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A woman astrologer places the last of eight coloured stones on a marble circle at sunrise while a bearded man kneels holding a cloth pouch.

Special lagnas

Special lagnas provide additional reference points derived from time, the Sun, Moon or kārakas. Mạghā calculates Bhāva, Horā, Ghaṭī and Vighaṭī Lagna, Prāṇapada, Śrī Lagna, Indu Lagna and Kārakāṁśa. Compare their distinct rules before interpreting the positions.

Nila Raman's four sunrise lagnas, each carried forward from the Sun's sunrise position at its own speed during the 16 minutes 48 seconds before her birth.Four rates from the same sunrise position

The Sun stood at 26°40′ Virgo at the 06:13 sunrise; at Nila's 06:30 birth Bhāva Lagna had reached 0°51′ Libra, Horā Lagna 5°03′ Libra, Ghaṭī Lagna 17°39′ Libra and Vighaṭī Lagna 20°37′ Sagittarius, as Mạghā calculates them for this chart.

Virgo · 25°Sagittarius · 25°

  • Bhāva Lagna
    • 0°51′ Libra · 1 sign / 2 h
  • Horā Lagna
    • 5°03′ Libra · 1 sign / 1 h
  • Ghaṭī Lagna
    • 17°39′ Libra · 1 sign / 24 min
  • Vighaṭī Lagna
    • 20°37′ Sagittarius · 1 sign / 6 min
Sun at sunrise: Virgo 26°40′, 06:13. All four rows use the same 90° longitude scale and the same 16 minutes 48 seconds to the 06:30 birth. The ivory marker is the ordinary Lagna at Libra 0°45′.

Parāśara's sunrise lagnas start from the Sun and gain a sign at fixed speeds

Bhāva, Horā and Ghaṭī Lagna start at the sunrise Sun and advance one sign per two hours, one hour and 24 minutes respectively. Before-sunrise births count from the preceding sunrise. Nila's 16m48s elapsed from Virgo 26°40′ gives approximately Libra 0°51′, 5°03′ and 17°39′. The diagram also includes faster Vighaṭī Lagna. Parāśara's chapter continues to Varṇada Lagna, which Mạghā does not calculate.

A girl kneels beside a brass basin where a copper bowl floats, while an older woman slides a bead along a cord in a sandstone courtyard.

Vighaṭī Lagna and Prāṇapada move a whole sign every six minutes

Parāśara's rule for Prāṇapada, in chapter 3, converts the time since sunrise into vighaṭīs, the 24-second sixtieths of a ghaṭī, and divides by 15 to get signs. The result is added to the Sun, with 240° more if the Sun is in a fixed sign and 120° more if it is in a dual sign. Nila's Sun is in Virgo, a dual sign, so her 16 minutes 48 seconds, worth 83°58′, plus 120° bring Prāṇapada to 20°38′ Aries.

Vighaṭī Lagna does not appear in Parāśara's chapter on special lagnas. Mạghā follows the open-source PyJHora library and moves it from the Sun's sunrise position at Prāṇapada's speed, which places Nila's at 20°37′ Sagittarius. At a sign every six minutes, a birth time one minute out moves both points by 5°.

Śrī Lagna for Nila Raman: the Moon's 6.9% progress through Dhaniṣṭhā, scaled to the whole zodiac and added to her Lagna.Moon progress becomes Śrī Lagna

Nila's Moon at 24°15′ Capricorn has crossed 6.9% of Dhaniṣṭhā, and the same share of 360° is 24°51′, which added to her Lagna at 0°45′ Libra places Śrī Lagna at 25°36′ Libra in Mạghā's calculation for this chart.

  1. Moon in Dhaniṣṭhā24°15′ Capricorn6.9% progress
  2. Scale to the zodiac6.9012% × 360°+24°51′
  3. Add to the Lagna0°45′ Libra + 24°51′Śrī Lagna · 25°36′ Libra

Śrī Lagna turns the Moon's progress through its nakṣatra into degrees from the Lagna

Śrī means wealth and prosperity, and P. V. R. Narasimha Rao uses Śrī Lagna to judge prosperity. To find it, take the share of its nakṣatra that the Moon has crossed, take the same share of the full 360° and add that arc to the Lagna.

Nila's Moon has crossed 6.9% of Dhaniṣṭhā. The same share of the zodiac is 24°51′, and added to her Lagna at 0°45′ Libra it gives Śrī Lagna at 25°36′ Libra.

Because a small move of the Moon becomes a large arc, Śrī Lagna travels about twice as fast as the Lagna itself, roughly 1° for every two minutes of birth time, as Rao points out.

