A
B
- Benefic and malefic planets →Benefic and malefic describe a graha's inherent nature: benefics (saumya or shubha grahas) are gentle by nature, malefics (krura or papa grahas) harsh by nature.
- Bhava →Bhava means house in Vedic astrology: a sector of the chart counted from a reference point, usually the lagna (ascendant).
- Bhava chalit (chalit chakra) →Bhava chalit, also called chalit chakra or bhaava chakra, is a way of drawing a chart in which a house can start in one sign and end in another, taking the lagna's degree as the middle of the 1st house.
- Birth chart →Birth chart: a map of where the signs, planets and lagna sat at the moment you were born, drawn across 12 areas, one per sign.
- Birth time rectification →Birth time rectification means correcting a reported birth time before reading the chart.
C
- Chandra lagna →Chandra lagna means the Moon taken as the reference point of a chart: houses are counted from the Moon's sign instead of from the lagna. It is also called the Moon lagna.
- Chitra Paksha ayanamsa →Chitra Paksha ayanamsa: the ayanamsa convention accepted by most Vedic astrologers of India, also known as Lahiri.
- Combustion (astangata) →Combustion, called astangata in Sanskrit, is the condition of a planet in intimate conjunction with the Sun: as B.V. Raman puts it, such planets 'become utterly powerless'.
D
- Dasha →A dasha system divides a life into periods, sub-periods and so on, each ruled by a planet or a sign.
- Debilitation (neecha) →Debilitation (neecha) is the sign where a planet is at its weakest, the seventh sign from its exaltation sign.
- Dharma-Karmadhipati yoga →Dharma-Karmadhipati yoga forms when the lords of the 9th house (dharma sthana) and the 10th house (karma sthana) create a raja yoga through conjunction, mutual aspect or exchange.
- Digbala (directional strength) →Digbala is the strength a planet gets from direction: BPHS names the direction in which each planet is strong.
- Dignity →Dignity describes how a planet is placed by sign: exalted, debilitated, in its moolatrikona, or in its own sign (a sign it rules). It is a measure of planetary strength.
- Dosha →Dosha is Sanskrit for a fault or defect, and in Vedic astrology it names a chart condition that some texts or traditions treat as unfavourable.
- Drishti (aspect) →Drishti means aspect: the way a planet sees and influences another planet or house in the chart. There are two kinds, graha drishti (planetary aspect) and rasi drishti (sign aspect).
- Dusthana →Dusthana (also called trik sthana or trik house) is the group made up of the 6th, 8th and 12th houses of a birth chart.
E
F
G
H
J
K
- Kalapurusha (time personified) →Kalapurusha means time personified: the idea that the whole zodiac forms the body of a cosmic being, with each sign corresponding to one part of that body.
- Karaka (significator) →Karaka means 'one who causes'. P.V.R. Narasimha Rao (PVR) explains that the karaka of a matter is its significator, the one who causes events related to that matter.
- Kendra →Kendra (also called quadrant or angle) refers to the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses of a chart.
- Kuta →A kuta is a unit of agreement in kundali matching; B.V. Raman calls kutas 'the units of agreement'.
L
M
- Moolatrikona →Moolatrikona is a set stretch of one sign where a planet is strong.
- Moon sign →Moon sign is the sign the Moon was in when you were born.
- Movable, fixed and dual signs →Movable, fixed and dual signs are the three types (qualities) every sign belongs to, describing whether a sign tends toward movement, stability or a mix of both.
- Muhurta →Muhurta is an auspicious time chosen for starting a venture.
N
- Nakshatra →Nakshatra means lunar mansion in Vedic astrology: one of the 27 divisions of the zodiac, each 13 degrees 20 minutes wide.
- Navamsa (D9) →Navamsa (D9) is a divisional chart that divides each rasi (sign) into 9 equal parts of 3 degrees 20 minutes each.
- North Indian chart →North Indian chart means a diamond-shaped birth chart, one of three chart styles popular in India alongside the South Indian and East Indian. It is also called the diamond chart.
P
- Paksha (bright and dark half) →A paksha is half of the lunar month: shukla paksha is the bright half, when the Moon waxes, and krishna paksha is the dark half, when it wanes.
- Panchang →Panchanga means 'one with five limbs'.
- Parivartana (exchange) →Parivartana is Sanskrit for exchange: a situation where two planets each sit in the other's sign. It is also called parivartana yoga or a sign exchange.
- Planetary relationships (friends and enemies) →Planetary relationships describe which planets treat each other as friends, enemies or neutrals, both naturally and within a specific chart.
- Precession of the equinoxes →Precession of the equinoxes: a slow wobble of the Earth's axis that shifts the equinox point against the stars.
- Purushartha →Purushartha (also purushaartha) means purpose or goal of a human life. Hinduism names four: dharma, artha, kaama and moksha.
R
- Rahu and Ketu →Rahu and Ketu are the two 'shadow planets' (chaya grahas) of Vedic astrology, also called the north node and the south node.
- Raja yoga →Raja yoga is a combination formed when the lord of a kendra (angular house) is associated with the lord of a kona (trine house), pointing to power and prosperity.
- Rashi →Rashi means sign in Vedic astrology: one of the 12 equal divisions of the zodiac, each 30 degrees wide.
- Retrograde (vakra) →Retrograde means a planet appearing to stop, move backwards for a while and then regain its course; in Sanskrit it is vakra. The Sun and Moon never do this.
S
- Samhita →Samhita is the branch of Jyotish that explains how sky events affect the world at large.
- Sankranti →Sankranti is the Sun's entry into a new sign of the zodiac, which Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (BPHS) glosses as the 'entry of Sūrya in a new Rāśi'.
- Siddhanta →Siddhanta is the mathematical branch of Jyotish, also called Ganita.
- Sidereal zodiac →Sidereal zodiac: a zodiac anchored to stellar reference points, used in Vedic astrology.
- Sign lord →A sign lord (rashi lord) is the planet that rules a given sign.
- Skandha →Skandha refers to the three traditional branches of Jyotish: Siddhanta, Samhita and Hora.
- South Indian chart →South Indian chart means a square chart of 12 boxes around the edge, one of three chart styles popular in India. It is also called the South Indian style.
- Sun sign →Sun sign means the sign the Sun occupies at the moment of birth. In Vedic astrology it is measured in the sidereal zodiac.
T
U
V
- Varga →Varga refers to divisional charts (varga chakras), which divide each sign into n parts and map each part to a sign again.
- Vedanga →A Vedanga is one of the six auxiliary disciplines of the Vedas.
- Vimshottari dasha →Vimshottari dasha is, in the words of P.V.R. Narasimha Rao (PVR), the most popular dasha system among Vedic astrologers. A dasha is a period of life ruled by a planet.
W
Y
Drafted with AI from verified sources, fact-checked and edited by Skybond before publishing.