What Is a Kundli? Birth Chart Explained Simply

What a kundli shows

Think of a kundli as a photo of the sky, taken the minute you were born. It does not show the stars as you would see them at night. It shows where nine important objects were, and which part of the sky they were in.

Indian astrology calls these nine objects grahas. They are:

The Sun and the Moon
Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn
Rahu and Ketu

Rahu and Ketu are not real planets you can see. They are two points in the sky where the Moon's path crosses the Sun's path. Astrology still counts them, because eclipses happen there.

The sky in a kundli is split two ways. First into 12 signs, called rashis, like Mesh (Aries) or Meen (Pisces). Then into 12 houses, where each house is one part of your life.

What you need to make one

You need three things:

Your date of birth. This places the Sun and the slower planets.
Your time of birth. This is the most important one. The sign rising in the east, called your lagna, changes about every two hours. A small change in time can change your whole chart.
Your place of birth. The sky looks different from Delhi and from Chennai at the same minute, so the city matters too.

If you don't know your exact time, you can still make a kundli. Your planets and your Moon sign will usually be right. Only the houses may move a little.

The three things to look at first

When you open your kundli, start with these three:

Lagna, your rising sign. It shows how people see you and how you start things.
Rashi, your Moon sign. It shows your mind and your feelings. In India, "your rashi" always means your Moon sign.
Nakshatra, the star group the Moon was in. There are 27 of them, and yours shapes your name letters and your dasha.

North Indian and South Indian charts

You may see your kundli drawn in two different ways. Both show the same thing.

North Indian chart: a square with a diamond inside. The houses stay in the same place, and small numbers show which sign is in each house. Your 1st house is always the top middle diamond.
South Indian chart: a square of 12 boxes around the edge. Here the signs stay in the same place, and your lagna is marked with a small line.

If one style feels confusing, switch to the other. The planets and their meanings do not change.

Is a kundli the same as a horoscope?

Not really. The daily horoscope in a newspaper uses only your Sun sign, so it says the same thing to millions of people. A kundli uses the exact minute and place you were born. Two people born on the same day in different cities, or a few hours apart, will have different kundlis.

How to make your kundli for free

On Trunaksh, type your name, your date and time of birth, and your city. Your kundli is ready in about 10 seconds. You can then tap any house to read what it means in simple words, in English or Hindi.