What Is a Birth Chart?

Studied and prepared by Tejas Reddy

A birth chart, also called a kundali, is a drawing that shows where the Sun, Moon and other planets were in the zodiac when you were born. It also marks which part of the zodiac was rising in the east at your birthplace at the exact time of your birth, essentially birth chart is a screenshot of the sky at the time of your birth.

How is it made?

Say you were born at 8 in the morning in Hyderabad. Your date of birth, including the year, and the time tell the astrologer which moment to calculate the chart for. Hyderabad tells them where on Earth to look from. At that same moment, a different part of the zodiac might be rising in another city.

Today, a computer can calculate those positions and put them into a chart.

What’s inside it?

The zodiac is divided into twelve parts called signs. In a South Indian birth chart, each sign has its own box. If you see Saturn [Shani] written in one of those boxes, the box tells you which sign Saturn was in when you were born.

The chart also marks the sign that was rising in the east. In one common way of reading the chart, you count that sign as the first house. The next sign is the second house, and so on. If you reach Saturn’s box on count twelve, Saturn is in the twelfth house.

Why do astrologers make one?

In Indian astrology, the houses are traditionally linked to different parts of life. The fourth house, for example, is linked to the home and to one’s mother.

If you ask an astrologer about your home life, they might start by finding the fourth house. They can see which sign is there, whether any planets are in it, and how it connects to the rest of the chart. The drawing keeps those details together so the astrologer can follow them during a reading.

Traditional interpretations are not scientific or medical assessments.