> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.jyotiguide.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Quick Start: Cast Your First Full Sidereal Birth Chart
> Go from a blank form to a readable sidereal birth chart in minutes. All you need is a place of birth, a date, and a local clock time.
This walkthrough takes you from an empty form to a complete chart you can begin reading straight away. You will need three pieces of information: the **place of birth**, the **date of birth**, and the **local clock time** as it read at that place. No astronomy knowledge or UTC conversion is required — the app handles all of that internally.
**Birth time matters most.** The signs of the Moon and planets shift slowly over the course of a day, but the rising sign (*Lagna*) changes roughly once every two hours, and all twelve houses are built from it. A chart cast with an unknown or rounded time is still useful for the slower factors, but treat the *Lagna* and house placements with caution. If you are unsure of the exact time, see [Troubleshooting → I don't know my exact birth time](/help/troubleshooting#i-dont-know-my-exact-birth-time).
The app opens on **Individual Chart** by default. You will see a short form with four fields: an optional **Name**, a **Place of birth**, a **Date of birth**, and a **Time of birth**. Leave the Name field blank if you prefer — it is used only for labelling the output.
Start typing a city name into the **Place of birth** field. The app searches a built-in place database and presents matches, each showing its coordinates and IANA time zone. For example, typing `Mumbai` produces:
```text theme={null}
Mumbai, IN 19.073°, 72.883° · Asia/Kolkata
Navi Mumbai, IN 19.037°, 73.016° · Asia/Kolkata
Panvel, IN 18.989°, 73.110° · Asia/Kolkata
```
Click the correct match. The app fills in the latitude, longitude, and time zone automatically and displays a confirmation line such as:
```text theme={null}
Using 19.0728°, 72.8826° · timezone Asia/Kolkata
```
These three values — latitude, longitude, time zone — are what the calculation engine actually uses.
**Place not in the list, or need exact coordinates?** Click **Enter coordinates** to type latitude, longitude, and time zone directly. This is the most precise option and is especially useful for small towns, specific hospitals, or historical place names that appear under a different spelling. See [Casting a chart → Entering the birth place](/guides/individual-chart#entering-the-birth-place) for details.
Choose the **day**, **month**, and **year** of birth from the date picker. Then enter the **Time of birth** exactly as it read on a local clock at the place of birth. The app combines that clock time with the time zone you selected in Step 2 and converts to Universal Time internally — you do **not** need to perform any UTC arithmetic yourself.
Click the **Generate chart** button. The app computes the full sidereal chart and displays the results below the form. A summary line at the top confirms what was cast, for example:
```text theme={null}
Mumbai, IN · 2026-06-01 10:30 (Asia/Kolkata, UTC+05:30)
```
If any required field is missing the app highlights it in red before computing — go back and fill it in, then click again.
Scroll to the **Planets** table. Each row corresponds to one planet or lunar node and tells you its most important placement facts:
| Column | Meaning |
| ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **House** | Which of the 12 houses (life areas) the body occupies. |
| **Sign / Rāśi** | The sidereal zodiac sign it sits in. |
| **Degree** | Its exact position within that sign, to arc-minutes. |
| **Nakṣatra · Pada** | The lunar mansion and its quarter — important for the *daśā* system and fine-grained reading. |
| **Status** | Dignity flags such as *Exalted*, *Debilitated*, *Own sign*, or *Great friend*. |
Two rows give you the headline of any Vedic chart: **Lagna** (your rising sign, the first house cusp — the lens through which the whole chart is read) and **Moon** (your emotional nature and the anchor of the *daśā* timing system).
Above the chart wheel you will find a row of **panels** you can switch on one at a time. Each adds a layer of classical analysis on top of the natal positions:
* [**Vimśottarī Daśā**](/guides/vimshottari-dasha) — the 120-year timeline of planetary periods that governs the unfolding of a life; see which period you are currently in and what follows.
* [**Gochara**](/guides/gochara-transits) — a live view of where the planets are transiting today, mapped against your natal chart.
* [**Tājaka**](/guides/tajaka-varshaphal) — the *Varshaphal* annual chart for any chosen year of life.
* [**Shadbala**](/guides/shadbala) — the six-fold numerical strength measurement for each planet, shown in *virūpas* alongside the classical minimum thresholds.
* [**Ashtakavarga**](/guides/ashtakavarga) — benefic-point maps showing which signs and houses carry the strongest support across the chart.
Below the panel row you will find four export options:
* **Copy share link** — copies a URL to your clipboard that reopens this exact chart for anyone who has it.
* **Full report (PDF)** — generates a complete, printable reading covering all panels.
* **Copy chart** — copies a clean Markdown summary you can paste into a note, email, or document.
* **Offline copy** — saves a self-contained version you can open without an internet connection.
See [Sharing and exporting](/guides/individual-chart#sharing-and-exporting) for a full description of what each export contains.
That is a complete sidereal birth chart. You now have the natal positions, house placements, dignity statuses, and the keys to every analytical panel.
Wondering why your Sun or Moon landed in a different sign than your Western chart shows? That is not a mistake — it is the sidereal zodiac at work. Read [Why Jyotiṣa Uses a Sidereal Zodiac](/introduction/why-sidereal) for the full explanation, then explore [The Sidereal Sky](/concepts/the-sidereal-sky) to understand how the engine builds the sky behind your chart.