Atmakaraka Calculator: Find Your Soul Planet and Darakaraka
The Atmakaraka is the planet with the highest degree in its sign: Jaimini astrology's significator of the soul. Find yours below, with the full chara karaka sequence down to the Darakaraka (spouse significator), then read what your soul planet means.
Enter each planet's degree within its sign (0 to 29.99) from your chart. No chart yet? Generate one free with the birth chart calculator, then return here, and your karakas will appear automatically.
Quick Facts
In Jaimini astrology the seven classical planets are ranked by their degree within sign; the highest becomes the Atmakaraka (soul significator) and the lowest the Darakaraka (spouse significator), with career, sibling, mother, children, and obstacle significators between them. These are the chara (movable) karakas: personal to each chart, unlike the fixed karakas shared by everyone. The Atmakaraka’s navamsa position (Karakamsha) refines the reading further.
What Each Atmakaraka Means
Each planet as Atmakaraka sets a different soul curriculum: the Sun teaches authority and humility, the Moon attachment and care, Mars the right use of force, Mercury truthful speech, Jupiter earned wisdom, Venus purified desire, and Saturn endurance and acceptance. Rahu, in the eight-karaka school, teaches through obsession and its transcendence. Each linked page reads one soul planet in depth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the Atmakaraka: what it is, how the degree ranking works, the Darakaraka, the 7 versus 8 karaka schemes, and the Karakamsha.
What is the Atmakaraka?
The Atmakaraka ("soul significator") is the planet with the highest degree within its sign in your birth chart, in the Jaimini school of Vedic astrology. It represents the soul's core agenda this lifetime: the desires, lessons, and recurring themes the life keeps returning to. Where the ascendant describes the vehicle and the Moon the mind, the Atmakaraka is read as the passenger who chose the journey.
How do I calculate my Atmakaraka?
Take each of the seven classical planets (Sun through Saturn) and note its degree within its sign, ignoring the sign itself. The planet with the highest degree is the Atmakaraka; ranking all seven from highest to lowest gives the full chara karaka sequence, down to the Darakaraka (spouse significator). If you calculated your chart on this site, the calculator above reads your karakas automatically; otherwise enter the seven degrees manually.
What is the Darakaraka?
The Darakaraka is the planet with the LOWEST degree within its sign among the seven: the spouse significator. Its nature, sign, and condition describe the partner the chart is drawn to and the flavor of the marriage. The calculator above shows your Darakaraka alongside the full karaka sequence.
Are there 7 or 8 chara karakas? Does Rahu count?
Both schemes are attested. The seven-karaka scheme uses the seven classical planets, which is what the Kalmanas engine follows. The eight-karaka scheme adds Rahu, counting its degree from the end of the sign because the node moves backward, and inserts a Pitrukaraka (father significator) into the sequence. In the eight-scheme, Rahu can itself be the Atmakaraka; the Rahu page below covers that reading.
What is the Karakamsha?
The Karakamsha is the navamsa (D9) sign occupied by the Atmakaraka. Jaimini treats it as a second ascendant for the soul: the sign and the planets joined with it describe how the soul's agenda actually expresses, including career inclination and spiritual direction. Your D9 chart, and therefore your Karakamsha, is part of the free chart output on this site.
Can the Atmakaraka change with birth time?
Yes, though less easily than the ascendant. The Moon moves about half a degree per hour, so a birth time off by a few hours can reorder the Moon in the karaka ranking; the other planets move slowly enough to be stable within a day. If two planets sit within a few minutes of arc of each other, verify your birth time before trusting the ranking, or treat both readings as live.