Pitra Dosha Calculator

A transparent, conservative check of the Pitra Dosha (Pitru Dosh) indicators in your birth chart - the Sun, the 9th house, and the 9th lord - with each rule explained, a birth-time-confidence check, and an honest computed base rate. It classifies and explains; it does not prescribe remedies.

100% private - the calculation runs entirely in your browser. No birth data sent anywhere.

Enter birth details

Supports 1900 onwards for better calculation reliability.

Birth time and place are both needed: the 9th house and its lord depend on your rising sign (Lagna), which changes roughly every two hours.

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Quick facts

What it checksThree conservative Sun-and-9th indicators (P1-P3)
OutputWhich indicators match + a neutral count (0-3); no severity band
ConventionOccupancy / conjunction only; one of several definitions
How common64.1% of 40,000 sampled India-latitude charts show 1 or more
Status of the termModern; the classical past-life-curse idea is different and more complex
Is it real?A cultural belief; sources disagree - presented for information
RemediesNone - informational only; no rituals, gemstones, or services
Not computed in v1Aspect-based affliction, the Moon school, and cancellation rules
Required inputDate, time, and place of birth
EngineMeeus VSOP87 + Lahiri ayanamsa; mean node; ~0.3 deg typical
Privacy100% client-side; no birth data leaves the browser
CostFree (Rs 0); no signup

What is Pitra Dosha (Pitru Dosh)?

Pitra Dosha - also written Pitru Dosh, and called Pitru Dosham or Pithru Dosham in the southern languages - is a modern astrological term for certain birth-chart patterns built around the Sun and the 9th house, the significators traditionally linked with the father and the paternal line. In everyday usage it is described as an ancestral matter, and the tradition’s own vocabulary sometimes calls it a “curse” (shrapa). We use that word only to describe what the tradition says, never as a statement about you.

It is important to be clear about what this is: a descriptive cultural and astrological classification, read from the chart. It is not a prediction of events, not a diagnosis, and not a verdict about your family. This tool is built around that honesty.

How to check Pitra Dosha in a kundli

There is no single accepted method, so this tool fixes a clear, conservative one and shows its working. It checks three indicators, treating Rahu, Ketu, and Saturn as the afflicting malefics:

  • P1 - the Sun afflicted: the Sun shares its sign with Rahu, Ketu, or Saturn. (This one does not depend on your rising sign, only on the signs of the planets.)
  • P2 - the 9th house afflicted: Rahu, Ketu, or Saturn occupies the 9th house counted from your rising sign.
  • P3 - the 9th lord afflicted: the planet ruling your 9th house is either joined by one of those malefics, or placed in a dusthana (the 6th, 8th, or 12th house).

The tool reports which of the three match, a neutral count from 0 to 3, and - as separate context - a stronger compound pattern (the Sun joined by both Saturn and a node), which is shown but never added to the count. Lordship is strict-classical (so Scorpio’s lord is Mars and Aquarius’s is Saturn; the nodes are never lords).

Is Pitra Dosha real?

We answer this plainly because the honest answer is the whole point of this tool. The term is modern: classical texts such as the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra do not use “Pitra Dosha” the way modern commercial astrology does. The indicators are not standardised, and credible sources disagree about which rules count. There is a related classical idea - the past-life ancestral curse, Purva Janma Shrapa, in BPHS Chapter 84 - but its yogas are different from, and more complex than, the simplified Sun-and-9th rules, a mismatch worth being honest about.

So this is a cultural and astrological belief, presented for information. We neither assert that it is real nor mock it. What we do is compute one conservative reading transparently, publish how common it is, and decline to turn it into a reason to sell you anything.

How common is Pitra Dosha?

We computed it. Running this exact three-indicator convention over 40,000 sampled India-latitude charts (1900-2099, across a seven-city latitude grid), at least one indicator is present in 64.1% of charts. Individually, the Sun indicator appears in about 24.2%, the 9th-house indicator in about 23.7%, and the 9th-lord indicator in about 41.8% (the 9th-lord rule is the most common because it includes the lord sitting in a dusthana).

We show the number rather than a scary adjective on purpose. A positive result is common - which is exactly why, on its own, it is not a cause for alarm. This is a figure over sampled birth charts, not a statistic about people, and the broad “almost everyone is afflicted” framing you may see elsewhere comes from using much looser rules than these.

What this tool does not do

Being clear about the limits is part of being honest. This version checks occupancy and conjunction only - it does not yet read malefic aspects onto the 9th house or its lord. It does not compute the cancellation rules (for example a strong, well-placed 9th lord, or benefic influence) that can offset these indicators, so a positive count is “indicators present”, not a final reading. It uses the Sun-and-9th core and does not compute the separate Moon-affliction school. And it never lists life “symptoms” or difficulties, because attaching fears to a chart pattern adds worry without adding information.

Above all, it prescribes no remedies. There are no rituals, donations, gemstones, pujas, bookings, or consultation links here - that entire lane is deliberately left out. If you want your full chart, our Free Kundli Generator shows the Sun and the 9th house in context; the Kaal Sarp Dosha and Mangal Dosha calculators apply the same honest, base-rate-first approach to other doshas.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Pitra Dosha (Pitru Dosh)?

Pitra Dosha (also written Pitru Dosh, Pitru Dosham, or Pithru Dosham) is a modern astrological term for certain chart patterns centred on the Sun and the 9th house - the significators linked to the father and the paternal line. It is a cultural and astrological classification, read as a descriptive pattern in a horoscope, not a prediction or a medical or legal fact about a person.

