Mandi Calculator - Gulika and Maandi Position
Gulika and Maandi located for a birth: the sign and degree each one occupies, found from Saturn's share of the day or night in which the birth falls.
Gulika and Maandi are upagrahas, sensitive points tied to Saturn rather than physical bodies. The method in BPHS splits the daytime, sunrise to sunset, into eight equal portions and hands them in turn to the weekday's lord and the planets after it in weekday order, leaving one portion without a lord; the night is split the same way, starting from the lord of the fifth weekday. Saturn's portion belongs to Gulika, and the degree rising when it begins is Gulika's longitude.
Many texts use Mandi and Gulika as two names for one point, and the BPHS translation writes Mandi (Gulik). Jagannatha Hora lists them separately: Gulika from the start of Saturn's portion and Maandi from its middle. That split is a convention, since other traditions swap the two or take the end of the portion. Enter a birth date, time and place and the chart screen and the Details screen show both, with the other upagrahas.
The eight day portions of the sample chart
The worked case is a fabricated birth, made up for this page: Chennai (13.0827 N, 80.2707 E) on Monday, 1 January 1990, at 12:00 IST. Sunrise there was at 06:34:55 and sunset at 17:49:48, so the daytime of 11 h 14 m 53 s splits into eight portions of 1 h 24 m 21.6 s each. A noon birth falls in the day, so these are the portions in use.
| # | Portion | Starts at |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moon (lord of Monday) | 06:34:55 |
| 2 | Mars | 07:59:17 |
| 3 | Mercury | 09:23:38 |
| 4 | Jupiter | 10:48:00 |
| 5 | Venus | 12:12:22 |
| 6 | Saturn — Gulika's portion | 13:36:43 |
| 7 | Seventh portion | 15:01:05 |
| 8 | Eighth portion | 16:25:26 |
Saturn's portion runs from 13:36:43 to 15:01:05. The degree rising at 13:36:43 gives Gulika in Aries 14°43'; the degree rising at the portion's middle, 14:18:54, gives Maandi in Aries 26°13', as the Upagrahas table prints them. The last two portions hold the Sun's portion and the lordless one, and neither point is taken from them. These are computed positions for an invented birth, not a reading of it.
How to read the result
After a chart is generated, the /horoscope screen shows an Upagrahas table below the rasi chart on phones and beside it on wide screens, and the Details screen lists the same points under Upagrahas. Each row gives the point's name, its sign and its degree within the sign, so for the sample birth above Gulika reads Aries 14°43' and Maandi Aries 26°13'. The same table also holds Kaala, Mrityu, Artha Praharaka (shown as A.Praharaka) and Yama Ghantaka (Y.Ghantaka), which come from other portions, and the five points derived from the Sun's longitude, such as Dhuma.
Whether the day or the night portions apply depends on the birth moment: from sunrise to sunset the calculator divides that daytime, and otherwise the night from sunset to the following sunrise, beginning with the lord of the fifth weekday. A birth before sunrise belongs to the previous weekday's night, because the Vedic day starts at sunrise.
Both points are rising degrees at a given instant, so they move quickly through the zodiac, about a sign in two hours on average, though that pace changes with the birth place's latitude and the sign on the horizon. A small error in the birth time can move them by several degrees, so check the time before reading Maandi's sign or its house from the lagna.
Key terms
- Upagraha
- A computed sub-point rather than a physical body; Gulika, Maandi and Kaala come from portions of the day, Dhuma and its group from the Sun's longitude.
- Gulika
- Saturn's upagraha: the degree rising at the start of Saturn's portion of the day or night, the rule BPHS gives in chapter 3, verse 70.
- Maandi
- Listed here as the degree rising at the middle of Saturn's portion; many texts treat Maandi and Gulika as one point.
- Kuligai (Gulika kalam)
- The time span of Saturn's portion itself, printed in many panchangas; on the sample day it ran from 13:36:43 to 15:01:05.
- Kaala velas
- The BPHS translation's name for the five portion-based points: Kaala, Mrityu, Ardhaprahara, Yamaghantaka and Gulika.
- Lordless portion
- The one portion of the eight that has no planetary lord; neither Gulika nor Maandi is taken from it.
Both points, sign and degree
Gulika and Maandi for any birth, each with its sign and degree, shown with the birth chart and on the Details screen.
Day and night births
The right set of eight portions for the birth moment, counted from that place's own sunrise and sunset.
The other upagrahas too
Kaala, Mrityu, Artha Praharaka, Yama Ghantaka and the Sun-based points such as Dhuma, in the same table.
Common questions
What is the difference between Gulika and Mandi?
Many texts use the two names for one point. This calculator keeps them apart: Gulika is the degree rising at the start of Saturn's portion and Maandi the degree rising at its middle, so for the sample birth they sit about eleven and a half degrees apart in Aries.
How is Mandi calculated?
Find the day's sunrise and sunset, divide that span into eight equal portions and give them out from the weekday's lord in weekday order; Saturn's portion is the one that matters. The rising degree at its start gives Gulika, as BPHS states, and at its middle gives Maandi, the convention Jagannatha Hora follows. For a night birth the night is divided instead.
Is Gulika kalam the same as Gulika?
No. Gulika kalam, or Kuligai, is the time span of Saturn's portion as a daily panchang prints it. Gulika is a point of the zodiac: the degree rising at the birth place when that span begins.
How does a night birth change Gulika?
After sunset the calculator divides the night, from sunset to the next sunrise, into eight portions and starts them from the lord of the fifth weekday counted from the birth's weekday. Saturn's place in that sequence, and so the instant Gulika is taken from, differs from the day sequence.
Why does the Mandi position depend on the birth time?
The birth time decides whether the day or the night portions apply and which weekday they belong to, and the birth place sets sunrise and sunset. Both points are rising degrees, which travel quickly, so the place's coordinates and the time zone need to be accurate as well.