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In short
The Vimshamsa, or D20, is the divisional chart made by cutting each sign into twenty parts of 1°30'. BPHS starts the count from Aries for movable signs, Sagittarius for fixed and Leo for dual signs, and reads "worship" from it. This app computes it for every planet and, with a birth time, the Ascendant.
What the term means
Vimshamsa means "twentieth part". It is the varga made by cutting each 30-degree sign into twenty parts of 1°30' and giving each part a sign. Like the Shodashamsa, its starting point depends on the sign's modality, but the fixed and dual starts are swapped: fixed signs count from Sagittarius and dual signs from Leo.
Where the term comes from
BPHS Ch. 6 Sl. 17-21 gives the rule, from Mesh for a movable sign, from Dhanu for a fixed sign and from Simh for a common sign, and lists twenty presiding deities for the parts of an odd sign and a different twenty for an even sign. Ch. 7 Sl. 1-8 assigns the chart one word, "worship". In the sixteen-chart Vimshopak scheme (Ch. 7 Sl. 21-25) it is one of the nine divisions weighted half a point.
How this app computes it
- The part is the degree within the sign divided by 1.5, rounded down (parts 1 to 20).
- Movable signs count from Aries, fixed from Sagittarius, dual from Leo, one sign per part.
- The D20 sign is one of the sixteen placements in this app's Vimshopaka bala (weight 0.5 of 20). Same-sign D1 and D20 is flagged vargottama.
- The deity names are not returned, and the engine does not name a personal deity from this chart or any other.
A small illustration
For 19 January 1985, 11:14 IST, New Delhi, Venus is at Aquarius 22.47. Aquarius is fixed, so the count starts at Sagittarius; 22.47 degrees is the fifteenth part, fourteen signs on, which comes round to Aquarius. Venus is therefore vargottama in this D20. The Moon at Sagittarius 12.66 is in a dual sign, so the count starts at Leo, and the ninth part lands on Aries.
Pages that use this term
- Vimshamsa (D20) calculator - every planet's D20 sign from your birth details.
- Ishta Devata and the Karakamsa - sets the D20's "worship" beside the other places BPHS links to worship.
- Navamsa: the second chart - lists the D20 among the sixteen vargas.
- Vimshopaka bala calculator - shows the D20 placement in each planet's breakdown.
Related terms
- Divisional chart - the family the D20 belongs to.
- Shodashamsa (D16) - the varga with the same modality rule but different starts.
- Ishta devata - the term the site discusses on the Karakamsa essay.
Vimshamsa D20 Chart
Twentieths of 1°30', started by modality - the varga BPHS reads for worship.
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