A short glossary of Jyotish terms
This is a short guide to the most common terms in Jyotish. The full glossary is on the glossary page, and each term has its own article where one exists.
What it is
Common terms include rashi (sign), graha (planet), nakshatra (lunar mansion), bhava (house), lagna (ascendant), tithi (lunar day), dasha (planetary period), yoga (combination) and karana (half-tithi). Each is defined in the glossary.
How it is worked out or read
Some words have different meanings in different schools, and the glossary notes where that happens. Where a term is school-dependent, the article says so.
Where it appears on this site
The full list is on the glossary page. The Sanskrit terms guide covers the spelling and pronunciation.
How to use this glossary article
This article explains how the terms of Jyotish are organised, so that a reader meeting an unfamiliar word can place it quickly. The vocabulary falls into a few families: words for the sky, words for the chart, words for strength and relationship, words for time and words for the calendar. Knowing which family a term belongs to is often enough to guess its meaning from context.
Words for the sky
Graha means a planet in the Jyotish sense: the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu. Rashi is one of the twelve signs of thirty degrees each, from Mesha to Meena. Nakshatra is one of the twenty-seven lunar mansions of thirteen degrees twenty minutes each, from Ashwini to Revati, and pada is a quarter of a nakshatra. Ayanamsa is the angle between the tropical and sidereal zodiacs, and nirayana and sayana name the sidereal and tropical frames respectively.
Words for the chart
Kundli or janma kundli is the birth chart. Lagna is the rising sign, the first house. Bhava is a house, and the twelve bhavas each govern areas of life. Kendra names the angular houses, the first, fourth, seventh and tenth; trikona the trinal houses, the first, fifth and ninth; and dusthana the sixth, eighth and twelfth. Varga is a divisional chart, such as the navamsha, D9, or the dashamsha, D10. Drishti is aspect, and yuti is conjunction.
Words for strength and time
Uchcha and neecha are exaltation and debilitation; swakshetra is a graha in its own sign; moolatrikona is a zone of special strength. Mitra, sama and shatru are friend, neutral and enemy. Vakri is retrograde and asta is combust. For time, dasha is a planetary period, mahadasha the main period, antardasha the sub-period and pratyantardasha the sub-sub-period. Gochar is transit, and sade sati is the roughly seven and a half year transit of Saturn around the birth Moon.
Words for the calendar
Panchang means five limbs: tithi, the lunar day; vara, the weekday; nakshatra; yoga, a division based on the sum of the Sun's and Moon's longitudes; and karana, half a tithi. Paksha is a fortnight, shukla the bright and krishna the dark. Sankranti is the Sun's entry into a sign. Muhurta is both a 48-minute unit and a chosen auspicious time, and Rahu Kaal is a daily window traditionally avoided for beginnings. Each of these terms has its own article on this site with fuller explanation.