What is a birth chart (kundali) in Vedic astrology?
A birth chart, or kundali, is a map of where the planets and the ascendant sat in the zodiac at the moment you were born. The Vedic ascendant (lagna) is the sign rising on the eastern horizon, and it sets the starting point for the chart's 12 houses.
You'll learn
- What a kundali records
- How houses map onto signs
- Reading a North Indian chart
- North, South and East styles
- What a chart can and cannot say
Input
Date, time and place of birth
12 signs
30° each, numbered 1 (Aries) to 12 (Pisces)
12 houses
Counted from the ascendant, one sign each
9 grahas
7 planets plus Rahu and Ketu
Before thisSun sign vs moon sign vs ascendant in Vedic astrology
A map drawn at your birth
A kundali is a map of which sign each planet and the ascendant occupied when you were born. Everything else builds from that snapshot.
What goes into the chart and why
In Sanskrit a chart is called a chakra, a wheel. The drawing has 12 areas, each standing for one of the 12 signs, and each planet is written in the area of the sign it occupies.
The birth chart is also called a janma kundali, usually shortened to kundali. Classical texts such as BPHS use this word for the chart drawn at birth.
Positions are measured in degrees from the start of the zodiac, as seen from the earth, from 0° to 360°. Each sign covers 30°, so a planet at 221°37' sits in Scorpio, 11°37' into that sign.
A Vedic chart holds nine grahas, a word usually translated as planets: the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn, plus Rahu and Ketu, the north and south nodes of the Moon. Rahu and Ketu are mathematical points, not physical bodies. The chart also marks the lagna, the sign rising on the eastern horizon at your birth.
One way to frame what the chart holds: the signs stand for situations and influences that enter your life, and the planets stand for the people who play a role in it.
How the 12 houses sit on the signs
The sign holding the ascendant becomes the 1st house, and the other signs follow in order. In whole-sign houses, which Skybond uses, one sign is one house.
Counting houses from the ascendant
Houses are counted from the lagna. The sign holding the lagna is the 1st house, the next sign is the 2nd, and so on through the 12th.
After Pisces comes Aries again, so the count wraps around the zodiac. Unless another reference point is named, houses are always counted this way.
In the sample chart used on this page, Cancer holds the ascendant, so Cancer is the 1st house, Leo the 2nd, Virgo the 3rd, and so on around to Gemini as the 12th.
This chart, drawn from the signs the planets occupy, is called the rashi chart and is written D-1. Vedic astrology also uses divisional charts, called vargas, which divide each sign into parts and are read as charts of their own, each for a specific area of life. Those are separate charts; the birth chart in the basic sense is the D-1.
Reading a North Indian chart
- 01Find the top centre diamond: that is the 1st house
- 02Read the number in it: 4 means Cancer
- 03Count the houses counter-clockwise: the 2nd is top left
- 04Read the planets written in each house
Four steps: find the ascendant box, read its sign number, count counter-clockwise, then read the planets.
The four steps on the sample chart
The North Indian chart is a diamond of fixed boxes. The box marked 'Asc', short for ascendant, always holds the 1st house. The number written inside each box is that sign's number: 1 for Aries, 2 for Taurus, through 12 for Pisces.
In the standard layout, the 1st house is the top centre diamond, the 2nd is to its left at the top, and the houses run counter-clockwise around the diamond. That puts the 10th house in the right-hand centre diamond.
Worked on the sample chart: the 'Asc' box shows 4, so the 1st house is Cancer. Counting counter-clockwise, Leo is the 2nd house and holds the Moon. The box showing 10 is the bottom centre diamond, opposite the 1st: the 7th house, Capricorn, holding the Sun and Saturn.
Once you know the pattern, you read any North Indian chart the same way: number in the Asc box first, then counter-clockwise from there.
One chart for the whole course
Skybond's lessons reuse one sample chart, computed for teaching. It is not a real person's chart.
Every placement in the sample chart
Here is the full sample chart, grouped by house. The ascendant is Cancer at 12°.
- 2nd house (Leo): Moon at 17°
- 3rd house (Virgo): Jupiter at 21°
- 5th house (Scorpio): Rahu at 25°
- 7th house (Capricorn): Sun at 26° and Saturn at 27°
- 8th house (Aquarius): Mercury at 8°
- 9th house (Pisces): Venus at 11°
- 11th house (Taurus): Ketu at 25°
- 12th house (Gemini): Mars at 15°, marked retrograde, which means it appears to move backwards in the sky
Houses 4, 6 and 10 are empty, meaning no planet sits in those signs.
