A distinct method and vocabulary

Jyotisha is not a translation of Western astrology into Sanskrit; it is an independent tradition with its own techniques, the dasha period systems that time events across a life, the nakshatras that predate the twelve-sign zodiac in India, the divisional charts that magnify one area of life, and compatibility schemes such as the ganas built on the nakshatras.

The terms and the deities attached to each factor are Indian, and the tradition is embedded in a wider religious and calendrical world, the tithis, karanas and nitya yogas of the Hindu lunar calendar are collected here too, since Jyotisha and the calendar share the same underlying astronomy.