Chart basics
Benefic and malefic in Vedic astrology
Tradition sorts the planets into benefics, which help the houses they touch, and malefics, which harm them. Jupiter and Venus are benefics, and so are Mercury and a bright Moon. Saturn, Mars, the Sun, Rahu and Ketu are malefics, and a dark (waning) Moon counts as malefic too.
Updated
Benefic and malefic: how the API computes it
Jupiter and Venus are always benefic. The Sun, Mars, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu are always malefic. Two planets change with the chart.
The Moon is benefic when it is bright, which means waxing (growing) and past its first few days. It is malefic when it is dark. Mercury is benefic when it keeps good company, and malefic when it sits with malefics.
The API decides that for each chart (CH-14). The labels feed many other rules. A benefic in a kendra (house 1, 4, 7 or 10) helps a yoga, a special planet combination.
A malefic in an upachaya house (house 3, 6, 10 or 11) is welcomed. A house with malefics on both sides is read as under pressure. There is also a second, softer idea: the functional nature of a planet for a rising sign. It depends on the houses the planet rules.
The API keeps the two ideas separate. It never tells a user that a planet is simply good or bad.
Get it from the API
Planetary states (graha avasthas). Here is the call to API for Astrology (apiforastrology.com) for our sample, John Doe, born Aug 15, 1990, 10:30 AM, New York.
POST /v1/avasthas
# John Doe, born Aug 15, 1990, 10:30 AM, New York
curl -X POST "https://apiforastrology.com/api/astrology/v1/avasthas" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $ASTROLOGY_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"year":1990,"month":8,"day":15,"hour":10,"minute":30,"second":0,"latitude":40.7128,"longitude":-74.006,"timezone":"America/New_York"}'Answer (long lists shortened)200 OK
{
"grahas": [
{
"graha": "Sun",
"baladi": {
"avastha": "Bala",
"results": "quarter",
"fraction": 0.25,
"degree_in_sign": 28.7753,
"sign_parity": "even",
"reading": {
"text": [
"**Your Sun is in the bala (infant) state.** It sits in the young part of its sign. So by itself, it tends to give about a quarter of its results. What it promises grows as you put effort and time into it."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
},
"jagradadi": {
"avastha": "Svapna",
"results": "middling",
"fraction": null,
"dignity": "friend",
"reading": {
"text": [
"**Your Sun is in svapna (the dreaming state).** It sits in a friendly or neutral sign, so it acts, but not with full attention. Its results tend to be moderate, and they grow when you give them focus."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
},
"deeptadi": {
"avastha": "Mudita",
"basis": "great_friend",
"dignity": "friend",
"sign_lord": "Moon",
"additional_avasthas": [
"Vikala"
],
"malefics": [
"Ketu"
],
"combust": false,
"reading": {
"text": [
"**Your Sun is mudita (glad).** It sits in the sign of a close friend, so it tends to act cheerfully and helpfully. Its matters often bring you pleasure."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
},
"additional_readings": [
{
"text": [
"**Your Sun is also vikala (unsettled),** because it shares its sign with a harsh planet. That company can scatter its energy, so its matters go better when you keep them simple and steady."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
]
},
"lajjitadi": {
"avasthas": [
"Kshudhita",
"Trushita",
"Mudita"
],
"reasons": [
{
"avastha": "Kshudhita",
"because": [
"with Venus, a natural enemy"
]
},
{
"avastha": "Trushita",
"because": [
"in a watery sign, aspected by Mars and by no benefic"
]
},
{
"avastha": "Mudita",
"because": [
"in the sign of Moon, a natural friend",
"with Jupiter, a natural friend",
"aspected by Mars, a natural friend"
]
}
],
"readings": [
{
"text": [
"**Your Sun is kshudhita (hungry).** An unfriendly sign, unfriendly planets beside it or looking at it, or Saturn beside it leave it wanting. So its matters can feel like they never quite satisfy. Setting clear, modest goals for them…"
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
},
{
"text": [
"**Your Sun is trushita (thirsty).** It sits in a water sign and is watched by harsh planets, with no gentle one to balance them. So its matters can bring emotional strain. Kindness and support from others help it a great deal."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
},
{
"text": [
"**Your Sun is mudita (delighted).** A friendly sign, friendly planets beside it or looking at it, or Jupiter beside it lift it. So its matters tend to bring you happiness and good fortune."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
]
},
"shayanadi": {
"avastha": "Sabha",
"number": 7,
"inputs": {
"nakshatra": 9,
"planet_number": 1,
"navamsa_number": 9,
"birth_nakshatra": 5,
"ghati": 11,
"lagna": 6,
"total": 103
},
"convention": "running_ghati",
"other_reckoning": {
"avastha": "Agamana",
"number": 6,
"ghati": 10,
"convention": "completed_ghati",
"sources_agree": false,
"reading": {
"text": [
