What a Kundli is
A Kundli (also called a birth chart, Janam Patrika or Janma Kundali) is a map of the sky at the exact moment and place of your birth. It records where the nine Vedic planets (Navagrahas) stood among the 12 houses (Bhavas) and 12 signs (Rashis). Since no two people are born at the same moment and place, each chart is individual. Twins born minutes apart have very similar charts, and then a reading depends on the exact birth time.
Reading a Kundli is a way of understanding the tendencies, karma and timing in your birth moment so that you can work with them. It does not tell fortunes. Even a basic reading can explain why some themes keep coming back in your life and which periods suit which kind of effort.
Step 1: Find your Lagna (Ascendant)
The Lagna is the most important single point in the Kundli. It is the zodiac sign rising on the eastern horizon at the moment of birth. It changes about every two hours, so you need your birth time with fair accuracy.
The Lagna matters because it fixes the whole house structure of the chart. Your Lagna sign becomes your 1st house, the next sign in zodiac order becomes the 2nd, and so on round the chart. The same planet in the same sign therefore sits in a different house, with a different meaning, for people with different Lagnas.
The Lagna also stands for your body, your outward personality and the lens through which the rest of the chart works. The Lagna lord, the planet that rules your Lagna sign, is one of the most important planets in your chart.
Step 2: Place the nine planets in their houses
With the Lagna known, find each of the nine Navagrahas and note which house it occupies:
- Surya (Sun): soul, father, authority, vitality, ego
- Chandra (Moon): mind, emotions, mother, instincts, nourishment
- Mangala (Mars): energy, courage, siblings, property, passion
- Budha (Mercury): intelligence, communication, business, skill, discrimination
- Guru (Jupiter): wisdom, dharma, children, wealth, teachers, grace
- Shukra (Venus): relationships, beauty, creativity, luxury, pleasure
- Shani (Saturn): discipline, karma, longevity, delays, service, renunciation
- Rahu: ambition, obsession, foreign links, material desire, karmic direction
- Ketu: spiritual liberation, detachment, past-life karma, the occult, sudden events
A planet in the 1st house shows through your personality. In the 4th it shows through home and emotional life, in the 7th through partnerships, and in the 10th through career. The house matters as much as the sign.
Step 3: Judge each planet's strength
Planets are not equally able to deliver what they signify. Much of that depends on dignity, which is the relationship between a planet and the sign it sits in:
- Exaltation (Uccha): a placement where the planet is traditionally considered especially capable of expressing its significations. Sun in Aries, Moon in Taurus, Jupiter in Cancer, Saturn in Libra, and so on.
- Own sign (Swakshetra): the planet sits in a sign it rules, which is strong and gives it full expression. Sun in Leo, Moon in Cancer, Jupiter in Sagittarius or Pisces, Saturn in Capricorn or Aquarius, and so on.
- Friendly sign: moderate strength. The planet shows its nature reasonably well.
- Neutral sign: neither helped nor hurt to any real degree.
- Debilitation (Neecha): a placement where the planet finds it harder to express its significations, so they often need conscious effort. Sun in Libra, Moon in Scorpio, Jupiter in Capricorn, Saturn in Aries, and so on.
So read where a planet is and also how strongly it stands. Dignity is only one factor. The planet's house, its aspects, the planets joined with it and the houses it rules all change the result.
Step 4: Read the houses for each area of life
For a first reading, look at the houses that matter most for the big areas of life:
- 1st house and the Lagna lord: health, personality, overall direction
- 2nd house lord: savings and family relationships
- 4th house lord and the Moon: emotional wellbeing, home, mother
- 5th house lord and Jupiter: children, creativity, intelligence, education
- 7th house lord and Venus: marriage and partnerships
- 9th house lord and Jupiter: fortune, spirituality, higher education
- 10th house lord and the Sun: career, public reputation, professional success
Step 5: Check your current Dasha
The birth chart shows what your life holds in potential. The Dasha system shows when particular planets take centre stage and bring their promises into play. Knowing which Mahadasha and Antardasha you are in, and how that planet is placed and how strong it is in your chart, is the most useful single piece of timing information you can have.
To see your full Kundli with planetary positions, house lords and your current Dasha, use our free birth chart tool. To go further, read about the 12 houses and the Dasha system.