This chart is used throughout the course so you can follow one example instead of learning a new chart each lesson. No meaning is attached to any placement here; the chart is only a set of positions.
Same chart, three layouts
North, South and East Indian styles carry the same information. Only the layout differs.
How the chart styles differ
Three chart styles are popular in India: South Indian, North Indian and East Indian. The North Indian chart is a diamond shape.
South and East Indian charts are sign-based: each sign always sits in the same box. The North Indian chart is house-based: each house sits in a fixed position, and the ascendant is always in the same box, with the sign numbers changing from chart to chart.
In the South Indian layout, Pisces is the top-left box, with Aries, Taurus and Gemini following along the top, and the signs running clockwise around the square. The ascendant is marked in the box of the sign that holds it.
Skybond draws charts in the North Indian style, so the lessons here use the diamond.
What you need to draw one
Three inputs: date, time and place of birth. Time needs the most care, because the ascendant changes fast.
Why birth time matters so much
To draw a birth chart you need the date, time and place of birth. The ascendant changes sign roughly every two hours, so an uncertain birth time can shift the ascendant, and with it every house. The Moon changes sign every two to three days.
Courses treat the chart diagram itself as the first skill to learn. Komilla Sutton's course spends its first week on the North Indian and South Indian charts alongside the sidereal zodiac and whole signs. AstroCentral's 'Chart Reader' module has you look at an actual birth chart and identify key placements in North Indian, South Indian, East Indian and Western formats.
What a chart is and is not
A chart is a map of positions. Reading it well is a separate skill, learned one step at a time.
How to hold a chart lightly
A chart on its own is just positions: planets in signs, signs in houses. Interpretation is a separate craft. OnlineJyotish suggests treating interpretations 'as traditional associations rather than promises'.
The next lessons take the chart apart gently: planets, signs and houses, one at a time, each with its own lesson.
Check yourself
In the sample chart, which sign is the 10th house?
Show answer
Cancer is the 1st house, so counting forward, the 10th is Aries. It is one of the three empty houses.
Why is the ascendant always in the same box in a North Indian chart?
Show answer
The North Indian style is house-based: each house has a fixed position, and the 1st house always sits in the top centre diamond.
A planet sits at 221°37'. Which sign is it in?
Show answer
Each sign covers 30°, and 221°37' falls 11°37' into Scorpio.
Key takeaways
- A kundali maps where the planets and ascendant sat at your birth
- Nine grahas: seven planets plus Rahu and Ketu, two mathematical points
- The sign holding the ascendant is the 1st house; count from there
- North Indian charts are house-based; South and East Indian are sign-based
- A chart records positions; reading it is a separate, learnable skill
Next lessons
Conventions and sources
- Sidereal zodiac
- True Chitra Paksha ayanamsa
- Whole-sign houses
Skybond uses the sidereal zodiac with the True Chitra Paksha ayanamsa and whole-sign houses.
Sources for this page
- Komilla Sutton, Foundation syllabus
- P.V.R. Narasimha Rao, Vedic Astrology: An Integrated Approach
- Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (R. Santhanam translation)
- OnlineJyotish, Vedic astrology lessons
- AstroCentral, Learn Vedic Astrology
- Skybond chart engine documentation (jyotishganit) (internal documentation)
- 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 kundali mean?
Kundali is the Sanskrit word for a birth chart, the map of planetary positions at the moment of birth. Classical texts use it for exactly this chart.
How many planets are in a Vedic birth chart?
Nine grahas: the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn, plus Rahu and Ketu, the north and south nodes. Rahu and Ketu are mathematical points, not physical bodies.
Which chart style does Skybond use?
Skybond draws charts in the North Indian style, the diamond where each house sits in a fixed position. South Indian and East Indian charts carry the same information in sign-based layouts.
How accurate does your birth time need to be?
Fairly accurate. The ascendant changes sign about every two hours, so a birth time off by an hour or more can change it. The Moon changes sign every two to three days.
Drafted with AI from verified sources, fact-checked and edited by Skybond before publishing. Read more.