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A Jyotish glossary

Plain-English definitions of 173 Jyotish terms — grahas, bhavas, dignities, dashas, nakshatras and the rest — each linked to the lesson that teaches it.

A dasha activates; it does not invent: A dasha calls on what the natal chart already promises. It cannot deliver something the chart never carried.
A nakshatra's span: Each of the 27 nakshatras spans exactly 13°20′ of the zodiac.
A sampler, not the full catalog: The classical tradition names hundreds of yogas; this track samples only a handful. Not having one of these is completely normal.
A sign is a flavour, not a verdict: A sign colours whatever sits in it; it never decides an outcome on its own.
A yoga is a combination: A yoga is a specific combination of planetary placements — not a single fact like a sign or nakshatra.
A yoga is one factor among many: A yoga names a pattern; it never overrides dignity, dasha, or the rest of the chart, and its presence is not a promise.
Antardasha duration: An Antardasha's length is proportional: (Antardasha lord's years × Mahadasha's years) ÷ 120.
Antardasha order: Within a Mahadasha, all 9 lords run again in the same cyclic order — but starting from the Maha lord itself, not from Ketu.
Anuradha: Ruled by Saturn; deity Mitra (god of friendship and alliance); symbol a lotus or triumphal archway; deva gana. Theme: friendship, devotion, cooperative success.
Ardra: Ruled by Rahu; deity Rudra (the storm god); symbol a teardrop; manushya gana. Theme: storms, intense transformation through destruction.
Ashlesha: Ruled by Mercury; deity the Nagas (serpent deities); symbol a coiled serpent; rakshasa gana. Theme: hypnotic embrace, cunning, coiled inner energy.
Ashtakavarga and transits: A transit through a sign well-stocked in that graha's own BAV tends to deliver; through a poor one, less so.
Ashwini: Ruled by Ketu; deity the Ashwini Kumaras (divine healers); symbol a horse's head; deva gana. Theme: swift, pioneering healing.
Aspects can be one-way: Except for the mutual 7th, a special aspect is not returned — Saturn seeing the 3rd does not mean the 3rd sees Saturn.
BAV — one graha's chart: Bhinnashtakavarga: the 8-contributor score for one subject graha across all twelve signs, 0 to 8 per sign.
Benefic vs malefic: Grahas have a natural temperament — gentle (saumya) or harsh (krura).
Bhakoot dosha: Moon signs in a 2/12, 5/9 or 6/8 relation score zero of seven, unless a cancellation applies.
Bharani: Ruled by Venus; deity Yama (god of death and dharma); symbol the yoni (womb); manushya gana. Theme: bearing burdens, the cycle of life and death.
Bhava vs rashi: Signs are the backdrop (quality of sky); houses are the stage (areas of life) counted from the lagna.
Bhukti = Antardasha: Bhukti is not a different period — it's the same sub-period, just the more common term in some regional traditions.
Budha — intellect: Mercury signifies intelligence, speech, and commerce.
Budhaditya Yoga: Sun and Mercury share a sign — clarity of intellect and expression. Common, because Mercury never strays far from the Sun.
Cancellations: Both major doshas have classical cancellation clauses that popular reports routinely omit.
Chandra — the mind: Moon signifies manas, emotions, the mother, and nourishment.
Chandra-Mangala Yoga: Moon and Mars share a sign — emotional drive married to action; classically tied to resourcefulness and earning.
Chandrabala: The Moon's transit position relative to the natal Moon — some houses support an undertaking and some don't.
Chitra: Ruled by Mars; deity Tvashtar/Vishwakarma (the divine architect); symbol a bright jewel; rakshasa gana. Theme: brilliance, design, craftsmanship.
Combustion (asta): A graha too close to the Sun is burnt up — present in the chart but hard to express outwardly.
Counted from the Moon: Classical gochara counts transit houses from the natal Moon's sign, not from the lagna.
Counting an aspect: Count inclusively from the graha's own house as 1, exactly as houses are counted from the lagna.
Dasha phala — what a period delivers: A dasha lord delivers what it rules, from where it sits, in the condition it's in — the same judgement as any other placement.
Debilitation (neecha): The sign opposite exaltation, where a graha is least at home — a handicap, not a verdict.
Detection is deterministic: Whether a chart has a given yoga is checked mechanically from planetary positions — never guessed or AI-generated.
