understand it comprehensively. This article should be the first step in that direction.

Here we will cover only the very basics of Kundali. As this area is so big, that it cannot be covered in a single article. So, we will publish a series of articles that will cover its various dimensions.

Note

In the mediaeval Europe, Vatican Church used to be very dominant. So much so, that it used to persecute and even kill people who used to talk against the Holy Bible. Church used to have its own Knights for this purpose.

As per Bible, the Earth is the centre of the universe. However, when Galileo proved that the Earth is not even the centre of the solar system, and it rather revolves around the Sun, the Church imprisoned Galileo and threatened to hang him. To save his life Galileo apologized.

In the current world, Science has taken the place of the erstwhile theology to some extent. Many people nowadays reject anything that has been part of our culture, or meta physics. A few decades ago, people used to laugh at the people advocating Yog for physical and spiritual wellness. They are not laughing anymore.

So, I make sure that I do not reject some theory or practice just to look cool and modern, or just tow the line of the society we live in. I would rather say “I don’t know” and do my research. My study on Yog, Astrology, Science, etc. are all part of the same pattern, and drive to know the unknown.

Table of Contents

• Basics of Astrology
• Basics of Kundali
• What is Lagna Kundali

Basics of Astrology

As per Astrology, the position of the planets at the moment of our birth determines our future. It’s kind of a part of the theory of ‘Karma’. Our actions done in the past lives decide when, and where we will be born and in what form.

Note

But as per Yogis and many Vedic experts, Astrology is not supreme. You need not be a slave to your planets. Through Yog and Meditation you may even change your destiny. And Yog has many forms, including Karma Yog (Akin to Arya Samaj and the Protestant concept of “Work is Worship”).

Kundali (Birth chart) of a particular person is nothing but the diagrammatic representation of the planetary positions at the birth of that person. This has to be read and interpreted using various astrological rules, and we need to apply various concepts of maths and cosmology to do so.

That’s why Astrology is not only a science, but also an art. There are various dimensions involved in Astrology. They often add together, or contradict each other, just like the waves on the surface of a water, or the interference pattern in a Young’s double slit experiment. So, the degrees and strengths of various astrological phenomenon matter too.

Many people make mistakes in reading Kundali because of the following reasons:

• They miss out or ignore some important dimension.
• They make calculation mistakes in gauging the strengths of various astrological phenomenon.

So, before we start reading our own Kundali or someone else’s, we should make sure we understand this school of thought completely. Only then we can be in a position to prove this ancient school of thought, or reject it.

So, let’s start.

Basics of Kundali

As already told, Kundali (or Horoscope) is the instrument that astrologers use to predict the future.

There are various charts that are used in Astrology:

• Lagna Chart (लग्न कुंडली) or Janam Kundali or Birth Chart - It is based on Ascendant position or Lagna. The zodiac sign that is rising in the eastern horizon at the birth of a person is called his lagna. The first house in the Lagna Chart belongs to the Ascendant or Lagna. All the other zodiac signs are placed in relation to the lagna. Lagna Chart shows the positions of the planets, Sun and Moon at the time of birth of a person.

• Navamsa Kundali (नवमांश कुंडली) - This chart is used for more in-depth analysis of a person’s life. While Lagna Chart shows the positions of various planets, Sun and Moon, in Navamsa Chart we can find out their strength. For example, even if a planet is placed at a very good position in your Lagna Chart, it will not be able to do much good if it’s not strong. We measure the strength of the planets using degrees. Navamsa means one-ninth part of a zodiac sign, which is equivalent to 30 degrees and 20 minutes in longitude. We also use this chart for horoscope matching.

• Chandra Kundali (चंद्र कुंडली) - It is based on the position of the Moon. The house having the Moon is considered the first house. For example, if Moon is in the 3rd house of Lagna kundali, then that house will be considered the first house in Chandra Kundali. It’s a very important chart/kundali when it comes to horoscope matching of couples.

• Chalit Chart (चलित कुण्‍डली) - It indicates the position of various planets in the houses (called Bhavs). This chart is used to find out the importance of a house in a person’s life.