How do you check Pitra Dosha in a kundli?

Different sources check different things. This calculator uses one conservative convention of three indicators: (1) the Sun sharing its sign with Rahu, Ketu, or Saturn; (2) one of those malefics occupying the 9th house from the Lagna; and (3) the lord of the 9th house either joined by one of those malefics or placed in a dusthana (the 6th, 8th, or 12th house). It shows which of the three match your chart and explains why, along with the 9th sign and 9th lord it used.

Is Pitra Dosha real?

Honestly: the term is modern and is not used by the classical texts in this sense, the indicators are not standardised, and different sources disagree on what counts. The related classical idea - the past-life ancestral curse (Purva Janma Shrapa) in the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, Chapter 84 - is more complex and does not match these simplified Sun/9th rules. This is a cultural belief presented for information. We do not assert that it is real, and we do not mock it; we show you, transparently, what a conservative reading of the indicators says.

Which planets and houses indicate Pitra Dosha here?

The three indicators read the Sun, the 9th house, and the 9th-house lord, with Rahu, Ketu, and Saturn as the afflicting malefics (Mars is excluded in this version). The Sun and the 9th house are the classical significators of the father and paternal lineage, which is why a Sun-and-9th convention is the most thematically coherent way to define these indicators.

Do I need my exact birth time?

Yes, for two of the three indicators. The 9th house and its lord depend on your rising sign (Lagna), which changes roughly every two hours - so a wrong birth time can change indicators 2 and 3. The tool reports how many minutes you are from the nearest rising-sign boundary and, when you are close, what would change under the adjacent rising sign. The first indicator (the Sun's affliction) does not depend on your rising sign, so the rising-sign boundary does not change it - though, like any indicator, it is marked provisional if the Sun or a malefic sits right on a sign boundary.

How common is Pitra Dosha?

At least one of these three indicators is present in about 64.1% of 40,000 sampled India-latitude charts (1900-2099), computed by running this exact convention over a large sample. We publish the number rather than an adjective so you can judge it yourself: a positive result is common and, on its own, is not a cause for alarm.

Does this tool recommend remedies?

No. This tool only classifies and explains the indicators. It does not prescribe any remedy, ritual, donation, gemstone, or service, and it has no booking or consultation links. Pitra Dosha is heavily associated with paid remedy services; we deliberately do not participate in that. Any decision about rituals or observances is personal and cultural, and is yours to make.

Is the term Pitra Dosha in the classical texts?

Not in the modern sense. Classical works such as the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra do not use the term the way modern commercial astrology does. There is a related classical chapter on past-life curses (Purva Janma Shrapa), but its yogas are different from, and more complex than, the simplified Sun-and-9th rules most calculators check - a point we note rather than gloss over.

Are there different definitions of Pitra Dosha?

Yes - that is the central honest caveat. There is no single accepted definition. Some sources use only Sun-Rahu; others add Saturn, the 9th house, the 9th lord, or much broader multi-house rules that end up flagging almost every chart. This tool deliberately uses a narrow, conservative set of three Sun-and-9th indicators and excludes the over-broad rules, and it tells you that it is one convention among several.

Do some traditions use the Moon instead?

Yes. A separate school reads the affliction of the Moon (for example the Moon joined by Rahu) as an indicator. It is a genuine tradition, but it is thematically distinct from the Sun-and-father significations, so this tool discloses it but does not compute it. The same goes for aspect-based affliction (rather than only occupancy) and for cancellation rules - noted here, not computed in this version.

What does the matched-rule count mean?

It is simply how many of the three indicators are present (0, 1, 2, or 3) - a neutral count, not a severity score or a verdict. There is no 'mild/severe' band, because the indicators are not weighted by any sourced classical scale. A higher count means more of this particular convention's indicators are present; it is shown before cancellation rules, which can offset them and which this tool does not evaluate.

Sources

  • Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, Chapter 84 (“Purva Janma Shrapa”, the past-life curse chapter) - cited per available translations for the classical context, which is noted as different from and more complex than the modern Sun/9th indicators. The modern “Pitra Dosha” term and indicator set are not claimed to be classical.
  • Synthesis of the publicly documented indicator definitions used by mainstream Vedic-astrology portals and calculators - used to identify the conservative common-denominator (Sun, 9th house, 9th lord) and to deliberately exclude the over-broad rules.
  • N.C. Lahiri, Indian Astronomical Ephemeris (Rashtriya Panchang, 1956 onwards) for the sidereal Lahiri ayanamsa.
  • Jean Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms, 2nd ed., 1998 - VSOP87 (1987) planetary theory used for the graha and Lagna positions.
  • The base-rate figures are computed by our own committed sweep over 40,000 sampled charts (the method and raw counts are versioned in the repository).

This page is the canonical surface for these terms: Pitra Dosha, Pitru Dosh, Pitru Dosha, Pitru Dosham, Pithru Dosham, and Pitra Dosh - the modern Sun-and-9th-house indicators described above.

Cultural / informational purposes only
The Pitra Dosha indicators on this page are a cultural and astrological classification, presented for informational purposes only. They are not a prediction, a diagnosis, or advice, and they are not a substitute for guidance from a qualified professional - including for any health, legal, financial, or family concern. This tool does not recommend remedies. Last updated: June 2026.