What is an Atmakaraka?

The Atmakaraka is the chara karaka of the self: the one of the seven classical grahas, Sun through Saturn, standing at the highest degree within its own sign. Only the degree matters, not which sign it occupies. Its navamsa sign is called the Karakamsha, and both are shown at the top of this page.

Why does this page use seven karakas and not eight?

Because it follows the seven-karaka scheme of the Jaimini Sutras, which is the one K.N. Rao's school uses and the most widely applied. An eight-karaka variant that includes Rahu also exists in circulation. The two are not equivalent: adding Rahu shifts every rank below wherever it falls, so the Atmakaraka and Darakaraka can differ between the two schemes for the same chart.

What is the Arudha Lagna?

The Arudha Lagna, A1, is the arudha pada of the first house. It is found by counting from the ascendant to the sign its lord occupies, then counting that same number of signs on again from the lord. If the result falls on the ascendant itself or on the seventh from it, Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 29.4 to 5 moves it to the tenth sign from wherever it landed, which is the tenth from the ascendant in the first case and the fourth from the ascendant in the second. Jaimini's Upadesha Sutras call this pada the Pada Lagna and BPHS calls it the Lagna Pada; those Sutras and the Uttara Kalamrita apply no displacement at all, and the full kundli result's Jaimini tab prints both signs where the schools differ.

How is Jaimini rashi drishti different from ordinary planetary aspects?

Rashi drishti is cast by signs, not by grahas, and it follows modality: movable signs aspect the fixed signs except the adjacent one, fixed signs aspect the movable signs except the adjacent one, and dual signs aspect each other. Parashari graha drishti instead has every graha aspect the seventh from itself, with special extra aspects for Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The two systems often disagree about whether one point sees another, and this page does not mix them.

The Upapada is A12, the arudha pada of the twelfth house, computed by the same rule as every other arudha: count from the twelfth house to its lord, then the same number on from the lord, with the exception rule applied if the result lands on the twelfth or the sixth from it. Jaimini practice treats it as the primary marriage indicator, which is why this page shows it alongside the other eleven padas.

What is argala in Jaimini astrology?

Argala is intervention on a sign, cast from the 2nd, 4th and 11th from the reference point, with the 5th and 9th giving a trikona argala only when the intervening graha is a benefic or exalted. Each argala is answered by one specific obstruction: the 12th answers the 2nd, the 10th the 4th, the 3rd the 11th, and the 9th the 5th. The obstruction holds when its bodies are not fewer than the argala's, following Jaimini sutra 1-1-8.

Do I need an exact birth time for a Jaimini reading?

It depends which part. The chara karakas depend only on each graha's degree within its sign, and apart from the Moon those degrees barely move over a few minutes, so the karaka ranking is usually robust to a small error. The arudha padas and the argala frames are counted from houses, which are counted from the ascendant, and the ascendant changes sign roughly every two hours. An uncertain birth time therefore threatens the padas and the argala far more than the karakas.

Jaimini

Jaimini Analysis

Chara Karakas, Atmakaraka/Karakamsha, Arudha padas, Upapada and Argala.

Birth Details

Jaimini chara karakas & arudha padas

Chara karakas: significators assigned by degree

Jaimini's chara karakas are variable significators, assigned by ranking the seven classical grahas, Sun through Saturn, by their degree within their own sign, highest first. The highest is the Atmakaraka, the significator of the self; then in order Amatyakaraka, Bhratrikaraka, Matrikaraka, Putrakaraka and Gnatikaraka; and the lowest degree is the Darakaraka, the significator of the spouse. This page prints the full ranking with each graha's degree so the ordering can be checked.

Only the fraction of the sign counts, never which sign it is, so a graha at 28 degrees of Pisces outranks one at 27 degrees of Aries. This app uses the seven-karaka scheme of the Jaimini Sutras, the one K.N. Rao's school follows. An eight-karaka variant that admits Rahu also exists, and it shifts every rank below wherever Rahu lands, so a reading taken elsewhere may not agree with this one. The page also shows the Karakamsha, the navamsa sign of the Atmakaraka.

Arudha padas: the computed image of a house

An arudha pada is computed, not observed. Find the lord of a house, count from the house to the sign that lord occupies, then count that same number of signs on again from the lord; the sign you land on is that house's arudha. Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 29.4 to 5 then displaces a result that lands on the house itself or on the seventh from it, and its two clauses state one rule: take the tenth sign from wherever the pada landed.

Counted from the house that is the tenth in the first case and the fourth in the second, not the tenth in both. Jaimini's own Upadesha Sutras and the Uttara Kalamrita apply no displacement at all, so the two schools can place a pada six signs apart on the same chart; the full kundli result's Jaimini tab prints both signs wherever they part.

All twelve are computed, A1 through A12. A1, the arudha of the ascendant, travels under three names across two schools: Jaimini's own Upadesha Sutras call it the Pada Lagna and BPHS 29.1 to 3 calls it the Lagna Pada, and the app resolves each name against its own school's count rather than treating them as freely interchangeable. A7 is the Darapada, A10 the Rajapada, and A12 is the Upapada, which Jaimini practice treats as the primary marriage indicator.

