Rank all your Jaimini Chara Karakas from date, time, and place of birth - from the Atmakaraka (soul, highest degree) through to the Darakaraka (spouse, lowest degree) - with the honest 7-vs-8 scheme note and a provisional flag for near-tied grahas, using the same sidereal Lahiri engine as our Kundli.
100% private - the calculation runs entirely in your browser. No birth data sent anywhere.
Supports 1900 onwards for better calculation reliability.
Birth time matters here only when two grahas are nearly tied in degree (a 'provisional' group below) - especially if the fast-moving Moon is one of them. The ranking is otherwise stable across a wide time window, since it uses each graha's degree-within-sign, not the Ascendant.
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astrology| Input | Date, time, and place of birth |
| Output | All Chara Karakas ranked, Atmakaraka to Darakaraka |
| Scheme used (default) | 8 karakas (Rahu reversed); a 7-karaka toggle is provided |
| Ranking rule | Atmakaraka = highest degree-within-sign, Darakaraka = lowest |
| Rahu / Ketu | Rahu reversed (30 minus its degree); Ketu excluded |
| 7-vs-8 divergence | AK or DK differs in about 25% of charts |
| Provisional rate (honest) | About 27% of charts (the union): ~14% have a near-tie and ~15% a graha near a sign boundary - these overlap, so the union is below their sum |
| Engine | Meeus VSOP87 + Lahiri ayanamsa (same as Kundli) |
| Precision | About 0.3 deg typical; ranking error far smaller (the ayanamsa cancels) |
| Cost / privacy | Free (Rs 0); 100% client-side, no birth data leaves the browser |
In Jaimini astrology, the Chara Karakas (“movable significators”) are a set of seven or eight roles assigned to the grahas based purely on how far each has moved into its sign. Take every graha’s degree-within-sign - the 0 to 30 degree figure, ignoring which sign it sits in - and rank them from highest to lowest. The order of that ranking assigns the roles: soul, career, siblings, mother, father, children, relatives, and spouse.
Unlike the fixed (naisargika) karakas, where each planet always signifies the same things, the chara karakas are movable - which graha plays which role changes from chart to chart. They are derived from the same birth chart you can generate with our Free Kundli Generator; this tool simply ranks the grahas in that chart by degree.
The Darakaraka (DK) is the graha with the lowest degree in the ranking. It is the Jaimini significator of the spouse and marriage, read alongside the 7th house and Venus. Its sign, and especially its navamsa (D9) sign, are traditionally taken as clues to the nature of the partner - for example a Venus Darakaraka is associated with a refined, affectionate partner, a Saturn Darakaraka with a mature or dutiful one, and so on.
Read these as a cultural reference, not a prediction. The Darakaraka does not name a person, describe an appearance, or time a wedding; almost every chart has one, because it is simply the lowest-degree graha. For matching two charts, the 36-point Ashtakoot framework in our Kundli Matching tool is the standard, and the spouse’s D9 themes are best read in the Navamsa Calculator.
The Atmakaraka (AK) is the graha with the highest degree - the “king” of the chara karakas, read as the significator of the soul and the deepest desire carried into this life. Of all the karakas it is given the most weight in Jaimini analysis.
The navamsa (D9) sign of the Atmakaraka is called the Karakamsa, and is used as a lagna for a deeper reading of the soul’s themes. This tool names your Atmakaraka’s navamsa sign; to see its full D9 placement and the rest of the navamsa chart, use the Navamsa (D9) Calculator.
The Amatyakaraka (AmK) is the graha with the second-highest degree - the “minister” to the Atmakaraka’s king. It signifies career, intellect, and the inner advisor, and the Atmakaraka-Amatyakaraka pair is a classical focus for questions of direction and livelihood. The remaining karakas continue down the ranking: Bhratrukaraka (siblings), Matrukaraka (mother), Pitrukaraka (father, in the 8-karaka scheme), Putrakaraka (children), and Gnatikaraka (relatives and obstacles).
The rule is simple. For each graha, take its degree-within-sign (0 to 30, ignoring the sign). Sort all the grahas from highest to lowest. The first is the Atmakaraka, the second the Amatyakaraka, and so on to the last, the Darakaraka. Two adjustments apply to the nodes: Rahu’s degree is reversed - subtracted from 30 - because the nodes move in apparent reverse, and Ketu is excluded entirely as a moksha significator.
The comparison is done on this degree-within-sign progress, not on the absolute zodiac longitude, so two grahas in different signs at, say, 15.30 degrees each are correctly read as tied. Because the ranking depends on degree alone and not on the Ascendant, a roughly correct birth time is enough for most charts - the exceptions, both flagged and discussed below, are a near-tie and a graha near a sign boundary. How time-sensitive those are depends on the graha: the fast-moving Moon is the most sensitive, but other grahas can shift too when they sit close to the edge and the recorded time is uncertain.
