A short glossary of the Jyotish terms you'll encounter on the site.
The Lagna is the zodiac sign rising on the eastern horizon at the exact moment of your birth. In Jyotish it is more important than your Sun sign — it governs your physical body, your personality, and the overall direction of your life.
The ayanamsa is the difference between the tropical zodiac (used in Western astrology, fixed to the seasons) and the sidereal zodiac (used in Jyotish, fixed to the actual stars). Currently about 23–24 degrees. This is why your Jyotish signs differ from your Western signs.
The sky is divided into 27 nakshatras, each spanning 13°20'. Your Moon nakshatra shows your emotional nature, instincts, and inner self. It is used extensively in Panchang, compatibility matching, and naming traditions.
The Vimshottari Dasha system divides your life into planetary periods totalling 120 years. Each period is ruled by a planet whose themes become prominent during that time. Knowing your current Dasha lord helps understand what chapter of life you are in.
The Mahadasha is the longest chapter of the Vimshottari Dasha — a stretch of years ruled by a single graha (planet), running from 6 years (Surya / Sun) up to 20 (Shukra / Venus). Whichever graha rules your current Mahadasha sets the dominant theme of this part of life; its condition in your birth chart — the house it sits in, its dignity, the houses it rules — shapes how that period tends to unfold.
Within each Mahadasha run nine shorter Antardashas (sub-periods), one for every graha, always beginning with the Mahadasha lord itself. The Antardasha colours the major period: it is the interaction between the two lords — the major-period ruler and the sub-period ruler — that gives a span of months its particular flavour. The current Mahadasha–Antardasha pair is the most useful read on "what season am I in right now."
The Lagna changes sign every two hours. An accurate birth time — even to within 15 minutes — is essential for an accurate Lagna and house calculation. Without it, the chart can only show planetary positions, not the houses that give them meaning.
In Jyotish, gemstones are worn to strengthen a planet's positive influence. Each planet has a primary gem and substitutes. The lagna lord's gem is the most fundamental recommendation — it strengthens your overall vitality and life direction.
The Panchang is the Vedic almanac. Its five elements are Tithi (lunar day), Vara (weekday), Nakshatra (Moon's position), Yoga (Sun-Moon combination), and Karana (half lunar day). Together they describe the quality of each day. The home page shows a novice-friendly summary of the day — the five values with plain-English glosses, plus a one-line guidance reading. Signed-in users can open the full Panchang page (/panchang), which adds sunrise and sunset, the inauspicious time windows (Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda, Gulika), the auspicious Abhijit Muhurta, the day and night Choghadiya, intra-day transitions for each element, and detection of named yogas like Sarvartha Siddhi and Bhadra. Festivals and vrats live on a separate Vedic calendar page.
In Jyotish, the Moon sign is as important as the Lagna — sometimes more so. Where the Lagna shows your outer personality and physical existence, the Moon shows your inner world, emotional nature, and mind. Many Jyotish predictions are made from the Moon sign as the first house. This is why your Moon sign deserves as much attention as your rising sign.
In Jyotish, the Sun sign represents the soul, the father, vitality, and authority. It is less central than your Lagna or Moon — but it shapes how you express purpose and identity. Note that your sidereal Sun sign (used in Jyotish) usually differs from your tropical Western Sun sign by about one sign because of the ayanamsa.
A yogakaraka is a planet that simultaneously rules a trine house (1st, 5th, or 9th) and a kendra house (1st, 4th, 7th, or 10th) for your lagna. This dual rulership makes it uniquely powerful and beneficial — even if the planet is normally considered a malefic like Shani. Not every lagna has a yogakaraka, which makes it especially significant when one exists in your chart.
Your Kundli is the map you were born with — fixed, quiet, yours. Gochar is the weather moving across it today: the live planetary transits overlaid onto your natal houses. Your Today's Reading focuses on the three loudest signatures in the sky right now — typically the slow movers (Shani, Guru, Rahu) — and reads them in conversation with where they fall in your personal chart, not in the abstract. The reading rotates each day as the sky moves.
