Chart basics

Graha in Vedic astrology

A graha is one of the nine bodies Vedic astrology tracks: the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and the two lunar nodes, Rahu and Ketu. The word is usually translated as planet, although the Sun and Moon are not planets and the nodes are points in space, not bodies. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are not used.

Updated Nov 3, 2026

More terms in Chart basics

Graha: how the API computes it

The word graha means something that seizes or holds. Tradition says these bodies take hold of a person's life. The API tracks the same nine every time: the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu.

POST /v1/planets returns all nine for a birth moment. Each comes with its sign, degree, house, nakshatra (star segment), pada (quarter of a nakshatra) and dignity (strength in its sign). The response also says if a planet is retrograde (seeming to move backward) or combust (too close to the Sun).

Rahu and Ketu are always reported as retrograde (CH-10). The API leaves out Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, because the classical texts never used them. Show the planet's name from the response, but use its number in your own code.

Names change with the language you ask for. Each graha also has a nature, friends, enemies and signs it likes. The API reads these from fixed tables.

Get it from the API

Planet positions and the ascendant. 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/planets

# John Doe, born Aug 15, 1990, 10:30 AM, New York
curl -X POST "https://apiforastrology.com/api/astrology/v1/planets" \
  -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

{
  "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"
    }
  },
  "ascendant": {
    "name": "Ascendant",
    "longitude": 169.934155,
    "sign": "Virgo",
    "sign_number": 6,
    "degree_in_sign": 19.934155,
    "degree_dms": "19 : 56 : 03",
    "house": 1,
    "nakshatra": "Hast",
    "nakshatra_lord": "Moon",
    "pada": 3,
    "speed": 0,
    "retrograde": false,
    "combust": false,
    "dignity": "n/a",
    "vargottama": false,
    "pushkara": {
      "navamsa": false,
      "navamsa_number": 6,
      "bhaga": false,
      "bhaga_degree": 9,
      "bhaga_by_element": false,
      "bhaga_degree_by_element": 14,
      "sources_agree": true,
      "orb_degrees": 1
    }
  },
  "positions": [
    {
      "name": "Sun",
      "longitude": 118.7753409,
      "sign": "Cancer",
      "sign_number": 4,
      "degree_in_sign": 28.7753409,
      "degree_dms": "28 : 46 : 31",
      "house": 11,
      "nakshatra": "Ashlesha",
      "nakshatra_lord": "Mercury",
      "pada": 4,
      "speed": 0.9610665,
      "retrograde": false,
      "combust": false,
      "dignity": "friend",
      "vargottama": false,
      "pushkara": {
        "navamsa": false,
        "navamsa_number": 9,
        "bhaga": false,
        "bhaga_degree": 8,
        "bhaga_by_element": false,
        "bhaga_degree_by_element": 7,
        "sources_agree": true,
        "orb_degrees": 1
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Moon",
      "longitude": 54.5750352,
      "sign": "Taurus",
      "sign_number": 2,
      "degree_in_sign": 24.5750352,
      "degree_dms": "24 : 34 : 30",
      "house": 9,
      "nakshatra": "Mrigashira",
      "nakshatra_lord": "Mars",
      "pada": 1,
      "speed": 14.258194,
      "retrograde": false,
      "combust": false,
      "dignity": "mulatrikona",
      "vargottama": false,
      "pushkara": {
        "navamsa": false,
        "navamsa_number": 8,
        "bhaga": false,
        "bhaga_degree": 14,
        "bhaga_by_element": false,
        "bhaga_degree_by_element": 14,
        "sources_agree": true,
        "orb_degrees": 1
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Mars",
      "longitude": 27.7149328,
      "sign": "Aries",
      "sign_number": 1,
      "degree_in_sign": 27.7149328,
      "degree_dms": "27 : 42 : 54",
      "house": 8,
      "nakshatra": "Krittika",
      "nakshatra_lord": "Sun",
      "pada": 1,
      "speed": 0.5753266,
      "retrograde": false,
      "combust": false,
      "dignity": "own sign",
      "vargottama": false,
      "pushkara": {
        "navamsa": true,
        "navamsa_number": 9,
        "bhaga": false,
        "bhaga_degree": 21,
        "bhaga_by_element": false,
        "bhaga_degree_by_element": 21,
        "sources_agree": true,
        "orb_degrees": 1
      }
    }
  ],
  "planetary_war": []
}

Where the API returns it

POST	/v1/planets	Planet positions and the ascendant
POST	/v1/avasthas	Planetary states (graha avasthas)
POST	/v1/varshaphal	The Tajik annual chart (varshaphal) for one year
POST	/v1/ashtakavarga	Ashtakavarga: strength points for each sign
POST	/v1/special-lagnas	Special lagnas, the yogi point, Jaimini lords and dagdha signs
POST	/v1/transits/over/{graha}	When a transiting planet passes over a birth-chart point
POST	/v1/prashna/kp	KP horary: a question read from a number between 1 and 249

What the API reference says

Each line is quoted from the reference page of the endpoint named above it.

POST /v1/varshaphal · The Tajik annual chart (varshaphal) for one yearEach natal sign moves on by the running year; the result says which grahas pierce (vedha) the Moon and the lagna.
POST /v1/ashtakavarga · Ashtakavarga: strength points for each signGraha pinda weights the signs the planets occupy by a multiplier for each planet.
POST /v1/special-lagnas · Special lagnas, the yogi point, Jaimini lords and dagdha signsSaturn, Rahu and Ketu are never returned: where one of them wins a stage, it is named nominal and graha is the 6th planet from it instead, with the other counting convention in disputed.
POST /v1/transits/over/{graha} · When a transiting planet passes over a birth-chart pointReturns the periods when the transiting planet (graha) moves through the sign of a point in the birth chart.

The nine grahas

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.

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Your first answer

John Doe, New York

POST /v1/planets200 OK

RisingVirgoHast
SunCancerAshlesha
MoonTaurusMrigashira
MarsAriesKrittika

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