CHART ANALYSIS

The words “planet” and “star” are used in a slightly different sense in astrology than in astronomy. For example, Sun (a star) and Moon (a satellite of earth) are called planets in astrology, along with Mars etc. Basically, a graha or a planet is a body that has considerable influence on the living beings on earth. Distant stars have negligible influence on us, but Sun, Moon and planets in the solar system have a great influence on our activities. So the word graha (or planet) is used to describe them.

There are 3 popular ways of drawing charts in India: (1) South Indian style chart ruled by Jupiter, (2) North Indian style diamond chart ruled by Venus and (3) East Indian style Sun chart ruled by Sun.

Based on the positions of all the planets when a person is born, several charts are prepared. They go by the names – “rasi chart” and “divisional charts”. Based on the analysis of these charts, several conclusions can be drawn regarding the results that can be given by different planets to the native.
Different houses stand for different matters. Looking at the rasis and houses occupied by various planets, we can say a lot of things about the person. How exactly this is done will become clear in coming chapters.
A “chart” (Sanskrit name: chakra) is prepared with the information of rasis occupied by all planets. For preparing any chart, we need to first determine the rasis occupied by all planets, upagrahas, lagna and special lagnas. In the visual representation of a chart, there are 12 boxes (are some other visual areas) with each representing a rasi. All planets, upagrahas and lagnas are written in the boxes corresponding to the rasis they occupy.