# Darakaraka Calculator A darakaraka calculator finds the graha that has advanced least into its sign, the last of Jaimini's chara karakas, which the tradition reads for partnership. This page gives it in both the eight- and seven-karaka schemes, with its house from the lagna, nakshatra, navamsa sign, the Upapada Lagna and the Atmakaraka, and flags any near-tie. ## What is the Darakaraka in Jaimini astrology? The Darakaraka (दारकारक) is the last of the chara karakas, the offices Jaimini's system hands out by degree. Rank the grahas by how far each has advanced into its own sign; the first is the Atmakaraka, the significator of the self, and the last is the Dara karaka. Dara means spouse, also written kalatra, and Jaimini writers read the partnership topic through this graha together with the Upapada Lagna. Because it is assigned by degree, it changes from chart to chart: it can be the Moon, Saturn, Mars or any graha of the karaka set. It is a lens the texts use for a topic, never a description of a person. ### Chara Darakaraka versus Venus the fixed karaka Parashari reading gives Venus the spouse permanently in every chart; that is the sthira, fixed, karaka. Jaimini's chara, movable, Darakaraka is assigned fresh for each chart by degree, so it is Venus only when Venus happens to have advanced least. The two systems answer different questions and are read side by side, not one as a correction of the other. ### The Upapada is read beside it The Upapada Lagna is the arudha of the 12th house: count from the 12th to its lord, then the same distance again, with the 1st and 7th exception. Jaimini writers read partnership through the Darakaraka and the Upapada together, and look at the 2nd from the Upapada as well. The result computes the Upapada from the same chart and shows the working. ## How does a darakaraka calculator find it by date of birth? Take each graha's degrees within its sign, from 0 to 30, not its absolute longitude. Sort highest first. In the eight-karaka scheme the eight grahas from the Sun to Rahu take Atma, Amatya, Bhratri, Matri, Pitri, Putra, Jnati and Dara in that order, so the graha with the lowest figure is the Darakaraka. The date alone is not quite enough: the Moon moves about half a degree an hour, and if it is the lowest or close to the lowest, the time decides. The house from the lagna needs the time and place as well, since the lagna changes sign about every two hours. ### Rahu is counted backwards Rahu moves retrograde through the zodiac, so its advancement is 30° minus its degrees in the sign. Rahu at 27° of a sign has advanced only 3°, which often makes it the Darakaraka in the eight-karaka scheme. Ranking it forwards like the others is the most common implementation error and shifts every office below it by one place, including the last. ### Ketu is left out of both schemes Ketu takes no chara karaka at all. The tradition gives it moksha, not a worldly office, so it is excluded rather than ranked last. A calculator that includes Ketu has nine candidates for eight offices and usually names the wrong Darakaraka, because Ketu's figure lands somewhere in the ranking and displaces whatever graha sits below it. ## Why do the 7 and 8 karaka schemes give different Darakarakas? The ashta-chara scheme ranks eight grahas and includes Rahu; the sapta-chara scheme ranks seven and leaves Rahu out, dropping the Pitri karaka. The two agree on the Darakaraka whenever Rahu is not the lowest graha: the last office goes to the same graha either way. When Rahu, counted backwards, has advanced least, the eight-karaka scheme makes Rahu the Darakaraka and the seven-karaka scheme gives the office to the next graha up. The sutras are terse and commentators read them both ways, so the result prints both answers side by side and says plainly when they differ, rather than choosing one for you. ## What does the darakaraka house from the lagna show? The result gives the house the Darakaraka occupies counted from the lagna, with whole-sign houses: the lagna's sign is the 1st, the next sign the 2nd, and so on. Jaimini writers read the Darakaraka's house, sign and nakshatra together, and the 7th house from the lagna is read beside it in the Parashari way, so the result prints the 7th sign and its lord too. The house is the one part of this page that depends most on the birth time, because the lagna moves through a whole sign in about two hours. ### Sign, nakshatra and pada Besides the house, the result gives the Darakaraka's sign with its degree and its nakshatra with the pada. Classical writers read the sign's nature and the lord of the nakshatra when they describe the theme the karaka carries. The nakshatra changes every 13°20' and the pada every 3°20', so both are stable for the slow grahas and time-sensitive only for the Moon. ### Whole-sign houses and the chalit alternative Houses here are whole-sign, as in Jaimini practice and on the kundli page. A cusp-based system such as Bhava Chalit or Placidus can put a graha that sits near a house edge into the neighbouring house. Where a reading turns on that, it is a difference of house system rather than an error, and the kundli page shows the chalit view beside the whole-sign one. ## What is the navamsa darakaraka, and why read the D9? The navamsa (D9) is the divisional chart the tradition