In Indian astrology, there are two traditional ways to draw a Vedic birth chart, and each one carries deep symbolic meaning.

📐 South Indian Style (See Figure 1)

This chart is drawn in a fixed pattern — it doesn’t label the zodiac signs. Instead, the second square from the top right is always Aries. From there, the signs go clockwise: Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, and so on. The Ascendant (Lagna) is marked by a slash or “Lg” in the appropriate house.

This style is clean and geometric — it’s widely used across Southern India.

🌀 North Indian Style (See Figure 2)

In this chart, the first house is always the upper diagonal square. But unlike the South Indian version, here you write the zodiac sign number in each house: 1 = Aries, 2 = Taurus, 3 = Gemini, …12 = Pisces. The houses move counterclockwise: The 2nd house is the small left triangle, The 3rd house is the vertical triangle beneath it, The 4th house is the left square, and so on.

This counterclockwise direction often raises questions…

🤔 Why Counterclockwise? Isn’t That “Negative”?

People sometimes ask:

“Why are the houses drawn counterclockwise? Isn’t that the direction of negative energy?”

Here’s the beautiful explanation I once received from a royal astrologer in Benares (Varanasi):

The 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th houses are drawn in the shape of a swastika — an ancient sacred symbol representing the wheel of life, turning clockwise, symbolizing positive energy and life force.

The other houses — drawn counterclockwise — symbolically represent the darker energies: endings, transitions, karma, and death.

Together, the chart becomes a cosmic wheel — the Wheel of Samsara — the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. And that’s exactly what a Vedic astrologer is meant to see in a chart: not just a snapshot, but the soul’s journey across lifetimes.