What is Tajaka Varshaphal and how does the API compute it?

Tajaka Varshaphal is the annual-horoscopy branch of Jyotish that reads the year ahead from the solar-return chart — the moment the Sun returns to its exact natal longitude. The API computes that return instant for the requested year, casts the annual (Varshapravesha) chart, and derives the Muntha, Year Lord (Varsheshvara), the 16 Tajaka yogas, 16 Sahams and Mudda Dasha from it. Send a POST to /v2/astrology/varshaphal with birth details and a year, or call the granular /v2/astrology/tajaka/* endpoints for individual components.

How is the Year Lord (Varsheshvara) selected?

The Year Lord is the strongest of the five office-bearers (Muntha lord, Lagna lord, the lord of the sign the Sun is in, the lord of the day, and the lord of the tri-rashi) that also aspects the annual ascendant, judged by Pancha-Vargiya Bala. The API returns the chosen planet, its role, the candidate list with strength scores, and whether it qualified by aspect, so you can show your work rather than asserting a single planet.

What classical sources back the Tajaka calculations?

The engine follows Tajaka Neelakanthi (Neelakantha Daivagna), the Sahams trace to Uttara Kalamrita, and the modern reconstruction follows K.S. Charak's Varshaphala. Every astrological claim is attributable to those texts under our citation policy — the API does not invent verse numbers or fabricate yoga presence.

Is there a free way to test Varshaphal before integrating?

Yes. The sandbox at vedika.io/sandbox exposes mock Tajaka and Varshaphal endpoints with realistic response shapes and no API key, so you can wire up your client and assert on field names before any billed call. Live calls need an x-api-key (vk_live_*) and cost fractions of a cent each.

Which house system and ayanamsa does the annual chart use?

Varshaphal is a sidereal (Vedic) technique, so the annual chart is cast sidereal. The same request body that drives the Vedic, Western and KP endpoints is reused here, and the underlying positions come from the XALEN Ephemeris, validated against JPL DE440 to within 0.1 degree across a reproducible JPL DE440 benchmark.

Tajaka Varshaphal (annual chart) via API

Tajaka Varshaphal is the annual-horoscopy system of Vedic astrology, and you can generate a complete annual chart over a single REST call. Send a birth record plus a target year to POST /api/v1/../v2/astrology/varshaphal and the API returns the solar-return chart together with its Muntha, Year Lord, the 16 Tajaka yogas, 16 Sahams and Mudda Dasha sub-periods. If you only need one component, the granular /v2/astrology/tajaka/* family exposes each calculation on its own endpoint at fractions of a cent per call.

What Varshaphal actually computes

Varshaphal (literally "fruit of the year") is the Jyotish equivalent of a solar return. Each year the Sun comes back to the exact sidereal longitude it held at birth; the chart cast for that instant — the Varshapravesha — is read to forecast the twelve months that follow. It is a distinct discipline from natal analysis, with its own yogas, dashas and sensitive points that do not appear in the birth chart, drawn from the Perso-Arabic-influenced Tajaka tradition codified in Tajaka Neelakanthi.

The annual chart is sidereal (Vedic), so the same ayanamsa-corrected positions that power the Vedic endpoints are reused. The underlying planetary longitudes come from the XALEN Ephemeris, Vedika's own open-source astronomical engine, validated against JPL DE440 to within 0.1 degree across a five-million-chart regression. That is ephemeris precision — the astronomical layer — separate from any interpretive claim, which is governed by classical-source rules described below.

The four pillars of an annual reading

Muntha — a progressed point that advances one sign per completed year of life from the natal ascendant. Its house and lord in the annual chart colour the dominant theme of the year.
Year Lord (Varsheshvara) — the planet that "rules" the year, chosen by strength and aspect rather than by a fixed rotation.
Tajaka yogas — 16 special combinations (Ithasala, Ishrapha, Kamboola, Nakta and so on) that describe whether the year's promises mature, stall or break.
Sahams — 16 sensitive points (the Tajaka counterpart of Arabian lots) for specific life areas: fortune, marriage, career, education, children, foreign travel.

The endpoints

There are two ways in. /v2/astrology/varshaphal returns the whole annual picture in one response. The /v2/astrology/tajaka/* endpoints let you fetch a single component when you do not want to pay for or parse the full report.

