Learning astrology

How to learn Vedic astrology, online or in a classroom

Q: How much does an astrology course cost in India?

The courses on this page state Rs 7,500 a year at IGNOU , Rs 7,000 to Rs 9,000 a level at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bengaluru , and at ICAS an exam fee of Rs 1,000 plus Rs 1,000 life membership, with chapter tuition not stated publicly .

A practical path from your first chart to your first paying client, with the books to read and the courses that exist, their length and their fees taken from each institution's own page.

Updated 2026-11-05

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Short answer

To learn Vedic astrology, start with the signs, houses, planets, nakshatras and the Vimshottari dasha, then read a classical text beside a modern textbook and practise on real charts. Structured routes include IGNOU's MA (Jyotish) in Hindi at Rs 7,500 a year ¹, the one-year Jyotisha Praveena taught through ICAS chapters ², and the three-year Jyothisha Bharathi course at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bengaluru ⁴. Kismo does not teach astrology, but it lets you list Vedic astrology as a practice and tests you with one chat reading of about 10 minutes.

University route: IGNOU MA (Jyotish): 24 to 48 months, Hindi medium, Rs 7,500 a year plus exam fees ¹
Council route: ICAS Jyotisha Praveena: 1 year, weekend classes at city chapters ²
Classroom route: Bhavan Bengaluru Jyothisha Bharathi: 3 years, Rs 7,000 to Rs 9,000 a level ⁴
Entry level: Bachelor's degree for IGNOU ¹, SSLC and age 18 for ICAS ², Class X for Bhavan Bengaluru ⁴
First thing to memorise: The nine Vimshottari dasha periods, 120 years in all ⁶
Exam months: June and December at both ICAS and Bhavan Bengaluru ^2,4

The subject

What does a Vedic astrology course actually teach?

A Vedic astrology course teaches you to cast a birth chart for the exact time and place of birth, and then to judge it. IGNOU's master's programme shows how wide the subject is: its eight papers run from history to prediction ¹.

Introduction to Indian astrology and its history ¹.
Siddhanta jyotish and kala, the astronomy and time-keeping side ¹.
Panchang and muhurta ¹.
Kundli nirman, making the birth chart ¹.
Jyotirvigyan ¹.
Ganit, grahan, vedh and yantra: calculation, eclipses, observation and instruments ¹.
Samhita jyotish ¹.
Phal vichar, judging results from the chart ¹.

Only the last paper is prediction in the sense a client means. The rest is the groundwork that good timing depends on.

Start here

What should you learn first in Vedic astrology?

The first things to learn in Vedic astrology are the nine planets, the twelve signs and houses, and the Vimshottari dasha. Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra gives each planet a core meaning: the Sun is the soul, the Moon the mind, Mars strength and Mercury speech ¹².

Houses come next. Phaladeepika lists the 2nd house for wealth, learning and speech, the 4th for happiness, mother, vehicles and land, and the 10th for commerce, rank, honour and occupation ⁷.

Dasha lord	Years in Vimshottari
Sun	6 ⁶
Moon	10 ⁶
Mars	7 ⁶
Rahu	18 ⁶
Jupiter	16 ⁶
Saturn	19 ⁶
Mercury	17 ⁶
Ketu	7 ⁶
Venus	20 ⁶

Learn that table by heart, because almost every timing question runs through it. Our guide to reading dashas shows how the periods are used in a real chart.

The path

What is a realistic learning path, stage by stage?

A realistic path through Vedic astrology has four stages, and the ICAS syllabus is a good map of the first two ^2,11. Each stage ends with something you can do, not a chapter you have read.

Stage 1: casting
Time, sidereal time, the ascendant, planetary positions and the panchanga, as in Paper II of Jyotisha Praveena's first semester ². Cast a few charts by hand before you trust software.
Stage 2: reading
Signs, houses, planets, nakshatras, yogas, divisional charts, Vimshottari dasha, basic transit and the annual chart ². Read the charts of people you know and check them against their lives.
Stage 3: timing
Ashtakavarga, shadbala, prashna, deeper dasha rules and transit timing, which make up Jyotisha Visharada ¹¹.
Stage 4: practice
Read for friends and relatives, write down what you predicted and note what happened. This is the stage most courses leave to you.

The Visharada syllabus also has papers on longevity and medical astrology ¹¹. Study them if you like, but a consulting astrologer does not predict death or diagnose illness for a client.

Books

Which books should a Vedic astrology student read?

A Vedic astrology student needs one classical text and one modern textbook, read side by side. The table lists four that most teachers name, with where to find them.