Lagna Chart is the most important of these four charts, and so this is what we are going to focus on in this article. We will cover other kundalis in separate articles.

What is Lagna Kundali (or Janam Kundali, or Birth chart)?

Lagna is a Hindi/Sanskrit word that means Ascendant. This is the first moment of contact between the soul and the worldly realm, which is nothing but the time of one’s birth as per Vedic Astrology. And Lagna Kundali is the snapshot of the planetary positions at that moment. A Lagna Chart shows the positions of all the planets, the Sun and the Moon at the time of birth of a person.

It is the most important chart in Astrology, and all other charts are made using this chart.

Lagna Kundali is basically a chart having 12 rhombus-shaped sections, called houses. It has been represented below:

The first house is the top centre section in the chart. The rest of the houses are numbered in counter-clockwise way in a zic-zag manner (as represented in the chart above).

Lagna Kundali is based on Ascendant position or Lagna. The zodiac sign (राशि) that is rising in the eastern horizon at the birth of a person is called his lagna. The first house in the Lagna Chart belongs to the Ascendant or Lagna.

Concept of Ascendant or Lagna

The entire zodiac belt is made up of 12 zodiac signs (e.g. Leo, Scorpio, Libra, etc.) and each zodiac sign takes 2 hours to rise on the eastern horizon. The sign that was rising on the eastern horizon at the time of your birth will be your Ascendant or Lagna. Your Ascendant governs your personality, appearance, etc.

Zodiac signs in various houses of a Lagna Kundali

We already know that, the first house in the Lagna Chart belongs to the Ascendant or Lagna, i.e. the Zodiac sign that was rising on the eastern horizon at the time of the birth of that person. So, if Leo was rising at that time, then we will place the Leo zodiac sign in the first house of the Lagna Chart of that person. If it’s Cancer, then we will place the Cancer zodiac sign in the first house.

Now, it’s hard to represent the symbol of each zodiac sign in a kundali. So, astrologers have assigned numbers to these zodiac signs (from 1 to 12). We just write these numbers in the various houses of a Lagna Chart, to showcase which zodiac sign lies in which house.

The numbers assigned to various zodiac signs are:

• Aries (मेष) - 1
• Taurus (वृषभ) - 2
• Gemini (मिथुन) - 3
• Cancer (कर्क) - 4
• Leo (सिंह) - 5
• Virgo (कन्या) - 6
• Libra (तुला) - 7
• Scorpio (वृश्चिक) - 8
• Sagittarius (धनु) - 9
• Capricorn (मकर) - 10
• Aquarius (कुंभ) - 11
• Pisces (मीन) - 12

Note

Kindly do not confuse the house numbers with the numbers of the zodiac signs. They need not be the same.

Now, if Leo is in the first house of the Lagna Chart, then we will just write 5 in the first house of the Lagna Chart of that person. Similarly, if Libra is in the first house of the Lagna Chart, then we will just write 7 in the first house of the Lagna Chart of that person, and so on.

All the other zodiac signs are placed in relation to the zodiac sign in the first house (i.e. the Ascendant or Lagna), in ascending order.

For example, if Cancer (i.e. 4) is the Lagna of a person and so is in the first house, we will keep Leo (i.e. 5) in the second house, Virgo (i.e. 6) in the third house, and so on.

What are the 12 houses of Kundali?

Each of the twelve houses (खाने या भाव) of a Lagna Chart stands for some particular aspects of the life of a person. Let’s learn what these houses represent.

• House 1 - It tells about the personality, nature and appearance of a person.
• House 2 - It tells about finances, voice, and initial education of a person.
• House 3 - It tells about younger siblings, courage, resilience of a person.
• House 4 - It is the house of happiness, i.e. things that bring happiness in our life, e.g. our mother, property, vehicles, etc.
• House 5 - It gives us clues regarding our higher education, love, children, etc.
• House 6 - It is the house of diseases, our enemies, competition, etc.
• House 7 - It is the house of marriage, or partnership with anyone.
• House 8 - It gives us indication of sudden happenings in our life.
• House 9 - This house is of spirituality, luck, mentor/teacher, and long-distance travels.
• House 10 - This is the house of our Karma, i.e. action. It gives us clues about a person’s profession, and also his father.
• House 11 - It is the house of profit, income, achievements. It also gives us clues regarding our elder siblings and friends.
• House 12 - This is the house of loss, expenditure, foreign travels, etc.

