Kalasarpa Yoga

Whether every graha in your chart sits on one side of the Rahu–Ketu axis — and if so, which of the twelve forms it takes.

Birth Chart

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NEWBhrigu Bindu Projection Range

Birth time matters here for the TYPE but not for the verdict. Whether the yoga is present depends only on where the grahas sit relative to the axis, which barely moves in a day. The type is named from Rahu's house, which is counted from the rising sign — and that changes roughly every two hours, so an uncertain birth time can change the name while leaving the yes-or-no answer intact.

What Kalasarpa Yoga is

Kalasarpa Yoga is the name for a chart where every graha sits on one side of the line between Rahu and Ketu. Because those two are always exactly opposite, they cut the chart in half, and this is the case where everything has ended up in the same half.

It is one of the most talked-about patterns in popular astrology and one of the most oversold. It is also not rare.

Reading the table above

The verdict is at the top and the working is underneath it. Every graha is listed with the side it fell on, so you can check the answer rather than take it — which is the point of showing it at all.

A chart carrying this yoga always leaves five houses in a row empty, because the seven grahas are squeezed into the half between the nodes. The empty-house count under the table is the quickest way to sanity-check the result yourself.

When the yoga is absent the page says why, rather than just saying no.

What people get wrong

“Kalasarpa is rare, so having it means something unusual.”
Across two thousand randomly generated charts this tool finds it in about 7% — roughly one in fifteen. That is uncommon without being remarkable, and it is far more common than the way it gets talked about suggests.
“The name tells you what will happen.”
The twelve names — Ananta, Kulika, Vasuki and the rest — come from which house Rahu sits in, nothing more. The traditional effects attached to each are a starting point for a reading, not a forecast, and they say nothing about how strong or weak the pattern is in a particular chart.
“I was told I have partial Kalasarpa, so this page is wrong.”
Different question. Partial Kalasarpa is where all but one graha sit inside the axis. It is not widely accepted and this page does not report it, so a no here is not a no to that. The almanac this tool was checked against takes the same position.
“It is a curse that needs a remedy.”
This is where the subject gets exploited. Kalasarpa is a geometric description of one chart, it appears in plenty of ordinary and successful lives, and no page that diagnoses you and then sells you the cure is giving you a straight answer.

Questions people ask

Does my birth time need to be exact?
For the yes-or-no, no — the grahas barely move against each other in a day. For the type, yes: the name is counted from the rising sign, which changes about every two hours, so an uncertain time can change the name while leaving the answer alone.
What counts as being on the axis?
A graha within one degree of Rahu or Ketu. It is on neither side, so it breaks the yoga here. The orb is stated on the page because a chart can turn on it, and one degree is the smallest in common use.
Is one of the twelve types worse than the others?
Traditional descriptions differ in what they touch rather than in severity, and the texts do not rank them. Anyone telling you yours is the worst one is not reading a text.

Before you rely on this

  • Ask about partial Kalasarpa separately. That is the version with all but one graha inside the axis, it is not widely accepted, and this page does not report it — so a "no" here is not a "no" to that question.
  • Have the whole chart read before drawing any conclusion. Whether this yoga amounts to anything depends on where the grahas sit, how strong they are, and what else is running — none of which is on this page.
  • Check your birth time if the TYPE matters to you. The yes-or-no barely moves in a day, but the name is counted from the rising sign, which changes every couple of hours.