Dhana Yoga: The lord of the 2nd or 11th house (wealth houses) is conjunct the lord of the 1st, 5th, or 9th house — supportive of accumulating resources.
Dhanishta: Ruled by Mars; deity the eight Vasus; symbol a drum; rakshasa gana. Theme: rhythm, wealth, fame through music or leadership.
Directional strength (dig bala): Each graha has one house where it is at its most effective, regardless of sign.
Drishti — the gaze: A graha influences the house it looks at, not only the house it sits in. Aspects are counted whole-sign from the occupied house.
Element × modality: Four elements × three modalities = 12 signs, each cell filled exactly once. Naming both pins a sign uniquely.
Exaltation (uccha): The one sign where each graha expresses itself most fully. Seven grahas, seven exaltation signs.
Exaltation & debilitation: Each graha has a sign of greatest strength (uccha) and greatest weakness (neecha).
Finding your house lords: House -> its sign -> the sign's ruler. Because the lagna sets the signs, the same house has a different lord for different people.
Fixed per-lord durations: Each of the 9 lords governs a fixed number of years: Ketu 7, Venus 20, Sun 6, Moon 10, Mars 7, Rahu 18, Jupiter 16, Saturn 19, Mercury 17.
Gajakesari Yoga: Jupiter sits in a kendra (1st/4th/7th/10th house) from the Moon — associated with wisdom, recognition, and steady fortune.
Graha Maitri, Gana, Bhakoot, Nadi: The heavier four, carrying 26 of the 36 points: mental wavelength, temperament, emotional harmony, and constitution.
Guru — wisdom: Jupiter signifies wisdom, dharma, children, and expansion.
Hasta: Ruled by the Moon; deity Savitar (skillful aspect of the Sun); symbol a hand; deva gana. Theme: skill, dexterity, craftsmanship.
House families: Kendras (1/4/7/10) are pillars, trikonas (1/5/9) are fortune, dusthanas (6/8/12) are challenge, upachayas (3/6/10/11) grow with time.
Houses 1-3: 1st = self & body, 2nd = wealth/family/speech, 3rd = courage, effort & younger siblings.
Houses 10-12: 10th = career/status, 11th = gains/networks/elder siblings, 12th = loss, letting go & liberation.
Houses 4-6: 4th = home/mother/property, 5th = children/creativity/past merit, 6th = health, service & obstacles.
Houses 7-9: 7th = partnership/marriage, 8th = longevity/transformation/hidden things, 9th = fortune, dharma & father.
How the navamsa is built: Each sign splits into 9 parts of 3°20′ — the same span as a nakshatra pada. 12 × 9 = 108 navamsas around the zodiac.
How to speak a reading: Frame findings as tendencies and choices, cite what they rest on, and never predict death, disease or disaster.
It uses the Moon only: Every koota is derived from the two Moon nakshatras and Moon signs. The rest of both charts is untouched by the count.
Jyeshtha: Ruled by Mercury; deity Indra (king of the gods); symbol a circular talisman or umbrella; rakshasa gana. Theme: seniority, protection, the burden of power.
Kantaka & Ashtama Shani: Saturn in the 4th or 8th from the natal Moon — shorter Saturn pressures often confused with Sade Sati.
Krittika: Ruled by the Sun; deity Agni (fire god); symbol a razor; rakshasa gana. Theme: cutting through, purification by fire, sharp discrimination.
Look for repetition: A theme stated by three independent factors is a real signal; one stated once is noise.
Magha: Ruled by Ketu; deity the Pitris (ancestors); symbol a royal throne; rakshasa gana. Theme: lineage, authority, tradition.
Mangala — energy: Mars signifies courage, drive, siblings, and conflict.
Mrigashira: Ruled by Mars; deity Soma (the Moon god); symbol a deer's head; deva gana. Theme: searching, curiosity, gentle seeking.
Mula: Ruled by Ketu; deity Nirriti (goddess of dissolution); symbol a bundle of roots; rakshasa gana. Theme: getting to the root, uprooting to rebuild.
Nadi dosha: Both partners in the same nadi scores zero of eight — the single biggest deduction, with classical cancellations.
Natural friendship: Grahas are natural friends, neutrals or enemies. Sitting in a friend's sign helps; an enemy's sign hinders.
Navamsa basics: Each pada corresponds to one sign of the navamsa (D9) — a ninth division of the zodiac.
