What does Karaka mean?

Karaka means 'significator' — the planet that represents a specific theme or relationship. In Jaimini, each planet takes on a 'role' in your chart based on its exact degree within its sign. The planet at the highest degree becomes the Atmakaraka (significator of the self).

Why does degree matter?

In Jaimini, the planet at the highest degree in the birth chart is considered the one carrying the most karmic load. It becomes the Atmakaraka. The second-highest becomes the Amatyakaraka (mind/minister), and so on down the list. So your karaka assignment is entirely based on planetary positions down to the arc-second.

Are there 7 or 8 Karakas?

Both systems exist. The 7-karaka system uses all seven main planets. The 8-karaka system adds Rahu (in reversed degrees). Different traditions use different systems. The app shows both.

What does the Atmakaraka tell me?

The Atmakaraka is the single most important planet in your chart by Jaimini standards — the planet whose lessons you came here to learn. Its placement, its dasha periods, and the Navamsa sign it occupies (called the Karakamsa) are central to reading your life purpose.

What are the Chara Karakas? Your chart's inner cabinet of ministers

The one-sentence version

Each planet in your chart plays a specific role — like ministers in a cabinet. Jaimini ranks them by degree and assigns them these roles. The top planet, your Atmakaraka, is the soul's minister — the one you came here to work with.

The cabinet analogy

A government has specific roles — head of state, finance minister, defence minister, minister of culture. Any competent person could fill many of these roles, but at any one time, specific people occupy them.

Your chart has a similar cabinet. Any of the seven planets could play any role, but the exact degree each planet sits at determines who gets which portfolio in your life.

The seven (or eight) Chara Karakas

Rank the planets by their degree within their sign, from highest to lowest. Then assign:

Atmakaraka (AK)— the soul. The planet at the highest degree. The single most important planet in your chart. Its lessons are your life's lessons.
Amatyakaraka (AmK) — the minister. Mind, intellect, career support. How you think and deliberate.
Bhratrukaraka (BK) — the sibling. Brothers, courage, efforts.
Matrukaraka (MK) — the mother. Home, nurture, emotional security.
Putrakaraka (PK) — the children. Offspring, creativity, mantra.
Gnatikaraka (GK) — the cousin / co-worker. Struggles, obstacles, hidden support.
Darakaraka (DK) — the spouse. The partner, the marriage.

In the eight-karaka system, Rahu joins — with its degrees read in reverse — and takes the sixth slot, shifting the others.

The Atmakaraka — the soul planet

This is the centrepiece of Jaimini. Your Atmakaraka is the planet whose agenda is driving your life. Its placement, its dignity, and especially the sign it occupies in the D9 Navamsa chart (called your Karakamsa Lagna) tell you your life's deeper purpose.

Jaimini gives you a whole second zodiac reading system starting from the Karakamsa sign. The houses from the Karakamsa describe your inner life in a way the standard Lagna-based reading doesn't capture.

Why Jaimini uses degrees instead of signs

Parashari astrology cares most about which sign a planet is in. Jaimini cares about how far through the sign a planet has travelled.

The logic: a planet closer to the end of a sign has “grown up” more — it carries more experience, more karmic weight. A planet at the start of a sign is “young” — potent but not mature.

So the planet at the highest degree has lived the most within its sign, and thus carries the most karmic load — which is why it becomes the Atmakaraka.

How Karakas are used

Relationship reading.Your Darakaraka (DK) describes your spouse. Where it sits, what aspects it, which nakshatra it's in — all paint a picture of your partner.
Career. Your Amatyakaraka describes your natural mode of work — its sign, its house, its aspects.
Life purpose.Your Atmakaraka and its Karakamsa sign describe the arc you're here to live.
Dasha priority.When the Atmakaraka's Mahadasha or Antardasha runs, major life-defining events tend to happen.

What the app does

Ranks all planets by degree and assigns all 7 (or 8) Karakas.
Shows your Atmakaraka prominently with its classical significations.
Computes your Karakamsa Lagna in the D9 and reads the houses from it.
Uses Karakas in marriage, career, and purpose interpretations — not just sign-and-house signification.

Classical source

The Karaka system is defined in the Jaimini Sutras (Upadesa Sutras, chapters on Karaka and Karakamsa). Sri Neelakantha's commentary on Jaimini is the classical working reference. Modern practitioners follow the K. N. Rao and Sanjay Rath lineages for application.