KP horary numbers 1–249: how the table is built

Published 9 Oct 2026

KP horary (prashna) asks the querent for a number from 1 to 249 and builds the chart from it. This article shows where each of those 249 numbers comes from, why the count is 249 and not 243, how a number becomes an ascendant and twelve cusps, and how the ruling planets of the moment are read next to the chart. With it you can check any software's horary table by hand.

Definitions

• Nakshatra (star): one of 27 equal divisions of the zodiac, each 13°20′. Its lord is the Vimshottari lord in the fixed order Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, repeated three times around the zodiac.
• Sub: one of nine unequal parts of a nakshatra. Each sub's length is proportional to its lord's Vimshottari years (out of 120). The first sub belongs to the star lord, and the rest follow in Vimshottari order.
• Sub-sub: the same proportional division applied once more inside a sub.
• Sign lord, star lord, sub lord (SL, NL, SBL): the three lords of any degree. A cusp sub lord is called the CSL.
• Ruling planets (RP): the planets that rule the moment of judgement: the day lord, the Moon's sign, star and sub lords, and the sign, star and sub lords of the ascendant rising at that moment.
• ARMC: the right ascension of the midheaven, which is sidereal time expressed in degrees. For a given latitude, the ARMC decides which degree is rising and where the other Placidus cusps fall.

The method

Step 1: measure a nakshatra in exact units

A nakshatra is 13°20′, which is 800 arc minutes or 48,000 arc seconds. A sub is that span × (lord's years ÷ 120). In arc seconds the subs are whole numbers (the Ketu sub is 2,800″), but the sub-subs are not: a Ketu sub-sub of the Ketu sub is 2,800 × 7 ÷ 120 = 163⅓″.

The clean fix is to work in units of one-third of an arc second. In those units a nakshatra is 144,000 units, every sub is 1,200 × years, and every sub-sub is 10 × years × years. All KP boundaries become whole numbers, and there is no rounding drift when you add 243 sub lengths around the circle. A degree that sits exactly on a boundary belongs to the later sub.

Step 2: lay out the nine subs of each nakshatra

The sub lengths are the same in every nakshatra; only the starting lord changes.

In Ashwini (a Ketu star) the subs run Ketu, Venus, Sun … Mercury. In Bharani (a Venus star) they run Venus, Sun, Moon … Ketu. In Krittika (a Sun star) they start with the Sun, and so on.

Step 3: walk the zodiac and number every sub

Start at Aries 0° with number 1 and give each new sub the next number. Twenty-seven nakshatras of nine subs each give 27 × 9 = 243 numbers.

Step 4: split any sub that crosses a sign boundary

A horary number fixes three lords: sign, star and sub. If a sub begins in one sign and ends in the next, its first part and second part have different sign lords. KP gives each part its own number, so the second part starts a new number exactly at 0° of the new sign.

Why does this happen in only six places? Sign boundaries fall every 30°, which is 2¼ nakshatras. So the twelve sign boundaries land at only three kinds of position inside a nakshatra, and the pattern repeats every 120° because the nine star lords repeat every 120°.

You can check each row with the years alone. In a Sun star the subs Sun, Moon and Mars use 6 + 10 + 7 = 23 of 120 years, and adding Rahu brings it to 41. One quarter is 30 of 120, which falls between 23 and 41, so it is inside the Rahu sub. In a Mars star, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter and Saturn use 7 + 18 + 16 + 19 = 60 of 120 years. That is exactly one half, so the Saturn sub ends on the sign boundary. In a Jupiter star, the subs from Jupiter to the Sun use 85 years and the Moon sub takes it to 95. Three quarters is 90, so the boundary falls inside the Moon sub.

That gives two splits in each 120° cycle and three cycles, so six splits in all, and 243 + 6 = 249.

Step 5: turn the number into an ascendant

The number gives a starting longitude. The ascendant of the horary chart is set to that longitude, so its sign, star and sub lords are the number's lords.

To get the other cusps, solve for the sidereal time at which that degree rises at the place of judgement. In software this is a search: step the ARMC in 1° increments until the Placidus ascendant passes the target degree, then bisect that step until the ascendant matches. The Placidus cusps for that ARMC and latitude become the twelve cusps of the horary chart. The planets are not moved: they are taken at the actual moment and place of the question. Placidus cusps cannot be computed at very high latitudes, and the chart cannot be cast there.

Step 6: read the ruling planets of the moment

Alongside the horary chart, KP practice reads the ruling planets at the time of judgement:

1. The day lord. The Vedic day starts at local sunrise, so a question judged at 4 a.m. on a Tuesday belongs to Monday and the Moon is the day lord.
2. The Moon's sign lord, star lord and sub lord.
3. The sign lord, star lord and sub lord of the ascendant rising at that moment.

