D60 chart calculator (shashtiamsa chart online)

The shashtiamsa (D60) is the finest divisional chart, with sixty parts of half a degree in every sign. This D60 chart calculator works from the date, time and place of birth and gives the D60 sign of the Lagna and the nine planets, the window to the second in which the D60 Lagna holds, and the D60 chart beside the birth chart. Without a birth time it lists the planets’ D60 signs through the day.

Date, time and place of birth

Date of birth

Time of birth

Place of birth

UTC offset at the place of birth

Time not known (show the whole day)

The Lagna stays in one shashtiamsa for only about 2 minutes on average, so the D60 Lagna needs the birth time to the minute and the place; the planets need only the date, time and UTC offset. Use the clock time on the birth record. Choosing a city sets its usual UTC offset; change it if summer time or India’s war time (UTC+06:30, 1941–45) was in force. For a place not listed, choose “Other place” and enter its latitude and longitude in decimal degrees (the Lagna is worked out up to 66° north or south).

The shashtiamsa in the classical texts

The Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra closes its list of sixteen vargas with the shashtiamsa, the “sixtieth part” (spelled shashtyamsa or shashtamsa too). The text gives it more weight than any other single varga: in its strength scheme over all sixteen charts it carries 4 of the 20 points, against 3.5 for the birth chart and 3 for the navamsa. The same chapter says the shashtiamsa shows “all indications”, and many later writers connect it with karma carried over from earlier lives. Those are statements of the tradition. Each of the sixty parts also has a name in the text, read in the reverse order in even signs; this tool shows the signs and leaves those names out.

How the shashtiamsa is worked out

The verse gives a short procedure: ignore the sign, double the degrees travelled in it, divide by 12, and add 1 to the remainder; that number, counted from the planet’s own sign, is its D60 sign. Each half degree is one part, so the sixty parts of a sign run through the twelve signs five times, starting with the sign itself. The translation’s own example: Venus at 13°25′ of Makar gives 26 when doubled, remainder 2, plus 1 makes 3, and the 3rd sign from Makar is Meen. Counted from Mesh instead, as a minority reading has it, the same Venus would go to Mithun; this calculator follows the count from the sign itself.

D60 sign of each half-degree part (part 1: 0°00′–0°30′, part 2: 0°30′–1°00′, … part 60: 29°30′–30°00′). Column n holds parts n, n + 12, n + 24, n + 36 and n + 48.
Sign	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Mesh	Mesh	Vrishabh	Mithun	Kark	Singh	Kanya	Tula	Vrishchik	Dhanu	Makar	Kumbh	Meen
Vrishabh	Vrishabh	Mithun	Kark	Singh	Kanya	Tula	Vrishchik	Dhanu	Makar	Kumbh	Meen	Mesh
Mithun	Mithun	Kark	Singh	Kanya	Tula	Vrishchik	Dhanu	Makar	Kumbh	Meen	Mesh	Vrishabh
Kark	Kark	Singh	Kanya	Tula	Vrishchik	Dhanu	Makar	Kumbh	Meen	Mesh	Vrishabh	Mithun
Singh	Singh	Kanya	Tula	Vrishchik	Dhanu	Makar	Kumbh	Meen	Mesh	Vrishabh	Mithun	Kark
Kanya	Kanya	Tula	Vrishchik	Dhanu	Makar	Kumbh	Meen	Mesh	Vrishabh	Mithun	Kark	Singh
Tula	Tula	Vrishchik	Dhanu	Makar	Kumbh	Meen	Mesh	Vrishabh	Mithun	Kark	Singh	Kanya
Vrishchik	Vrishchik	Dhanu	Makar	Kumbh	Meen	Mesh	Vrishabh	Mithun	Kark	Singh	Kanya	Tula
Dhanu	Dhanu	Makar	Kumbh	Meen	Mesh	Vrishabh	Mithun	Kark	Singh	Kanya	Tula	Vrishchik
Makar	Makar	Kumbh	Meen	Mesh	Vrishabh	Mithun	Kark	Singh	Kanya	Tula	Vrishchik	Dhanu
Kumbh	Kumbh	Meen	Mesh	Vrishabh	Mithun	Kark	Singh	Kanya	Tula	Vrishchik	Dhanu	Makar
Meen	Meen	Mesh	Vrishabh	Mithun	Kark	Singh	Kanya	Tula	Vrishchik	Dhanu	Makar	Kumbh

In bold: the parts in the sign itself (parts 1, 13, 25, 37 and 49). Part n starts (n − 1) half degrees into the sign.

Two minutes of birth time

Because the Lagna moves about a degree in four minutes, it spends only about two minutes in each shashtiamsa, a few seconds near 66° of latitude. A birth record rounded to five or ten minutes cannot settle the D60 Lagna, and astrologers who use the D60 often first adjust (“rectify”) the time from life events, a practice of its own. The calculator does not do that: it shows the D60 Lagna for the time entered, the exact clock times, to the second, between which it holds, and the signs before and after, with a standing warning. The planets are far less sensitive; the Moon changes shashtiamsa about once an hour, the others more slowly.

