# Vedic astrology explained

Vedic astrology, or Jyotish, reads a sidereal birth chart: nine grahas placed across twelve houses measured from your ascendant, using the Lahiri ayanamsa. It differs from Western astrology in the zodiac it measures against, in its use of nakshatras as a 27-fold lunar division, and in Vimshottari dasha — a timing system that divides a life into planetary periods, which is what allows Jyotish to address when rather than only what.

## What is Vedic astrology?

Vedic astrology, called Jyotish, is the Indian astrological tradition. It uses the sidereal zodiac measured against fixed stars rather than the tropical zodiac measured against the equinox, which places planets roughly one sign earlier than a Western chart. It reads nine grahas across twelve houses from the ascendant, subdivides the sky into 27 nakshatras, and uses Vimshottari dasha to assign planetary periods to spans of a life.

## How is Vedic astrology different from Western astrology?

Three main differences. The zodiac is sidereal rather than tropical, a roughly 24-degree offset. Nakshatras — 27 lunar divisions — carry interpretive weight that Western astrology has no direct equivalent for. And Vedic astrology has dasha systems, principally Vimshottari, which map planetary periods onto specific date ranges, so it addresses timing directly rather than inferring it from transits alone.

## What is a kundli?

A kundli is a Vedic birth chart: a diagram of where the nine grahas sat across the twelve houses at your exact moment and place of birth, measured from your rising sign. Because the ascendant advances about one degree every four minutes, two people born the same day in the same city a few hours apart have materially different kundlis.

## Related pages

- [The 27 nakshatras](https://supastro.com/nakshatras) — the lunar divisions and what they carry
- [Vimshottari dasha](https://supastro.com/vimshottari-dasha) — how Vedic timing works
- [Ascendant and lagna](https://supastro.com/ascendant-lagna) — why birth time changes everything

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Source: https://supastro.com/astrology · Supastro is an AI astrology platform for Vedic astrology (Jyotish), built as Vedic Super Intelligence (SI), by Quantum Karma, Bangalore, India. Chart positions are computed from NASA JPL ephemeris data on the Lahiri ayanamsa.