Tarabala (literally "star strength") rates the quality of a day by counting from your birth nakshatra (Moon mansion) to the nakshatra the Moon is transiting today. The count lands on one of nine taras — some auspicious (like Sampat, Sadhana, Param Mitra), some to handle with care (like Vipat, Pratyak, Naidhana). It is a quick read on whether the day's lunar texture is with you or asks for caution.
Chandrabala ("Moon strength") looks at where today's Moon sits relative to your birth Moon sign. Transits through certain houses from your natal Moon (such as the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 10th, and 11th) are traditionally read as supportive, others as mixed. Together with Tarabala it tells you how the Moon — the mind and mood-maker — is disposed toward you today.
The Shashtiamsha, or D60, is the most finely divided of the divisional charts — each sign split into sixty parts of just half a degree. Classical Jyotish treats it as the deepest karmic layer of the chart, carried over from past lives, and weights it heavily when judging a planet's ultimate quality. Because it changes every two minutes of birth time, it also asks the most of an accurate birth time.
In the Jaimini system, the Atmakaraka ("soul indicator") is the graha sitting at the highest degree within its sign across your chart — the planet that carries your soul's chief agenda for this life. Its placement, and the sign it falls in within the Navamsa (the Karakamsha), point to the deeper purpose and lessons a life is built around. It is the starting thread of the Soul & Karma reading.
Each reading closes with a single verse from the Bhagavad Gita, chosen by the themes of your lagna and either your Moon (for the birth-chart reading) or today's transiting Moon (for Today's Reading). The verse is offered as a contemplative companion — not a prediction. Ashoka adds a short personal commentary tying the verse to what the chart or sky is asking of you in this moment.
Sunrise to sunset is divided into eight equal segments, and sunset to next sunrise into another eight. Each segment carries one of seven names — Amrit, Shubh, Labh (auspicious), Char (neutral), Udveg, Rog, Kaal (inauspicious) — ruled by a planet, cycling in a fixed sequence. Which name lands first depends on the weekday. Choghadiya is consulted for choosing a moment to begin a task, journey, or meeting — preferring Amrit, Shubh, or Labh, and avoiding Kaal, Rog, and Udveg. The night Choghadiya works the same way for anything after sunset.
Beyond the five Panchang elements, certain combinations of vara (weekday) and nakshatra, or specific tithis, form named yogas that colour an entire day or window. Sarvartha Siddhi ("accomplisher of all aims") and Amrita Siddhi are powerfully auspicious — good for fresh starts. Bhadra (half of certain tithis) and Panchaka (Moon transiting five specific nakshatras) are traditionally avoided for new beginnings. Vyatipata and Vaidhriti are inauspicious yogas drawn from the third Panchang element. When none fire, the day is balanced — neither lifted nor weighed by these signatures.
Each day carries three recurring "shadow" windows when starting something new is traditionally avoided. They are computed by dividing the time from sunrise to sunset into eight equal parts; which part is shadowed depends on the weekday. Rahu Kaal is the hour or so ruled by Rahu, the lunar north node — the most widely observed of the three. It is the standard window to postpone fresh starts: signing contracts, beginning a journey, launching, marrying. Routine and ongoing work is fine; even auspicious rituals are sometimes started just before it and continued through. Yamaganda is "Yama's window" — the lord of death's time. Avoided for journeys especially. Gulika is the hour of Gulika (Mandi), Saturn's shadow son. Whatever begins in Gulika is said to repeat or persist, so it is avoided for one-off ventures but sometimes deliberately chosen for things you want to last. These are time-of-day signatures, not absolutes — they describe a quality, not a prohibition. Most practitioners simply prefer to start important things outside them when the choice is available.
Abhijit ("the unconquered") is the muhurta sitting astride solar noon — roughly 24 minutes centred on the moment the Sun crosses the local meridian. It is the eighth of the day's fifteen muhurtas (sunrise to sunset divided into fifteen equal slices), and traditionally regarded as universally auspicious — the one window that can override most other unfavourable timings. Its strength is its cleansing quality: action begun in Abhijit is said to be free of the day's ambient malefic colouring. It is the recommended fallback when no other clean window is available — for starting a journey, signing something important, or commencing ritual. Because it is anchored to local noon, it is short, fixed, and easy to find — but it does not fire on Wednesdays in some traditions, where it is held to be inauspicious instead. Use it as a reliable daily refuge when the rest of the day looks crowded with shadow windows.
