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Vedic astrology
Jyotisha explained on its own terms: nakshatras, dashas, vargas and the maths underneath.
12 articles.
What is my nakshatra? How to find your lunar mansion
Your Janma Nakshatra is the lunar mansion the Moon sat in the moment you were born: a 13°20′ segment of the sidereal zodiac, not a single star, and not your Sun sign. You need your birth time to pin it down.
6 min read
Am I Manglik? How to check your birth chart
Mangal Dosha, Kuja Dosha, 'Manglik': one traditional idea about Mars and marriage. What it claims, how it's checked, and why it isn't a sentence.
6 min read
When does Sade Sati end? How to find your dates
Saturn's seven-and-a-half-year passage over your Moon sign ends when it clears the sign after it. Here are the three phases, and how to date yours.
5 min read
The ayanamsa: the maths behind the sidereal zodiac
One number that converts a Western chart into a Vedic one, and several competing versions of it.
4 min read
Reading a South Indian vs North Indian chart format
Two square diagrams of the same chart that look nothing alike, and one crucial difference in what stays fixed.
5 min read
Dashas: the planetary periods that time your life
A 120-year cycle divided among nine planets: the most distinctive timing system in astrology.
5 min read
Jyotisha's astronomical legacy: Aryabhata and Indian positional astronomy
A rotating Earth, correct eclipse mechanics and a sidereal year accurate to minutes, in 499 CE.
4 min read
Why Vedic astrology prioritises your Moon sign
Ask an Indian astrologer your sign and they mean your Moon, which is a different question entirely.
4 min read
The 27 nakshatras: your lunar mansion explained
Twenty-seven divisions of the zodiac, and the layer Western astrology has no equivalent for.
4 min read
Rahu and Ketu: the shadow planets
Two points where the Moon's orbit crosses the Sun's path, and the reason eclipses were once explained by a severed demon.
4 min read
Vargas and the Navamsa chart
Sixteen charts from one birth moment, and the arithmetic problem that creates.
4 min read
Kundli matching and Manglik dosha, examined fairly
A scoring system used to decide real marriages, in which the two people being matched are never consulted.
11 min read
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