Rashis (Vedic Signs)

The twelve rashis are the signs of the sidereal zodiac used in Indian astrology, measured from a fixed point among the stars rather than from the moving equinox. They carry the same names and images as the Western signs (Mesha for Aries, Vrishabha for Taurus, Mithuna for Gemini), but because of the different starting point they fall at different degrees, typically about twenty-four degrees earlier than the tropical signs.

Each rashi has a ruling graha, an element, a quality and a body of signification, and the twelve are the basic frame of the Vedic chart, onto which the grahas, houses and divisional charts are read.

The gap between the sidereal rashis and the tropical signs is the ayanamsha, the accumulated difference between the two zodiacs due to the precession of the equinoxes, and it is the single largest technical difference between Indian and Western astrology. A person born under one tropical sign is often under the previous sidereal one.

The atlas gives each rashi its ruler, element, quality and significations, and notes its relation to the corresponding Western sign. The grahas that rule the rashis, and the divisional vargas built from them, are treated in their own categories.