Chart basics

Whole-sign houses in Vedic astrology

Whole-sign houses is a house system in which each house is one full sign. The sign rising at birth is house 1, the next sign is house 2, and so on around the zodiac. It is the oldest house system and the one every endpoint uses, with two exceptions. POST /v1/kp uses Placidus cusps, as KP astrology requires. POST /v1/chart/chalit shows the bhava chalit houses beside the whole-sign ones.

Updated Nov 3, 2026

More terms in Chart basics

Whole-sign houses: how the API computes it

Other house systems cut the chart at points worked out from the birth place and time. So a house can start in the middle of a sign, and houses can differ in size. Whole-sign houses do none of this.

The API takes the sign of the ascendant (the rising sign) and calls that whole sign house 1. Every sign after it gets the next number (CH-06). Take two people born on the same day in New York, one at 6:00 AM and one at 6:30 AM. They may have the same houses, if the ascendant sign has not changed.

A planet's house depends only on its sign, not on its exact degree. Every endpoint that mentions a house uses the same rule, including POST /v1/planets, POST /v1/aspects and POST /v1/shadbala. So the answers always agree with each other.

You do not have to choose a house system or send one in the request. There is no option to switch, on purpose. That way your app cannot show two different charts for one person.

Two endpoints show other houses beside these. POST /v1/kp uses Placidus cusps, as KP astrology requires (KP-04). POST /v1/chart/chalit shows the bhava chalit (CH-16).

Neither one changes a house number anywhere else.

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/chart/chalit	Bhava chalit: houses by the Sripati method
GET	/v1/meta	Supported options and limits
POST	/v1/chart/sudarshana	Sudarshana chakra: the chart from the ascendant, Moon and Sun
POST	/v1/transits/over/{graha}	When a transiting planet passes over a birth-chart point

What the API reference says

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

POST /v1/chart/chalit · Bhava chalit: houses by the Sripati methodEvery other house number in the API, and every reading, stays whole sign.
POST /v1/chart/sudarshana · Sudarshana chakra: the chart from the ascendant, Moon and SunHouses are whole signs, as everywhere in the API.
POST /v1/transits/over/{graha} · When a transiting planet passes over a birth-chart pointThe birth-chart point is reduced to its sign, because this API uses whole-sign houses throughout.
POST /v1/transits/over/{graha} · When a transiting planet passes over a birth-chart pointA degree-based conjunction would make a distinction the whole-sign house model cannot express.

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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