This calculator works out your chara karakas from your date, time, and place of birth. It returns all seven of them, with the Atmakaraka that carries your soul’s direction, the Amatyakaraka that points to career and livelihood, and the Darakaraka that describes the marriage partner, along with each planet’s exact degree, sign, house, and Navamsa position. The karakas are derived from planetary degrees on the Lahiri ayanamsha with sidereal longitudes, the same configuration Jagannatha Hora uses, so what you read here lines up with the software. Enter your details below.
How the chara karakas are worked out
The seven chara karakas are not fixed to particular planets. They are assigned by degree. The calculator takes the longitude of each of the seven planets from the Sun to Saturn, looks only at how far each one has travelled inside its sign, and ranks them from the highest degree down to the lowest. The planet sitting at the highest degree becomes the Atmakaraka. The one at the lowest degree becomes the Darakaraka. The five in between fill the remaining roles in descending order.
This is why two people born on the same day can have different karakas, and why the result is sensitive to birth time. A small change in time moves the Moon and the ascendant, and occasionally reorders planets that sit close together in degree. If your birth time is approximate, treat the karakas near the middle of the ranking with some caution, since those are the ones most likely to swap. The Atmakaraka and Darakaraka, at the two ends, tend to be more stable.
Your Atmakaraka, the significator of the soul
The Atmakaraka is the most important of the seven. It stands for the soul’s deepest preoccupation in this life and the lesson the chart keeps returning to. The classical way to read it is through its position in the Navamsa, called the Karakamsha, which shows the direction the soul is pulled toward. A full treatment of the planet and how to interpret it sits in the Atmakaraka guide, and its Navamsa role is explained in the Atmakaraka in Navamsa article. To read the sign your Atmakaraka occupies in the D9 along with any planets joining it, use the Karakamsha lagna reference.
Your Amatyakaraka, the significator of career
The Amatyakaraka is the minister to the Atmakaraka’s king. It describes how a person earns, the work that suits them, and the means through which they contribute. Where the Atmakaraka shows what the soul wants, the Amatyakaraka shows the vehicle that carries it into the world. It is read most closely in the Dasamsa, the tenth divisional chart, which opens up the specifics of profession and standing. If you want to follow your Amatyakaraka into career detail, the Dasamsa chart guide covers how the D10 is read. A strong, well-placed Amatyakaraka supports a clear professional path, while a troubled one often shows up as a longer search for the right work rather than as failure.
Your Darakaraka, the significator of the spouse
The Darakaraka is the planet at the lowest degree, and it describes the marriage partner and the nature of the union. Its sign, its dignity, and its position in the Navamsa give clues about the partner’s temperament, appearance, and background. This is the karaka most people come to a calculator to find, and it has the deepest set of readings on the site. Start with the Darakaraka by house guide for what each placement tends to indicate, then read the spouse appearance and spouse characteristics articles for the finer detail. Because the soul significator and the spouse significator are often read as a pair, there is also a piece on how to read the Atmakaraka and Darakaraka together. These describe tendencies and likely patterns, not a fixed identity, so hold them as indications to test against life rather than as certainties.
The remaining four karakas
Below the three headline karakas, the calculator also returns the rest of the seven. The Bhratrikaraka relates to siblings, courage, and effort. The Matrikaraka relates to the mother, home, and property. The Putrakaraka relates to children and creativity. The Gnatikaraka relates to obstacles, rivals, and the friction that forces growth, and in a difficult chart it can touch on disputes and recovery from setbacks. These four are read in support of the main three. If you work with the eight-karaka scheme, the set also includes the Pitrikaraka for the father, and all of them are laid out together in the complete Chara Karaka guide.
Reading the karakas together
A karaka on its own is only a starting point. The practitioner reads the Atmakaraka through its Karakamsha, weighs the Amatyakaraka in the Dasamsa, and lets the Darakaraka describe the partner, then checks all of it against the running dasha and the wider chart before drawing conclusions. The chart’s image, the Arudha, adds another layer, and you can read your own through the Arudha lagna guide. For marriage specifically, the Upapada is read alongside the Darakaraka, covered in the Upapada lagna article. If you would rather see your full birth chart with the Navamsa, dasha, and yogas in one place, the kundali calculator casts the complete chart.
