Kerala astrology

The chart is a different object

In a South Indian chart — the Grahanila — the signs are fixed. Meena sits top-left and Medam beside it, on every chart ever drawn, and what moves is the Lagna, marked with a diagonal in whichever cell it falls in. An astrologer reads it by looking at a known place on the page.

In a North Indian chart the houses are fixed and the signs move. Both are legitimate and both are in EnteAstro, drawn from one calculation. Rendering the second and calling it the first is a common shortcut and produces a chart that is recognisably the wrong tradition.

The names are not transliterations

Kerala calls the Nakshatras by names that are not the Sanskrit written in Malayalam letters. Ashwini is Ashwathi; Mrigashira is Makayiram; Ardra is Thiruvathira; Pushya is Pooyam; Ashlesha is Ayilyam; Jyeshtha is Thrikketta. The signs likewise: Mesha is Medam, Vrishabha is Edavam, Karkata is Karkidakam.

A product that transliterates the Sanskrit produces words a Malayali reader does not recognise for their own birth star. EnteAstro carries both, and the Malayalam is the tradition's own, not a conversion.

Rahu Kalam moves with your sunrise

Rahu Kalam, Yamagandam and Gulika are each one eighth of the daylight — from that day's actual sunrise to that day's actual sunset, at the place you are standing. The familiar table of clock times is only true where sunrise happens to be at six.

In Kochi in December that eighth is about 86 minutes. In Dublin in December it is about 56. EnteAstro calculates it rather than printing it.

What EnteAstro does

• · The Grahanila, with the signs fixed and the Lagna marked traditionally
• · Malayalam Nakshatram and Rasi names throughout, with the interface in Malayalam if you want it
• · Panchang from your own sunrise, with the upper-limb convention Indian Panchangs use
• · Vimshottari Dasha with the balance taken from the Moon's actual position at birth
• · Graha drishti counted in whole signs, never Western orbs

Find your Nakshatram free →