Narendra Modi's Birth Chart

Charts of Modi drawn in Indian astrology put his Moon in Scorpio. This one puts it at 1°58′ Sagittarius. Both are right for their zodiac. Indian astrology generally uses the sidereal zodiac, measured from the stars, and the usual choice, the Lahiri ayanamsa, set it 23°10′ behind the tropical zodiac at his birth. This site uses the tropical zodiac, measured from the equinox, as Western astrology does.

Subtract the ayanamsa and the Moon falls at 8°48′ Scorpio, in the nakshatra Anuradha, which is the Scorpio Moon of the Indian charts. The same shift turns the 11:00 AM Ascendant from 24°25′ Scorpio into 1°15′ Scorpio: Scorpio rising in both zodiacs, by coincidence, because the tropical Ascendant sits late in the sign and the sidereal one early. Sidereal Mars, at 0°55′ Scorpio, shares the rising sign, which puts it in the first house in the whole-sign houses Indian astrologers use; the Sun and Mercury move back to the first degree of Virgo, and Saturn drops into Leo.

The Moon's sign is not a matter of birth time here. In the tropical zodiac it entered Sagittarius at 7:42 AM that morning and stayed there until 10:18 AM on September 19, 1950, so all three candidate times give a Sagittarius Moon; in Lahiri's sidereal zodiac all three give Scorpio. Only a birth before 7:42 AM would put the tropical Moon in Scorpio, and no source gives one.

DD is Lois Rodden's grade for dirty data: two or more times, none of them traced to a record. Modi's entry has three. AstroSage gives 11:00 AM, names its source as Lagna Phal (Garg), and grades the entry itself only as a reference. Astro-Databank credits K. N. Rao with 12:09 PM and records no source for it. The third, 9:35 AM, comes with a story rather than a document: it is attributed to his elder brother, Amrit Modi, by way of an astrologer at Banaras Hindu University, and Astro-Databank prints the account without endorsing it.

Cast for each time in turn, the three charts agree on more than they differ. The Sun had been up since 6:26 AM, so all three are day charts, and the Moon is in Sagittarius in each. What changes is the horizon. At 9:35 AM the Ascendant is 5°40′ Scorpio and at 11:00 AM 24°25′ Scorpio; at 12:09 PM it has moved on to 9°29′ Sagittarius, Sagittarius rising, with the Moon dropping from the first house into the twelfth. Scorpio rose from 9:09 AM to 11:25 AM, so the AstroSage time sits 25 minutes from the end of it.

In the Lahiri zodiac the 9:35 AM time gives a different lagna again, 12°30′ Libra, while 12:09 PM keeps Scorpio at 16°19′ Scorpio. So the question Indian astrologers argue over, Scorpio or Libra lagna, is the same question as which of these times is right.

The part of the chart that holds whatever the minute is the cluster in Virgo: the Sun at 23°45′ Virgo, Mercury at 23°57′ Virgo and Saturn at 22°49′ Virgo, with Venus earlier in the sign at 8°51′ Virgo. Those four are the chart's only earth placements, and still the largest group: no other element holds more than two of the ten planets.

Mercury, retrograde in the heart of the Sun

Virgo is one of Mercury's own signs, and in the traditional scheme it is also the sign of Mercury's exaltation, so astrologers count Mercury as strong here. It was retrograde, passing between the Earth and the Sun, and at 11:00 AM only 0°11′ from the Sun's center. Medieval astrologers, and William Lilly after them, called a planet within 17′ of the Sun cazimi, "in the heart of the Sun", and treated it as strengthened rather than burned; the site's cazimi calendar lists when this happens. Here the birth time matters even for Mercury: the gap was closing by about 0°05′ an hour, so it is 0°05′ at 12:09 PM but 0°18′ at 9:35 AM, just outside the limit. Astrologers read a strong Virgo Mercury as precise, practical speech and a mind for systems and detail.

Saturn beside them

Saturn sits 0°56′ from the Sun and 1°07′ from Mercury. Astrologers associate Sun–Saturn conjunctions with seriousness, a sense of duty, and achievements that come through sustained effort rather than early ease, and Saturn in an earth sign adds weight to that reading. Venus, by contrast, is in its fall in Virgo, the sign opposite its exaltation, and astrologers read it as affection expressed through usefulness and care with detail; its tight sextile to Uranus, 0°16′ from exact, is read as a taste for the new within that.

Mars is at 24°05′ Scorpio. Scorpio is one of the two signs Mars rules, so, like Mercury, it is in its own sign, and it makes sextiles to both the Sun (0°20′) and Mercury (0°09′). Astrologers read a dignified Mars as energy that is controlled and persistent, and Mars in Scorpio in particular as determination that works quietly and holds on.

The 11:00 AM time would add something more DD time: Mars 0°19′ above the Ascendant, having crossed the eastern horizon at about 10:58 AM. A planet that close to the Ascendant is read as stamped on the manner and appearance. With a time rated DD, that is a description of one candidate chart, not of the man; at 9:35 AM Mars is in the first house, 18°24′ below the Ascendant, and at 12:09 PM it is 15°23′ above it, still in the twelfth.

The Moon at 1°58′ Sagittarius is read by Western astrologers as restless and outward-looking: a need for movement, a broad view and a cause to believe in. It squares a retrograde Jupiter at 29°45′ Aquarius, a square by degree although the two signs are only 60° apart; the orb is 2°12′ at 11:00 AM, 1°21′ at 9:35 and 2°54′ at 12:09, so all three charts have it. Astrologers read Moon–Jupiter squares as generosity and appetite that can overreach.

The last column shows how far the clock could move before each planet changes Placidus house. At 11:00 the Ascendant was advancing 13°07′ an hour (one degree in 4.6 minutes) and the Midheaven 15°41′. Jupiter would drop into the 3rd house 5 minutes after 11:00, and Mars would be in the first house 2 minutes earlier, which is why the house column carries the DD warning. In Whole Sign houses every planet keeps its house for as long as the same sign is rising: in the tropical zodiac, Scorpio, from 9:09 AM to 11:25 AM.