Endpoint	Returns
`POST /v2/astrology/varshaphal`	Full annual chart: Muntha, Year Lord, yogas, Mudda Dasha
`POST /v2/astrology/solar-return`	Same chart, Western-terminology alias
`POST /v2/astrology/tajaka/muntha`	Muntha sign, house and lord
`POST /v2/astrology/tajaka/yogas`	The 16 Tajaka yogas, with formed/not-formed flags
`POST /v2/astrology/tajaka/sahams`	The 16 Sahams with day/night formula variants
`POST /v2/astrology/tajaka/pancha-vargiya`	Five-fold strength (Pancha-Vargiya Bala)
`POST /v2/astrology/tajaka/mudda-dasha`	Mudda Dasha periods across the year
`POST /v2/astrology/tajaka/masa-pravesh`	Monthly solar-return (Masa Pravesha)
`POST /v2/astrology/tajaka/tri-pataki`	Tri-Pataki Chakra

All V2 endpoints take a flat body — datetime, latitude, longitude, timezone — plus an optional year (it defaults to the current year and is clamped to 1900–2100). Authenticate with the x-api-key header using a vk_live_* key.

cURL: a full annual chart

curl -X POST https://api.vedika.io/v2/astrology/varshaphal \
  -H "x-api-key: vk_live_xxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "datetime": "1988-04-23T09:15:00",
    "latitude": 18.5204,
    "longitude": 73.8567,
    "timezone": "Asia/Kolkata",
    "year": 2026
  }'

The response wraps the solar-return chart, the progressed Muntha, the chosen Year Lord with its candidate list, the evaluated yogas and the Mudda Dasha timeline:

{
  "varshaphalInfo": { "year": 2026, "age": 38,
    "yearStart": "2026-04-23", "yearEnd": "2027-04-23" },
  "varshapravesha": "2026-04-22T21:48:03",
  "muntha": { "sign": "Gemini", "house": 3, "lord": "Mercury",
    "interpretation": "..." },
  "yearLord": { "planet": "Venus", "role": "varsheshvara",
    "selectedByAspect": true,
    "candidates": [ { "planet": "Venus", "bala": 64.2 }, ... ],
    "strength": "strong" },
  "tajakaYogas": [ { "name": "Ithasala", "formed": true,
    "planets": ["Moon","Jupiter"], "isPositive": true,
    "effect": "Promises fulfillment, success in endeavors" }, ... ],
  "muddaDasha": [ { "planet": "Venus", "startDate": "2026-04-23",
    "endDate": "2026-06-24", "durationDays": 93,
    "themes": "Relationships, luxury, creative arts" }, ... ]
}

How the Year Lord is chosen — and why it matters

A naive annual API tends to pick a "year ruler" by the weekday of the return date, which is chart-independent and therefore wrong. The Varsheshvara is instead the strongest of five office-bearers (the lords of the Muntha, the ascendant, the Sun's sign, the day, and the tri-rashi) that also aspects the annual ascendant, weighed by Pancha-Vargiya Bala per the Hayanaratna tradition.

Because that selection is contestable, the API returns the full reasoning: the elected planet, whether it qualified by aspect, and every candidate with its strength score. You can render a transparent "why this planet" panel instead of asserting a verdict — important when the same year can plausibly be ruled by two near-equal candidates. Internally the /varshaphal aggregate and the standalone /tajaka/* endpoints share one Varsheshvara engine, so the Year Lord they report is always consistent for a given chart.

Yogas, Sahams and Mudda Dasha

The 16 yogas

The Tajaka yogas read planetary aspects in motion — which faster planet is applying to which slower one, and whether a third planet transfers or collects the light. Ithasala (an applying aspect) promises fulfilment; Ishrapha (a separating aspect) signals missed chances; Kamboola strengthens a promise through the Moon; Nakta and Yamaya describe results reached through an intermediary. The endpoint evaluates each of the 16 against the real annual chart and returns a formed flag with the participating planets, rather than inventing presence.

