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In short
The Chaturthamsa, or D4, is the divisional chart made by cutting each sign into four parts of 7°30'. BPHS maps the four parts to the four kendra signs from the sign itself and reads "fortunes" from it; pages on this site read it beside the 4th house. This app computes it for every planet and, with a birth time, the Ascendant.
What the term means
Chaturthamsa means "fourth part" (BPHS writes Chaturthansh; the name Turyamsa also appears in Ch. 7). It is one of the vargas: each 30-degree sign is cut into four equal parts of 7°30', and each part is given a sign. The four parts fall on the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th signs from the sign the planet occupies, which are that sign's kendras.
Where the term comes from
BPHS Ch. 6 Sl. 9 defines the Chaturthansh as one fourth of a sign and says the lords of the four kendras from the sign rule its four parts, presided over by Sanak, Sanand, Kumar and Sanatan. Ch. 7 Sl. 1-8 gives the subject in two words, "fortunes from" this division. The house pages on this site read it beside the 4th house, together with the Shodashamsa, which the same sloka gives conveyances to; BPHS itself assigns topics to whole divisions, not to houses within them. In the full sixteen-chart Vimshopak scheme (Ch. 7 Sl. 21-25) it is one of nine divisions worth half a point each.
How this app computes it
- The part number is the degree within the sign divided by 7.5, rounded down (parts 1 to 4).
- The count starts at the sign itself and moves three signs per part, so the parts land on the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th signs. There is no odd/even rule for the D4.
- A planet in the first 7°30' of its sign keeps its sign and is flagged vargottama; D4 houses exist only when the Ascendant is known.
- The D4 sign feeds this app's Vimshopaka bala with a weight of 0.5 out of 20.
A small illustration
In the chart for 19 January 1985, 11:14 IST, New Delhi, Mercury is at Sagittarius 16.62: the third part, two kendra steps on, which is Gemini (the 7th from Sagittarius). Venus at Aquarius 22.47 is also in the third part and lands on Leo. The Moon at Sagittarius 12.66 is in the second part, one step on, which is Pisces.
Pages that use this term
- Chaturthamsa (D4) calculator - each planet's D4 sign from your birth details.
- The 4th house (Sukha Bhava) - the house the D4 is usually read beside.
- Moon in the 4th house and Venus in the 4th house - planet-in-house pages that refer to the D4.
- Navamsa: the second chart - places the D4 among the other vargas.
Related terms
- Divisional chart - the family the D4 belongs to.
- Drekkana (D3) - the other varga that steps by a fixed interval rather than one sign at a time.
- Shodashamsa (D16) - the varga BPHS gives conveyances to, read beside the D4 on the 4th-house pages.
Chaturthamsa D4 Chart
Quarters counted across the kendras - the varga BPHS assigns to fortune and property.
What it needs
Date, time and place
That is more than this article asks for - it only ever takes a date, and sometimes a time, and never a name or a birth place. So this one runs on its own page, which asks for exactly what it needs and stores none of it.
Run it on its own page