How to read a South Indian birth chart
A South Indian chart is a square where each of the twelve signs always sits in the same box, so you can tell a planet's sign at a glance. You find the box marked as the Vedic ascendant (lagna), the sign rising on the eastern horizon at birth, then count houses clockwise from there.
You'll learn
- Why each sign has a fixed box
- How houses are counted clockwise
- How North and South styles differ
Before thisWhat is a birth chart (kundali) in Vedic astrology?
Every sign keeps its box
In a South Indian chart, every sign always sits in the same box. Pisces is always top left.
How the square is laid out
A birth chart, called a chakra in Sanskrit (a wheel or diagram), is drawn from the signs occupied by the planets and the lagna: twelve boxes each stand for one sign, and each planet is written in the box of the sign it occupies.
The South Indian chart is rasi-based. Rasi means sign, so this means each sign is always in the same box: 'In this format, these rasis will always be in the same positions'.
The layout is a square with twelve boxes around the edge and an empty centre, which is often used for a title. Pisces is the top-left box, and Aries, Taurus and Gemini follow along the top row. The signs run clockwise around the square: Cancer and Leo sit down the right side, Virgo is bottom right, Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius run right to left along the bottom, and Capricorn and Aquarius run up the left side.
Once you know this, you never have to work out which box is which sign. The box is the sign, and the lagna and houses are found relative to boxes you already know.
Finding the lagna and the houses
The lagna is marked inside its sign's box, and houses are counted clockwise from that box.
Where the lagna sits and how houses follow
Because the signs never move, the lagna cannot have a fixed spot. Instead, it is marked inside its sign's box: in P.V.R. Narasimha Rao's (PVR's) example figure, the word 'Asc' is written in the Cancer box.
Houses are then counted clockwise from that box. The sign holding the lagna is the 1st house, the next sign clockwise is the 2nd house, and so on. After Pisces the count continues into Aries.
So the two questions are separate: which sign is the lagna in (read from the mark), and which house is a planet in (count clockwise from the lagna's box). A planet's sign comes free from the layout; its house takes one short count.
Reading a chart in four steps
- 01Find the box marked as the lagna
- 02That sign is the 1st house
- 03Count clockwise for the 2nd, 3rd and later houses
- 04Read the planets in each box
Find the marked box, treat it as the 1st house, count clockwise, then read the planets.
The four-step reading order
The reading order follows from how the chart is built:
- Find the box marked as the lagna.
- That sign is the 1st house.
- Count clockwise for the 2nd, 3rd and later houses.
- Read the planets in each box.
Because the signs are fixed in place, the South Indian chart makes sign-based questions quick to answer: which sign a planet is in, and which planets share a sign. You can see both at a glance, without translating numbers first.
House-based questions take one more step, but a small one. Pick the marked box, count clockwise until you reach the planet's box, and the count is the house number.
Same chart, drawn North Indian
Here the sample chart is drawn North Indian: the same chart, counted from Cancer.
Walking through the sample chart
The sample chart is Skybond's recurring teaching chart, not a real person's. It has the lagna in Cancer, Moon in Leo, Jupiter in Virgo, Rahu and Ketu (the north and south nodes, two shadow points) in Scorpio and Taurus, Sun and Saturn in Capricorn, Mercury in Aquarius, Venus in Pisces, and Mars retrograde (marked R, meaning it appears to move backwards from Earth's view) in Gemini. Aries, Libra and Sagittarius are empty.
Counting clockwise from Cancer gives the houses. Leo, where the Moon sits, is the 2nd house. Capricorn, holding the Sun and Saturn, is the 7th.
Pisces, with Venus, is the 9th. Gemini, with Mars, is the 12th.
Compare the two drawings of this chart: the boxes stay put in the South Indian version, while the houses stay put in the North Indian version. The planets sit in the same signs either way.
Two styles, one chart
North Indian charts fix the houses and let the signs move. South Indian charts do the opposite.
How the two chart styles differ
In a North Indian chart, the houses are fixed in place and the signs move: the lagna is always the top centre diamond, marked Asc, with sign numbers written in each house (1 means Aries, 2 means Taurus, and so on). In a South Indian chart, the signs are fixed and the lagna moves. Both show the same chart.
Each style trades one convenience for another. The North Indian layout puts the lagna in the same place every time, so the houses are instant. The South Indian layout puts the signs in the same place every time, so the signs are instant.
PVR's own book gives its charts in both the South Indian and North Indian formats, so it is worth being comfortable with each.
Skybond's app draws charts in the North Indian style, and Learn pages show both.
Check yourself
In a South Indian chart, which box is Aries always in?
Show answer
Aries is the second box along the top row, just right of Pisces, which is always top left. Taurus and Gemini follow along the top.
If the lagna is in Leo, which sign is the 4th house?
Show answer
Count clockwise from Leo: Virgo is the 2nd, Libra the 3rd, Scorpio the 4th. The counting runs around the square in the order of the signs.
In the sample chart, which planets share a sign?
Show answer
The Sun and Saturn share Capricorn, which is the 7th house counted from the Cancer lagna. Every other planet sits in a sign on its own.
Key takeaways
- In a South Indian chart, each sign always occupies the same box
- Pisces is always top left; the signs run clockwise from there
- The lagna is marked inside its sign's box, such as 'Asc' in Cancer
- Houses are counted clockwise from the lagna's sign
- North Indian charts fix houses instead; both styles show the same chart
Next lessons
Conventions and sources
- Sidereal zodiac
- True Chitra Paksha ayanamsa
- Whole-sign houses
Skybond uses the sidereal zodiac, the True Chitra Paksha ayanamsa and whole-sign houses.
Sources for this page
- P.V.R. Narasimha Rao, Vedic Astrology: An Integrated Approach
- Skybond ascendant calculator and FAQ
- Skybond sample chart (sidereal, True Chitra Paksha, whole-sign houses, mean node) (Skybond calculation with the Swiss Ephemeris)
- Skybond app chart display (North Indian style) (internal documentation)
FAQ
What does Asc mean in a South Indian chart?
Asc is short for ascendant, the Vedic ascendant (lagna), the sign rising on the eastern horizon at birth. In a South Indian chart it is written inside that sign's box, wherever that box happens to be.
Do houses run clockwise or counter-clockwise in a South Indian chart?
Houses run clockwise from the lagna's box. The lagna's sign is the 1st house, the next sign clockwise is the 2nd, and so on.
What is the difference between North Indian and South Indian charts?
North Indian charts fix the houses in place and let the signs move, with the lagna always in the top centre diamond. South Indian charts fix the signs and let the lagna move. Both show exactly the same chart.
Which chart style does Skybond use?
Skybond's app draws charts in the North Indian style, while Learn pages show both styles. PVR's own book also presents charts in both formats.
Drafted with AI from verified sources, fact-checked and edited by Skybond before publishing. Read more.