These four times anchor everything else on this page. In Vedic timekeeping the day begins at sunrise, not midnight — the eight Choghadiya periods, Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda, Gulika, and Abhijit Muhurta are all derived by slicing the sunrise-to-sunset arc (and sunset-to-next-sunrise) into equal parts. The windows therefore move with your location: a sunrise twenty minutes earlier in the east shifts every other timing with it. Moonrise and moonset matter for moon-led observances — fasting until moonrise on Karva Chauth, Tarpana offerings near moonrise, or simply knowing when the night's main luminary will be present. On most days the Moon is up for roughly twelve hours, but around new and full moon its rising drifts noticeably day to day. All four are computed for your latitude and longitude — the true horizon at your location, with atmospheric refraction accounted for — and shown in your local timezone clock.
The almanac is a month-by-month view of the days the Hindu calendar marks as significant: festivals (Holi, Diwali, Akshaya Tritiya), the lunar fortnightly observances (Ekadashi, Purnima, Amavasya, Pradosh), and the solar ingresses (Sankranti). For each day, Ashoka offers a short reflection, the story behind the day, and a technical breakdown — tithi, nakshatra, the graha conditions that make the day what it is.
The almanac covers what the classical Hindu calendar agrees is significant — the lunar tithis (every Ekadashi, Pradosh, Purnima, Amavasya), the twelve annual sankrantis as Surya moves between sidereal signs, and the named festivals that recur on specific (month, paksha, tithi) combinations. Regional festivals that vary by tradition (Onam, Pongal, Bihu) are not in v1 — we wanted to ship a calendar that is true everywhere before adding the regional layer.
Every event date is computed with pyswisseph using the Lahiri ayanamsa — the same ephemeris and ayanamsa as the rest of the site. Tithi is the Moon's elongation from the Sun, divided into 30. Nakshatra is the Moon's sidereal longitude divided into 27. A festival like Holi falls when the (Hindu lunar month, paksha, tithi) triple matches the rule — so Holi is always Phalguna Shukla Purnima, even when the Gregorian date moves.
The hero, the upcoming-event banner, and the public month metadata are open to everyone. The full month grid and per-event detail — the Ashoka commentary, the story, the technical jyotish breakdown — open for verified members. The verification is light: confirm your email and the rest of the almanac unlocks. The gate is on the backend, not just the UI.
When the day's event has a clean transit-graha rule and you have a primary birth chart on file with a birth time, the detail panel shows a small "for you" footer — e.g. "this Purnima falls across your 5th house — children, creativity, and what you've been making." It is computed deterministically from where the transiting graha (Chandra for Purnima/Amavasya, Surya for Sankranti) sits in your whole-sign houses counted from your natal Lagna. No Claude call. The system is sidereal — Lahiri — so houses can differ from a Western chart you may have elsewhere.
About twelve months forward and one month back. A nightly cron extends the forward edge by one month at a time so the window always sits ~12 months ahead of today. If you do not yet see a festival you are looking for, it may be just past the window — the cron will catch it on the next run.
The festival entries are the named days of the Hindu year — Holi, Diwali, Akshaya Tritiya, Janmashtami, Hanuman Jayanti, Ram Navami, Mahashivaratri, and so on. They recur on specific (lunar month, paksha, tithi) combinations, so Holi is always Phalguna Shukla Purnima even when the Gregorian date moves around. The gold glyph is a stylised lamp — a diya — to signal celebration. About thirty all-India festivals are surfaced in v1; regional festivals (Onam, Pongal, Bihu) come later.
Ekadashi is the eleventh tithi of each lunar fortnight, sacred to Vishnu. There are twenty-four named Ekadashis across the year — Devshayani, Nirjala, Vaikuntha, Mohini, Apara, Yogini, and the rest — each carrying its own tradition and mood. Vrat (fasting, even a light one) is observed by many; the day is treated as a quiet pause for the mind to settle. The almanac names each Ekadashi and tells the story behind it. Jupiter green because Guru rules wisdom and devotion.
