I get a lot of queries about the Vedic astrology software on this website. Some of the folks who write to me do not have a java enabled web browser. This janma kundali software and the horoscope compatibility software are developed in java and and is embedded in the a web page that loads from this website. Hence it does need java, otherwise it cannot be executed. I do not have an offline version that can be installed as an application on a computer and run locally.

Also, I keep making changes both to the birth chart software as well as to the horoscope compatibility software. E.g. I have fixed bugs in nakshatra calculation for ascendant, Vimshottari dasha display etc. in the kundali software. The other day, I was trying to match horoscope for a prospective alliance and realized that the overall nakshatra match value for the pair of charts was being displayed as 10, when there was no nadi dosha in the charts (8 points if there is no nadi dosha) and the graha maitri score was also perfect (5 points for graha maitri). This was clearly an error that needed to be fixed.

For these reasons, please continue coming to this website and continue running the applications from within the appropriate web pages.

I am still looking to enhance the online kundali software as well as the panchanga software where I need to add a module to display the Hindu tithi along with the Gregorian date. I am still trying to work on it, but for all the excuses I make, the truth remains that reading and understand lisp code is not my cup of tea.

Based on my email exchanges with Basab over the last few days, I realized that there is still a lot of confusion over how to enter values in the birth chart application to generate janma kundli and it is especially true for folks living outside India and those who live in places with daylight savings during a certain part of the year. Horoscope applications throughout the world (for either Western or Vedic Astrology) can programmatically determine if daylight savings is in effect for a place of birth at the time of birth. This programming, however, is not entirely foolproof. Moreover, the laws governing daylight savings can be changed by the government of the day. I have therefore chosen not to incorporate such a logic in the birth chart application on this website and prefer to take this input from the user.

The most important side effect of getting DST wrong is incorrect lagna both for rashi and other amsha (divisional) charts. The degrees of planets are not affected to that big an extent by mistakes in DST. If some margin of error is acceptable, one could potentially still look at all planetary positions from Moon rashi for general predictions. IMHO, two horoscopes should be cast, one with DST and one without it, and some sort of preliminary chart rectification techniques should be used to select one of them.

The three points that should be remembered while entering timezone and daylight savings time values in any horoscope application are:

1. Timezone never changes
All through the year, whether or not DST is in affect, the timezone of a place remains the same.

2. DST
One more parameter DST is taken into account during period of daylight savings or summer time, as it is known in countries within European Union. Clocks are moved forward by an hour during summer time. Therefore, in California, USA, the timezone will always be 8:00 W, and DST is either “Yes” or “No” depending on the time of the year.

3. How do we find out what the timezone is?
Assuming that you want to find out the local time zone, the easiest way is to look at the system clock in your Windows machine. Double click on the clock on your computer’s system tray and click on the timezone tab on the popup. Please refer to the image below, where it is shown that IST is 5:30 ahead of GMT (GMT+5:30) and Pacific time is 8:00 behind GMT (GMT-8:00).

Figure 1: Finding out current timezone

Sorry MAC fans, this is a screen shot from a Windows machine. Well, I don’t dig macs and I a’int gonna get swindled by overpriced products and then waiting for in store credit coupon to show up

To generate a janma kundli, we then need to ascertain if DST is indeed in affect during the time of birth of the individual. The safest bet is to always ask the individual’s family about this parameter. If this option is not available and if the DST status has to be figured out from the date, here is a wikipedia article that could be referred to.

In United States, from 1987 to 2006, DST began on first Sunday in April and ended on last Sunday in October. Starting in 2007, daylight time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. This is a good website explaining history of daylight time in the US. In countries belonging to European Union, summer time starts on the last Sunday in March and ends on the last Sunday in October. The shift in time happens at 1.00 AM GMT. Here is a site explaining the rules for clock change in EU. DST has never been used in independent India, although we do see an example of DST being used during the second world war.

Once there is clarity about the DST status, the input screen of the janma kundli application should look like-

Figure 2: Input screen of horoscope application with DST in effect

During World War II, all over pre-independence India, i.e. present day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, clocks were moved forward by one hour to make Indian time 6 hours and 30 minutes ahead of GMT. The exact dates for this change are from September 1, 1942 to October 14, 1945. ¹

For any charts prepared for births during this period, simply move the clock back for an hour -OR- fill 6 30 E in the timezone column. E.g. for a chart prepared for Jan 01, 1944, Bombay at 9:00 AM, both of the following are valid inputs for making a birth chart:

Figure 1: Vedic Astrology Chart for 9 AM, time zone as 6:30 hours ahead of GMT.

Figure 2: Vedic Astrology Chart for 8 AM, time zone as 5:30 hours ahead of GMT.

Both these inputs in the birth chart generation application essentially give us the same Vedic Astrology birth chart -

Figure 3: Vedic Astrology birth chart for 1-1-44, same with both the inputs.

¹As suggested by Basab, I did some research on astro.com website. If I take a date of 15^th August, 1947 and cast a chart for 12:00 AM at New Delhi, the software on the site automatically suggests IST, i.e. GMT+5:30. If the city is changed to Calcutta, the software suggests IDT, which is GMT+6:30. This is indeed confusing. IMHO, in case of a confusion, two horoscopes with GMT+6:30 and GMT+5:30 should be cast and basic chart rectification techniques should be used.

That Google Earth is now available for a lot of Indian cities is an old story.

There is a fairly decent way of determining the latitude and longitude of birth using this software. Locate the building where the child was born, place the mouse over the building and note down the exact latitude and longitude. Use this value in the birth chart generator application. Google Earth gives you latitude and longitude in degrees and minutes and seconds and fractions thereof. It would not matter a lot, e.g. for me, the difference in my chart is visible only in Ascendant (Lagna) - about 4 minutes. If you take a case of a person born in Colaba, Mumbai vs that of someone born in Powai, Mumbai, the difference is about 10 minutes in the Ascendant.

For most of us, the major source of error still remains in noting down the time of birth and not in determining the exact latitude and longitude of the place of birth. So, this is something of a luxury if you have a lot of time on your hand. Otherwise, you are much better off using Astrodienst version of the world atlas. 

The building shown above is, obviously , the hospital where I was born. It was called DK Hospital in Raipur, India. It is not a hospital anymore and now houses the Mantralaya (seat of ministers) for Government of state of Chattisgarh, India.

Tags: Kundali