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The twelve rashis
The zodiac is a belt of twelve signs of thirty degrees each. Indian astrology uses the sidereal zodiac, measured from the fixed stars.
Element and mode
Each sign has an element (fire, earth, air or water) and a mode (movable, fixed or dual). Together they give twelve different combinations, one for each sign. The ruler of a sign is the graha whose house it is.
The signs are numbered from Aries, which starts at 0 degrees of the sidereal zodiac. A planet at 95 degrees, for example, is 5 degrees into the fourth sign, Cancer. In a birth chart, the sign that was rising at birth becomes the first house, which is why the signs and houses are always read together.
See it in your own chart
The terms on this page appear in every birth chart report, explained for your own planets and dates.