The North Indian style chart

Let us take a look at your actual horoscope kundali (chart):     Right now you are looking at your Jyotish chart formatted in the North Indian chart style. As you see, there are 12 individual sections in the horoscope. These sections are the bhavas (houses), and each house is fully occupied by one of the signs. The signs are marked within the bhavas (houses) with numerals.  The numbering system used for marking the signs reflects the natural order of the signs (i.e. 1 – for Aries, 2 – for Taurus, 3 – for Gemini, 4 – for Cancer and so on).
The house counting sequence follows a counterclockwise direction, and so does the sign sequence within the chart. The box at the center top of the chart is called the First house. The sign occupying the first house is called the Ascendant. Your Ascendant is the sign which was rising at the eastern horizon at the time of your birth. The sign is indicated by its corresponding number.  In your chart, the first house is marked with number 4, which indicates the sign of Cancer.  Therefore, your Ascendant is Cancer.     The box on the left of the first house is called the second house. The number 2 in that house represents the sign of Taurus. Next to it is the third house, then the fourth, and so on up to the twelfth house. The sequential order of the houses is FIXED in the North India chart format.  The top center box is always the first house and the bottom center one is always the seventh.  When using the North Indian style chart you should also remember that the numbers within the houses represent the sign numbers, not the numbers of the houses. For your convenience, here is a complete verview:      Each of the grahas (planets) is placed in one of the bhavas (houses). The planets are marked in the chart with their abbreviated names.  Now we see from the picture of your chart, which houses your planets occupy. The Sun, indicated by the letters Su, is in house 7. The Moon (Mo) is in house 2. Mars (Ma) is in house 7. Mercury (Me) is in house 6. Jupiter (Ju) is in house 9. Venus (Ve) is in house 5. Saturn (Sa) is in house 3. Rahu (Ra) is in house 6. Ketu (Ke) is in house 12.       Once again, you should not confuse the house numbers with the numbers that you see in your chart.   The numbers in the  houses  represent  the signs that occupy those houses.  The houses must be counted in a  counterclockwise direction from the 1st house, which is the top center house.  The houses should be counted inclusively of the house you are counting from. For example the 3rd house is located three houses away from the first one, not two, and 11th house is 5 houses away from the 7th, not four.      Even though within this tutorial we will always reference your chart in the North Indian format, you should learn the difference between North and South Indian chart styles. Let’s take a look at your natal chart drawn in the South Indian format.