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Varga Charts
The birth chart — the D1 or rashi chart — maps all of life in broad strokes. Every planet and every house has general significations that cover the full range of experience. But if you want to understand a specific domain in detail — marriage, career, children, property — the D1 alone is too general. Varga charts exist to give that precision.
Varga means division or portion. Each varga chart is created by taking the degrees of each planet's D1 position and remapping them into a new twelve-sign framework using a specific division rule. The resulting chart has the same planets but places them in different signs and houses depending on the divisional number.
How Vargas Are Calculated§
Each zodiac sign spans 30°. Divide that 30° into equal portions equal to the varga number, and assign each portion to a sign. For the D9 (Navamsha), each sign is divided into 9 equal portions of 3°20' each. A planet at 15° Aries falls in the 5th navamsha of Aries (since 5 × 3°20' = 16°40', so the 5th navamsha spans 13°20'–16°40'), which maps to a specific sign depending on the starting rule for each varga.
The exact sign assignment rules differ by varga — some start from the first sign of the element, some start from the sign itself, some use fire/earth/air/water groupings. The computation is always deterministic from D1 longitude.
The Standard Vargas§
| Varga | Division | Domain |
|---|---|---|
| D1 Rashi | 30° | The complete birth chart — all domains of life |
| D2 Hora | 15° | Wealth, financial resources |
| D3 Drekkana | 10° | Siblings, courage, vitality |
| D4 Chaturthamsha | 7°30' | Property, home, fixed assets |
| D7 Saptamsha | 4°17' | Children, grandchildren |
| D9 Navamsha | 3°20' | Marriage, dharma, the deeper nature of D1 planets |
| D10 Dashamsha | 3° | Career, professional achievement, public role |
| D12 Dwadashamsha | 2°30' | Parents, ancestral patterns |
| D16 Shodamsha | 1°52' | Vehicles, comforts, pleasures |
| D20 Vimshamsha | 1°30' | Spiritual practice, upasana |
| D24 Chaturvimshamsha | 1°15' | Education, learning, academic achievement |
| D27 Nakshatramsha | 1°6'40" | Physical strength, innate power |
| D30 Trimshamsha | 1° | Misfortune, chronic illness, difficult karma |
| D40 Khavedamsha | 0°45' | Maternal lineage, auspicious/inauspicious patterns |
| D45 Akshavedamsha | 0°40' | Paternal lineage, general character |
| D60 Shashtiamsha | 0°30' | Past karma, the most subtle level of planetary influence |
How to Read a Varga§
A varga chart is read like a D1 chart — it has its own lagna, its own house significations, and its own planetary configurations. But it is always read in the context of the D1. A strong Venus in D1 that becomes weak in D9 tells you that the relationship potential exists at the gross level but the subtler quality of the marriage itself may be challenging. A weak Mercury in D1 that is exalted in D24 suggests academic ability and learning capacity that exceeds what the D1 alone would indicate.
Vargottama§
A planet occupying the same sign in both D1 and D9 is called vargottama — literally "best division." This is considered a significant strengthening condition: the planet's D1 placement is confirmed and reinforced by its navamsha position. Vargottama planets, regardless of their sign or house, tend to deliver their significations with particular clarity and strength.
Accuracy Requirement§
The higher the divisional number, the smaller each division — and the more sensitive the calculation is to birth time accuracy. D1 is robust to minutes of error. D9 requires birth time accuracy within about 5–10 minutes. D60, where each division is only 30 arc-seconds, requires extremely precise birth times to be reliable. For most practical work, D1, D9, and D10 are the workhorses; the higher vargas are used when birth time is confirmed accurate to within a minute.
Moonketu shows D1 and D9 side by side by default. Any of the 17 supported vargas can be selected independently for each chart panel via the selector at the top of each pane. The Navamsha (D9) is covered in depth on its own page — including vargottama planets, marriage reading, and its role in Jaimini's Karakamsha.