Vedic astrology primer

You don't need to believe in astrology to build with this API — but knowing what each endpoint computes makes the data model obvious. This page maps concepts to endpoints.

The birth chart (Kundali)

A kundali — the Vedic birth chart — is a snapshot of the sky at a birth moment, from the birthplace. The API serves it as precise pieces (/ascendant, /planets, /houses/vedic, /navamsa, …), each one call and one request; /batch assembles as many as you need in a single HTTP request. Vedic astrology uses the sidereal zodiac: positions are measured against the fixed stars, offset from the Western tropical zodiac by the ayanamsa (~24° today; we use Lahiri, the Indian government standard). The chart has three primary layers:

• 9 planets (grahas) — Sun through Saturn plus Rahu/Ketu, the lunar nodes (mathematical points where eclipses occur, treated as shadow planets). Each has a longitude, sign, house, nakshatra, speed, and flags like retrograde or combust (/planets, /retrogrades).
• 12 houses (bhavas) — life areas (self, wealth, siblings, home, …), counted from the ascendant/lagna (/ascendant, /houses/vedic), the sign rising on the eastern horizon at birth. This is why birth time matters: the ascendant moves one full sign roughly every two hours.
• 27 nakshatras — a finer, Moon-oriented division of the zodiac (13°20′ each), each with four padas (quarters) and a ruling planet (/nakshatra). The Moon's nakshatra drives naming traditions, matchmaking and dasha timing.

Panchanga — the daily almanac

The panchanga (/panchanga) is the Hindu calendar's five limbs for any moment: tithi (lunar day), nakshatra, yoga, karana, and weekday. Around it sit the daily time windows: choghadiya and hora (auspicious planning periods — /choghadiya, /hora) and the three inauspicious spans Rahu Kala, Gulika Kala, Yama Gandam (/kala, /rahu-kala). /muhurta/score compresses a moment's auspiciousness into a single 0–100 number.

Dashas — planetary periods

Vimshottari dasha (/dasha/vimshottari, /dasha/current) is a 120-year cycle of planetary "rulerships" seeded by the birth Moon's nakshatra, nested three levels deep (mahadasha → antardasha → pratyantardasha). It's the timing engine of Vedic prediction — "what period is this person in right now" is /dasha/current.

Yogas and Doshas

Yogas (/yogas) are named planetary combinations — some auspicious (Gaja Kesari, Raj Yoga), some afflicting. The afflicting ones are doshas, and two matter enough commercially to have dedicated endpoints:

• Mangal Dosha (/dosha/manglik) — Mars in specific houses from the ascendant, Moon or Venus; the classic matchmaking blocker, reported with severity and classical cancellation rules.
• Kala Sarpa Dosha (/dosha/kaal-sarp) — all seven classical planets hemmed between Rahu and Ketu, with 12 named types.
• Sade Sati (/sade-sati) — Saturn's ~7.5-year transit over the natal Moon, with exact period boundaries.

Compatibility (Kundali Milan)

Traditional matchmaking (/compatibility) scores two charts on 8 kootas (Ashtakoot) totalling 36 points — varna, vashya, tara, yoni, graha-maitri, gana, bhakoot, nadi — each measuring a different axis (temperament, instinct, fortune, progeny…). /compatibility/ashtakoot returns the full table; /compatibility/summary just the score and verdict.

Strength systems

For deeper analysis: Shadbala (/shadbala) quantifies each planet's strength across six classical factors; Ashtakavarga (/ashtakavarga) scores each sign's supportiveness per planet — both fully numeric, well suited to ranking and ML features.