Worked example. Suppose a chart’s degrees-within-sign are Sun 27, Mercury 23, Jupiter 19, Mars 15, Venus 12, Moon 9, Saturn 4, and Rahu at 5 degrees - which reverses to 25 (30 minus 5). Ranking highest to lowest gives Sun 27, Rahu 25, Mercury 23, Jupiter 19, Mars 15, Venus 12, Moon 9, Saturn 4. So the Atmakaraka is the Sun (highest), the Amatyakaraka is Rahu, and the Darakaraka is Saturn (lowest). Note how reversing Rahu lifts it from near the bottom to second place - which is why the Atmakaraka and Darakaraka can change between the 7- and 8-karaka schemes.
Most calculators silently pick one scheme. There are actually three, and practitioners disagree. The 8-karaka scheme (Sanjay Rath; what most online tools show, and our default) includes Rahu with its degree reversed. The 7-karaka scheme (K.N. Rao; Neelakantha) drops Rahu and works with the seven classical grahas. A third, conditional scheme uses seven by default and brings Rahu in only when two of the seven classical grahas (Sun to Saturn) share the same whole degree.
Exposing this is the honest difference here. In our sweep of 1900 to 2100 instants, two of the seven classical grahas share the same whole degree in about 52% of charts, so the conditional scheme is not a rare edge case. And the Atmakaraka or Darakaraka differs between the 7- and 8-karaka schemes in about 25% of charts. The tool computes the 7- and 8-karaka schemes (toggle above) and documents the conditional one rather than pretending the choice never matters.
Three kinds of closeness matter. First, an exact tie - two grahas at the identical degree to the arc-second - is the classical case: they co-signify one karaka, and the next role down is left absent (a deficit, traditionally filled by a fixed karaka the tool does not yet compute). This is astronomically rare.
Second, a near-tie: two grahas within a few arc-minutes of each other could be ordered either way, so the tool marks their roles provisional and lists the plausible orderings. About 14% of charts have at least one such group at our 5 arc-minute orb. That orb is far tighter than the 0.3-degree engine figure on purpose: the ranking depends on the difference in degree between grahas, and the largest error source - the ayanamsa - cancels in that difference, so the relative ranking error is only a few arc-minutes (a little larger for Rahu, whose reversal doubles the effect).
Third - and this is the one the ayanamsa does not cancel - a graha sitting near a sign boundary. There the question is which sign the graha is computed in, which the engine’s absolute precision governs, not the relative ordering. A small error in the underlying position could place it in the next sign, flipping its degree-within-sign between near 0 and near 30. That error is part ephemeris precision and part birth time: the Moon is the most birth-time-sensitive (it moves fastest), but Mercury, Venus, Mars, and even the Sun can wrap a nearby boundary when the recorded time is uncertain - it depends on each graha’s speed, its distance from the edge, and how unsure the time is, not on the Moon alone. Because the Darakaraka is the lowest and the Atmakaraka the highest, such a wrap can swing a graha between those two roles - a much bigger change than a near-tie swap. We flag any graha within our typical-precision orb (about 0.3 degrees, a deliberately conservative figure rather than a hard bound) as “near sign edge” - about 15% of charts. Counting both the near-ties and the sign-edge cases, roughly 27% of charts carry at least one provisional flag - which is the honest figure, not a near-perfect one.
It is worth stating plainly: the chara karakas are a ranking, so essentially every chart has all of them. Having a Darakaraka or an Atmakaraka is not rare or special. (The one exception is the astronomically rare exact-degree tie, where two grahas co-signify a role and the role just below is left absent - the calculator shows that honestly rather than inventing a graha for it.) Across our sample, each graha is roughly equally likely to be the Darakaraka (between about 11.8% and 13.4% each) or the Atmakaraka, because degree-within-sign is close to uniform. What carries meaning is which graha plays each role and how it sits in your wider chart, read alongside the D1 and D9 - not the mere presence of a karaka.
The Darakaraka (DK) is the Chara Karaka of the spouse and marriage in Jaimini astrology. It is the graha with the LOWEST degree-within-sign among the seven or eight grahas considered. Its sign, and especially its navamsa (D9) sign, are traditionally read as indicators of the nature of the partner and the marriage. It is one significator among many, not a prediction of who or when you will marry.
The Atmakaraka (AK) is the Chara Karaka of the soul or self - the graha with the HIGHEST degree-within-sign. It is considered the most important of the chara karakas, said to carry the strongest desire the soul brings into this life. In Jaimini astrology the navamsa sign of the Atmakaraka (the Karakamsa) is read for the soul's deeper themes.