Method and accuracy
Positions are sidereal, calculated on the Lahiri ayanamsha with whole-sign houses, the standard settings in Jagannatha Hora, so the karakas this calculator assigns match what the software would show for the same birth data. The calculation uses the seven-karaka scheme, working from the seven planets between the Sun and Saturn. The eight-karaka scheme brings Rahu into the ranking and adds the Pitrikaraka for the father, which shifts the middle of the sequence. The two endpoints, the Atmakaraka and the Darakaraka, come out the same in both schemes, so the soul and the spouse significators are stable whichever method you follow.
A note on how to use this. The karakas describe leanings, capacities, and the kind of partner or work a chart is oriented toward. They are a tool for reflection and study, not a forecast of fixed events, and they say nothing on their own about timing, which belongs to the dasha. Read them as a map of tendencies you can recognise and work with.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Darakaraka?
The Darakaraka is the chara karaka that signifies the marriage partner. It is the planet sitting at the lowest degree among the seven planets from the Sun to Saturn in your chart. Its sign, dignity, and Navamsa position give clues about the partner’s nature and the character of the marriage.
How is the Darakaraka calculated?
Take the seven planets from the Sun to Saturn and note how many degrees each has travelled within its own sign. The planet with the lowest degree is your Darakaraka. The calculator does this automatically and also shows you the exact degree, so you can see how it was chosen.
What is the difference between the Atmakaraka and the Darakaraka?
They sit at opposite ends of the same ranking. The Atmakaraka is the planet at the highest degree and signifies the soul’s direction. The Darakaraka is the planet at the lowest degree and signifies the spouse. One points inward to your own path, the other outward to the partner.
How do I find my Amatyakaraka?
The Amatyakaraka is the planet with the second highest degree after the Atmakaraka. It signifies career and the means of livelihood. The calculator lists it for you, and its career detail is best read through the tenth divisional chart, the Dasamsa.
Can two people have the same karakas?
Yes, the karakas repeat across many charts, since there are only seven planets to fill the roles. What differs from one chart to another is the sign, house, and Navamsa position of each karaka, and the dasha running over a life, which is why two people with the same Darakaraka can still have very different marriages.
Do Rahu and Ketu count as karakas?
In the seven-karaka scheme used here, only the seven planets from the Sun to Saturn are ranked, so the nodes are left out. There is an eight-karaka scheme that brings a node into the ranking, and in that method one of the middle assignments changes. The Atmakaraka and Darakaraka are unaffected by the choice.
Why does my karaka change when I adjust the birth time?
The karakas depend on planetary degrees, and a change in birth time moves the faster bodies and can reorder planets that sit close together in degree. If your time is uncertain, the karakas near the middle of the ranking are the most likely to swap, while the highest and lowest tend to hold steady.
What does the Darakaraka say about my spouse?
It describes leanings rather than a fixed identity. The sign and dignity of the Darakaraka, read with its Navamsa position and the seventh house, suggest the partner’s temperament, broad appearance, and background. Treat these as patterns to recognise, not as a guarantee of specific traits.
Which ayanamsha and house system does this use?
It uses the Lahiri ayanamsha with sidereal longitudes and whole-sign houses, which is the standard setup in Jagannatha Hora. That is why the karakas it assigns match what the software shows for the same birth details.
Is the Atmakaraka the same as the ascendant lord?
No. The ascendant lord is fixed by your rising sign, while the Atmakaraka is whichever planet holds the highest degree in the chart, regardless of sign. They can occasionally be the same planet by coincidence, but they are determined in completely different ways and carry different meanings.
Related reading
To go deeper on each karaka and on Jaimini reading in general, see the Darakaraka by zodiac sign breakdown, the way the seventh lord and Darakaraka combine for marriage, and the Navamsa chart guide, since the D9 is where most karaka interpretation is confirmed.