The 12 Rashis
A rashi is a thirty-degree division of the sidereal zodiac. Twelve of them make the circle, and every position a panchangam prints — the sun's, the moon's, the boundary of a nakshatra — is stated as a distance measured from the start of the first.
That is the whole of what a rashi is: a unit of measurement with a name. These pages give the classical attributes attached to each — ruling planet, element, modality, symbol — along with the nakshatras it spans and, more usefully, where it actually turns up in the daily reading.
There are two such places. The sun's rashi names the solar month and fixes every sankranti festival: Makara Sankranti is the sun entering Makara, and Dhanurmasam is the month he spends crossing Dhanus. The moon's rashi is the chandra rashi or janma rashi, the one a family reckons a birth by. Neither is a prediction, and you will not find one here.
1. Mesha
0°–30°The first thirty degrees of the sidereal zodiac — where the count begins.
Mars · Agni (fire) · Chara — movable
2. Vrishabha
30°–60°A fixed earth sign holding Rohini, the most fertile nakshatra in the zodiac.
Venus · Prithvi (earth) · Sthira — fixed
3. Mithuna
60°–90°A dual air sign spanning Ardra — the storm, and the clearing after it.
Mercury · Vayu (air) · Dvisvabhava — dual
4. Karka
90°–120°The Moon's own sign, and the start of the southward course of the year.
Moon · Jala (water) · Chara — movable
5. Simha
120°–150°The Sun's own sign, opening with Magha — the throne of the ancestors.
Sun · Agni (fire) · Sthira — fixed
6. Kanya
150°–180°A dual earth sign holding Hasta — the hand, and everything made with it.
Mercury · Prithvi (earth) · Dvisvabhava — dual
7. Tula
180°–210°The zodiac's midpoint — a movable air sign of exchange and balance.
Venus · Vayu (air) · Chara — movable
8. Vrischika
210°–240°A fixed water sign ending at Jyeshtha, where Antares marks the scorpion's heart.
Mars · Jala (water) · Sthira — fixed
9. Dhanus
240°–270°A dual fire sign opening at Mula, which points at the galactic centre.
Jupiter · Agni (fire) · Dvisvabhava — dual
10. Makara
270°–300°Where uttarayana begins — the sign the whole harvest calendar turns on.
Saturn · Prithvi (earth) · Chara — movable
11. Kumbha
300°–330°A fixed air sign holding Shatabhisha, the hundred healers.
Saturn · Vayu (air) · Sthira — fixed
12. Meena
330°–360°The last thirty degrees, closing at Revati — the end of the circle.
Jupiter · Jala (water) · Dvisvabhava — dual