The 16 Sahams

Sahams are computed points of the form A + B − C in longitude, with day-birth and night-birth formula variants (a birth is "day" when the Sun is above the horizon). Punya Saham (fortune), Vivaha Saham (marriage), Karma Saham (career), Vidya Saham (education) and Paradesa Saham (foreign travel) are among the 16 returned, each with its sign placement and signification.

Mudda Dasha

Mudda Dasha divides the 365-day year into planetary sub-periods that begin with the Year Lord and proceed in fixed order, the base allotments summing to 325 days with the balance assigned to the Year Lord. The API anchors the sequence to the actual Varshapravesha instant, so the start and end dates are real calendar dates you can drive a month-by-month timeline from.

Three astrology systems, one request shape

Varshaphal is one technique inside a broader catalogue of 700+ operations across 25 domains. The same birth body that produces an annual chart also drives Vedic (sidereal), Western (tropical) and KP readings, plus Jaimini, Lal Kitab and numerology. If you want a narrative reading instead of raw fields, the conversational endpoint POST /api/v1/astrology/query accepts a natural-language question with the same birthDetails object and can answer "what does my year ahead look like?" in 30 languages, with an SSE variant at /api/v1/astrology/query/stream for token streaming.

Citations and honest limits

Every astrological statement the API emits is attributable to a real text used in formal Jyotish training — Tajaka Neelakanthi for the yogas and Year-Lord method, Uttara Kalamrita for the Sahams, and K.S. Charak's Varshaphala for the modern reconstruction. The engine does not paraphrase blog summaries or fabricate verse numbers. Where a value cannot be honestly computed — for instance a generic "score 75, a year of growth" prediction that ignores the chart — the field is simply omitted rather than faked. That conservatism is deliberate: a wrong citation in a B2B product is a liability, not a feature.

Key facts

Endpoint: POST /v2/astrology/varshaphal (alias /solar-return); granular components under /v2/astrology/tajaka/*.
Body: flat datetime, latitude, longitude, timezone plus optional year (defaults to current; clamped 1900–2100).
Auth: x-api-key: vk_live_*. Base URL https://api.vedika.io.
Returns Muntha, Year Lord (Varsheshvara) with candidate strengths, 16 Tajaka yogas, 16 Sahams, and Mudda Dasha with real dates.
Sources: Tajaka Neelakanthi, Uttara Kalamrita, K.S. Charak's Varshaphala.
Positions from the XALEN Ephemeris, validated against JPL DE440 to within 0.1 degree across a 5M-chart test.
Pricing from $12/mo (Starter); per-call Tajaka components run $0.005–$0.010. Free sandbox needs no key.

Getting started

Prototype against the mock Tajaka and Varshaphal routes in the sandbox first — same field names, no key, no charge — then swap the base URL and add your x-api-key for live calls. Plans start at $12/mo (see pricing), and the full schema for every field above is in the API docs. If you are weighing the natal side too, the birth-chart API guide covers the request shape these annual calls extend.

FAQ

What is Tajaka Varshaphal and how does the API compute it?: It is the annual-horoscopy branch of Jyotish, read from the solar-return chart. The API computes the Sun's return instant for the requested year, casts the annual chart, and derives Muntha, Year Lord, yogas, Sahams and Mudda Dasha from it via POST /v2/astrology/varshaphal or the granular /tajaka/* endpoints.
How is the Year Lord (Varsheshvara) selected?: It is the strongest of five office-bearers that also aspects the annual ascendant, judged by Pancha-Vargiya Bala. The API returns the elected planet, its role, the candidate list with strength scores, and whether it qualified by aspect.
What classical sources back the calculations?: Tajaka Neelakanthi for the yogas and method, Uttara Kalamrita for the Sahams, and K.S. Charak's Varshaphala for the modern reconstruction. No invented verse numbers or fabricated yoga presence.
Is there a free way to test before integrating?: Yes — the sandbox exposes mock Tajaka and Varshaphal endpoints with realistic shapes and no key. Live calls use an x-api-key and cost fractions of a cent.
Which house system and ayanamsa does the annual chart use?: Sidereal (Vedic), reusing the same ayanamsa-corrected positions as the Vedic endpoints. Longitudes come from the XALEN Ephemeris, validated against JPL DE440 to within 0.1 degree.