reads for dharma and partnership, so Jaimini writers look at the sign the Darakaraka falls in there as well as in the birth chart. The result gives that navamsa sign, marks it vargottama when it matches the birth-chart sign, and counts its house from the navamsa lagna. That last figure needs the most accurate birth time of anything on the page: the navamsa lagna changes about every thirteen minutes. The Darakaraka graha itself is fixed by the birth chart; the navamsa only adds a second view of the same graha. The full D9 is on the navamsa chart calculator. ## How do the Atmakaraka and Darakaraka work together? They are the two ends of one ranking. The Atmakaraka has advanced furthest and stands for the self; the Darakaraka has advanced least and stands for the partner in Jaimini's reading. Writers look at how the two relate: whether they share a sign or aspect each other by Jaimini's sign aspects, and how the Darakaraka sits from the karakamsha. This page prints the Atmakaraka at the top of the same table, so an atmakaraka and darakaraka calculator is in effect one calculation. The Atmakaraka's own page goes further, with the karakamsha and what the texts read from it. ### One ranking, two offices Because both come from the same sort, an error in the ranking moves both. A calculator that ranks Rahu forwards or includes Ketu can give a wrong Atmakaraka and a wrong Darakaraka at once. The full table on the result, with the advancement figure for each graha, is there so you can check that the first and last offices really are the highest and lowest figures. ### What the pair is not Readers sometimes treat an Atmakaraka and Darakaraka pair as a compatibility score or as a description of a future partner. The texts do neither. They give the pair as a way of looking at the partnership topic in one chart, and this page reports that reading without claiming anything about who anyone meets or when. ## Can a darakaraka calculator work without birth time? Partly. The Darakaraka graha depends on degrees within signs, and the slow grahas barely move in a day, so a noon chart often gives the right graha. The exception is the Moon, which moves about 13° a day: if it is the lowest graha or close to it, the time decides. What needs the time outright is everything counted from the lagna: the house, the 7th house, the Upapada and the navamsa lagna. Rather than offer a partial answer as a whole one, this page asks for a time, and the near-tie check on the result says how much the answer depends on it. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is this darakaraka calculator online and free? Yes. It is a free darakaraka calculator online with no sign-up. Enter the date, time and place of birth and it returns the Darakaraka in both karaka schemes, its house, nakshatra and navamsa sign, the Upapada Lagna and the Atmakaraka, with the full ranking so you can check every figure. ### How do I find my darakaraka? Take each graha's degrees within its sign, count Rahu backwards from 30°, leave Ketu out, and find the lowest figure. That graha is the Darakaraka. This page does it from your birth details and shows the ranking, so you can see which graha came last and by how much. ### Can I find my darakaraka without a birth time? Sometimes the graha, rarely the rest. The slow grahas barely move in a day, so a noon chart often names the same Darakaraka, unless the Moon is the lowest or close to it. The house from the lagna, the Upapada and the navamsa lagna all need the birth time. ### Is Venus always the darakaraka? No. Venus is the fixed (sthira) karaka for the spouse in Parashari reading, the same in every chart. The Jaimini Darakaraka is whichever graha has advanced least into its sign, so it is Venus only when Venus happens to rank last. The two are separate ideas from separate systems. ### Does the darakaraka describe a future spouse? No. Jaimini writers read the partnership topic through it, alongside the Upapada and the 7th house, but no reading of it has been shown to describe a particular person. This page reports what the tradition reads and how it was computed, and it will not tell you who anyone marries. ### What if the darakaraka is Rahu? Then Rahu, counted backwards, has advanced least of all, and that happens only in the eight-karaka scheme. The seven-karaka scheme leaves Rahu out and gives the office to the next graha up. The result shows both and says plainly that commentators read the sutras both ways. ### Is there a darakaraka calculator in Hindi? This page is written in English and labels every graha, sign and nakshatra with its Hindi name in Devanagari, दारकारक for the Darakaraka itself. The calculation is identical in any language: the same ranking by degrees within the sign, with Rahu counted backwards. ### Why is my darakaraka different on another site? Usually one of four reasons: Rahu ranked forwards, Ketu included, the seven-karaka scheme used where this page leads with eight, or a different ayanamsha. This page uses Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) and the mean node, and prints both schemes and every degree so the difference can be traced. --- Source: https://vedicsense.in/darakaraka-calculator Method: nirayana (sidereal) rashis, Lahiri ayanamsha, whole-sign bhavas, planetary positions to arc-second accuracy.