Dictionary
Astrology dictionary
Vedic terms in plain words
Every term this site uses, 86 in all, in two sentences each: what it is and why it matters, with the page that explains it and the calculator that works it out.
86 terms, A to Z
Two sentences each, with the page that explains it and the calculator that works it out
A
- Abhijit muhurat अभिजीत मुहूर्त
Abhijit muhurat is the eighth of the fifteen muhurats of the day, around local midday, held good for most new starts. This site does not count it on Wednesdays, as the muhurat texts advise.
- Adhik maas अधिक मास
Adhik maas is an extra lunar month in which the Sun enters no new rashi, added about every 32 months to keep the lunar year in step with the seasons. Also called Purushottam maas, it is kept for worship, and new starts are put off in it.
- Amavasya अमावस्या
Amavasya is the new Moon, the 30th tithi, when the Moon cannot be seen. It is kept for the ancestors with tarpan and daan, and new work is usually not begun on it.
- Antardasha अंतर्दशा
An antardasha is one of nine sub-periods within a mahadasha, in the same order, each as long as its share of the cycle. The mahadasha sets the theme and the antardasha says which part of it comes forward now.
- Ashtakavarga अष्टकवर्ग
Ashtakavarga gives each graha a point (bindu) or none in every rashi from eight reference points, so each rashi carries a score. A graha passing through a rashi where it has four or more of its own points gives better results in gochar.
- Asta (combust) अस्त
A graha is asta, or combust, when it is so close to Surya (the Sun) that it cannot be seen, and it is held to lose strength. Guru asta and Shukra asta also close the wedding season, so no marriage muhurat falls in them.
- Atmakaraka आत्मकारक
In Jaimini astrology the atmakaraka is the graha with the highest degree within its rashi, read as the significator of the soul. It shows what a life is meant to learn, and it leads the other karakas such as the darakaraka for the spouse.
- Ayanamsa अयनांश
Ayanamsa is the gap between the zodiac measured against the stars and the one measured against the seasons, now about 24 degrees. This site uses Lahiri ayanamsa, the standard of the Indian government’s panchang.
B
- Beej mantra बीज मंत्र
A beej mantra is a graha’s short mantra built on its seed syllable, such as Om Sham Shanaishcharaya Namah for Shani. It is usually said 108 times on the graha’s weekday as part of its upay.
- Bhadra भद्रा
Bhadra is Vishti karana, the half-tithi held unfit for starting good work, which comes about eight times a month. Only a Bhadra on earth is avoided; one in svarga or patala, by the Moon’s rashi, does not touch work here.
- Bhagyank (destiny number) भाग्यांक
Bhagyank, the destiny number, is your whole date of birth, day, month and year, added and reduced to one digit from 1 to 9. It is read for the direction of life; 11, 22 or 33 on the way is kept as a note.
- Bhakoot dosha भकूट दोष
Bhakoot dosha forms when the two Moon rashis stand 2/12, 5/9 or 6/8 from each other, and the match scores 0 of the 7 bhakoot points. It is read for money, children and harmony, and is cancelled when the two rashis share a lord or their lords are friends.
- Bhava (house) भाव
A bhava is one of the twelve houses of the kundli, counted from the lagna, each standing for parts of life: the 1st for self, the 7th for marriage, the 10th for work. A graha gives its results through the house it sits in and the houses it rules.
- Brahma muhurat ब्रह्म मुहूर्त
Brahma muhurat is the span of about 48 minutes that begins about 96 minutes before sunrise. It is kept for prayer, meditation and study, when the mind is held to be clearest.
C
- Chandra rashi (Moon sign) चंद्र राशि
Chandra rashi is the rashi Chandra (the Moon) was in at your birth, and it is what most Indian families mean by "my rashi". Daily rashifal, gochar and Sade Sati are all counted from it.
- Chaturmas चातुर्मास
Chaturmas is the four months of the monsoon from Devshayani Ekadashi to Dev Uthani Ekadashi, when Vishnu is held to sleep. Weddings are not held in it, and many keep extra fasts and vows.
- Choghadiya चौघड़िया
Choghadiya splits the day and the night each into eight parts: Amrit, Shubh, Labh and Char are good, Udveg, Rog and Kaal are not. Traders and travellers use it to pick a good hour quickly.
