How to Read Your Kundli: A Beginner's Guide
A kundli looks like a puzzle. It is easier than it seems. Here are the five things to look at first.
1. Lagna (the ascendant)
Your lagna is the sign that was rising on the eastern horizon at the moment and place you were born. It sets the first house, and the other eleven follow it in order. Because it changes about every two hours, the birth time matters.
2. The twelve houses
Each house covers an area of life: the first is you and your body, the second is family and money, the fourth is home and peace of mind, the seventh is partnership, the tenth is work, and the eleventh is gains and friends. A planet in a house brings its nature to that area.
3. The Moon sign (rashi)
The sign your Moon was in is your rashi. In Indian astrology the Moon sign is the one people use for the daily rashifal, and it is the starting point for the match in Kundli Milan. Read why in Moon sign vs Sun sign.
4. Nakshatra
The sky is also divided into 27 nakshatras, or lunar mansions. Your birth nakshatra is the one your Moon was in. It adds detail to your nature and is used to work out your dasha.
5. Dasha
The dasha system gives life a timeline of planetary periods. In the common Vimshottari system the cycle covers 120 years, and each planet rules a period, such as Venus for 20 years or Saturn for 19. The dasha you are in tells you which planet's themes are in front right now.
Putting it together
Start with your lagna and Moon sign, then your current dasha, then the house the dasha planet sits in. That is already a useful reading. Do not read one planet alone, because a chart is the whole picture.
Make your free kundli at Kundli Kaka. It shows your chart, Moon sign, nakshatra and current dasha, with a short reading in English, Hindi or Hinglish.