Neecha Bhanga Raja Yoga: A debilitated graha whose weakness is cancelled because the lord of its sign sits in a kendra — the fall becomes the making.
Own sign & moolatrikona: A graha in a sign it owns is at home; moolatrikona is a specially strong portion of one owned sign.
Padas — the quarter divisions: Each nakshatra splits into 4 padas of 3°20′ each, used for finer placement and navamsa.
Padas are the doorway: A nakshatra pada and a navamsa are the same 3°20′ arc, which is why pada tables give the D9 sign directly.
Parivartana — sign exchange: Two grahas each sitting in the other's owned sign — a strong two-way link between the houses they rule.
Periods to avoid: Rahu Kalam and the other daily inauspicious eighths — fixed by weekday, computed from sunrise and sunset.
Pratyantardasha duration: A Pratyantardasha's length is proportional: (Pratyantardasha lord's years × Antardasha's years) ÷ 120 — the same rule one level deeper.
Pratyantardasha order: Within an Antardasha, all 9 lords run again in the same cyclic order, starting from the Antardasha lord itself.
Promise vs. timing: The natal chart shows promise (tendencies); the dasha (with transits) shows timing — when those tendencies are likely to ripen.
Punarvasu: Ruled by Jupiter; deity Aditi (mother of the gods); symbol a bow and quiver; deva gana. Theme: renewal, return, expansive nourishment.
Purva Ashadha: Ruled by Venus; deity Apas (the water goddess); symbol a fan or elephant tusk; manushya gana. Theme: early/invincible victory, purification.
Purva Bhadrapada: Ruled by Jupiter; deity Aja Ekapada (the one-footed goat, a fierce form of the fire principle); symbol the front legs of a funeral cot; manushya gana. Theme: intense transformation, spiritual fire, penance.
Purva Phalguni: Ruled by Venus; deity Bhaga (god of fortune and marital bliss); symbol the front legs of a bed; manushya gana. Theme: pleasure, rest, creativity.
Pushya: Ruled by Saturn; deity Brihaspati (guru of the gods); symbol a cow's udder or lotus; deva gana. Theme: nourishment, care, the most auspicious nakshatra.
Rahu & Ketu: The shadow planets — the points where the Moon's path crosses the Sun's.
Rahu & Ketu — the shadows: The lunar nodes: Rahu obsesses and grasps, Ketu detaches and dissolves.
Raja Yoga: A kendra-house lord and a trikona-house lord are conjunct or in sign exchange — classically tied to authority and achievement.
Reading a chart: A graha sits in a rashi and a bhava, measured from the lagna, at a nakshatra.
Reading a house through its lord: A house's affairs tend to flourish when its lord is well-placed (kendra/trikona, own/exalted) and ask for effort when the lord is in a dusthana or debilitated — a first read, not a verdict.
Reading a lifetime as 9 blocks: The 9 Mahadashas run back-to-back in fixed cyclic order, starting from your janma-nakshatra lord, covering the full 120-year window.
Reading SAV scores: The average sign holds about 28; high signs support their houses' matters and low ones ask for more effort.
Reading the total: 18 of 36 is the conventional threshold, with bands above it — but a band is a starting point, not a verdict.
Reading vargas without over-reading: A varga refines the rasi chart; it never contradicts it into irrelevance, and needs an accurate birth time to mean anything.
Retrogression (vakri): A graha appearing to move backwards. Classically strong, but turned inward rather than outward.
Revati: Ruled by Mercury; deity Pushan (protector of travelers and herds); symbol a fish or a drum; deva gana. Theme: nourishment, guidance, safe passage to journey's end.
Rohini: Ruled by the Moon; deity Prajapati/Brahma (the creator); symbol an ox-cart; manushya gana. Theme: growth, fertility, charm.
Rules per activity: Each kind of undertaking has its own ruleset; a good day for travel is not automatically a good day for a wedding.
Sade Sati: Saturn transiting the 12th, 1st and 2nd from the natal Moon — about 7½ years in three phases.
SAV — the whole chart's map: Sarvashtakavarga: the seven BAVs summed per sign, giving each sign a score out of 56 and the chart a total of 337.
Shani — discipline: Saturn signifies time, discipline, labor, and longevity.
Shatabhisha: Ruled by Rahu; deity Varuna (god of cosmic waters); symbol an empty circle; rakshasa gana. Theme: healing, secrecy, solitary depth.