D
- Dasha दशा
A dasha is a period of life ruled by one graha; the Vimshottari system runs a 120-year cycle of nine, beginning from the lord of your birth nakshatra. It tells when a promise in the chart is likely to come to pass.
- Dhaiyya (Shani ki dhaiyya) ढैय्या
Dhaiyya is the two and a half years Shani spends in the 4th (kantak) or 8th (ashtam) rashi from your Moon rashi. It is lighter than Sade Sati but is read as a time for care with home, health and money.
- Dosha दोष
A dosha is a placement held to bring trouble in some part of life, such as Mangal dosha for marriage or Kaal Sarp dosha. Most doshas have cancellations (parihar), so a dosha named is not the same as a dosha that stands.
- Drishti (aspect) दृष्टि
Drishti is a graha’s aspect: every graha looks at the 7th house from itself, and Mangal also at the 4th and 8th, Guru at the 5th and 9th and Shani at the 3rd and 10th. A house a graha looks at feels its influence, good or hard.
- Dusthana दुःस्थान
Dusthanas are the 6th, 8th and 12th houses, read for illness and rivals, sudden events and long life, and loss and spending. A graha ruling or sitting in one tends to struggle, though a dusthana lord in another dusthana can turn the trouble around (Viparita raja yoga).
E
- Ekadashi एकादशी
Ekadashi is the 11th tithi of each paksha, twice a month, kept as a fast for Vishnu, each with its own name such as Nirjala or Devshayani. The fast is broken at parana, a fixed window the next morning.
G
- Gajakesari yoga गजकेसरी योग
Gajakesari yoga forms when Guru stands in a kendra, the 1st, 4th, 7th or 10th house, from Chandra. It is read for wisdom, respect and lasting good name, fully so when both grahas are strong.
- Gana dosha गण दोष
Gana dosha is the clash of temperament between the ganas of the two birth nakshatras: deva (gentle), manushya (human) and rakshasa (fierce). A rakshasa with a deva or manushya partner scores low, unless the cancellations apply.
- Gochar (transit) गोचर
Gochar is the transit of the grahas through the rashis today, read from your Moon rashi as Phaladeepika teaches. Shani, Guru, Rahu and Ketu, which stay longest in a rashi, set the tone of a year.
- Graha ग्रह
A graha is one of the nine bodies a kundli is read from: Surya (Sun), Chandra (Moon), Mangal (Mars), Budh (Mercury), Guru (Jupiter), Shukra (Venus), Shani (Saturn), Rahu and Ketu. Rahu and Ketu are the two points where the Moon’s path crosses the Sun’s, always opposite each other.
- Grahan (eclipse) ग्रहण
A grahan is an eclipse: a surya grahan on an Amavasya when the Moon covers the Sun, a chandra grahan on a Purnima when the Earth’s shadow falls on the Moon. Where it is seen, families keep sutak before it and bathe and give daan after.
H
- Hora होरा
A hora is one of the 24 planetary hours of a day, each ruled by a graha in the order Surya, Shukra, Budh, Chandra, Shani, Guru, Mangal, the first at sunrise belonging to the day’s lord. A task is matched to a hora, such as Guru hora for learning.
I
- Ishta devata इष्ट देवता
Ishta devata is the deity a person is most drawn to worship, read in Jaimini astrology from the 12th house from the atmakaraka in the navamsa. Families use it to choose a daily prayer that suits the chart.
K
- Kaal Sarp dosha काल सर्प दोष
Kaal Sarp dosha forms when all seven grahas from Surya to Shani fall on one side, between Rahu and Ketu. It has twelve named types by the house Rahu is in, and a graha outside the axis can break it.
- Karaka कारक
A karaka is the graha that naturally signifies a matter, whatever the lagna: Guru for children, Shukra for the spouse, Surya for the father. A house is read with its karaka as well as its lord.
- Karana करण
A karana is half a tithi, so each day has two or more; there are eleven, of which Vishti is Bhadra. It is one of the panchang’s five limbs and is read when fixing a muhurat.
- Kendra केंद्र
Kendras are the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses, the four angles of the kundli. A graha in a kendra acts with force, and many raja yogas and the Mahapurusha yogas need one.
- Kharmas खरमास
Kharmas is the month when Surya is in Dhanu or Meen, from about mid-December to mid-January and mid-March to mid-April. Weddings, griha pravesh and other auspicious starts are not held in it.
