Chara Karaka Calculator

The rule is short. Take each planet's longitude and keep only the part inside its sign — the degrees, minutes and seconds it has crossed since the sign began. Which sign it is in does not matter. Then rank the planets from the highest figure to the lowest.

A Moon at 27° of Taurus outranks a Sun at 22° of Leo, even though Leo comes later in the zodiac. A Mars at 2° of Scorpio sits near the bottom of the list, however strong it is by sign. The planet at the top is the Atmakaraka, the next the Amatyakaraka, and so on down to the Darakaraka.

Rahu, when it is included, needs one adjustment. It moves backwards through the zodiac, so the distance it has travelled in its sign is counted from the end: thirty degrees minus the degree it shows. A Rahu at 17° of Capricorn has travelled 13° in Jaimini terms, and is ranked on that figure. Because the ranking turns on degrees, an accurate birth time matters most when two planets sit close together — a few minutes can swap them.

Parashara describes both. In the 7-karaka scheme the seven planets from the Sun to Saturn are ranked, and the fifth karaka is the Putrakaraka for children. In the 8-karaka scheme Rahu joins the ranking and a Pitrikaraka for the father is added before the Putrakaraka. Ketu is left out of both.

Adding Rahu changes more than one row. Once Rahu takes a place, every planet below it moves down one, so the Darakaraka of one scheme can be a different planet from the Darakaraka of the other. Most Jaimini astrologers read the 7-karaka scheme as the main one and turn to the 8-karaka scheme for questions about the father, or where Rahu is strongly placed. The calculator gives you both so you can see exactly where they differ.

A karaka is never read alone. The relationship between the Atmakaraka and the Amatyakaraka shows how well the person and their work fit each other: when the two are joined, or aspect each other by Jaimini rashi drishti, the career tends to feel like a calling. The relationship between the Atmakaraka and the Darakaraka shows how the person and their partner meet — as allies, as teachers to each other, or as opposites.

The houses matter as well. A Darakaraka in a kendra from the Atmakaraka is a strong bond; one in the 6th, 8th or 12th from it tends to bring distance or effort into the relationship. The same test works for every pair — the Matrikaraka for the mother, the Putrakaraka for children, the Gnatikaraka for the obstacles the person has to face.