The Indian horoscope and what it does differently

Indian astrology, Jyotisha, literally the science of light, works with the same sky as Western astrology and yet says different things. That is not down to the interpretation but to a few decisions that are taken before any interpreting begins. Anyone who knows them sees at once why an Indian chart looks so unfamiliar.

A different zero point

Western astrology counts the zodiac from the spring equinox, that is, from the position of the Sun at the start of spring. This is called tropical. Indian astrology counts from the fixed stars, which is called sidereal. The two zero points coincided once, one and a half to two thousand years ago, and have been drifting apart ever since, because the Earth's axis slowly wobbles. The process is called precession; it widens the gap by about one degree every 72 years, and today the gap comes to roughly 24 degrees.

In practice this means: your Indian sun sign is in most cases one sign earlier than the one you know as yours. Anyone born in early April who has always thought of themselves as an Aries finds themselves in Pisces in the Indian chart. This is not a miscalculation on either side, but a different agreement about where the circle begins.

Nine grahas instead of ten planets

Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are interpreted, and with them Rahu and Ketu, the two lunar nodes. These are the points where the Moon's orbit crosses the path of the Sun, that is, the places where eclipses happen. They are not celestial bodies, and they are still treated as full players. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto do not appear in classical practice, because the system was finished long before they were discovered. You will find more on the individual celestial bodies and their meanings on the planets page.

The Moon sets the tone

When someone in India is asked about their sign, they often name not the sun sign but the sign of the Moon. Finer still is the division into 27 nakshatras, lunar mansions of 13 degrees 20 minutes each. Each one carries a name, a ruling graha and an emblem of its own. The nakshatra the Moon stood in at birth is the way into the whole reading, and it is at the same time the starting point for reckoning time. That explains why an Indian reading so often begins with the emotional life and not with the will.

Dashas: when something's turn comes

This is where the biggest difference from Western practice lies. Indian astrology does watch the movement of the current sky as well, but alongside it stands a second measure of time that manages without it. The most widespread method is called Vimshottari, and it divides a life into periods of fixed length, one for each graha: Ketu 7 years, Venus 20, Sun 6, Moon 10, Mars 7, Rahu 18, Jupiter 16, Saturn 19, Mercury 17. Together that comes to 120 years.

The place in this chain where your life starts is set by the birth nakshatra. Each period is divided again into sub-periods in the same order, and those again in turn. The result is a grid of time that is fixed from birth onwards. A long Saturn period is not a threat for all that, but a statement about the subject of those years, not about their outcome.

The drawing looks different

Instead of a circle you find a square divided into twelve compartments. In the North Indian style the houses stay fixed and the signs move from chart to chart; in the South Indian style the signs stay fixed and the rising sign is marked. It is the same birth chart, only drawn differently.

Not to be confused

Two words that sound almost alike in German mean completely different things. The Indian horoscope is what this page is about: a practice of calculation handed down in writing, with tables of its own, a time reckoning of its own and a commentary literature centuries old. The American Indian horoscope, by contrast, assigns animals such as falcon, beaver or wolf to periods of birth, and comes neither from India nor from any indigenous tradition of North America. Anyone looking for the one and landing on the other has gone astray over a single letter.

If you want to see how the Western calculation is built up by contrast, start with astrology, or go straight to the ascendant, which holds the same key position in both systems.