How to Read a North Indian vs South Indian Kundli Chart

Most people who open a Kundli for the first time get stuck on the diagram itself, not on the astrology. The good news: the North Indian and South Indian charts contain exactly the same information. They just arrange it differently. Once you know the one rule for each format, you can read any chart.

This article is part of our Vedic astrology guide.

North Indian chart: the houses stay fixed

The North Indian chart is the diamond-shaped layout used across most of North and Central India.

• The top-centre diamond is always the 1st house (Lagna). The house positions never move.
• Houses run anticlockwise. The small triangle to the upper left of the Lagna is the 2nd house, the one below it is the 3rd, the left-hand diamond is the 4th, and so on around the chart. The bottom diamond is the 7th, the right-hand diamond is the 10th.
• The number in each house is the sign, not the house. 1 = Aries (Mesha), 2 = Taurus (Vrishabha) … 12 = Pisces (Meena). If the top diamond shows "5", your Lagna is Leo.

This is the most common beginner mistake: reading the numbers as house numbers. In the diagram above, the number shown in each house is its house number, and the example uses Aries Lagna so the sign numbers match. In a real chart they usually won't.

South Indian chart: the signs stay fixed

The South Indian chart is a square grid of 12 boxes around an empty centre, used in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

• Every sign has a permanent box. Pisces is the top-left box, and the signs run clockwise: Aries, Taurus and Gemini complete the top row, Cancer and Leo go down the right side, Virgo is bottom-right, and so on until Aquarius sits on the left side below Pisces.
• The Lagna is marked inside its sign's box, usually with "La", "Asc", "Lagna" or a diagonal line.
• Count clockwise from the Lagna box to find the 2nd, 3rd and later houses.

Because the signs never move, experienced readers like the South Indian format for spotting sign placements quickly. The North Indian format makes house relationships (such as Kendras and Trikonas) easier to see.

East Indian chart

In Bengal, Odisha and parts of the North-East you may see a third style. Like the South Indian chart, the signs are fixed, but they run anticlockwise and Aries sits in the top-middle box. The same rule applies: find the Lagna mark, then count.

Reading planets in either format

• Planets are written as short names: Su, Mo, Ma, Me, Ju, Ve, Sa, Ra, Ke (or in Hindi: सू, चं, मं, बु, गु, शु, श, रा, के).
• (R) or (Va) next to a planet means retrograde. (C) or (Ast) can mean combust.
• Degrees, if shown, tell you how far the planet is through that sign (0°–30°). Degrees also decide the Nakshatra.

Practice: the three-question test

Open your own chart and answer:

1. What is my Lagna sign?
2. Which sign is my Moon in?
3. Which house is my Moon in, counting the Lagna as the 1st house?

If you can answer all three in both formats, you have the basic chart-reading skill. Next, learn what your Lagna and Moon sign mean and what each of the 12 houses covers.

Generate your free Kundli in North Indian format and try it now.