The Amatyakaraka (AmK) is the Chara Karaka of career, intellect and the inner advisor or minister - the graha with the second-highest degree. It is read alongside the Atmakaraka for direction in work and the mind, and the AK-AmK pair is a classical focus of Jaimini chart reading.
Take the degree each graha occupies within its sign (its degree-within-sign, from 0 to 30, ignoring which sign). Rank all the grahas from highest to lowest by that figure. The highest is the Atmakaraka, the next is the Amatyakaraka, and so on down to the lowest, which is the Darakaraka. Rahu's degree is reversed (30 minus its sign degree) when it is included, and Ketu is always excluded.
No. The Darakaraka is a significator that classical Jaimini astrology associates with the spouse and marriage; it is a cultural and symbolic reference, not a deterministic statement about an actual person. Almost every chart has a Darakaraka - it is simply the lowest-degree graha (the rare exception is an exact-degree tie that leaves the role absent) - so it describes a theme to reflect on, never an identity, appearance, name, or wedding date. Treat any such reading as informational only and confirm with a qualified astrologer.
The nodes are in apparent reverse (retrograde) motion, so classical sources subtract Rahu's degree from 30 before ranking it (a Rahu at 8 degrees is treated as 22). Ketu is excluded from the chara karaka scheme entirely because it is taken as a moksha (liberation) significator rather than a worldly karaka. Because reversed Rahu can land high or low, the Atmakaraka or Darakaraka can differ between the seven- and eight-graha schemes. One more honest detail: this calculator uses the MEAN lunar node for Rahu (what our Kundli engine computes; many Vedic systems use the mean node, others use the true node). The true node oscillates around the mean and can sit up to nearly 1.9 degrees away (about 1.878 degrees at the extreme) - far larger than the fine-degree provisional flag, and enough to move Rahu into a different sign and change its karaka in the eight-graha scheme.
If two grahas share the exact same degree (to the arc-second of their chara-karaka degree), they co-signify the same karaka, and the next role down is left without a graha - a deficit. Classically a fixed (sthira) karaka is then used as a substitute, but that selection follows a context-dependent rule this tool does not yet compute, so it honestly shows the role as absent rather than guess. An exact same-degree tie is astronomically rare.
There are three documented schemes and practitioners genuinely disagree. The eight-karaka scheme (used by Sanjay Rath and most online calculators, the default here) includes Rahu reversed. The seven-karaka scheme (associated with K.N. Rao and Neelakantha) drops Rahu. A third "conditional" scheme uses seven by default and brings in Rahu only when two of the seven CLASSICAL grahas (Sun to Saturn) share the same whole degree - Rahu is the portfolio added after such a collision, not part of the test - which in our sweep happens in about 52% of charts, so it is not rare. We compute the seven- and eight-karaka schemes and document the conditional one; in about 25% of charts the Atmakaraka or Darakaraka differs between seven and eight.
The Karakamsa is the navamsa (D9) sign of the Atmakaraka, treated as a lagna for a deeper Jaimini reading of the soul. This tool names your Atmakaraka's navamsa sign but does not render a separate Karakamsa chart in this version. You can see the full D9 placements in our Navamsa Calculator.
Often less than for charts that depend on the Ascendant, because the ranking uses each graha's degree-within-sign (location-independent and, for most grahas, slow to change). The tool flags two cases to watch: a near-tie, when two grahas are within a few arc-minutes in degree, and a graha within about 0.3 degrees of a sign boundary, whose sign could differ. How much your birth time matters varies by graha: the Moon is the most sensitive (it moves fastest), but Mercury, Venus, Mars, and even the Sun can shift across a nearby boundary when the recorded time is uncertain - it depends on each graha's speed, its distance from the edge, and how unsure the time is. Together these flag about 27% of charts, so verifying your birth time is worth it whenever a graha is flagged - especially the Moon.
It uses the same Meeus-based VSOP87 engine and sidereal Lahiri ayanamsa as our Kundli generator, typically within about 0.3 degrees of observatory-grade ephemerides for dates from 1900 onwards. Crucially, the ranking depends on the DIFFERENCE in degree between grahas, and the largest error source (the ayanamsa) cancels in that difference, so for two grahas in the SAME sign the order is far more reliable than the 0.3-degree figure suggests - the tool only flags them provisional within a few arc-minutes. The ayanamsa does NOT cancel in one case: a graha within about 0.3 degrees of a SIGN boundary could actually be in the next sign, which would flip its degree-within-sign between near 0 and near 30 and change its karaka substantially. The tool flags those grahas as "near sign edge" (about 15% of charts).
This page is the canonical surface for the following terms: Chara Karaka, Char Karaka, Jaimini Karaka, Darakaraka, Dara Karaka, Atmakaraka, Atma Karaka, Amatyakaraka, Karakamsa. Use whichever spelling your tradition uses; the calculation is the same.