The Navamsa (D9) Chart, Simply Explained

Every Vedic astrologer looks at two charts before saying anything: the Rashi chart (D1), the ordinary birth chart, and the Navamsa (D9). The Navamsa divides each sign into nine parts and builds a new chart from the parts the planets fall in. Parashara lists sixteen such divisional charts, the shodasavarga, but the Navamsa is the one used in almost every reading.

How it is made

Each sign of 30 degrees is divided into nine navamsas of 3 degrees 20 minutes — the same size as a nakshatra pada, so the 108 navamsas of the zodiac match the 108 padas exactly. The counting starts from a different sign depending on the type of sign: for movable signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) from the sign itself, for fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius) from the 9th sign, and for dual signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) from the 5th. In practice this means a planet in the first navamsa of Aries is in Aries in the D9, and one in the last navamsa of Aries is in Sagittarius.

What it shows

• Marriage and the spouse: the 7th house of the Navamsa and Venus in it.
• The inner strength of each planet, which may differ from how it looks in the birth chart.
• Dharma and the second half of life; many astrologers hold that the Navamsa’s promise shows more clearly after marriage or the mid-thirties.
• Confirmation: a yoga or a placement repeated in the D1 and D9 is reliable.

Vargottama planets

A planet in the same sign in both the Rashi and the Navamsa is called vargottama and is considered much stronger than its sign alone suggests. This happens when a planet is in the first navamsa of a movable sign, the middle (fifth) navamsa of a fixed sign, or the last navamsa of a dual sign. A vargottama Lagna is thought to give a stable, resilient constitution.

Dignity can change

A planet debilitated in the birth chart but exalted or in its own sign in the Navamsa is read as one whose early weakness turns into strength, often with effort and time. The reverse — a planet exalted in the D1 but debilitated in the D9 — can promise more than it delivers. This is one reason two people with the same planet in the same sign can have very different experiences of it.

Birth time and the D9

The Navamsa Lagna changes about every thirteen minutes on average, so it is very sensitive to birth time. If your time is uncertain by more than a few minutes, read the planets’ Navamsa signs, which change slowly for everything except the Moon, rather than the Navamsa houses.

Your Kundli shows the Navamsa next to the birth chart, marks vargottama planets, and includes the other divisional charts used for career (D10), children (D7) and more.