Worked example

For a birth in Chennai, 5 December 1995, 08:30 IST, the Lagna was at 18°14′ in Dhanu. That is its 37th half-degree part, so the count goes 37 signs from Dhanu and the D60 Lagna is Dhanu. The Moon at 27°19′ in Mesh is in part 55 and in Tula in the D60. The same sign in the D1 and the D60: Lagna, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu. For this birth the D60 Lagna holds for about two minutes around 08:30, so a time a minute or two off would change it.

Shashtiamsa chart (D60) for Chennai, 5 December 1995, 08:30 IST, North Indian style.

As Lagna (ascendant), Su Sun, Mo Moon, Ma Mars, Me Mercury, Ju Jupiter, Ve Venus, Sa Saturn, Ra Rahu, Ke Ketu.

Birth chart and D60 for Chennai, 5 December 1995, 08:30 IST (sidereal, Lahiri; mean node)
Planet	Birth chart (D1)	Part of sign	Shashtiamsa (D60)
Lagna	Dhanu 18°14′	37th of 60	Dhanu
Sun	Vrishchik 18°41′	38th of 60	Dhanu
Moon	Mesh 27°19′	55th of 60	Tula
Mars	Dhanu 9°38′	20th of 60	Kark
Mercury	Vrishchik 25°17′	51st of 60	Makar
Jupiter	Vrishchik 29°33′	60th of 60	Tula
Venus	Dhanu 15°35′	32nd of 60	Kark
Saturn	Kumbh 24°21′	49th of 60	Kumbh
Rahu	Tula 0°03′	1st of 60	Tula
Ketu	Mesh 0°03′	1st of 60	Mesh

How the calculator works

Take the birth time back to Universal Time with the chosen UTC offset.
Compute the sidereal (Lahiri) positions of the nine grahas in your browser from a published planetary theory checked against NASA/JPL Horizons; its error, a few thousandths of a degree, is far below the half-degree part.
With a place, compute the Lagna from the local sidereal time (the method of the Lagna calculator) and search its D60 window in steps of a few seconds.
Double the degrees in the sign, take the remainder after dividing by 12, and count from the sign itself.
Always flag the D60 Lagna; flag the Moon within about five minutes of a part edge and the other planets within 0.02°. Without a time, scan the day.

D9 chart calculator: the navamsa, with nine parts of each sign.
D10 chart calculator: the dasamsa, ten parts of each sign.
D7 chart calculator: the saptamsa, seven parts of each sign.
Lagna calculator: the rising sign itself, and when it changes.

Frequently asked questions

What is the D60 chart?

The D60 chart, the shashtiamsa (also written shashtyamsa or shashtamsa), is the sixtieth divisional chart. Each sign is split into sixty parts of half a degree, every part is given a sign, and the Lagna and the planets are placed by the part they occupy. It is the finest of the sixteen divisional charts of the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra.

How is the D60 sign calculated?

Ignore the sign and take the degrees a planet has travelled in it. Double them, drop the fraction, divide by 12 and add 1 to the remainder; count that many signs from the sign the planet is in. Venus at 13°25′ of Makar: 13°25′ × 2 = 26, 26 ÷ 12 leaves 2, plus 1 is 3, and the 3rd sign from Makar is Meen. This is the worked example of the classical text's standard English translation.

Why does the D60 Lagna need such an exact birth time?

Half a degree of the zodiac rises in about two minutes on average, so the D60 Lagna changes roughly every two minutes, and near the polar circles in seconds. Few birth times are recorded that precisely. The calculator shows the D60 Lagna's window to the second and always flags it; the planets' D60 signs, apart from the Moon's, stay the same for many hours and are the steadier part of the chart.

Why is the D60 considered so important?

In the strength scheme of the classical text that scores a planet over all sixteen divisional charts out of 20, the shashtiamsa is given 4 points, more than any other single chart (the birth chart 3.5, the navamsa 3). Later writers also link the D60 with karma from past lives. Those are the tradition's views; the calculator itself only places the planets.

Do all astrologers count the D60 the same way?

The worked examples in the standard English translation and in other published explanations count from the sign the planet is in, as this calculator does. A minority reading of the verse counts from Mesh instead, which gives a different sign for most positions. The page states the rule it uses so a result can be checked by hand.

What are the names of the sixty shashtiamsas?

The classical text gives each of the sixty parts a name of its own and reads the list backwards in even signs. Those names belong to the interpretive tradition; this calculator shows the D60 signs only, not the names.

Can the D60 be worked out without a birth time?

For the planets, largely yes: the Moon changes shashtiamsa about every hour, the Sun about every twelve hours, the slower planets over days. Without a time the calculator lists each planet's D60 sign through the day with the change times. The D60 Lagna cannot be found without the exact time and place.

Which ayanamsa and nodes does it use, and is anything saved?

Lahiri ayanamsa in the sidereal zodiac and the mean nodes, with a note when the true node changes Rahu's or Ketu's sign; at half a degree it often does. Nothing is saved or sent: the calculation runs in your browser.