Every term, in plain language.

A planet in the Jyotish sense. Nine of them: Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and the two lunar nodes Rāhu and Ketu.

The Sun. Kāraka for self, soul, and father. Rules Leo. Exalted in Aries, weakest in Libra. Where the Sun sits, you cannot hide who you are.

The Moon. Kāraka for mind, emotions, and mother. Rules Cancer. Exalted in Taurus, weakest in Scorpio. Your inner weather.

Mars. Kāraka for courage, siblings, and energy. Rules Aries and Scorpio. Exalted in Capricorn, weakest in Cancer. The friction that moves you.

Mercury. Kāraka for mind, speech, and learning. Rules Gemini and Virgo. Exalted in Virgo, weakest in Pisces. Picks up the mood of whichever planet he sits with.

Jupiter. The teacher — kāraka for wisdom, children, and dharma. Rules Sagittarius and Pisces. Exalted in Cancer, weakest in Capricorn. Guru expands whatever he touches.

Venus. Kāraka for love, art, and (for a man) spouse. Rules Taurus and Libra. Exalted in Pisces, weakest in Virgo. Your taste and your sweetness.

Saturn. The judge — kāraka for discipline, longevity, and service. Rules Capricorn and Aquarius. Exalted in Libra, weakest in Aries. What Śani tests, he eventually gives back — solid and permanent.

The North Node of the Moon — not a physical planet but a mathematical point. Where Rāhu sits, life pulls you toward what you didn't grow up around. Ambition, hunger, unfamiliar paths.

The South Node of the Moon — the point exactly opposite Rāhu. Where Ketu sits, you already know something, often from a past life. He releases what you've done enough of.

A sign of the zodiac — a 30° slice of the sky. There are twelve. Your Moon rashi is the sign your Moon sits in; it's the one Indians identify with more than any other.

A 13°20′ slice of the zodiac — the Moon's 'home' for the day. There are 27 nakshatras. Your birth nakshatra (Moon's nakshatra at birth) shapes your emotional signature and sets the order of your dasha periods.

A period ruled by one planet, during which that planet's themes come to the front of your life. The Vimshottari system divides your 120-year lifespan into nine such mahādashās.

The main planetary period — the longest 'season' of your chart. Nine of them fill a lifetime. Whichever mahādashā you're in colours the entire era.

A sub-period within a mahādashā. It sets the tone of a few months to a few years at a time — the mood inside the larger season.

A sub-sub-period, weeks to a few months long. Fine detail on top of the mahādashā and antardashā.

The ~7½-year passage when transit Saturn moves through the sign before your natal Moon, over it, and past it. Everyone gets it, roughly three times in a long life. It asks you to put down what is not yours to carry — not a punishment.

A chart marker when Mars sits in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th, or 12th house. Roughly half of birth charts qualify — it is not rare, and it is not a curse. The tradition treated it as a partnership-friction concern, not a life sentence.

A pattern where all seven visible planets sit on one side of the Rāhu–Ketu axis. Classical texts do not name it — this is a 20th-century construct popularised by mass-market astrology. Worth knowing before you fear it.

A compatibility marker used in kundli-milan (match-making). Both partners falling in the same nāḍī group is called this dosha. Doctrine on it is contested — some traditions weight it heavily, others don't. Not a life-verdict.

Another compatibility marker in kundli-milan, when the Moon signs of two partners fall in certain 'unfavourable' distances from each other. Like nāḍī dosha, it is one factor, not a verdict.

Your birth chart — a snapshot of the sky at the moment you were born. It maps twelve houses of your life onto the twelve signs of the zodiac.

The Ascendant — the sign rising on the eastern horizon at your birth. It is the sign of your 1st house, and its lord is the most important planet in your chart.

A house of the chart. There are twelve, each an area of life — the 1st is self, the 7th is spouse, the 10th is career, and so on.

Transit — where a planet is right now in the sky, as against where it was at your birth. Everyone's chart is the same for gochara; what changes is how each transit hits your natal placements.

Aspect — a planet's 'gaze' from one house onto another. Every planet aspects the 7th house from itself; Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter have extra aspects that shape their reach.

A named combination of planetary placements. Gajakesari, Panch Mahapurusha, Vipareeta Rāja — each yoga is a small pattern that, when it fires, shapes a theme in the chart.

The natural significator for a subject. The Sun is kāraka for father and self; the Moon for mother and mind; Venus for spouse (in a man's chart); Jupiter for children and wisdom.

An angular house — the 1st, 4th, 7th, or 10th. Planets in kendras have a loud voice in your life; their themes come to the front.

A trine house — the 1st, 5th, or 9th. Trikonas carry good fortune and dharma; planets that own them are auspicious even if they behave harshly elsewhere.

The ruler of a sign. Mars rules Aries and Scorpio, Venus rules Taurus and Libra, and so on. A planet placed in the sign it rules is comfortable and strong.

Exaltation. Each planet has one sign where its qualities shine at their best — Jupiter in Cancer, Mars in Capricorn, Saturn in Libra. That is uchcha.

Debilitation. The sign opposite a planet's exaltation, where its qualities struggle. Mars in Cancer, Saturn in Aries, and so on.

Retrograde. From Earth's viewpoint the planet appears to move backwards. Retrograde planets tend to work on inner themes and old questions — they revisit rather than initiate.

Combust — a planet too close to the Sun to be seen. Its light is drowned by the Sun's; its effect softens or shifts inward.

A planet that sits in the same sign in both the D1 (birth chart) and D9 (Navamsa). Considered a mark of strength — the planet's placement is consistent across the two views.

The 9th-division chart — one of many divisional charts (vargas). Read alongside the D1 to see marriage themes, spouse, and the deeper fate of a placement.

The offset between the tropical zodiac (used in Western astrology) and the sidereal zodiac (used in Jyotish). Lahiri is the most common one in Indian practice, currently about 24°.

A yoga formed when Jupiter sits in a kendra (1st, 4th, 7th, or 10th) from the Moon. Gives good sense, good name, and long-term stability.

A group of five yogas — Ruchaka (Mars), Bhadra (Mercury), Hamsa (Jupiter), Malavya (Venus), Sasa (Saturn) — each formed when that planet sits in its own or exalted sign and in a kendra from the ascendant. A mark of standing.

A yoga formed when the lords of the 'difficult' houses (6, 8, 12) sit in each other's houses. Adversity turns into rise — success through unlikely paths.