Now, the zodiac sign (rashi) that is in a particular house, will render its effect on that house. Every zodiac sign has its own peculiar nature and character.

Note

Now we know how Lagna Kundali is structured. But what about filling it up? There are many online and offline Kundali maker software available. Many of them are completely or partially free. You just need to enter these details into these software to get your Kundali made in a few seconds:

• Your Name
• Date and Time of birth
• Place of birth

Planets, Sun and Moon in a Kundali

After finding the lagna, and then filling the rest of the zodiac signs in the lagna kundali in ralation to it, the third step is to fill-up the lagna kundali with planets, moon, and sun. There are nine planets - Sun (सूर्य), Moon (चंद्र), Mars (मंगल), Mercury (बुध), Jupiter (बृहस्पति), Venus (शुक्र), Saturn (शनि), Rahu (राहु), Ketu (केतु).

Though we need not do it manually, as many software are available now to do it for us. So, we can focus our attention more to interpreting the kundali. But before we do so, we must know some of the basics of the Planets in a Kundali.

Note

Though in astronomical terms, the Sun is a star, and the Moon is a satellite, but in astrological terms we just call them planets. Similarly, Rahu and Ketu are merely hypothetical planets (छाया ग्रह). Rahu is the Ascending node of the Moon, and Ketu is the Descending node of the Moon.

There’s always exactly one zodiac sign (राशि) in each house of the Lagna Chart. There are 12 zodiac signs and 12 houses in the Lagna Chart. However, there may be 0, 1 or more planets in any particular house.

Each planet has its own nature. For example, Moon (चंद्र), Jupiter (बृहस्पति), Venus (शुक्र) are Benign (सौम्य) planets, while Sun (सूर्य), Mars (मंगल), Saturn (शनि), Rahu (राहु), Ketu (केतु) are considered Cruel (क्रूर) planets.

Moreover, these planets have effect on each other. They may be friends, enemies, or neutral based on their nature and their position in the Lagna Chart. If two or more planets are in a relation, it’s called conjunction (yuti, युति). Conjunction with an enemy planet will give negative results, while that with a friendly planet will give positive results.

Planets are also related to zodiac signs (i.e. rashis). All planets (except Rahu and Ketu) are owners of one or two zodiac signs (rashis).

These planets may be in Exalted (Uchcha, उच्च) state, or Debilitated (Neech, नीच) state. If a planet is in exalted state, then it will give good results. Planets in debilitated state give bad results.

Note

We already know that the rashi in the first house is called the lagna rashi. Moreover, the rashi having the moon, is called the chandra rashi. And the rashi having the sun, is called the surya rashi.

Sight of Planets

There’s one more concept that we must be aware of - the sight of a planet (drishti of a planet, ग्रह दृष्टि). A planet not only influences the house it is in, it also influences the houses it has its eyes on (i.e. the houses where it lays its sight on). This sight may be Auspicious or Inauspicious (शुभ और अशुभ).

Here are the rules related to the sight of various planets:

• All planets lay their sight on the 7th house from the house they are sitting in.
• Mars (मंगल) also looks at 4th and 8th house from the house it is sitting in.
• Jupiter (बृहस्पति) also looks at 5th and 9th house from the house it is sitting in.
• Saturn (शनि) also looks at 3rd and 10th house from the house it is sitting in.
• Rahu (राहु) and Ketu (केतु) also look at 5th and 9th house from the house they are sitting in.

Note

Apart from all these, there are also some good and bad yogs that are formed in a Kundali, based on positions of the various planets. We must also be aware of these, e.g. Rajyog (they are of various kinds), Angarak Yog, etc.

So, now we know the basics of Astrology and Kundali. We also know how a Lagna Chart/Kundali looks like, its various parts and their features. In subsequent articles, we will delve deeper in the science/art of Kundali reading.