Shravana: Ruled by the Moon; deity Vishnu; symbol an ear or three footprints; deva gana. Theme: listening, learning, fame through knowledge.
Shukla & krishna paksha: The waxing and waning halves of the lunar month.
Shukra — love: Venus signifies love, beauty, art, and comfort.
Sidereal zodiac & ayanamsa: Jyotish fixes the zodiac to the stars; the ayanamsa is the offset from the tropical zodiac.
Strength is weighed, never a verdict: Dignity adjusts how much weight a placement carries. No single factor decides an outcome.
Structure vs. timing: The natal chart says what is promised; the dasha says when it is called on. Never read one for the other.
Surya — the soul: Sun signifies atma, vitality, the father, and authority.
Swati: Ruled by Rahu; deity Vayu (the wind god); symbol a young shoot blown by wind; deva gana. Theme: independence, flexibility, movement.
Tarabala: The nine taras counted from a person's birth star to the day's star — five favourable, three unfavourable, one sensitive.
The 12 bhavas: The houses — twelve areas of life, counted from the lagna.
The 12 rashis: The twelve 30-degree signs of the zodiac, Mesha to Meena.
The 120-year cycle: The Vimshottari dasha runs the 9 Vimshottari lords through fixed periods that sum to 120 years.
The 27 nakshatras: The lunar mansions — 27 equal divisions the Moon travels through.
The air signs: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius — exchange, balance, and abstraction.
The bindu: One point, awarded when a contributor stands at a house-distance the classical table lists as favourable.
The birth chart: The sky frozen at birth — a fixed map computed from time and place.
The Chandra lagna: Reading the chart a second time from the Moon, as if it were the ascendant.
The dasamsa (D10): Each sign in ten parts of 3°; the chart read for career, profession and public action.
The day runs sunrise to sunrise: A vedic day begins at local sunrise, so a panchanga is location-specific and midnight means nothing to it.
The dignity ladder: A graha's comfort in a sign runs exalted → moolatrikona → own → friend → neutral → enemy → debilitated.
The earth signs: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn — resources, refinement, and durable structure.
The eight contributors: The seven sign-owning grahas plus the lagna — hence ashta (eight) varga.
The eight kootas: Varna 1, Vashya 2, Tara 3, Yoni 4, Graha Maitri 5, Gana 6, Bhakoot 7, Nadi 8 — the weights are 1 through 8, summing to 36.
The fire signs: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius — initiative, self-expression, and conviction.
The five limbs: Tithi, vaara, nakshatra, yoga and karana — the five components of a day, all anchored to sunrise.
The four elements (tattvas): Every sign belongs to fire, earth, air, or water — repeating in that order around the zodiac.
The gochara table: Phaladeepika ch. 26 lists, for each graha, the houses from the Moon where its transit is favourable.
The lagna: The ascendant — the sign rising on the eastern horizon at the moment of birth.
The limits of a number: A bindu count measures accumulated positional support, not outcome — and never overrides dignity, dasha or the rest of the chart.
The limits of election: Muhurta improves the conditions a thing starts under. It does not override the natal promise, and perfect timing does not exist.
The limits of the count: It measures two Moon positions. It cannot measure two people, and a low score is an instruction to look further, not to refuse.
The limits of the method: Jyotish describes tendencies and windows. It does not deliver certainties, and a reading should never induce fear.
The Moon's daily motion: The Moon moves roughly one nakshatra per day, completing the zodiac in about 27-28 days.
The nine grahas: Seven visible grahas plus Rahu and Ketu, the two lunar nodes.
The order of operations: Structure before detail: lagna, then lords and houses, then contacts, then timing, then patterns.
The origins of Jyotish: Jyotish is a Vedanga — the 'eye of the Veda', the science of light and time.
The Pancha Mahapurusha family: Five yogas, one rule: a planet in its own or exalted sign, sitting in a kendra from the Lagna — Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn each get their own version.
The Panchanga: The Vedic almanac's five limbs: tithi, vara, nakshatra, yoga, karana.
The sign lords: Seven grahas own the twelve signs: Sun and Moon own one each, the other five own two, mirrored outward from Cancer and Leo.
The special aspects: Mars also sees the 4th and 8th, Jupiter the 5th and 9th, Saturn the 3rd and 10th — the only three grahas with extra aspects.
The teaching lineage: From Parashara and Jaimini through the classical masters to the modern revival under PVR.
