Glossary · concept
Lagna
Also written ascendant · rising sign
The Lagna is the ascendant — the zodiac sign climbing over the eastern horizon at the exact moment and place of your birth. In Jyotish it matters more than the Sun sign: it sets the first house, and from it every other house is counted, so it shapes the body, the temperament, and the overall direction of a life.
Because the horizon moves quickly, the Lagna changes sign roughly every two hours — which is why an accurate birth time matters so much. Without it, the rising sign cannot be known, so a chart is counted from the Sun's sign instead (Surya Lagna), with the planets where they stood at noon.
It is read alongside the moon sign (the nakshatra-bearing sign) and the sun sign — the three together, not any one alone.
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