Guides / Vedic astrology
What is a Kundli?
A Kundli is the Vedic birth chart: a map of the sidereal sky at a birth date, time, and place, usually drawn as the D1 rashi chart.
A map of the sky at birth
A Kundli (also called a Janam Kundli or Vedic birth chart) is a map of the sky at a particular moment and place. The date sets the planetary positions. The time and location set the eastern horizon, which becomes the Lagna, and from that the twelve houses.
In Inner Light, the Vedic result is this D1 chart: planets in signs, houses when birth time is known, Nakshatra and Pada for the Moon and Lagna, and the current Vimshottari dasha period when time is known.
What the D1 chart shows
The D1, or rashi chart, is the foundation of Jyotish. Each of the twelve signs occupies a house counted from the Lagna. Planets (Grahas) sit in those signs. Traditional reading begins here: which planet is in which sign, in which house, and how those placements relate.
North Indian, South Indian, and East Indian drawings are three ways of showing the same twelve signs. Inner Light can draw all three. The calculation does not change when the style changes.
What you need in order to calculate one
Date and place are enough for planetary signs. Birth time is required for Lagna, houses, and dasha. If the time is unknown, the chart still shows the planets in signs; the rising sign and houses wait until a clock time is available.
Common questions
- Is a Kundli the same as a Western natal chart?
- Both start from the same sky. A Kundli uses the sidereal zodiac and is usually drawn as a square D1 chart of signs and houses. A Western natal chart uses the tropical zodiac and is usually drawn as a wheel with aspects.
- What is a D1 chart?
- D1 is the rashi chart, the first and primary divisional chart. It shows planets in the twelve signs, and houses from the Lagna when birth time is known.