Rashi in English: All 12 Rashi Names
The full list of Vedic rashis with their English names, ruling planets, Sun transit dates and Nakshatras, plus how to find which one is actually yours.
Quick Answer
Rashi means a zodiac sign in Vedic astrology. The twelve rashis in English are Mesh (Aries), Vrishabha (Taurus), Mithun (Gemini), Kark (Cancer), Simha (Leo), Kanya (Virgo), Tula (Libra), Vrishchik (Scorpio), Dhanu (Sagittarius), Makar (Capricorn), Kumbh (Aquarius) and Meen (Pisces). In Vedic use your rashi is your Moon sign, not your Sun sign.
What rashi means, and why the English name is not the whole story
A rashi is a 30-degree segment of the zodiac. There are twelve of them, they run in a fixed order, and every one has a Sanskrit name and a Latin-derived English name. Mesh is Aries, Meen is Pisces, and the ten in between line up exactly the same way.
Two differences trip people up. First, Vedic astrology measures the zodiac against the fixed stars (sidereal), while western astrology measures it from the spring equinox (tropical). The gap between them is currently about 24 degrees, so a person born on 20 April is western Taurus but Vedic Mesh. Second, when someone in India says "my rashi", they almost always mean the Moon sign that a family astrologer noted at birth. A western horoscope means the Sun sign. That is why the same person legitimately gets two different answers.
| Rashi | English | Lord | Element | Sun transit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Mesh | Aries | Mars | Fire | about 14 April to 14 May |
| 2. Vrishabha | Taurus | Venus | Earth | about 15 May to 14 June |
| 3. Mithun | Gemini | Mercury | Air | about 15 June to 15 July |
| 4. Kark | Cancer | Moon | Water | about 16 July to 16 August |
| 5. Simha | Leo | Sun | Fire | about 17 August to 16 September |
| 6. Kanya | Virgo | Mercury | Earth | about 17 September to 16 October |
| 7. Tula | Libra | Venus | Air | about 17 October to 15 November |
| 8. Vrishchik | Scorpio | Mars | Water | about 16 November to 15 December |
| 9. Dhanu | Sagittarius | Jupiter | Fire | about 16 December to 13 January |
| 10. Makar | Capricorn | Saturn | Earth | about 14 January to 12 February |
| 11. Kumbh | Aquarius | Saturn | Air | about 13 February to 13 March |
| 12. Meen | Pisces | Jupiter | Water | about 14 March to 13 April |
Tap any rashi above for its full meaning, traits, lucky day and colours, Nakshatras and compatibility notes.
How to find your correct rashi
- 1
Collect an exact birth time
The Moon moves through a sign in roughly two and a quarter days, so an approximate time can put you in the wrong rashi. Use the hospital record or birth certificate time.
- 2
Add the birth place
Latitude, longitude and time zone decide the ascendant and the house layout, which is what turns a sign into a reading.
- 3
Compute sidereally with Lahiri
Vedic rashi needs the Lahiri ayanamsa applied. A tropical calculator can place you a full sign away.
- 4
Note the Nakshatra as well
Each rashi contains parts of two or three Nakshatras. The Nakshatra sets your Dasha timeline and matters more than the sign for timing and for marriage matching.
What you get on AstroFuture AI
Fire signs
Mesh (Aries), Simha (Leo), Dhanu (Sagittarius). Initiative, courage, visibility.
Earth signs
Vrishabha (Taurus), Kanya (Virgo), Makar (Capricorn). Patience, structure, results over time.
Air signs
Mithun (Gemini), Tula (Libra), Kumbh (Aquarius). Ideas, communication, social reach.
Water signs
Kark (Cancer), Vrishchik (Scorpio), Meen (Pisces). Emotion, intuition, depth.
Rashi vs Lagna
Rashi is the Moon sign, Lagna is the rising sign. Predictions use both, and Lagna decides the houses.
Rashi vs Nakshatra
12 rashis, 27 Nakshatras. Nakshatra is finer, drives Dasha timing and naming letters.
Who is this for?
- Anyone who knows their Sanskrit rashi name and wants the English name
- People comparing an Indian horoscope with a western one
- Parents looking up a Nakshatra or a naming letter
- Readers deciding which sign page to read
The order never changes, and that matters
Rashis always run in the same sequence, and the sequence is what makes a chart readable. Counting houses from your Lagna, working out which planet rules which house, and reading aspects all depend on that fixed order. This is also why an astrologer can tell a great deal from your rashi and Lagna alone, and far more once the whole chart is on the table.
What a sign page can and cannot tell you
Sign descriptions apply to one twelfth of humanity, so read them as a sketch. They cannot tell you which house your ruling planet occupies, whether it is retrograde or combust, which Mahadasha and Antardasha you are running, or which transits are hitting your 7th and 10th houses this year. Those are the parts that time real events like a job change or a marriage.
Sign in free and the Kundli tool builds your chart from your date, time and place using True Moon positions and the Lahiri ayanamsa, with all 16 divisional charts and three layers of Vimshottari Dasha with dates. After that the astrologer chat answers from your chart instead of your sign.
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