What is a rashi?
The zodiac is divided into twelve signs of 30 degrees each. Your rashi, also called your janma rashi or chandra rashi, is the sign in which the Moon stood at the moment of your birth. Indian almanacs, rashifal columns and the naming tradition all use this Moon sign, because the Moon is read as the mind and the day-to-day experience of life.
The Moon moves quickly — about 13 degrees a day — so it spends only around two and a quarter days in each sign. That is why the date alone is sometimes not enough: on a day when the Moon changes sign, the birth time decides your rashi.
Why is my rashi different from my Western star sign?
Two reasons. First, Western "star signs" are Sun signs, while the Vedic rashi is the Moon's sign — a different body altogether. Second, Vedic astrology counts the signs against the fixed stars (the sidereal zodiac), while Western astrology counts them from the equinox (the tropical zodiac). The gap between the two, the ayanamsa, is now a little over 24 degrees, so even your Sun sign usually moves back by one sign in the Vedic reckoning.
We use the Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) ayanamsa, the standard of India's national almanac. The calculator also shows your sidereal Sun sign so you can see both side by side.
The twelve rashis and their lords
Each sign has a ruling planet (swami). The lord of your rashi colours how the Moon expresses itself in your chart.
- Mesh (Aries) — Mars · Vrishabh (Taurus) — Venus · Mithun (Gemini) — Mercury
- Kark (Cancer) — Moon · Singh (Leo) — Sun · Kanya (Virgo) — Mercury
- Tula (Libra) — Venus · Vrishchik (Scorpio) — Mars · Dhanu (Sagittarius) — Jupiter
- Makar (Capricorn) — Saturn · Kumbh (Aquarius) — Saturn · Meen (Pisces) — Jupiter
What your rashi is used for
Your rashi is the starting point for rashifal (the forecasts you read in newspapers are by Moon sign), for gochar or transits (Saturn's sade sati is counted from the Moon sign), for gun milan in marriage matching, and for choosing the first syllable of a name. It is one important part of the chart — not the whole of it. The lagna, the houses and the dasha matter just as much.
How we calculate it
The Moon's position comes from our own astronomical engine (the ELP 2000-82B lunar theory), tested against the Swiss Ephemeris to within a few arcseconds. Your birth time is read in the time zone of your birthplace — including India's historical offsets before 1947 — never your device's zone. No AI is involved in the calculation.