Rashi drishti: signs aspect signs

Jaimini aspects are cast by signs rather than by grahas, and they follow modality. A movable sign aspects all the fixed signs except the one adjacent to it; a fixed sign aspects all the movable signs except the one adjacent to it; and the dual signs aspect one another. Every graha standing in a sign casts that sign's aspect, so the aspect is a property of the sign and its occupants inherit it.

This is a different system from Parashari graha drishti, in which every graha aspects the seventh from itself and Mars, Jupiter and Saturn carry additional special aspects of their own. The two do not reduce to each other, they frequently disagree about whether one point sees another, and this page does not mix them.

Argala and its obstruction

Argala is intervention on a sign. The primary argalas come from the 2nd, the 4th and the 11th from the reference point; the 5th and the 9th give a trikona argala only when the intervening graha is a benefic or exalted. Each argala has one specific obstruction, the virodha argala, that answers it: the 12th answers the 2nd, the 10th answers the 4th, the 3rd answers the 11th and the 9th answers the 5th.

Whether an obstruction actually holds is settled by count, on Jaimini sutra 1-1-8, na nyuna vibalasca: the virodha obstructs when its bodies are not fewer than the argala's, so a smaller count leaves the argala standing. More than two malefics in the 3rd produce an argala that cannot be obstructed at all.

When the reference point is Ketu the reckoning reverses and the argala and virodha houses swap. The page reckons argala both from a sign and from each graha's own occupied sign, which are two different frames for the same counting.

What this page shows, and what it holds back

Three tabs carry the output - chara karakas, arudha padas and argala - beneath a summary card giving the Atmakaraka with its degree and the Karakamsha sign. The rasi dashas that also belong to the Jaimini system, the Narayana dasha among them, are computed by this app but are rendered in the full kundli result's Dasha and Jaimini tabs rather than on this page.

Karaka meanings are given as the names the tradition assigns, Atmakaraka for the self and Darakaraka for the spouse and so on, and not as predictions about a life. Where a Jaimini reading has a locus this app can cite, it carries that citation on the surface that renders it; where it does not, the page prints the computation and stops there. Nothing in the three tabs is scored, ranked or totalled.

Frequently asked questions

What is an Atmakaraka?: The Atmakaraka is the chara karaka of the self: the one of the seven classical grahas, Sun through Saturn, standing at the highest degree within its own sign. Only the degree matters, not which sign it occupies. Its navamsa sign is called the Karakamsha, and both are shown at the top of this page.
Why does this page use seven karakas and not eight?: Because it follows the seven-karaka scheme of the Jaimini Sutras, which is the one K.N. Rao's school uses and the most widely applied. An eight-karaka variant that includes Rahu also exists in circulation. The two are not equivalent: adding Rahu shifts every rank below wherever it falls, so the Atmakaraka and Darakaraka can differ between the two schemes for the same chart.
What is the Arudha Lagna?: The Arudha Lagna, A1, is the arudha pada of the first house. It is found by counting from the ascendant to the sign its lord occupies, then counting that same number of signs on again from the lord. If the result falls on the ascendant itself or on the seventh from it, Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 29.4 to 5 moves it to the tenth sign from wherever it landed, which is the tenth from the ascendant in the first case and the fourth from the ascendant in the second. Jaimini's Upadesha Sutras call this pada the Pada Lagna and BPHS calls it the Lagna Pada; those Sutras and the Uttara Kalamrita apply no displacement at all, and the full kundli result's Jaimini tab prints both signs where the schools differ.
How is Jaimini rashi drishti different from ordinary planetary aspects?: Rashi drishti is cast by signs, not by grahas, and it follows modality: movable signs aspect the fixed signs except the adjacent one, fixed signs aspect the movable signs except the adjacent one, and dual signs aspect each other. Parashari graha drishti instead has every graha aspect the seventh from itself, with special extra aspects for Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The two systems often disagree about whether one point sees another, and this page does not mix them.
What is the Upapada?: The Upapada is A12, the arudha pada of the twelfth house, computed by the same rule as every other arudha: count from the twelfth house to its lord, then the same number on from the lord, with the exception rule applied if the result lands on the twelfth or the sixth from it. Jaimini practice treats it as the primary marriage indicator, which is why this page shows it alongside the other eleven padas.
What is argala in Jaimini astrology?: Argala is intervention on a sign, cast from the 2nd, 4th and 11th from the reference point, with the 5th and 9th giving a trikona argala only when the intervening graha is a benefic or exalted. Each argala is answered by one specific obstruction: the 12th answers the 2nd, the 10th the 4th, the 3rd the 11th, and the 9th the 5th. The obstruction holds when its bodies are not fewer than the argala's, following Jaimini sutra 1-1-8.
Do I need an exact birth time for a Jaimini reading?: It depends which part. The chara karakas depend only on each graha's degree within its sign, and apart from the Moon those degrees barely move over a few minutes, so the karaka ranking is usually robust to a small error. The arudha padas and the argala frames are counted from houses, which are counted from the ascendant, and the ascendant changes sign roughly every two hours. An uncertain birth time therefore threatens the padas and the argala far more than the karakas.