Astrology software likes to advertise yoga counts. One professional package claims 1001 of them. The number sounds decisive until you try to use it, at which point you notice that a long list with no reasoning attached is not usable: you cannot check it, you cannot learn from it, and you cannot tell a yoga that barely formed from one that formed strongly.
The free kundali tool here tests 26 classical yoga rules. That is fewer than the big claims, and every single one of them shows the rule that fired and the placements that satisfied it. The yogas that did not form are listed too, with the reason. Given a choice between a longer list and a checkable one, this site takes the checkable one.
What the panel gives you
The yoga panel opens with four counts: yogas tested, present in your chart, strong, and not formed. Then every rule in turn.
| Field | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Status badge | Strong, Present, Partial, Qualified, Mixed, or Not formed |
| Why | The exact placements that satisfied the rule, or the placements that fell short |
| Meaning | What the classical texts associate with it, shown only where the yoga is present |
| Show me the rule | The rule in full, expandable, so you can check it against a text |
The strength grades are not decorative. A Pancha Mahapurusha yoga formed by an exalted planet grades strong, while the same yoga formed by a planet merely in its own sign grades good. Budha-Aditya grades qualified when Mercury is combust, because several authorities hold that combustion reduces it. Adhi Yoga grades partial with one benefic, good with two, strong with all three. Parivartana grades mixed unless a Maha exchange is present.
The 26 rules
Pancha Mahapurusha, the five great-person yogas
Each requires its planet to be in its own sign or exalted and in a kendra from the Lagna. Both conditions, not either.
| Yoga | Planet | Associated with |
|---|---|---|
| Ruchaka | Mars | Courage, command, physical vigour |
| Bhadra | Mercury | Intellect, speech, commerce |
| Hamsa | Jupiter | Wisdom, teaching, moral standing |
| Malavya | Venus | Refinement, art, comfort |
| Shasha | Saturn | Discipline, endurance, authority earned slowly |
Where the yoga does not form, the panel says which half failed: dignified but not in a kendra, or in a kendra but not dignified. That distinction is genuinely useful and almost never shown.
The Moon yogas
| Yoga | Rule |
|---|---|
| Gaja Kesari | Jupiter in a kendra counted from the Moon |
| Sunapha | A planet other than the Sun in the 2nd from the Moon |
| Anapha | A planet other than the Sun in the 12th from the Moon |
| Durudhara | Planets other than the Sun in both the 2nd and the 12th from the Moon |
| Adhi Yoga | Jupiter, Venus or Mercury in the 6th, 7th or 8th from the Moon |
Gaja Kesari carries an honest note in its meaning text: it is one of the most commonly found strong yogas, so it is a good sign rather than a rare one. Presenting a common yoga as a rare distinction is how yoga lists become flattery.
The Sun yogas
| Yoga | Rule |
|---|---|
| Veshi | A planet other than the Moon in the 2nd from the Sun |
| Vasi | A planet other than the Moon in the 12th from the Sun |
| Ubhayachari | Planets other than the Moon in both the 2nd and the 12th from the Sun |
Intellect and reputation
| Yoga | Rule |
|---|---|
| Budha-Aditya | Sun and Mercury in the same sign |
| Saraswati | Jupiter, Venus and Mercury all in kendras, trikonas or the 2nd house |
| Amala | A natural benefic in the 10th, counted from the Lagna or from the Moon |
Budha-Aditya also carries a caveat in its own text: Mercury is never far from the Sun, so this combination is common, and its value lies in the placement rather than in its rarity.
Raja Yogas
| Yoga | Rule |
|---|---|
| Kendra-Trikona Raja Yoga | A kendra lord and a trikona lord connected by conjunction or mutual aspect |
| Dharma-Karmadhipati | The 9th and 10th lords connected by conjunction, mutual aspect, or sign exchange |
Dharma-Karmadhipati handles one edge case explicitly. If a single planet rules both the 9th and the 10th, the panel does not claim the yoga. It says that planet is a yogakaraka in its own right, which is a different and stronger thing.
Vipreeta Raja Yogas, the reversals
| Yoga | Rule |
|---|---|
| Harsha | The 6th lord placed in a dusthana |
| Sarala | The 8th lord placed in a dusthana |
| Vimala | The 12th lord placed in a dusthana |
These are the tradition’s own answer to fatalism. A difficulty turned against itself becomes a source of strength, usually after difficulty rather than instead of it, and the panel says exactly that.
Structure and distribution
| Yoga | Rule |
|---|---|
| Parivartana | Two house lords occupying each other’s signs, classified as Maha, Dainya or Khala |
| Chatussagara | Planets occupying all four kendras |
| Vasumati | Natural benefics in the upachaya houses, 3rd, 6th, 10th, 11th |
| Benefics guarding the Lagna | Natural benefics occupying kendras from the Lagna |
| Nabhasa Sankhya | Classification by how many different signs the seven classical planets occupy |
The Nabhasa test, and why it is here
The Nabhasa yogas are among the oldest classifications in Jyotisha, and free tools skip them almost universally.
