Introduction
In the rashi chart (D1) each house is one whole sign: the lagna's sign is the 1st house, the next sign the 2nd. It is the simple, old method, and ePandit's main chart uses it.
In the sky, though, houses are not always equal 30° slices. The rising degree (lagna) and the highest point of the sky (the 10th, MC) sit at distances that vary with the place and time of birth. The bhava chalit builds houses from these actual points. "Chalit" means moved: the houses shift away from the sign boundaries.
The Śrīpati method: house midpoints and junctions
ePandit uses the Śrīpati method, the one B. V. Raman also follows in his book:
- Four angles: the lagna degree is the middle of the 1st house, and the MC degree the middle of the 10th. The points opposite them are the middles of the 7th and the 4th.
- Trisection: each quadrant (lagna to 4th, 4th to 7th, 7th to 10th, 10th to lagna) is divided into three equal parts. These give the other eight bhava madhya (house midpoints).
- Sandhi: the point exactly halfway between two neighbouring midpoints is the sandhi (junction). A house runs from one sandhi to the next.
Because the four quadrants are rarely equal, some houses come out larger than 30° and some smaller. The difference grows at higher latitudes.
When a planet's chalit house differs from its sign house
Suppose Jupiter is in the 3rd house of the rashi chart but in the last degrees of its sign, and the junction of the 4th house falls before it. In the chalit, Jupiter shows in the 4th. That is a "house shift".
- It happens most often when a planet, or the lagna, is near the start or end of a sign.
- The planet's sign does not change. Its sign, nakshatra, dignity, aspects and dasha all stay the same. Only the house it is read with changes.
- Tradition holds that a planet very close to a sandhi is linked to both houses, so it should not be pinned to one house for a firm conclusion.
Why ePandit prints both
An ePandit kundli gives both the rashi chart and the bhava chalit: a table of the twelve midpoints and junctions, each planet's sign house and chalit house side by side, and the chalit chart itself.
- The main reading, such as house lords and yogas, comes from the rashi chart, as is usual in North India.
- The chalit is a second look: if a planet sits in different houses in the two, both houses are kept in mind.
- The same midpoints feed shadbala's dig bala and other house-based figures.
All of this depends heavily on the birth time. A few minutes can move a planet that sits near a sandhi, so lean on the chalit only when the time is reliable.