Planets (grahas)

Mars (Mangal) in Vedic astrology

In Vedic astrology, Mars (Mangal) is one of the nine grahas. It rules Aries and Scorpio, is exalted in Capricorn and is debilitated in Cancer. It stands for energy, courage and conflict, and its house decides manglik dosha. Its Vimshottari mahadasha is 7 years long.

Updated Nov 3, 2026

More terms in Planets (grahas)

Mars: how the API computes it

POST /v1/planets returns Mars with its sign, degree, house, nakshatra (birth star) and dignity (how well it is placed in its sign). In Aries, Mars is read as mulatrikona up to 12 degrees and as own sign after that (CH-04). Mulatrikona is a strong place, just below exaltation.

Mars aspects (casts its influence on) the 7th house from itself. It also aspects the 4th and the 8th (AS-03). It is always a natural malefic, a planet tradition treats as harmful (CH-14). Its house decides manglik dosha (DO-01). That means Mars in house 1, 2, 4, 7, 8 or 12, counted from the ascendant, from the Moon and from Venus.

POST /v1/dosha/manglik reports each of the three counts on its own. Mars is combust, or weakened by the Sun, when it is within 17 degrees of the Sun (CH-07). In shadbala, the six-part strength score, it needs 5 rupas to count as strong.

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/varshaphal	The Tajik annual chart (varshaphal) for one year
POST	/v1/forecast/annual	Yearly forecast: a year of sky events read against a chart
POST	/v1/upagrahas	Upagrahas: Gulika, Mandi, the kaala velas and the Dhoomadi points
POST	/v1/aspects	Planet aspects (graha drishti)
POST	/v1/dasha/ashtottari	Ashtottari dasha periods (a 108-year cycle)

What the API reference says

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

POST /v1/planets · Planet positions and the ascendantThe degree matters for mulatrikona: Mars in Aries is mulatrikona up to 12 degrees and own sign after that.
POST /v1/varshaphal · The Tajik annual chart (varshaphal) for one yearTwo divisions of the years circulate and differ on Mars, so both are in methods, with sources_agree and differ_on for the year.
POST /v1/upagrahas · Upagrahas: Gulika, Mandi, the kaala velas and the Dhoomadi pointsThe Sun's part gives Kaala, the Moon's Paridhi, Mars's Mrityu, Mercury's Ardhaprahara, Jupiter's Yamakantaka, Venus's Kodanda and Saturn's Gulika.

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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From the blog

Oct 1, 2026 · 6 min read
Manglik Dosha Explained: 3 Counts and 4 Exceptions
How a manglik dosha calculator checks Mars from the rising sign, Moon and Venus, why most charts show it…
Read

Astrology API

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Your first answer

John Doe, New York

POST /v1/planets200 OK

RisingVirgoHast
SunCancerAshlesha
MoonTaurusMrigashira
MarsAriesKrittika

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