"**Your Sun is in agamana (coming back).** It tends to return to its matters again and again. So what it offers often comes through repeated attempts rather than at the first try."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
},
"reading": {
"text": [
"**Your Sun is in sabha (in the assembly).** The planet is at home among people, so its results tend to come through company, conversation and public life."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
}
},
{
"graha": "Moon",
"baladi": {
"avastha": "Bala",
"results": "quarter",
"fraction": 0.25,
"degree_in_sign": 24.575,
"sign_parity": "even",
"reading": {
"text": [
"**Your Moon is in the bala (infant) state.** It sits in the young part of its sign. So by itself, it tends to give about a quarter of its results. What it promises grows as you put effort and time into it."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
},
"jagradadi": {
"avastha": "Jagrat",
"results": "full",
"fraction": 1,
"dignity": "mulatrikona",
"reading": {
"text": [
"**Your Moon is jagrat (awake).** It sits in a sign where it is at home or at its best. So it is alert and ready to act. Its results usually come in full."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
},
"deeptadi": {
"avastha": "Swastha",
"basis": "mulatrikona",
"dignity": "mulatrikona",
"sign_lord": "Venus",
"additional_avasthas": [],
"malefics": [],
"combust": false,
"reading": {
"text": [
"**Your Moon is swastha (at ease).** It sits in its own sign, so it works comfortably and steadily. Its results usually feel natural and secure."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
},
"lajjitadi": {
"avasthas": [
"Garvita"
],
"reasons": [
{
"avastha": "Garvita",
"because": [
"in its exaltation sign",
"in its mulatrikona"
]
}
],
"readings": [
{
"text": [
"**Your Moon is garvita (proud).** The planet is exalted or in its most comfortable stretch of sign. So it tends to bring confidence, a good name and good results in its matters."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
]
},
"shayanadi": {
"avastha": "Agamana",
"number": 6,
"inputs": {
"nakshatra": 5,
"planet_number": 2,
"navamsa_number": 8,
"birth_nakshatra": 5,
"ghati": 11,
"lagna": 6,
"total": 102
},
"convention": "running_ghati",
"other_reckoning": {
"avastha": "Gamana",
"number": 5,
"ghati": 10,
"convention": "completed_ghati",
"sources_agree": false,
"reading": {
"text": [
"**Your Moon is in gamana (going out).** Going out, it is on the move, so its matters often involve travel, change and effort to keep up with."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
},
"reading": {
"text": [
"**Your Moon is in agamana (coming back).** It tends to return to its matters again and again. So what it offers often comes through repeated attempts rather than at the first try."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
}
},
{
"graha": "Mars",
"baladi": {
"avastha": "Mrita",
"results": "none",
"fraction": 0,
"degree_in_sign": 27.7149,
"sign_parity": "odd",
"reading": {
"text": [
"**Your Mars is in the mrita state,** the last of the five ages, at the very edge of its sign. It gives little on its own. So its matters tend to depend on your effort and on the planets it works with. Treat it as a planet to support, not…"
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
},
"jagradadi": {
"avastha": "Jagrat",
"results": "full",
"fraction": 1,
"dignity": "own sign",
"reading": {
"text": [
"**Your Mars is jagrat (awake).** It sits in a sign where it is at home or at its best. So it is alert and ready to act. Its results usually come in full."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
},
"deeptadi": {
"avastha": "Swastha",
"basis": "own sign",
"dignity": "own sign",
"sign_lord": "Mars",
"additional_avasthas": [],
"malefics": [],
"combust": false,
"reading": {
"text": [
"**Your Mars is swastha (at ease).** It sits in its own sign, so it works comfortably and steadily. Its results usually feel natural and secure."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
},
"lajjitadi": {
"avasthas": [],
"reasons": [],
"readings": []
},
"shayanadi": {
"avastha": "Sabha",
"number": 7,
"inputs": {
"nakshatra": 3,
"planet_number": 3,
"navamsa_number": 9,
"birth_nakshatra": 5,
"ghati": 11,
"lagna": 6,
"total": 103
},
"convention": "running_ghati",
"other_reckoning": {
"avastha": "Agamana",
"number": 6,
"ghati": 10,
"convention": "completed_ghati",
"sources_agree": false,
"reading": {
"text": [
"**Your Mars is in agamana (coming back).** It tends to return to its matters again and again. So what it offers often comes through repeated attempts rather than at the first try."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
},
"reading": {
"text": [
"**Your Mars is in sabha (in the assembly).** The planet is at home among people, so its results tend to come through company, conversation and public life."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
}
}
}
],
"shayanadi_reckoning": {
"ghatis_elapsed": 10.8026,
"ghati": 11,
"convention": "running_ghati",
"other_reckoning": {
