In Parāśara, the significators are fixed: the Sun is the father, the Moon the mother, Venus the wife, Jupiter the husband — the same for everyone. Jaimini does something different and, for many readers, startling: it lets the planets volunteer for the roles.
The Chara Karakas (from chara, "movable" or "variable") are significators assigned by how far each planet has travelled through the sign it occupies. Which planet signifies your soul, your spouse, or your father is not decided in advance — it is decided by your own chart.
The Eight Karakas
Eight roles are ranked, from the planet at the highest degree to the planet at the lowest:
| Karaka | Role |
|---|---|
| AK — Atmakaraka | the soul, the core purpose of the life |
| AmK — Amatyakaraka | career, the "minister" that serves the soul |
| BK — Bhratrikaraka | siblings; also the guru |
| MK — Matrikaraka | the mother |
| PiK — Pitrikaraka | the father |
| PK — Putrakaraka | children and creativity |
| GK — Gnatikaraka | enemies, obstacles, the difficulties to overcome |
| DK — Darakaraka | the spouse, the karmic partner |
How They Are Ranked
The engine measures each planet's degree within its sign. The planet that has travelled furthest — the highest degree — is the Atmakaraka, the soul. The one that has travelled least is the Darakaraka, the spouse. The rest fall in between.
NativeAstro prints the ranking on the row it belongs to: the Karaka column of the Planetary positions table carries the code (AK, AmK, and so on) beside each planet, so you can find your Atmakaraka without re-deriving the order. The navāṃśa of that planet has its own name and its own reading — see the D9 page.
Two details matter. First, only the seven classical grahas plus Rahu carry a karaka; Ketu does not. Second, Rahu's degree is measured in reverse (30° minus its position), the standard Jaimini convention — which is why a Rahu late in a sign can still rank low. These are mechanical rules, and NativeAstro computes them in code so no reading has to re-derive them.
The Atmakaraka: The Soul's Significator
The AK is the most important karaka. It is the planet the soul chose as its instrument this life, and its sign, house, mansion, and dignity describe the central lesson the life is built around. The AK's placement often explains why certain themes keep returning no matter what else changes — it is the thread the whole chart is strung on.
The Darakaraka: The Spouse
For marriage, the DK is the planet to watch. Its sign, house, lunar mansion, and aspects describe the type of partner the karma tends to bring: not a named person, but a character and a field of life. Read the DK beside the actual 7th house, the 7th lord, Venus (and Jupiter for a woman), and the Upapada.
A Mercury Darakaraka in Aries in the 6th house, for instance, suggests a spouse who is intelligent, communicative, service-oriented, and youthful — a different flavour from a DK in Pisces or Capricorn.
Reading the Karakas Honestly
Chara Karakas are a lens, not a verdict. They are most useful as a cross-check: does the AmK's condition match the career the 10th house describes? Does the DK's nature agree with what the 7th house shows? When the fixed and variable significators point the same way, the reading is confident. When they differ, the tension is the interesting part.
They also depend on precise degrees — which is why an accurate birth time matters. Without it, the Moon's degree is uncertain and the AK ranking can shift, so NativeAstro flags that caveat whenever the time is unknown.
Where the Karakas Sit in Your Report
Nothing here has to be re-derived by hand. The engine ranks the planets and prints the result beside them: the Karaka column of the Planetary positions table in the Calculations carries the code on each planet's row, and Rāhu and Ketu carry the blank the tradition gives them.
Two further places the karakas appear are worth knowing. The Kārakāṃśa is the navāṃśa of the Atmakaraka — that planet's sign in the D9 — and Jaimini practice treats it as the deepest single statement a chart makes about its own purpose; the D9 page reads it in place. And the Upapada, the reflected image of the seventh house, is read beside the Darakaraka whenever marriage is the question: one names the field of life, the other the character the karma tends to bring.
The reading receives the same codes the table prints, so it never has to guess which planet carries which role — and where the variable karakas disagree with the fixed significators, that disagreement is the interesting part, not a mistake.
How to Find This in Your Chart
- Find your Atmakaraka and read its sign, house, and mansion — that is the soul's theme for this life.
- For relationships, find your Darakaraka and compare its nature with your 7th house and Upapada.
- Check the AmK against your 10th house and D10 for career: when the fixed and variable significators agree, rely on it.