The Sankhya group classifies a chart by a single number: how many different signs the seven classical planets occupy. Every chart resolves to exactly one of seven results, so this test always returns something.
| Signs occupied | Yoga | Classical description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gola | All seven in a single sign, an extreme concentration of one theme |
| 2 | Yuga | A life organised around a pair of concerns |
| 3 | Shoola | Sharp focus, described as piercing |
| 4 | Kedara | Productive, like a well-tilled field |
| 5 | Pasha | Many ties and obligations |
| 6 | Dama | Broad involvement |
| 7 | Veena | All seven in different signs, harmonious, like a well-strung instrument |
Because this one test resolves into seven possible named results, and Parivartana resolves into three, the 26 rules produce more than 26 distinct outcomes.
Parivartana, which most tools do not classify
A sign exchange between two house lords binds two areas of life together permanently. The classical texts do not treat all exchanges alike, and the tool does not either. It scans all 66 house pairs, finds every exchange, and labels each one:
- Maha, between kendras and trikonas, strongly favourable
- Dainya, involving the 6th, 8th or 12th, where the two areas complicate each other
- Khala, involving the 3rd, mixing effort with friction
If any Maha exchange is present the overall strength grades strong. Otherwise it grades mixed, because a Dainya exchange is a real finding and calling it favourable would be wrong.
Why the tool lists yogas you do not have
The same reasoning as the dosha engine. A list of only your hits gives you no way to judge the search. Showing the misses, with the reason for each, does three things:
- It lets you verify the rule was applied correctly to a placement you already know.
- It teaches the rule, because a near miss explains a yoga better than a hit does. “Jupiter is exalted in Cancer but sits in the 3rd, not a kendra” tells you what Hamsa yoga actually requires.
- It removes the incentive to inflate. A tool that only prints hits looks better the more loosely it defines a yoga.
The honest framing on strength
Every yoga panel closes with the same note: a yoga is a tendency the chart carries, not a guarantee delivered. That is not modesty for its own sake. It is what the classical texts say. Phaladeepika makes planetary dignity decisive for the quality of a yoga’s result, and the same combination formed by a debilitated or combust planet is not the same combination.
The tool encodes that in the strength grades rather than leaving it to prose, which is why a yoga here can be present and weak at the same time.
Run it on your chart
Open the free kundali tool, enter your birth details, and the yoga engine runs with everything else. The panel is in the sidebar under the yoga engine, and it exports with the rest of the report as a free PDF.
Related: the 31 dosha conditions, the nine dasha systems for when a yoga is likely to operate, and what the whole tool computes. If you want the reasoning behind wealth combinations in longer form, see Dhana Yoga in the birth chart.
Frequently asked questions
↳ Which yogas are in my chart?
Enter your birth details in the kundali tool and open the yoga panel. It runs 26 classical rules and reports every one, present or not, with the exact placements that satisfied or failed the rule. Present yogas carry a strength grade of strong, good, partial, qualified or mixed, so you can tell a yoga that barely formed from one that formed well.
↳ Do I have a Raja Yoga?
Two Raja Yoga rules are tested directly. Kendra-Trikona Raja Yoga looks for a kendra lord connected to a trikona lord by conjunction or mutual aspect, and names the lords involved. Dharma-Karmadhipati looks for a connection between the 9th and 10th lords by conjunction, mutual aspect or sign exchange, and states which of the three it found. The three Vipreeta Raja Yogas, Harsha, Sarala and Vimala, are tested separately.
↳ Do I have Gaja Kesari Yoga?
The rule is Jupiter in a kendra, the 1st, 4th, 7th or 10th, counted from the Moon rather than from the Lagna. The tool computes the distance and reports it either way: if Jupiter is in the 6th from your Moon, it says so and marks the yoga not formed. Where it does form, the panel notes that Gaja Kesari is one of the more commonly found strong yogas, so it should be read as a good sign rather than a rare distinction.
↳ Why only 26 yogas when other software claims hundreds?
Because every one of these 26 ships with its rule visible and its near misses explained, and a list at that standard takes longer to build. A large undocumented count and a small documented one are answering different questions. This tool is built for the reader who wants to check the reasoning, so depth of explanation was chosen over length of list. The number will grow, on the same terms.
↳ What are the Nabhasa yogas?
An old classification that groups charts by pattern rather than by specific placements. The Sankhya group, which this tool computes, classifies your chart by how many different signs the seven classical planets occupy: one sign is Gola, two Yuga, three Shoola, four Kedara, five Pasha, six Dama, seven Veena. Every chart resolves to one of the seven. Free tools skip this classification almost universally.
↳ Does a yoga in my chart guarantee the result?
No. The classical position is that a yoga describes a tendency the chart carries, and that the dignity of the planets forming it determines the quality of what it produces. The same yoga formed by an exalted planet and by a combust one are not the same yoga, which is why the tool grades strength rather than reporting a simple present or absent.