Glossary

Every term. Defined.

Vedic, Western, Chinese, Tarot, Numerology — the vocabulary of every system we compute, in plain English.

Vedic

Amavasya

New moon — the 30th tithi where Sun and Moon share the same longitude.

Ayanamsa

The angular gap between the tropical zodiac and the sidereal zodiac.

Choghadiya

Vedic time windows dividing day and night into auspicious / inauspicious 90-minute slots.

Dasha

A planetary period in Vedic time-mapping — when a specific graha activates in the life.

Dosha (Astrological)

An afflictive planetary configuration in a chart — Mangal Dosha, Nadi Dosha, etc.

Graha

A Vedic celestial body — Sun, Moon, five visible planets, plus the lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu.

Gun Milan

Vedic 36-point marriage compatibility based on Moon nakshatra matching.

Ketu

The South Lunar Node — point where the Moon's orbit crosses the ecliptic descending.

Kundli

The Vedic birth chart — a snapshot of planetary positions at the moment of birth.

Lagna (Ascendant)

The zodiac sign rising on the eastern horizon at the moment of birth.

Lahiri Ayanamsa

The default ayanamsa used by official Indian astronomy, adopted by N.C. Lahiri in 1955.

Mangal Dosha

The Mars affliction — said to cause marital discord.

Muhurat

An auspicious time window for starting a specific event — wedding, business, travel.

Nakshatra

A lunar mansion — one of 27 equal slices of the sidereal zodiac.

Navamsa (D9)

The Vedic 9th divisional chart — derived from natal positions, read for marriage and dharma.

Paksha

A lunar fortnight — either Shukla (waxing) or Krishna (waning).

Panchang

The Vedic five-fold almanac — tithi, vara, nakshatra, yoga, karana for any given day.

Purnima

Full moon — the 15th tithi where Sun and Moon are 180° apart.

Rahu

The North Lunar Node — point where the Moon's orbit crosses the ecliptic ascending.

Rahu Kaal

A daily ~90-minute inauspicious window ruled by Rahu.

Rashi (Moon Sign)

The Vedic Moon sign — the sign the Moon occupied at birth.

Sade Sati

Saturn's 7.5-year transit over the natal Moon sign — three phases of restructuring.

Sidereal Zodiac

The zodiac fixed to the actual constellations, used in Vedic astrology.

Tithi

A lunar day — the time it takes the Moon to gain 12° on the Sun.

Vimshottari Dasha

The standard 120-year planetary period system in Vedic astrology.