How to Read a Kundli

Handwritten, printed or from an app — reading any kundli starts with a few simple things. Here they are, one after another.

What a kundli is

A kundli is a map of the sky at the moment of birth.

It records which sign the Sun, the Moon and the other grahas were in at that moment.

Three details make it: the date, the time and the place of birth.

Handwritten, printed or the app's — every kundli is read the same way.

The shape of a kundli

In Gujarat a kundli is a square with slanting lines inside it. This is called the North Indian style.

It has 12 boxes: 4 kite-shaped ones in the middle, and 8 triangles around them.

Each box is called a "bhava", a house.

In South India the kundli is made of plain square boxes. Here we learn the style used in Gujarat.

The first house, and counting the twelve

The kite-shaped box at the top centre is always the first house.

From there count to the left, against the clock: second, third… twelfth.

The fourth house is the kite on the left, the seventh the one at the bottom, and the tenth the one on the right.

The houses sit in the same places in every kundli; only the numbers written inside change.

The numbers in the boxes are rashis

Every box holds one number from 1 to 12. It is not the house's number; it is the rashi's.

1 Mesha, 2 Vrishabha, 3 Mithuna, 4 Karka, 5 Simha, 6 Kanya, 7 Tula, 8 Vrischika, 9 Dhanu, 10 Makara, 11 Kumbha, 12 Meena.

For example, a box with 5 in it holds Simha.

An old handwritten kundli has the numbers in Gujarati script: ૧ ૨ ૩ ૪ ૫ ૬ ૭ ૮ ૯ ૧૦ ૧૧ ૧૨.

Finding the lagna

The rashi rising in the east at the moment of birth is the lagna. Here "lagna" does not mean marriage.

The number in the first house, the top centre box, is the lagna rashi.

Some kundlis write "લ" or "લગ્ન" in that box.

The lagna changes about every two hours, so the birth time has to be right.

The grahas' short forms

A kundli writes the first letter of a graha, not its whole name.

સૂ Sun, ચં Moon, મં Mars, બુ Mercury, ગુ Jupiter, શુ Venus, શ Saturn, રા Rahu, કે Ketu.

"શ" is Saturn and "શુ" is Venus; look at these two with care. Some old kundlis write "બૃ" (Brihaspati) for Jupiter.

A graha is counted as sitting in the house, and the rashi, of the box it is written in.

What the twelve houses are about

Each house is about one part of life.

A house with no graha in it is not counted as empty; its rashi and the rashi's lord are looked at.

• The first house is about oneself, one's nature and the body.
• The second house is about wealth, family and speech.
• The third house is about courage, brothers and sisters, and effort.
• The fourth house is about home, mother and property.
• The fifth house is about children, education and the mind.
• The sixth house is about daily work, service, effort and competition.
• The seventh house is about marriage, the life partner and partnership.
• The eighth house is about sudden change, deep study and inheritance.
• The ninth house is about fortune, father, dharma and long journeys.
• The tenth house is about work, career and position.
• The eleventh house is about gains, income and friends.
• The twelfth house is about expenses, foreign lands, letting go and solitude.

The Moon sign and the nakshatra

The number in the box that holds "ચં" is the Moon sign. What people call "my rashi" is usually this.

The sky is counted in 27 parts, each called a nakshatra. The one the Moon was in at birth is the birth nakshatra.

Each nakshatra has 4 padas. By tradition the first letter of a name is taken from the nakshatra's pada.

Let us read the sample kundli together

Now find "ચં". It is in the eleventh house, where 9 is written, so the Moon sign is Dhanu.

Now read one box. The fifth house has 3 and "ગુ (Ju)". So Jupiter is in Mithuna, in the fifth house.

Recall what the house is about. The fifth house is about children, education and the mind.

With this much, a start has been made on reading any kundli. Understanding a kundli means looking at all of it together; that is the work of someone who knows. If you have a question about any house or graha, ask Bhuvaji.

The Bhuvaji app is coming soon on the Play Store.