The lagna in point 3 is the actual rising degree, not the horary ascendant. The usual KP use is to compare the ruling planets with the significators of the relevant cusps. A significator that is also a ruling planet is preferred when choosing which dasha periods or transits to time the matter by. Ruling planets support the judgement; the promise itself is still read from the cusp sub lord of the relevant house in the horary chart.

Worked example

These numbers come from the engine's horary table, which has 249 entries.

The first twelve numbers

The starts are rounded to the minute. The exact start of number 2 is 0°46′40″, the Ketu sub length from the table above, and number 6 starts at 5°33′20″. Add the sub lengths in order and every row follows.

The six split numbers

Take number 23. Krittika begins at Aries 26°40′. Its Sun, Moon and Mars subs bring you to Aries 29°13′, where the Rahu sub begins as number 22 with Mars as sign lord. The Rahu sub is 2°00′ long, so it runs on to Taurus 1°13′. At Taurus 0° the sign lord changes to Venus, and number 23 begins. Numbers 22 and 23 share the star lord (Sun) and the sub lord (Rahu) but not the sign lord.

Notice that each split number starts at exactly 0° of a sign. So if a querent gives 23, the horary ascendant is Taurus 0°00′, not somewhere in late Aries.

Also notice what is missing: there is no split at Gemini, Libra or Aquarius 0°. The Saturn sub of Mrigashira, Chitra and Dhanishta ends exactly on those boundaries, which is why the count is 249 and not 252.

Where traditions differ

Where in the sub the ascendant is placed. The standard KP table gives each number's starting degree, and AstroReads sets the ascendant there, at the very start of the sub (or, for a split number, at 0° of the new sign). Some practitioners and programs place the ascendant a little inside the sub instead, for example a few seconds in or at its midpoint, so that the cusp does not sit exactly on a boundary. With exact arithmetic, where a boundary degree belongs to the later sub, the start of the sub already gives the intended sub lord. Both choices give the same sign, star and sub lord for the ascendant; the other cusps can differ slightly, and occasionally a cusp near a sub boundary can change sub lord.

Other number schemes. The 1–249 table is specific to KP. Other prashna traditions use other ranges. A 1–108 scheme maps each number to one of the 108 navamsa divisions (nakshatra padas) and gives a rasi and navamsa ascendant. Some software also offers larger ranges that fix positions in many divisional charts at once. Tajika-style prashna, as in Neelakantha's Prashna Tantra, is usually judged from the chart of the moment with Tajika aspects rather than from a number. Kerala prashna in the Prashna Marga tradition has its own methods again. These are separate systems, and a number given for one should not be read in another's table.

Which planets count as ruling planets. The core set is the day lord and the sign, star and sub lords of the Moon and the ascendant. Practitioners differ on extensions:

• Many KP astrologers add Rahu or Ketu when a node is conjunct a ruling planet or occupies a sign owned by one, since the nodes act as agents for those planets. Others do not.
• Some drop a ruling planet that is retrograde, or that sits in the star of a retrograde planet, from the final list.
• Some use only the sign and star lords and leave out the sub lords of the Moon and ascendant.

AstroReads lists the day lord and the three lords of the Moon and of the ascendant and does not add or remove planets. The node and retrograde refinements are left to the astrologer.

When the day starts. The Vedic day, and so the day lord, changes at local sunrise; that is what this table and the code use. Some astrologers use the civil day that changes at midnight, which gives a different day lord for questions asked between midnight and sunrise. If you use midnight, expect a different first ruling planet for those hours.

All of these choices have serious practitioners behind them. State which one you use when you share a judgement, so that another astrologer can reproduce it.

Common mistakes

• Casting the horary chart for the actual ascendant. The number replaces the rising degree. Only the planets and the ruling planets come from the actual moment.
• Using the horary ascendant for the ruling planets. The ascendant lords among the ruling planets come from the degree actually rising when you judge.
• Taking the day lord from the calendar date. Before sunrise, the previous day's lord still rules.
• Forgetting the split numbers. A table of 243 rows, or one that splits at Gemini 0°, will shift every number after the error.
• Rounding sub boundaries. Working in rounded arc minutes can move a cusp across a sub boundary. Exact arithmetic avoids this.

Sources

• K.S. Krishnamurti, KP Readers I–VI (Reader VI covers horary astrology)
• Neelakantha, Prashna Tantra
• Prashna Marga
• Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (Vimshottari dasha years and order)