Purnima is the full moon — the fifteenth tithi of the bright fortnight, when the moon and sun sit opposite each other in the sky. Several major festivals fall on Purnimas (Holi, Hanuman Jayanti, Guru Purnima, Sharad Purnima, Kartik Purnima); even when no festival accompanies it, every Purnima is observed in some traditions for vrat, charity, or simply moonlit reflection. One Purnima per lunar month — twelve a year, or thirteen in an Adhik Maas year. Moon-blue, the obvious choice.
Amavasya is the new moon — the moonless night when the moon and sun share a sign. In old India this was a night for staying home, remembering the dead, and not beginning anything new. The most potent Amavasya is Mahalaya in Bhadrapada, which closes Pitru Paksha. Diwali is the famous exception: it falls on Kartik Amavasya and is celebrated with light precisely because the dark moon needs them. Rahu indigo, the eclipse-shadow graha.
Pradosh is the twilight hour around sunset on the thirteenth tithi of each fortnight — Shiva's hour. The window is small (~90 minutes around sunset) but the day is observed by Shiva devotees for vrat, silence, and the Pradosh Stotra. Two Pradoshes per lunar month — Shukla and Krishna paksha — so roughly twenty-four a year. Mars red because Pradosh sits with Shiva's fierce, transformative quality.
Sankranti is the moment Surya moves from one sidereal sign to the next — twelve a year, one each month. Mesha Sankranti (sun enters Aries) marks the Vedic solar new year and is celebrated as Baisakhi in Punjab, Vishu in Kerala, Pohela Boishakh in Bengal. Each Sankranti is a shift in the year's quality: harvests, the rains, the cold, the heat — they all begin with a Sankranti. Mercury teal because Surya here is a transit, a movement, and Budha rules motion of the mind.
Two pieces of orientation that sit under the month name. Vikram Samvat (VS) is the Vedic calendar era still used across north and western India. It starts roughly 57 years before the Gregorian year — so 2025 CE is Vikram Samvat 2082. The year boundary is Kartik Shukla 1 (the day after Diwali night), not January 1, so VS and the Gregorian year overlap differently depending on the time of year. Ritu is the Vedic six-season cycle, each lasting two lunar months: Vasant (spring, Falgun + Chaitra), Grishma (summer, Vaishakh + Jeth), Varsha (monsoon, Ashadh + Shravan), Sharad (autumn, Bhadrapad + Aso), Hemant (early winter, Kartik + Magshir), and Shishir (late winter, Posh + Maha). Different from the four Western seasons — Sharad in particular is the "Indian autumn", roughly Sept–Oct.
A tithi is a lunar day — the time the moon takes to gain 12° on the sun. There are thirty in a lunar month, so a tithi is a little shorter than a calendar day and can begin and end at any hour; the tithi running at sunrise names the day. Within a fortnight they are counted Pratipada (1st), Dvitiya (2nd), Tritiya (3rd) … up to the fifteenth. A paksha is a fortnight — half a lunar month. Shukla Paksha is the waxing (bright) half, from the new moon (Amavasya) up to the full moon (Purnima), when the moon grows each night; Krishna Paksha is the waning (dark) half, from Purnima down to Amavasya, when it shrinks. In Gujarati these are Sud and Vad. So "Krishna Dvitiya" is the second lunar day of the waning fortnight — two days past full.
The lunar year of twelve months runs about eleven days shorter than the solar year, so the two would drift apart — festivals sliding out of their seasons — if left uncorrected. Every 32–33 months an extra lunar month is inserted to resync them. That intercalary month is Adhik Maas, also called Purushottam Maas (after a name of Vishnu). The rule that marks it: a lunar month with no Sankranti — the sun does not cross into a new sidereal sign between the month's two new moons, so it stays in one sign for the whole month. Most months contain exactly one Sankranti; the leap month contains none. Adhik Maas takes the name of the regular month that follows it — so Adhik Jyeshtha comes before Nij Jyeshtha ("nij" meaning the true or regular month) — and inherits that month's ritu (season). Traditionally it is treated as especially auspicious for devotion, charity, fasting, and pilgrimage.