- Koota कूट
A koota is one of the eight tests of kundli matching: varna 1 point, vashya 2, tara 3, yoni 4, graha maitri 5, gana 6, bhakoot 7 and nadi 8. Each looks at one side of the match, from temperament to health and children.
- Kundli (birth chart) कुंडली
A kundli is the chart of where the nine grahas stood in the twelve houses at the moment and place of your birth, drawn here in the North Indian diamond style. It is the base of every reading, from dasha and yogas to matching and muhurat.
- Kundli milan (gun milan) कुंडली मिलान (गुण मिलान)
Kundli milan, or gun milan, matches the Moon nakshatras of the bride and groom across eight kootas worth 36 points in all; 18 is the usual minimum. The doshas it finds, such as Nadi or Bhakoot, are read with their cancellations.
L
- Lagna (ascendant) लग्न
Lagna, the ascendant, is the rashi rising on the eastern horizon at the moment of birth; it changes about every two hours, so it needs an accurate birth time. It makes the 1st house of the kundli and decides which graha rules each house.
- Lagnesh लग्नेश
Lagnesh is the lord of the lagna, the graha that rules the rashi rising at birth. Its strength and house are read as the strength of the whole chart and of the person’s health and drive.
- Lal Kitab लाल किताब
Lal Kitab is a book of astrology written in Urdu in Punjab between 1939 and 1952, which reads each graha by its house and gives a pakka ghar to each. It is known for simple household remedies in place of long pujas or costly stones.
- Lo Shu grid लो शू ग्रिड
The Lo Shu grid is a 3×3 square filled with the digits of your date of birth, each in its fixed place. The numbers missing from it are read as lessons and the repeated ones as strengths in excess.
M
- Mahadasha महादशा
A mahadasha is the main period of one graha in the Vimshottari cycle: Surya 6 years, Chandra 10, Mangal 7, Rahu 18, Guru 16, Shani 19, Budh 17, Ketu 7 and Shukra 20. Its lord colours those years according to where it sits in your kundli.
- Mangal dosha (manglik) मंगल दोष
Mangal dosha, being manglik, forms when Mangal sits in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th or 12th house from the lagna; the Moon can raise its grade. It is read for marriage, and many charts have a cancellation that leaves it standing in none.
- Maraka मारक
Maraka means "killer": the 2nd and 7th houses and their lords, watched in matters of health and longevity. The texts read their dashas as times for care with health, never as a fixed fate.
- Moolatrikona मूलत्रिकोण
Moolatrikona is a stretch of a rashi where a graha works most like itself, ranked just below exaltation in strength. Shani’s, for example, is the first 20 degrees of Kumbh.
- Muhurat मुहूर्त
A muhurat is an auspicious time chosen for a start, such as a wedding, griha pravesh or vehicle purchase, from the tithi, nakshatra, day and lagna; it is also a unit of 48 minutes. A good muhurat avoids Rahu Kaal, Bhadra and the like.
- Mulank (root number) मूलांक
Mulank, the root number, is the day of the month you were born reduced to one digit from 1 to 9, so a 28th gives 1. It is read for your nature and lucky days; a master number on the way is kept as a note, not as the number.
N
- Nadi dosha नाड़ी दोष
Nadi dosha forms when the bride and groom are born in the same nadi, Adi, Madhya or Antya, and the match scores 0 of the 8 nadi points. It is read for health and children, and it has cancellations, such as the same rashi with different nakshatras.
- Nakshatra नक्षत्र
A nakshatra is one of the 27 lunar mansions of exactly 13°20′ each that divide the zodiac; your birth nakshatra is the one the Moon was in. It sets the first letter of a baby’s name, the dasha you are born into and much of kundli matching.
- Namank (name number) नामांक
Namank, the name number, is the sum of the letters of your name by the Chaldean values, reduced to one digit. It is matched against your mulank and bhagyank when choosing or changing a name.
- Neecha (debilitated) नीच
Neecha, debilitation, is the rashi opposite a graha’s exaltation, where it is weakest, such as Shani in Mesh. Certain placements cancel it (neecha bhanga) and can even turn it into a raja yoga.
