Navamsa

Why is a planet’s Navamsa sign different?

The navamsa splits each sign into nine parts, each with a sign of its own. See how the count starts and where the D9 lagna comes from.

01 · Nine parts of one sign

The navamsa splits each sign into nine and gives every part a sign of its own.

Each 3°20′ part is assigned a sign, counting on in zodiac order from a starting sign that depends on the kind of sign being divided. A planet’s navamsa sign is the sign of the part it stands in.

Example chart, movable signSun at 14°50′ Libra: part 5, D9 sign Aquarius

Positions and navamsa signs from the site’s birth chart engine for the fictional Delhi chart of 1 November 2026.

A finer division with sign names

The navamsa (नवांश, “ninth part”), or D9, divides each 30° sign into nine equal parts of 3°20′. Each part is the same span as a nakshatra pada, and each is assigned one of the twelve signs. A planet’s navamsa sign is the sign assigned to the part of its sign it stands in.

So a planet has two signs at once: its ordinary sign, the D1 sign, which is where it is in the zodiac, and its navamsa sign, which is a label for which ninth of that sign it occupies. They differ for most planets; when they match, the planet is called vargottama.

Where the counting starts

The nine parts of a sign are assigned in zodiac order, starting from a sign that depends on the kind of sign being divided:

A movable sign (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) starts with itself.
A fixed sign (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius) starts with the ninth sign from it.
A dual sign (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) starts with the fifth sign from it.

The result is the same as counting the 108 padas from 0° Aries and assigning them Aries, Taurus, Gemini and onward round the zodiac nine times.

Planets in one chart

In the fictional chart for 17:05 IST on 1 November 2026 in Delhi:

The Sun at 14°50′ Libra is in the fifth part of Libra. Libra is movable, so the parts start at Libra; the fifth is Aquarius.
Jupiter at 0°09′ Leo is in the first part of Leo. Leo is fixed, so the parts start at the ninth sign from Leo, Aries; the first is Aries.
Saturn at 15°02′ Pisces is in the fifth part of Pisces. Pisces is dual, so the parts start at the fifth sign from Pisces, Cancer; the fifth is Scorpio.

The D9 lagna

The ascendant gets a navamsa sign the same way. At 6°01′ Aries it is in the second part of Aries, so the D9 lagna is Taurus. The D9 chart counts its own houses from that sign, not from the D1 lagna. Because each part is only 3°20′ wide and the ascendant crosses one in about 13 minutes, the D9 lagna is the label most sensitive to the birth time, as can five minutes change a birth chart? shows.

The Navamsa guide explains how the D9 chart is read and what it is not.

Calculate a chart and open its D9 on the Kundli page, or explore another topic in Learn.