VEDIC ASTROLGY LESSON 15

Chakras (charts)
A “chart” (Sanskrit name: chakra) is prepared with the information of rasis occupied by all planets. For
preparing any chart, we need to first determine the rasis occupied by all planets, upagrahas, lagna and
special lagnas. In the visual representation of a chart, there are 12 boxes (are some other visual areas)
with each representing a rasi. All planets, upagrahas and lagnas are written in the boxes corresponding
to the rasis they occupy. There are 3 popular ways of drawing charts in India: (1) South Indian style chart
ruled by Jupiter, (2) North Indian style diamond chart ruled by Venus and (3) East Indian style Sun chart
ruled by Sun. In this book, all the charts will be given in formats (1) and (2). Out of the three chart
formats, (1) and (3) are rasi-based and (2) is bhava-based. In rasi-based chart drawing formats, a rasi is
always at a fixed position. Ar is always in one particular position and Ta is in another position and so on.
Planets, lagna etc are placed in the box (or the visual area) representing the rasi occupied by it. In
bhavabased chart drawing formats, a bhava (house) is always at a fixed position. Lagna (denoted by
“Asc” for ascendant) is always in a particular visual area of the chart and the 2nd, 3rd etc houses are in
fixed positions.

Example 1: Let us take Lord Sree Rama’s rasi chart. The rasis occupied by planets and lagna are given
below. Ar – Sun; Ta – Mercury; Ge – Ketu; Cn – Ascendant (lagna), Moon & Jupiter; Li – Saturn; Sg –
Rahu; Cp – Mars; Pi – Venus.
Rasi chart for the above data is drawn in South Indian, North Indian and East Indian formats in Figure 1.
In the south Indian chart, notice the boxes containing Ar, Ta, Ge etc. In this format, these rasis will
always be in the same positions. The same holds for the east Indian format. The north Indian format is
different. Note the box containing “Asc” (ascendant – lagna). The same box will show the house
containing lagna in all north Indian format charts. It may be Ar in one chart, Ta in another and Ge in yet
another. The number corresponding to the rasi (1 for Ar, 2 for Ta, 3 for Ge and so on) is shown in the
box. For example, the box with “Asc” has 4 in it and it shows Cn. So the 1st house is in Cn. Please note
the order in which houses are visually arranged in this chart. The same pattern will be used in all charts.
NOTE: Some people draw the east Indian format charts with an enclosing rectangle.

Varga chakras (divisional charts)

We saw that charts can be drawn with the information of which planet occupies which rasi. Based on
the longitude of a planet, we can find the rasi occupied by it and mark its position in rasi chart. In
addition, we have what are known as “divisional charts” (Sanskrit name: varga chakras). These are based
on dividing rasis into 2 parts, 3 parts, 4 parts and so on. We divide each rasi into n parts and map each
part to a rasi again. Based on the rasis occupied by planets in these divisional mappings, we draw
divisional charts (or harmonic charts). Each divisional chart throws light on a specific area of one’s life. In
each divisional chart, we find houses and analyze the chart as if it were an independent chart. The
science of Vedic astrology stands on the basis of 4 pillars – (1) grahas or planets, (2) rasis or signs, (3)
bhavas or houses, and, (4) varga chakras or divisional charts.

1. Nakshatras (constellations)
In Vedic astrology, the zodiac is divided into 27 nakshatras. Each nakshatra has a length of 360º/27 = 13º
20'. The first nakshatra, for example, stretches from the beginning of Aries to 13º 20' in Aries. The
second nakshatra stretches from there to 26º 40' in Aries. The third nakshatra stretches from there to
10º in Taurus. The list of nakshatras with the respective starting and ending points is given in Table 2.
The table also gives the “Vimsottari lords” of all nakshatras. This will be used later. Each nakshatra is
again divided into 4 quarters. They are called padas (legs/feet). The length of a nakshatra pada is 3º 20'.

For the purpose of some special charts like Kota Chakra and Sarvatobhadra Chakra, we consider 28
nakshatras. The last quarter of Uttarashadha is known as “Abhijit”. However, we consider 27 nakshatras
for all other purposes.
In the next lesson we will understand about solar and Lunar calendars, thithi and month etc.,

To be continued in Lesson 16