How the practice was learned
Vedic astrology came through family lineage — South Indian practitioners on the Telugu side. The early exposure was ambient: chart-reading happening at the dinner table, match-charts being calculated for relatives' marriages, aspect-discussions when something significant was unfolding. The formal study started in adulthood, alongside the tarot practice that was already running.
Vedic astrology in lineage tradition is taught in a specific sequence: signs → houses → planets → nakshatras → yogas → dashas → divisional charts. Skipping or compressing that sequence is the most common mistake Western astrologers make when they pick up Vedic — they try to map it onto what they already know rather than learning it as the distinct system it is.
Sidereal zodiac with Lahiri ayanamsha
The site uses the sidereal zodiac (referenced to fixed stars) for all Vedic chart calculations, with the Lahiri ayanamsha — the standard adopted by the Indian government in 1955 and used by most South Indian and many North Indian practitioners. The current Lahiri offset is about 24°09′ from the tropical zodiac.
This means a person who's "Sun in Taurus" in Western tropical astrology may be "Sun in Aries" in Vedic sidereal astrology. The difference isn't an error in either system — they're measuring different things. The tropical zodiac measures the sky relative to the equinoxes; the sidereal zodiac measures it relative to the actual constellations.
Western and Vedic are kept as separate traditions on this site. The same chart is never calculated under both systems and the results compared as if they should agree — that's a category error. If a reading uses Vedic, the whole reading uses Vedic. Same for Western.
Nakshatras — the operative lens
The 27 nakshatras (lunar mansions) are the operative layer in lineage Vedic practice. The 12 signs give broad strokes; the nakshatras give the actual personality texture, the shadow, the gift, the dharmic direction. Reading a chart without the nakshatras is like reading someone's name without their first name.
Each nakshatra has a ruling planet, a primary deity, a symbolic image, four padas (quarters) that further subdivide it, and a complex web of compatibilities and incompatibilities with other nakshatras. The 27 nakshatra reference pages on this site each carry the lineage interpretation rather than a generic compilation — including, where relevant, the practical advice that South Indian elders typically give for that nakshatra.
Vimshottari dasha — the primary timing system
Vimshottari is the 120-year planetary period system that starts from your birth Moon's nakshatra and cycles through nine planetary periods (Mahadashas) of varying lengths — from 6 years (Sun) to 20 years (Venus). Each Mahadasha has 9 sub-periods (Antardashas) of the same nine planets, and so on down through Pratyantar and Sookshma levels.
In lineage practice, the dasha is read first when timing is the question. "What does my chart say about this year" is meaningfully different from "what does my chart say about my life" — the first is a dasha question, the second is a natal question. Mixing the two is one of the most common consultation errors and is what produces generic-feeling Vedic readings.
Where this track shows up in the library
The Vedic reference cluster includes 27 nakshatra pages, 16 divisional chart (varga) pages, all major yogas, all three doshas (Mangal, Kala Sarpa, Sade Sati), 6 dasha systems (Vimshottari primary, plus Yogini, Ashtottari, Char, Kalachakra, Narayana), and the muhurta + match- making (Ashtakoot) tools.
The lineage interpretation is preserved throughout. Where Vedic astrology disagrees with Western astrology on a point of meaning, the Vedic content uses the Vedic reading. Cross-pollinating between the two would flatten both.
Honest scope statement
Vedic astrology is a vast system. After years of focused study and lineage exposure, I can read birth charts, apply the major dashas, identify the primary yogas and doshas, and do match-making at a competent level. I am not a Jyotish Visharad-credentialed astrologer in the formal Indian institutional sense — that requires a multi-year program of study under a recognized acharya.
The work on this site is the lineage practice as I learned it from my family and from extended self-study with reference texts (B.V. Raman, K.N. Rao, Hart de Fouw, David Frawley). Where the lineage approach differs from a textbook approach, the lineage approach is what gets used here.