Reading your Kundli for the first time
Lagna, Rashi, Nakshatra: what the first page of your birth chart is telling you, in plain words.
The Jeevaniti editorial desk
4 min read
A Kundli is a map of the sky at the moment you were born, drawn from your date, time and place of birth. It can look dense at first, but three details carry most of the meaning.
Your Lagna, or ascendant, is the sign rising on the eastern horizon at your birth. It shapes the whole chart, because every house is counted from it. It is often described as the lens through which you meet the world.
Your Rashi is the sign the Moon was in. In Vedic astrology the Moon speaks to the mind and emotions, which is why your Rashi is used for daily horoscopes.
Your Nakshatra is the lunar mansion the Moon occupied, one of twenty-seven. It adds finer detail to the Rashi and is used for naming, timing and compatibility.
Start there. The rest of the chart makes more sense once these three are familiar, and a good astrologer will always explain them before anything else.