- Nirayana (sidereal) निरयण
Nirayana, or sidereal, means the zodiac is measured against the fixed stars, as Vedic astrology does. Western sun signs are measured against the seasons, which is why a Vedic rashi usually falls one sign earlier.
P
- Pada (charan) पद (चरण)
A pada, or charan, is one quarter of a nakshatra, 3°20′ long, so the zodiac has 108 of them. Each pada gives a syllable for the baby’s name (naam akshar) and falls in a rashi of the navamsa chart.
- Pakka ghar पक्का घर
Pakka ghar is the house Lal Kitab gives each graha as its own, such as the 1st for Surya and the 8th for Shani. A graha in its pakka ghar is held steady, and the book reads every other placement against it.
- Paksha (Shukla, Krishna) पक्ष
A paksha is half a lunar month: Shukla paksha, the waxing fortnight up to Purnima, and Krishna paksha, the waning one up to Amavasya. Many vrats name their paksha, such as the Ekadashi of each half.
- Pancha Mahapurusha yoga पंच महापुरुष योग
The Pancha Mahapurusha yogas are five: Ruchaka (Mangal), Bhadra (Budh), Hamsa (Guru), Malavya (Shukra) and Shasha (Shani), each formed when that graha sits in a kendra in its own or exaltation rashi. Each gives the strengths of its graha in full.
- Panchak पंचक
Panchak is the span of about five days each month when Chandra passes through Kumbh and Meen, the last five nakshatras from the second half of Dhanishta. Some work, such as building a roof or a journey south, is put off in it.
- Panchang पंचांग
The panchang is the Hindu almanac of each day’s five limbs: tithi, vaar, nakshatra, yoga and karana, with sunrise, Rahu Kaal and the day’s muhurats. Families read it before a fast, a festival or any new start.
- Pitra dosha पितृ दोष
Pitra dosha is read from an afflicted Surya or 9th house, the house of father and ancestors, often with Rahu or Shani. Shraddha and tarpan in Pitru Paksha are its traditional remedy.
- Pitru Paksha पितृ पक्ष
Pitru Paksha is the waning fortnight of Ashwin (by the North Indian reckoning) given to shraddha for the ancestors, each kept on the tithi a parent passed away. It ends on Sarva Pitru Amavasya, and new starts are put off in it.
- Pradosh vrat प्रदोष व्रत
Pradosh vrat is kept for Shiva on the Trayodashi (13th tithi) of each paksha, with worship in the hour and a half around sunset. It takes its name from the weekday, such as Som Pradosh on a Monday.
- Purnima पूर्णिमा
Purnima is the full Moon, the 15th tithi, kept with a fast, the Satyanarayan katha or a holy dip. In North India each lunar month ends on Purnima (the purnimanta reckoning).
R
- Rahu Kaal राहु काल
Rahu Kaal is the eighth of the daylight hours that belongs to Rahu, at a different time each weekday and about an hour and a half long. New work, journeys and purchases are not begun in it.
- Raja yoga राज योग
Raja yoga forms when the lord of a kendra and the lord of a trikona join, look at each other or exchange houses. It promises rise, authority and standing, most of all in the dasha of the grahas that form it.
- Rashi राशि
A rashi is one of the twelve 30-degree signs of the zodiac, from Mesh (Aries) to Meen (Pisces), each ruled by a graha. On this site "your rashi" means your Moon rashi, the one rashifal, gochar and Sade Sati are read from.
- Rashifal (horoscope) राशिफल
Rashifal is the reading for a Moon rashi over a day, week, month or year. On this site the daily one comes from the Moon’s transit and the yearly one from where Shani, Guru, Rahu and Ketu stand from your rashi.
- Ratna (gemstone) रत्न
A ratna is the gemstone of a graha, worn to strengthen it, such as neelam for Shani or pukhraj for Guru. A stone for a graha that harms your lagna can do harm, so it is chosen from the kundli, never from the rashi alone.
- Rin (Lal Kitab debts) ऋण
In Lal Kitab a rin is a debt carried down the family line, nine in all, such as Pitru Rin, each read from certain grahas in certain houses. The book’s remedy is done by the whole family together on one day.
S
- Sade Sati साढ़े साती
Sade Sati is the seven and a half years Shani takes to pass the 12th, 1st and 2nd rashis from your Moon rashi, in three phases. It is known as a time of pressure and hard lessons, and its weight depends on Shani’s place in your own kundli.
