Vedic Astrology API: Dashas, Vargas, Panchang & Lal Kitab

Vedic astrology is the oldest continuously practiced astrological tradition in the world. Its formal methods (BPHS, Jaimini Sutras, Lal Kitab, KP) are used daily in India: for marriage matchmakers, choosing dates, proactive fate diagnosis. But programmatic access to quality calculations was painful until recently.

AstroWay fixes that: 169 Vedic endpoints, cross-checked against PyJHora (the de-facto Python reference implementation), with documented divergences.

Both zodiacs compute planet positions through the same Swiss Ephemeris, but conceptually they differ:

Vedic is not an “alternative” to Western — it’s a separate system with its own internal logical framework. Integrators building multi-tradition apps (mobile horoscope, matchmaker, daily horoscope) often want both — and having one API instead of two third-parties is significant cost savings.

Most competitors ship only Vimshottari (120-year cycle, the most popular). AstroWay covers:

1. Vimshottari (120 years) — BPHS standard, end-to-end
2. Yogini (36 years) — faster predictions, 8 planets
3. Ashtottari (108 years) — Ardradi tradition, paksha-recommendation
4. Kalachakra (signs-as-MD-lords) — most complex, paramayu varies per chart
5. Chara (Jaimini movable) — for sign-based predictions
6. Tribhagi (54 = Vimshottari/2 + extras) — accelerated Vimshottari
7. Shatabdika (100 years) — varied source counts
8. Shodashottari (116 years) — for paksha-mixed charts
9. Sthira (rare fixed-period dasha)
10. Shoola (cross-rasi method)

Each supports 5 levels: Maha → Antar → Pratyantar → Sookshma → Prana.

Divisional charts are recursive views of the same natal chart at different scales. D9 (Navamsha) — most important for marriage. D10 (Dashamsha) — career. D60 (Shashtyamsha) — finest level.

One call to /v1/vedic/vargas returns all 16 divisions at once — integrators don’t have to make 16 separate requests.

5 limbs + auxiliaries:

• Tithi (lunar day, 30 divisions of the lunar cycle)
• Karana (half-tithi, 11 types)
• Yoga (day-yoga, 27 types, based on Sun + Moon longitude sum)
• Nakshatra (one of 27 lunar mansions)
• Choghadia (8 half-hour blocks of auspiciousness)
• Hora (planetary hour)
• Rahu-kaal (inauspicious 1.5-hour window each day)

Calling /v1/vedic/panchang/full gives you all 8 elements in one JSON for a given date/location.

A yoga in Vedic is a special planetary combination that forms a noticeable life pattern. Parashara (BPHS) describes hundreds; AstroWay implements the most-cited:

• Raja — combinations of power/recognition
• Dhana — wealth
• Dharma-Karmadhipati — professional path
• Pancha-Mahapurusha — Ruchaka/Bhadra/Hamsa/Malavya/Shasha (5 planets in kendra houses in their own signs)
• Gajakesari — Moon + Jupiter in kendra
• Adhi — Mercury/Venus/Jupiter in 6/7/8 from Moon

Plus Jaimini-specific: karaka-yoga (8 chara karakas in significant houses), karakamsa (12-house projection with AK in D9), shubha-graha (functional benefic per BPHS Adhyaya 34).

A dosha is a planetary affliction that complicates a specific life area. AstroWay covers three schools:

• Parashara: Mangal Dosha (Mars), Kaal Sarp (planets between Rahu and Ketu), Pitru (ancestral karma), Shrapit, Grahan, Guru-Chandal
• Lal Kitab: Manglik (LK-specific interpretation), plus other unique doshas of this school
• KP (Krishnamurti Paddhati): sub-lord-based diagnostics

If your matchmaker serves clients across India’s regions (Punjab often uses LK, Tamil Nadu — KP, all — Parashara) — one API instead of three.

Classical Indian match process:

1. Ashtakoot (Guna Milan) — 8-fold scale, max 36 points. Less than 18 = poor match. Most popular in North/Central India.
2. Dashakoota — 10-fold, South Indian variant.
3. Manglik check — critical for Mars-afflicted natal charts.
4. Mangal match — compensates Mars-Mars.
5. Bhrigu match — predictive overlay from Bhrigu Samhita.

All through /v1/vedic/compatibility/full — one call, full compatibility report.

A “muhurat” is an auspicious moment in time for launching an event. Classical events:

• Marriage muhurta
• Vehicle purchase
• Business start
• Travel
• Naming ceremony (Namakaran — naming a newborn)
• Surgery, education start, investment, property purchase, griha-pravesh (housewarming), engagement, court cases

/v1/vedic/muhurat/{event} returns the top-3 auspicious dates in a given range.

Lahiri — default (Chitra-Paksha, official Indian government standard). Switch via the ayanamsa parameter:

• raman — B.V. Raman tradition (popular in KP)
• krishnamurti — KP-specific
• yukteshwar — Sri Yukteshwar (distance from Spica)
• fagan-bradley — Fagan/Bradley (western sidereal)
• de-luce — De Luce
• jn-bhasin — JN Bhasin

Each is a different offset (usually 23.5–24.0°). For the same client, planet positions in signs may differ — that’s important to know at the architecture stage of your app.

Every endpoint has:

• Status (GREEN/YELLOW) in docs/AUDIT-TRAIL.md
• Inline AUDIT header in source code with sources (BPHS Adhyaya N, Jaimini Sutras X.Y, PyJHora reference function)
• Snapshot test fixture for regression coverage

Divergences from PyJHora (where they exist — most often for single-author methods like Lal Kitab) are documented in AUDIT-TRAIL — integrators see the exact delta before integrating.

# Natal Vedic chart
curl -X POST https://api.astroway.info/v1/vedic/dashas/vimshottari/maha \
  -H "X-Api-Key: aw_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "date": "1990-07-14",
    "time": "14:30:00",
    "tzOffset": "+03:00",
    "latitude": 50.4501,
    "longitude": 30.5234
  }'

Returns the current Maha-dasha lord, MD end date, and the sequence of subsequent dashas. Via /maha → /antar → /pratyantar → … you can drill down to 5 levels.

Vedic reports (PDF) are available in 21 languages including hi, ko, ja, id, tr, vi — markets with real demand for Vedic content. Pass lang=<code> to any /v1/reports/* endpoint. Details — /en/languages/.

Most Vedic endpoints — Tier 2 (20 credits). On the Free tier — 500 Vedic calls per month. Large reports (full compatibility, muhurat scanner) — Tier 3 (50 cr). PDF reports Vedic Kundli / Lal Kitab — Tier 7 (5000 cr).

• Vedic endpoint categories — navigation across 8 groups
• Vedic API marketing page — full overview with code samples in 4 languages
• Quick start — first request in 5 minutes
• Pricing — from free to Enterprise