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In short
The Lahiri, or Chitrapaksha, ayanamsa is the particular value of the tropical-to-sidereal offset this app subtracts from every position. The engine models it as a straight line, 23.85306 degrees at the start of 2000 growing by 0.0139601 degrees a year. The modern case book in the project's library uses Lahiri too, and the engine matches the ayanamsa it prints for a 1910 chart to the arc-second.
What the term means
There is one idea of an ayanamsa but more than one value in use: a notice printed in Advanced Predictive Astrology offers tables "based on any Ayanamsha", naming Lahiri, Raman, K.P. and Manu. Lahiri is one such value, also called Chitrapaksha; the engine's code names it both ways. It is the only one this app uses, and every chart payload names it as the model.
Where the term comes from
The classical texts name no ayanamsa model. The source in this project's library that does is Advanced Predictive Astrology, a modern case-study book: its introduction says the author followed the Lahiri ayanamsa only and cast the charts with computer software, and it prints the ayanamsa beside every case chart. It adds that its Navamsa positions would not change under Krishnamurthy's ayanamsa, which it calls very close to Lahiri's.
How this app computes it
- A straight line: 23.85306 degrees at noon on 1 January 2000, plus 0.0139601 degrees for every year before or after. That gives 23.6437 degrees at the start of 1985 and 24.2269 degrees on 13 October 2026.
- The project's checks hold it to published figures. The value at 2000 must be about 23.853 degrees. Saturn's sidereal entries into Capricorn (24 January 2020), Aquarius (17 January 2023) and Pisces (29 March 2025), the dates Lahiri panchangs publish, must come out within a day.
- For the case book's Example-11, a birth in August 1910, the book prints 22°36'20" and the engine gives 22°36'21".
- A program on another ayanamsa shifts every sidereal position by the difference. Krishnamurti Paddhati is one, which is why this app's sub-lords are Lahiri sub-lords.
Pages that use this term
- Why apps disagree on your nakshatra - Lahiri against other ayanamsas.
- Saturn transit in Pisces - ingress dates computed on Lahiri.
- Sade Sati - Saturn's sidereal sign, on the same offset.
- Nakshatra sub-lord and birth time - why a Lahiri sub-lord is not a KP one.
- Ayanamsa calculator - the Lahiri value for any date.
- Methodology - the comparison with the printed charts.
Related terms
- Sidereal zodiac - the frame it defines.
- Nirayana - a position with it removed.
- Ephemeris - the positions it is applied to.
- Tropical zodiac - the frame it is measured from.
Ayanamsa (Lahiri)
The gap between the tropical and sidereal zodiac, for any date you name - no birth details needed.
This date is sent only to compute the answer. Nothing is stored, no account is created, and no email is asked for.