---
type: Concept
bundle: jyotisha-kala
bundle_version: 0.12.0
id: rashi
title: Rāśi
iast: Rāśi
devanagari: राशि
description: 'One of the twelve 30° signs of the sidereal zodiac, Meṣa to Mīna, fixed against the stars; NOT a tropical sun-sign, NOT a constellation image, NOT a personality box.'
darshana:
- Jyotiṣa
text_source: Bṛhat Jātaka 1
reception_note: 'Rāśi horoscopes are mass-market content. This file documents the coordinate system; it makes no claims about sign-based prediction or personality.'
tags:
- rashi
- zodiac
- sidereal
- jyotisha
- hora
not:
- term: 'a tropical sun-sign'
  why: 'Western popular astrology anchors its twelve signs to the equinox (tropical); Jyotiṣa anchors them to the stars (sidereal). The two rings have drifted about 24 degrees apart, so most people’s “sign” differs between systems. Translating rāśi as the newspaper sun-sign silently swaps coordinate systems.'
  instead: 'Render rāśi as sidereal sign, state the ayanāṃśa gap, and keep the Sanskrit term.'
- term: 'a constellation image'
  why: 'The rāśis are twelve EQUAL 30° arcs; the constellations are unequal star figures that only loosely underlie them. The computation uses the arcs, never the pictures.'
- term: 'a personality box'
  why: 'Sign-personality content is a commercial overlay on a coordinate grid. The classical use of rāśi is positional: where a graha or the lagna stands.'
related:
- /concepts/nakshatra.md
- /concepts/ayanamsha.md
- /concepts/lagna.md
- /concepts/graha.md
timestamp: '2026-07-09'
okf_version: '0.2'
license: CC BY-SA 4.0
---

# Rāśi -- राशि

**Not:** a tropical sun-sign, a constellation image, a personality box

## What It Actually Means

The twelve rāśis divide the ecliptic into equal 30° signs, Meṣa through Mīna, counted in Jyotiṣa against a sidereally fixed frame: the ring is nailed to the stars, not to the seasons. Each rāśi spans two and a quarter nakṣatras, and the two grids, twelve solar signs and twenty-seven lunar mansions, run in parallel throughout the almanac and the chart. The names and the twelvefold scheme entered Indian usage with Hellenistic contact and were fully naturalized by Varāhamihira’s time. The sidereal anchoring is what separates a Jyotiṣa rāśi from the tropical sign of Western popular astrology, and the accumulated gap between the rings is the ayanāṃśa.

## Audience Metaphor

Twelve equal stalls around a circular racetrack, with the stall numbers painted on the ground. The Western tropical track uses the same stall names but rotates its numbering with the seasons; the two numbering schemes have slid about 24 degrees apart. Same names, different addresses: always ask which track.

## Citations

1. Bṛhat Jātaka 1 on the rāśi apparatus -- see [references/brihat-jataka.md](../references/brihat-jataka.md)
2. Sūrya Siddhānta on positions referred to the sidereal frame -- see [references/surya-siddhanta.md](../references/surya-siddhanta.md)