Indu Lagna for Nila Raman: two ninth lords worth 8 units each, a remainder of 4, and four signs counted from the Moon to Aries.Two ninth lords · one inclusive count

Gemini, 9th from Nila's Libra Lagna, and Virgo, 9th from her Capricorn Moon, are both ruled by Mercury, worth 8 units; 16 leaves 4 after dividing by 12, and the fourth sign from Capricorn is Aries, where Mạghā shows Indu Lagna at the Moon's degree, 24°15′.

  1. Find the ninth lordsFrom Libra Lagna: Gemini → Mercury, 8From Capricorn Moon: Virgo → Mercury, 8
  2. Add and divide8 + 8 = 1616 ÷ 12 leaves 4
  3. Count four from the MoonCapricorn → Aquarius → Pisces → AriesIndu Lagna · Aries 24°15′

Indu Lagna counts from the Moon by the units of two ninth lords

Uttara Kālāmṛta assigns units Sun 30, Moon 16, Mars 6, Mercury 8, Jupiter 10, Venus 12, Saturn 1. Add the ninth lords' units from Lagna and Moon, take modulo 12, and count from Moon, treating zero as twelve. Nila's two Mercury lordships give 8 + 8 = 16, remainder 4: Aries. The text supplies a sign; Mạghā adds the Moon's degree, showing Aries 24°15′.

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Kārakāṁśa is the navāṁśa sign of the Ātmakāraka

Parāśara defines Kārakāṁśa as the navāṁśa occupied by the Ātmakāraka and gives a whole chapter to its effects. Jaimini astrologers read it as a lagna in its own right, especially in the navāṁśa chart (D9).

Mạghā picks the Ātmakāraka from the seven planets from the Sun to Saturn, leaving out Rāhu, which some authorities in Parāśara's text add as an eighth. It shows the Kārakāṁśa as a sign with no degree, and only for the birth chart (D1) and the navāṁśa; other divisional charts show a note instead of a sign.

Nila's Sun leads her planets at 26°40′ Virgo and falls in the Virgo navāṁśa, so her Kārakāṁśa is Virgo, the 12th sign from her Libra Lagna.

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Mạghā lists all eight under the planets on your chart page

Show all eight Special Lagnas or choose individual ledger rows. They give sign, degree, house and nakṣatra/pada; Kārakāṁśa has only sign and house. Chart overlays allow up to five points.

Five points depend on elapsed time from sunrise. Mạghā uses the Sun's centre without refraction. Rao's first-ray convention begins Nila's day about 3½ minutes earlier, shifting Ghaṭī Lagna roughly 4° and carrying Vighaṭī Lagna and Prāṇapada into another sign.

Questions about special lagnas

How do you calculate Horā Lagna?

Find the minutes from sunrise to birth and halve them: Horā Lagna moves half a degree a minute, one sign an hour. Add that many degrees to the Sun's longitude at sunrise. Nila was born 16 minutes 48 seconds after sunrise, so her Horā Lagna sits about 8° beyond the Sun's sunrise position, at 5°03′ Libra. For a birth before sunrise, count from the previous sunrise.

What is the difference between Indu Lagna and Śrī Lagna?

Both are read for wealth and prosperity, but they are built differently. Indu Lagna, as Uttara Kālāmṛta gives it, is a sign, found by adding the units of two ninth lords and counting from the Moon. Śrī Lagna is a degree: the share of its nakṣatra the Moon has crossed, scaled to the zodiac and added to the Lagna. Nila's two fall in different signs, Aries and Libra.

How accurate does my birth time need to be for special lagnas?

Use the most accurate birth time you have; there is no single safe margin for all eight points. P. V. R. Narasimha Rao warns that Ghaṭī Lagna moves 1°15′ for every minute of birth time and advises care when using it in divisional charts. If your birth time is uncertain by several minutes, treat those fine placements cautiously rather than assuming they are settled.

Add the special lagnas to your chart in Mạghā

Six selected special-lagna rows in the desktop ledger; the phone menu rests on Special Lagnas without selecting it.
Frozen Nila Raman’s chart on 12 September 2026. Desktop shows Bhava, Hora, Ghati, Pranapada and Indu Lagna, plus Karakamsha. Vighati and Sree Lagna are left unticked because their prepared values use an earlier method. Phones stop on the unticked Special Lagnas ledger option.

Add special lagnas to your planetary ledger. The demo shows six; Vighaṭī and Śrī Lagna are omitted because their prepared values use an earlier method.

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