Chart styles
Draw one kundli in North Indian, South Indian, East Indian or Western style. Mạghā changes the presentation while preserving planetary positions, zodiac, ayanāṁśa, house view and daśās. Choose a style for each tile or save a default.
North Indian charts keep the houses in place
The North Indian chart is a square crossed by both diagonals, with a diamond joining the midpoints of its sides: twelve houses, four of them diamonds and eight triangles. The houses never move. The first house is always the top centre diamond, and the rest follow counter-clockwise. The signs move instead, so each house carries its sign's number, from 1 for Aries to 12 for Pisces. This is the usual chart across northern India.
In Nila's chart the top diamond carries 7 for Libra and holds the Ascendant, marked "La", with Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Rāhu. The Moon sits in the fourth house on the left with 10, Capricorn, and the Sun in the twelfth at the upper right with 6, Virgo. Mạghā adds an asterisk to a retrograde planet, as in "Me*".
South Indian charts keep the signs in place
The South Indian chart is a ring of twelve boxes around an empty centre, and here the signs never move. Pisces fills the top-left corner, Aries the box beside it, and the rest follow clockwise, so Virgo takes the bottom-right corner and Sagittarius the bottom-left. The Ascendant moves instead: on the chart page Mạghā writes "Asc" in its box, and the houses count clockwise from there. This is the usual chart across South India.
In Nila's chart "Asc" stands in Libra, third from the left on the bottom row, with Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Rāhu. The Moon is in Capricorn on the left side with Saturn in Aquarius above it; Ketu sits in Aries at the top and Mars in Cancer on the right.
East Indian charts put Aries at the top centre
In West Bengal and Odisha the chart is a square cut into a three-by-three grid. Mạghā leaves the centre empty, gives four signs a rectangle each, splits every corner square into two triangles, one sign apiece, and prints each sign's number in its place. As in the South Indian chart the signs stay fixed, but they begin with Aries in the top centre and run counter-clockwise: Cancer on the left, Libra at the bottom and Capricorn on the right.
Nila's Libra rectangle at the bottom holds the Ascendant, marked "La", with Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Rāhu. The Moon fills Capricorn on the right, Ketu Aries at the top and Mars Cancer on the left, while the Sun sits in Virgo, the corner triangle beside Libra.
The Ascendant at 0°45′ Libra sits at nine o'clock and the signs run counter-clockwise, with the midheaven at 29°19′ Gemini. Lines join eleven aspects, the closest being the Moon square Venus within 0°03′.
ASC · Libra 0°45′ · MC · Gemini 29°19′
- Sun
- Virgo 26°40′
- Moon
- Capricorn 24°15′
- Mars
- Cancer 11°24′
- Mercury*
- Libra 11°12′
- Jupiter
- Libra 23°54′
- Venus*
- Libra 24°12′
- Saturn*
- Aquarius 12°28′
- Rāhu*
- Libra 22°09′
- Ketu*
- Aries 22°09′
- Uranus
- Sagittarius 28°39′
- Neptune
- Sagittarius 26°49′
- Pluto
- Scorpio 2°45′
Orb limits: conjunction 8° · sextile 4° · square 6° · trine 6° · opposition 8° (none here).
The Western wheel sets each planet at its exact degree
The Western style draws a wheel. Mạghā puts the house reference, normally the Ascendant, at nine o'clock, runs the signs counter-clockwise around an outer ring of zodiac symbols and places every planet at its exact degree, so close pairs stay close: Nila's Jupiter and Venus sit 0°18′ apart in Libra. A ring of house numbers follows the tile's house view, and a D1 chart adds the four angles, labelled ASC, DSC, MC and IC.
The wheel keeps the zodiac from your Calculation defaults, sidereal Lahiri unless you change it, so Nila's Moon stays at 24°15′ Capricorn and her midheaven at 29°19′ Gemini; a tropical wheel would put both about 24° further on. For tropical positions, change the zodiac itself in Calculation defaults.
Western tiles can draw major aspects between planets
When a tile uses the Western style, its menu adds Outer planets, and on a D1 birth chart Western major aspects as well; both start switched on. Aspects are lines between two planets that form a conjunction (0°, within 8°), sextile (60°, within 4°), square (90°, within 6°), trine (120°, within 6°) or opposition (180°, within 8°). Only the Sun through Pluto take part. Rāhu, Ketu, the angles and special points do not, and divisional or annual charts never show the lines.
Nila's wheel draws eleven. The closest are the Moon square Venus, 0°03′ from exact, and the Sun square Neptune at 0°09′. Turning Outer planets off hides Uranus, Neptune and Pluto with their five aspects, leaving six.
Set one default, then restyle any chart on its own
In Settings, the Display & input screen holds Default chart style: choose a style from the list, or press one of the four labelled previews below it. Changes save automatically. The default draws chart previews, like the cards in your chart library, and fills every new tile.
To restyle a single chart, right-click it on the chart page or select its ⋯ button, then choose Chart type. The Add chart dialog asks for a chart type too, so D1 can stay North Indian while the D9 beside it turns South Indian. Chart planet labels, on the same screen, switch every style between abbreviations (Su, Mo, Ma) and symbols.
Note: tiles in a layout you have saved keep the style they were saved with; the default reaches only new tiles and layouts you have not saved.
What people ask about kundli chart styles
Which is better, a North Indian or a South Indian chart?
Neither is more accurate, because both draw the same positions. The North Indian chart fixes the houses and moves the signs; the South Indian chart fixes the signs and marks the Ascendant. Most astrologers read fastest in the style they learned first. In Mạghā you can keep one default and still switch any single chart, so the choice never locks you in.
Does changing the chart style change the predictions?
No. In Mạghā a style changes only the drawing: signs, degrees, houses, nakṣatras, yogas and daśās all come from the same calculation, and nothing is recalculated. The settings that do change results live elsewhere: the zodiac and ayanāṁśa in Calculation defaults, and the house view on each chart.
How do I find the Ascendant in a South Indian chart?
Look for the box marked "Asc" on Mạghā's chart page; other charts may use a diagonal line or the word Lagna. The sign in that box is the rising sign and the first house. Count the next houses clockwise: in Nila's chart Libra is the first house, Scorpio to its left the second, and Virgo to its right the twelfth.
What is the East Indian or Bengali chart?
It is the chart drawn in West Bengal and Odisha. The signs stay fixed, with Aries in the top centre and the rest running counter-clockwise, and each corner is split into two triangles. Mạghā draws it with an empty centre, prints each sign's number in its place and marks the Ascendant "La". Choose it in Display & input or in any chart's Chart type menu.
Is the Western wheel a tropical chart?
Not by default. Mạghā draws the Western wheel in the zodiac set in Calculation defaults, which is sidereal Lahiri until you change it, so the wheel and the Indian styles show the same signs. For a tropical Western chart, set Zodiac mode to Tropical in Calculation defaults and reopen the chart; every style then uses tropical positions.
Choose your default chart style in Mạghā
Choose your preferred chart drawing in Display & input. Styles do not recalculate positions. The demo changes a account's default and displays a fixed sample, not your chart.
Set your default chart style