"ghati": 10,
"convention": "completed_ghati"
},
"sources_agree": false,
"birth_nakshatra": 5,
"lagna": 6,
"note": "ghatis are counted from the sunrise of the Vedic day (the previous sunrise for a birth before dawn). The formula takes the RUNNING ghati, the one in progress at birth, as a desktop program does. Some software takes the COMPLETED ghatis,…"
},
"friendship": {
"jagradadi": "natural (chart.natural_dignity_in, read by degree)",
"deeptadi": "compound (natural with temporal): five grades",
"lajjitadi": "natural (naisargika) for every friend and enemy: the sign lord, the grahas with it and those aspecting it"
},
"nodes": "baladi and shayanadi only; the nodes own no sign and hold no friendship, so the three dignity-based sets are not computed for them",
"not_scored": "the five sets are reported side by side and never combined into one verdict",
"not_computed": [
{
"what": "shayanadi sub-state (drishti, cheshta, vicheshta)",
"why": "the BPHS formula for it takes a number from the first letter of the native's name, which a birth chart does not carry"
},
{
"what": "the specific result BPHS gives for each graha in each shayanadi state",
"why": "a hundred and eight graha-by-state readings; the reading here describes each state once"
},
{
"what": "jagradadi, deeptadi and lajjitadi for Rahu and Ketu",
"why": "all three read the relation between a graha and the lord of its sign. The nodes own no sign and have no natural friendships here. Reporting them neutral would claim what the classical scheme does not say"
}
],
"framing": {
"text": [
"**A planet's avastha (state) describes the condition it is in when it acts.** Where a planet sits says what it promises. Its state says how freely it can deliver that promise: fully, partly, or only with your effort.",
"Five traditional sets of states are shown side by side. Each looks at the planet from a different angle, so they are not added up into one verdict. One set does not cancel another."
],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard"
},
"gaps": [],
"language": "en",
"detail": "standard",
"meta": {
"ayanamsa": "lahiri",
"ayanamsa_value": 23.7260727,
"julian_day": 2448119.10483,
"ephemeris": "JPL DE440s",
"node": "true",
"timezone": {
"source": "zone",
"offset_hours": -4,
"zone": "America/New_York",
"abbreviation": "EDT",
"dst": true,
"dst_hours": 1,
"ambiguous_resolved_by_fold": null,
"note": "read from the IANA tz database at this instant, so daylight saving and historical offset changes are included"
}
}
}Where the API returns it
| POST | /v1/avasthas | Planetary states (graha avasthas) |
| POST | /v1/matching/parasparam | Each person's planets placed in the other's chart |
| POST | /v1/prashna | Question chart (prashna): one question, read for the moment it is asked |
| POST | /v1/reading/rules | Rules this chart triggers, ranked |
| POST | /v1/varshaphal | The Tajik annual chart (varshaphal) for one year |
| POST | /v1/forecast/couple/{theme} | Love, career or wealth forecast for a couple |
What the API reference says
Each line is quoted from the reference page of the endpoint named above it.
- POST /v1/matching/parasparam · Each person's planets placed in the other's chartBenefic (helpful) and malefic (harmful) planets are counted separately and never netted off.
- POST /v1/prashna · Question chart (prashna): one question, read for the moment it is asked
moon.next_aspectandmoon.last_aspectare the Moon's next and last Tajika aspect, andmoon.kamboolasays whether its next one goes to a benefic or the matter's lord. - POST /v1/avasthas · Planetary states (graha avasthas)Vikala (with a malefic) and kopa (combust, too close to the Sun) are conditions.
- POST /v1/reading/rules · Rules this chart triggers, ranked
aspected_bynames the benefic and malefic planets aspecting the houses the rule is about.
Feature page: Kundli and birth charts. Who uses it: Astrology apps. The classical rules the API follows are in the rulebook.
How we check the numbers
Every value here starts from planet positions worked out from NASA JPL planet data (DE440). We test them against NASA JPL Horizons, NASA's planet position service. On 25,571 positions from 1850 to 2149, the Sun and planets agree within 0.001 arc seconds. The Moon agrees within 0.011. On 2,000 random birth charts, the rising sign agrees with Swiss Ephemeris within 0.004 arc seconds. An arc second is 1/3,600 of a degree. A practicing astrologer reviews the rules behind these answers. See how we test.
Related terms
Free tools
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Free kundli
Your Vedic birth chart: the rising sign and all nine planets, with sign, house and nakshatra.
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Astrology API
Get these values from the API
Create a free test key and call any endpoint on this page. Or try a request in the API reference first.
Your first answer
John Doe, New York
POST /v1/planets200 OK
- RisingVirgoHast
- SunCancerAshlesha
- MoonTaurusMrigashira
- MarsAriesKrittika
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