- Sankranti संक्रांति
A sankranti is the day Surya enters a new rashi, twelve times a year, each starting a solar month. Makar Sankranti, the Sun’s entry into Makar in mid-January, is the best known and is kept with a holy dip and daan.
- Sutak सूतक
Sutak is the time before a grahan, twelve hours before a solar one and nine before a lunar one, to its end, kept only where the grahan is seen. In it the kitchen stops, temples close and no muhurat is taken.
- Swakshetra (own sign) स्वक्षेत्र
Swakshetra means a graha sitting in a rashi it rules, such as Mangal in Mesh or Vrishchik. A graha in its own sign is comfortable and gives steady, reliable results.
T
- Tithi तिथि
A tithi is a lunar day: the time the Moon takes to gain 12 degrees on the Sun, so a lunar month has thirty, from Pratipada to Purnima and back to Amavasya. The tithi at sunrise names the day, and most vrats and festivals are set by it.
- Trikona त्रिकोण
Trikonas are the 1st, 5th and 9th houses, the houses of fortune, merit and dharma. The lord of a trikona is held good for any lagna, and joined with a kendra lord it forms raja yoga.
U
- Uchcha (exalted) उच्च
Uchcha, exaltation, is the one rashi where a graha is at its strongest, such as Surya in Mesh or Shani in Tula. An exalted graha gives its best results, and the rashi opposite is its neecha.
- Upachaya उपचय
Upachayas are the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th houses, the houses of growth, whose results improve with time and effort. Hard grahas such as Shani and Mangal do well in them.
- Upay (remedy) उपाय
Upay are remedies for a troubled graha: mantra japa, daan (charity), vrat (fasting) and puja on its day. Each is offered as a suggestion with its reason, to strengthen what the graha gives or soften what it takes.
V
- Vaar वार
Vaar is the weekday, each ruled by a graha: Sunday by Surya, Monday by Chandra, Saturday by Shani. In the panchang a vaar runs from sunrise to sunrise, and a graha’s upay are kept on its own vaar.
- Vakri (retrograde) वक्री
A vakri (retrograde) graha seems, from the Earth, to move backwards through the rashis for a while; Surya and Chandra never do, and Rahu and Ketu always do. The texts hold that a vakri graha gains strength and revisits the matters of the house it left.
- Vedha वेध
Vedha is the obstruction of a good transit: when another graha stands in the house paired with it, the good result is held back. Surya and Shani, and Chandra and Budh, never obstruct each other.
- Vikram Samvat विक्रम संवत
Vikram Samvat is the year of the Hindu calendar most used in North India, 57 years ahead of the Western year for most of it. It begins on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, the start of the Hindu new year.
Y
- Yoga (in a kundli) योग (कुंडली में)
A yoga in a kundli is a named combination of grahas, such as Gajakesari or Raja yoga, that promises a particular result. Whether it delivers depends on the strength of the grahas that form it and the dasha that brings it forward.
- Yoga (in the panchang) योग (पंचांग में)
A panchang yoga is one of 27, found from the sum of the Sun’s and Moon’s longitudes, and one of the panchang’s five limbs. A few, such as Vyatipata and Vaidhriti, are avoided for new work.
- Yogakaraka योगकारक
A yogakaraka is a graha that rules both a kendra and a trikona for a given lagna, such as Shani for Vrishabh and Tula lagna. It is the best graha that lagna can have, and its dasha is usually a time of rise.
Common questions
What is the difference between lagna and rashi?
Lagna is the rashi rising in the east when you were born, which needs your birth time; your rashi on this site is the one the Moon was in. Most people have a different lagna and Moon rashi.
Why is my Vedic rashi different from my sun sign?
Vedic astrology counts the zodiac against the stars, and Western sun signs against the seasons; the two now stand about 24 degrees apart. Vedic rashis also usually mean the Moon’s rashi, not the Sun’s.
Is yoga in a kundli the same as yoga in the panchang?
No. A kundli yoga is a combination of grahas in a birth chart; a panchang yoga is one of 27 that the Sun and Moon form each day, one of the panchang’s five limbs.
See these words in your own chart
Your lagna, rashi, nakshatra, dasha and yogas, from your birth date, time and place.
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