संक्षेप में · In short

Everything is calculated in your browser. Your birth details are never sent anywhere, there is no account, and your profile is remembered only on this device. The only thing Bhagya sends is an anonymous +1 when a reading is made, for the public counter in the footer; it carries no birth details. Bhagya follows the traditional methods of Jyotish (Vedic astrology), explained below in plain English.

Bhagya uses the sidereal zodiac, tied to the fixed stars, with the Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) ayanamsa (the correction between the two zodiacs), the standard of the Indian government’s calendar. It follows the Swiss Ephemeris definition, 23°14′44″ in 1956, carried forward by the IAU 2006 precession formula.

Western astrology uses the tropical zodiac, tied to the seasons. The equinox drifts slowly backwards against the stars, so the two zodiacs now differ by about 24°, and your Vedic signs are often one sign earlier than your Western ones.

The Moon uses Jean Meeus’s full lunar series (Astronomical Algorithms, chapter 47) and the Sun his chapter 25 formulas, with aberration. Mars to Saturn come from Paul Schlyter’s orbital elements, solved with Kepler’s equation, with the main Jupiter–Saturn corrections, annual aberration and ΔT (the gap between atomic and Earth-rotation time). Rahu and Ketu (the Moon’s north and south nodes) use the mean node from Meeus, so they always move backwards.

Checked against NASA JPL’s DE421 ephemeris on five test charts: every sign, nakshatra (lunar mansion) and pada (quarter) matched, the Moon within about 1 arc-minute, planets within about 2 arc-minutes, and dasha start dates within a day.

For a city from the list, your local birth time is turned into UTC with that city’s real offset on that date, daylight saving and historical clock changes included, such as India’s war time of 1942–45 (UTC +6:30) or Singapore’s +7:30 before 1982. This comes from the time-zone database built into your browser. For a place entered by latitude and longitude, or if you type an offset yourself, the offset you give is used.

If you don’t know your birth time, noon is used. The Lagna (rising sign) and the houses counted from it are then left out, and the Moon’s sign takes the Lagna’s place. The Moon moves about 13° a day, so it can change nakshatra or even sign during your birthday; the Mahadasha tab says so when it does. The Ishta Devata and Gemstones tabs need an exact time.

Beyond about 66° latitude, near the poles, the rising sign becomes unreliable, because some signs barely rise there at all.

The Lagna is worked out from the sidereal time at your birth place and the tilt of the Earth’s axis. Houses are whole-sign: the Lagna’s sign is the 1st bhava (house), the next sign the 2nd, and so on round the zodiac.

The chart is drawn North Indian style, with the Lagna in the top diamond, and a South Indian view, with fixed signs, is one tap away.

The Vimshottari dasha (planetary period system) runs nine Mahadashas (main periods) of 6 to 20 years, 120 years in all. The first belongs to the lord of the Moon’s nakshatra, and only the part the Moon had still to travel through that nakshatra is left of it at birth: that is the balance.

Each Mahadasha splits into nine Antardashas (sub-periods), each its length times the sub-lord’s years ÷ 120, and each Antardasha into nine Pratyantardashas (sub-sub-periods) the same way. Years are 365.25 days. A few minutes of birth time can move the dates by days or weeks.

Sade Sati (Saturn’s seven and a half years) is Saturn in the 12th, 1st and 2nd signs from your natal Moon sign; Shani Dhaiya (Saturn’s small trial) is Saturn in the 4th or 8th. Bhagya follows Saturn’s sidereal position through the hundred years from your birth, checking every half month and fixing each sign change to within a quarter of a day.

When Saturn turns retrograde and slips back into a sign within two years, that stay is merged into one span, from first entry to final exit, so neighbouring phases can overlap by a few months.

Sunrise and sunset come from the NOAA formula for the city, the moment the Sun’s upper edge meets the horizon, allowing for refraction (centre 0.833° below the horizon). Tithi (lunar day), nakshatra, yoga and karana (half a lunar day) come from the sidereal Sun and Moon, as at sunrise, with each end time found to the minute.

Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika Kaal are each one of eight equal parts of the daytime, chosen by weekday. Abhijit Muhurat (the midday window) is the 8th of fifteen equal daytime parts, around local noon.

Today rates your day from Tara Bala (the Moon’s star counted from your birth star) and Chandra Bala (the Moon’s sign counted from your Moon sign), and flags Chandrashtama, the Moon in the 8th sign from yours.

Ashtakoota (eight-area matching) scores both Moon signs and nakshatras: Varna 1, Vashya 2, Tara 3, Yoni 4, Graha Maitri 5, Gana 6, Bhakoot 7 and Nadi 8, for 36 gunas (points). The standard Bhakoot and Nadi exceptions are named when they apply.

Mangal Dosha (Manglik) is Mars in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th or 12th house, counted from the Lagna, or from the Moon without a birth time; it is set aside when both partners have it, or when a classic softener applies to one. The score is one traditional input, not a verdict.

The Atmakaraka (soul planet) is the planet from the Sun to Saturn furthest through its sign. Its sign in the Navamsa (D9, the ninth-part chart) is the Karakamsa. The deity comes from the 12th sign from the Karakamsa: the planet there furthest through its sign, or the sign’s lord if it is empty. This is one tradition among several.

The Lagna lord’s stone is the life stone (Jeevan Ratna), and the 5th and 9th lords’ stones are the fortune stones (Punya and Bhagya Ratna). Lords of the dusthanas (difficult houses: 6th, 8th and 12th) are avoided unless they also rule the 1st, 5th or 9th; a planet ruling both a fortune house and a dusthana is marked “use with caution”. Hessonite and Cat’s Eye (Rahu and Ketu) are never chosen this way. This is traditional guidance only.

Each nakshatra has four padas, and each pada a traditional first syllable in the Avakahada chakra (the naming-syllable chart). Bhagya finds the pada the Moon was in at birth and suggests names starting with its syllable.

Small differences from other software come from ayanamsa variants, mean or true node, the definition of sunrise, and rounding. If you find a real mismatch, such as a different nakshatra or Lagna, the birth time is the usual cause.