Two planetary systems in one chart
A Jamakol chart carries two different sets of planets, and confusing them is the commonest beginner error.
- Inner planets are the real planets at their actual longitudes — Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu. They are written inside the chart.
- Jama grahas, the outer planets, are time-based Jamakol positions. They are written outside the chart and they move far faster than anything in the sky.
Jamakol prediction leans heavily on the Jama grahas, which is why the chart is drawn as a dual ring: the sky inside, the Jama ring outside.
The eight Jama grahas
There are eight, in a fixed order that has to be memorised:
Sun → Mars → Jupiter → Mercury → Venus → Saturn → Moon → Snake
Then the sequence repeats. The eighth member, Snake, is a combined Rahu-and-Ketu concept rather than an additional planet. Each position sits 45° anticlockwise of the previous one, so the eight of them divide the zodiac evenly.
Jama time
Jamakol divides the day half and the night half into eight Jamas each, measured from sunrise and from sunset. A Jama therefore runs roughly an hour and a half, and the Jama graha positions shift with it. The day lord — the weekday ruler — enters the calculation, and the night lord is taken as the fifth from it, counted inclusively.
This is why a Jamakol chart cast twenty minutes later can read differently even though no real planet has moved appreciably: the Jama ring is a clock, and it is the clock the predictions are drawn from.
How the ring is placed
Ring placement is the part of Jamakol where published sources differ most, so it is worth being explicit about what our engine does and why. Rajvidya uses a local clock starting at 06:00, with the weekday lord at the Aries–Pisces boundary. Positions move anticlockwise at 0.5° per minute, with 45° between consecutive planets, and the same placement recurs after twelve hours. Before 06:00, the previous day's lord is used.
That convention was checked against an independent public Jamakol calculator on several timestamps before it was adopted, and the Method notes record those fixtures. The solar Jama boundaries and Udhayam continue to use the sunrise and sunset calculation: the clock ring and the solar periods are labelled separately on the page, and neither is substituted for the other.
Fixed signs and functional substitution
Some rasis are treated as positions where a Jama graha does not sit for predictive purposes. Where a Jama position falls in such a sign, the tradition reads it as an adjacent non-fixed sign instead. Rajvidya applies that substitution for prediction and keeps the raw position visible, so you can always see both the computed longitude and the functional sign the rule used.
Approaching, crossed, and what that means
Motion relative to Udhayam is one of the most practical parts of the system. Because the Jama grahas move anticlockwise at a known rate, you can say whether a Jama planet is approaching Udhayam or has already crossed it.
- A planet approaching Udhayam speaks to the present and the future of the matter.
- A planet that has crossed Udhayam speaks to the past.
- Equality and opposition are shown as their own cases rather than folded into either.
Rajvidya measures this by degree separation against Udhayam and solves the contact times within the current solar half. Forecasts stop at sunset, the next sunrise, or the next 06:00 weekday reset — whichever comes first — because the governing conditions change there. A contact time is a window in which a condition holds, not a promise that an event completes.
Reading dignity in the Jama ring: Kiraga Nilai
Kiraga Nilai is the Jamakol dignity screen. It shows, for each planet, its dignity, its natural relationship to the sign lord, its house counted from Udhayam, retrogression, and whether it is in contact with Kavippu. Transit dignity and Jama dignity are shown as separate layers, following the source's own distinction between root and branch, and Jama interpretation uses the functional signs while the raw positions stay on screen.
Pagai Murai — directed friendship
Pagai Murai displays directed natural relationships between planets, using the classical friend and enemy tables. Directed means the relation is not assumed symmetrical: Mercury toward the Moon and the Moon toward Mercury differ, and the screen shows both directions rather than one averaged figure. The seven classical planets are included; node friendships are not invented where the classical table does not define them.
Where to see it
The Jamakol Chart screen draws the dual ring with its legend directly under the chart. The Calculations screen lists the ring as longitudes with the sign each position falls in, the Jama in force, and the day and night lords. The Analysis screen carries Kiraga Nilai, Pagai Murai and the motion findings.
Related: Udhayam, Aarudam and Kavippu · Kathirveechi and the Kathir grid · Question types and timing.
Sources
Course sessions on the Jama grahas, day lord and Jama placement; Jamakkol Prasannam timing and configuration sections; and an independent public Jamakol calculator used to check the ring convention on specific timestamps. The 0.5°-per-minute local-clock placement is stated as our selected convention rather than as the only reading of the tradition.