The three modalities: Chara (movable), sthira (fixed), and dvisvabhava (dual) — how a sign starts, holds, or adapts. The cycle repeats four times.
The universal 7th aspect: Every graha aspects the 7th house from itself — the one aspect that is always mutual.
The Vipareeta Raja family: A dusthana lord sitting in a dusthana: Harsha (6th), Sarala (8th), Vimala (12th) — triumph through adversity rather than in spite of it.
The water signs: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces — feeling, depth, and dissolution.
The wheel of the sky: The rashi and nakshatra grids drawn over one 360-degree circle, both starting at 0 degrees Mesha.
The wider varga family: Sixteen divisionals in the classical shodashavarga, each assigned to a department of life.
Transit speeds: The Moon takes 2¼ days per sign, Saturn about 2½ years — so slow grahas set the backdrop and fast ones the texture.
Transits (gochara): The moving sky read against the fixed birth chart — the source of timing.
Transits activate; they don't override: A transit triggers what the natal chart and running dasha already carry. It cannot create what isn't there.
Uttara Ashadha: Ruled by the Sun; deity the Vishvadevas (universal gods); symbol a small elephant tusk; manushya gana. Theme: lasting/universal victory.
Uttara Bhadrapada: Ruled by Saturn; deity Ahirbudhnya (serpent of the deep); symbol the back legs of a funeral cot; manushya gana. Theme: quiet depth, patient wisdom, hidden strength.
Uttara Phalguni: Ruled by the Sun; deity Aryaman (god of patronage and contracts); symbol the back legs of a bed; manushya gana. Theme: patronage, generosity, alliance.
Vargottama: A graha in the same sign in D1 and D9 — the two charts agree, and the placement is notably reinforced.
Varna, Vashya, Tara, Yoni: The lower-weighted four: temperament class, mutual influence, shared fortune, and instinctive affinity.
Vedha — obstruction: A favourable transit is blocked if another graha occupies the specific house that obstructs it.
Vishakha: Ruled by Jupiter; deity Indra-Agni (paired gods of power and fire); symbol a decorated archway (torana); rakshasa gana. Theme: focused, determined achievement.
Weighting the layers: Not every factor counts equally. Strength, repetition and proximity decide how loud a signal is.
What a divisional chart is: Divide each 30° sign into N equal parts and map each part to a sign; the result is a whole new chart from the same moment.
What a graha is: A graha is a celestial body or point that 'grasps' — an influence read in the chart.
What a house lord is: The sign in a house has a ruling planet; that planet becomes the house's lord and carries its matters wherever it goes.
What ashtakavarga is: A point system where each sign accumulates bindus from eight contributors, per graha and in total.
What gochara is: The current positions of the grahas read as houses counted from a natal point — normally the natal Moon.
What guna milan is: An eight-factor comparison of two natal Moon positions, scored out of 36 points.
What muhurta is: Electional astrology — choosing an auspicious moment to begin something, rather than interpreting a given one.
What Sade Sati is not: It is a period of demand, consolidation and pruning — not a sentence, not uniform, and not a disaster.
What the D9 shows: Marriage and partnership, dharma, and a graha's inner strength — the promise behind the rasi chart's appearance.
When a star spans two signs: Nakshatra and rashi boundaries don't line up, so a nakshatra can straddle two rashis; the pada decides which.
When factors disagree: Most charts contain contradictions. The skill is describing the tension honestly, not resolving it away.
Where the count starts: The nakshatra count begins at 0° Aries (sidereal) with Ashwini.
Who is doing the looking: A benefic's gaze supports a house; a malefic's pressures it. The aspect's meaning depends on the aspecting graha.
Why divisions exist: A varga magnifies one department of life, so two people born minutes apart with the same rasi chart can differ sharply.
Why your dasha starts mid-cycle: Your dasha clock starts already in progress — set by how far the Moon had travelled into its birth nakshatra.
Your ascendant (your lagna): The sign rising in the east at your birth — the 1st house and frame of your own chart.
Your birth star (janma nakshatra): The nakshatra the Moon occupied at birth — your personal star and the seed of your dasha.
Your Moon sign (janma rashi): Your 'rashi' is the sign the Moon occupied at birth — the seat of the mind.
Yuti — conjunction: Two or more grahas sharing one sign. The strongest form of contact: they act on the same house together.