A rasi palan covers one solar month, but the planets keep moving through it. When a planet crosses into the next sign partway through, it stands in a different house from your Moon sign for the rest of the month, and that house has a different result. So the palan adds a dated line: from that day, the planet is in your next house, with what that house brings.
☕ One month, two readings
The Sun's entry into a sign opens the month, so the Sun has no change to report. The other planets keep moving, each at its own pace, in the card “Which planets change sign in a month” below. When one of them crosses into the next sign partway through the month, the reading for the first part no longer holds for the rest. That is the paragraph that begins “From the 14th”.
The reading changes because the result is given house by house. An old South Indian manual gives every planet a result in each of the twelve houses from the Moon sign (Kalaprakasika (1917 ed.), ch. XXXVI, pp. 207–208). A planet in a new sign is in a new house, so it is read again.
One change moves the house for every rasi at once, each by its own count. When Jupiter moves from Simha (Leo) into Kanya (Virgo), he goes from the 5th to the 6th house for Mesha (Aries), and from the 12th to the 1st for Kanya (Virgo). All twelve are in “Jupiter from Simha (Leo) into Kanya (Virgo), for each rasi” further down.
Nava's rasi palan splits each planet's month into stays, one for each sign it is in, with the moment it entered. Each stay is read on its own from your Moon sign. Under “Changes during the month”, each rasi page lists every change in date order: from that date, the planet moves into your house so-and-so, followed by what that house brings. When another planet holds the new result back, the line says so. In the month's one word and the area lines, each stay counts by the share of the month it covers, so a stay of a few days weighs less than one of three weeks.
The same manual says some planets act on entering a sign, some in the middle and some towards the end, and that Jupiter can give the result of the sign before the one he is in (Kalaprakasika (1917 ed.), ch. XXXVI, p. 209). The book gives this for Jupiter moving fast or going retrograde; Nava's rasi palan applies it only while Jupiter is retrograde, by its own reading. It does not use the entry, middle and end timing; that is explained on the page “When Results Arrive in a Dasha”.
Fast planets and slow planets
- The Sun: its entry into a sign opens the month, so it is never a mid-month change.
- The Moon: changes sign about every two and a quarter days; it makes the chandrashtamam and the good days, not a change paragraph.
- Mercury and Venus: often change sign within a month.
- Mars: about every month and a half, and longer when it turns retrograde.
- Jupiter: about once a year.
- Saturn: about once in two and a half years.
- Rahu and Ketu: together, about once in a year and a half, always moving backwards.
- Mix-up: the second paragraph cancels the first. The first holds until the change date and the second from it; both are parts of the same month.
- Mix-up: a planet changes house only for some rasis. A sign change moves the planet one house on for every rasi at once.
- Mix-up: a retrograde planet stepping back is an error in the palan. It is a real return to the sign it left, and it gets its own dated line.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my palan give two readings for one planet?
Because the planet changed sign during the month. The first reading is for its old house from your Moon sign, the second, dated, for its new house from that day on.
Is the change date the same in every almanac?
Not always. The moment depends on how the planet's position is reckoned: drik and vakya almanacs can differ by hours for the fast planets and by days for Jupiter and Saturn (see the page “Vakya vs. Drik”). Nava's rasi palan uses drik (Lahiri) positions.
Does it matter where I live?
The moment a planet enters a sign is the same everywhere; only the clock time differs. Nava's rasi palan gives the date on each rasi page and the time, in Indian Standard Time, on the month page.
Deep dive: one change, twelve rasis
The table “Jupiter from Simha (Leo) into Kanya (Virgo), for each rasi”, how a backward step is shown, and what this builds on.
🔁 Jupiter from Simha (Leo) into Kanya (Virgo), for each rasi
| Rasi | Jupiter's house: before → after |
|---|---|
| Mesha (Aries) | 5th → 6th |
| Vrishabha (Taurus) | 4th → 5th |
| Mithuna (Gemini) | 3rd → 4th |
| Kataka (Cancer) | 2nd → 3rd |
| Simha (Leo) | 1st → 2nd |
| Kanya (Virgo) | 12th → 1st |
| Tula (Libra) | 11th → 12th |
| Vrischika (Scorpio) | 10th → 11th |
| Dhanu (Sagittarius) | 9th → 10th |
| Makara (Capricorn) | 8th → 9th |
| Kumbha (Aquarius) | 7th → 8th |
| Meena (Pisces) | 6th → 7th |
↩️ When a planet steps back
A planet moving backwards can return to the sign it has just left. That is another sign change, and the rasi page gives it its own dated line, with the planet marked retrograde. Rahu and Ketu always move backwards, so they are not marked. Saturn's line in the Saturn and Jupiter section uses the sign Saturn holds for most of the month.
🧭 What this builds on
How the whole month is put together, from the Sun's entry to the good days, is on how a monthly rasi palan is built. Why the Moon's own times can differ between almanacs is on why chandrashtamam times differ.