Book	Author or translator	Where to find it	Read it for
Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra	Attributed to Parashara	Verse by verse at Enjoy Learning Sanskrit ⁶	Planets, signs, dashas
Phaladeepika	Mantreswara, tr. V. Subrahmanya Sastri	Wisdom Library, online ⁷	House meanings, yogas
Hindu Predictive Astrology	B. V. Raman	UBS Publishers' Distributors, New Delhi, 20th edition 1992 ⁸	A modern step-by-step textbook
Prasna Marga	Translated by B. V. Raman	Two parts, chapters I to XXXII ⁹	Horary, once the basics are firm

B. V. Raman also founded the Indian Council of Astrological Sciences, whose courses appear in the next section ¹⁰. For a longer reading list, see the best astrology books for beginners.

Courses

Where can you study Vedic astrology, and what does it cost?

You can study Vedic astrology at a university, through an astrology council, or in a cultural institution's classroom. These are the terms each one states on its own page.

Course	Run by	Length	Fee stated	Language
MA (Jyotish), MAJY, distance mode	IGNOU School of Humanities	24 to 48 months	Rs 7,500 a year, exam fees extra ¹	Hindi ¹
Jyotisha Praveena	ICAS, through city chapters	1 year ²	Exam fee Rs 1,000 and life membership Rs 1,000; chapter tuition not stated publicly ³	Hindi, English, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi ²
Jyothisha Pravesha, Prajna, Acharya	Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bengaluru	3 years, one level a year ⁴	Rs 7,000, Rs 8,000 and Rs 9,000 ⁴	Kannada and English ⁴

The free route is the classical texts themselves, which are readable online ^6,7, plus a teacher who checks your charts. Our page on free astrology courses lists more.

University courses in astrology are disputed. When IGNOU launched its programme on 24 June 2021, a campaign of rationalists and science communicators asked for it to be withdrawn and gathered over 800 signatures ⁵. The same report notes that the UGC had invited proposals for Jyotir Vigyan courses on 23 February 2001 ⁵.

Ready?

How long before you can read Vedic charts for paying clients?

Reading Vedic charts for paying clients usually takes one to three years of study plus steady practice. ICAS's first level lasts a year ², Bhavan Bengaluru's full course three years ⁴, and IGNOU allows up to four ¹.

You can check any chart by hand and spot a wrong ascendant.
You can name the running dasha and sub-period and explain them in two plain sentences.
You have compared at least a few dozen charts with lives you know well.
You can say 'I cannot see that in this chart' without feeling you failed.
You know the topics you will never predict: death, illness, pregnancy outcomes.

Birth times are the most common weak point. Parashara says the birth ascendant is to be corrected first ¹³, so learn birth time rectification early.

Clients

How do clients ask about Vedic astrology online?

Online clients rarely ask for Vedic astrology by name: they ask a life question and give a date, time and place of birth. Your training has to turn into short, clear answers to those questions.

What the client types	What you need to have studied
When will I get married?	The 7th house, the navamsha (D9) for the spouse ¹⁴ and dasha timing ⁶
Will I get a government job?	The 10th house for occupation and rank ⁷ and the running periods ⁶
Is this a good time to change jobs?	The current dasha and sub-period ⁶ and the slow transits
I do not know my exact birth time.	Rectification, which Parashara puts first ¹³

Practise those four first. Our guides on marriage timing and career timing take each one further.

On Kismo

Can you apply to Kismo while you are still learning Vedic astrology?

You can apply to Kismo at any stage, but the application is judged on one real reading, so apply when you can read a chart without help. Kismo runs no training of its own.

What you will meet	What it means for a learner
Step 1 asks for your practices and years of experience	Neither can be changed after you submit; a beginner picks Just starting out (0 years)
The test is one chat reading of about 10 minutes	The client's card shows the name, age, city, question, birth details and chart
Answers must be typed by you	Pasted answers are sent back, and there is only one try
A person reads the whole reading	The decision arrives by email within 2 days

List Vedic astrology only if you could answer a stranger's marriage or career question from the chart on the card. If you also read tarot or numerology, add them only when you practise them already, because the test client is drawn from what you list.

Once approved, the only course inside the app is a short video series called How to earn on Kismo, five episodes of about two and a half minutes on consulting, not astrology. Keep studying with the books and courses above while you read for clients.

Questions

What do astrologers ask about this?

Can I learn Vedic astrology online for free?

Yes, the core texts are free to read online: Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra verse by verse ⁶ and Phaladeepika in translation ⁷. What a free route lacks is someone to check your charts, so find a teacher or study group once you can cast a chart.

Is IGNOU's MA in Jyotish taught in English?

No. IGNOU lists Hindi as the medium of instruction for the MA (Jyotish), asks for a bachelor's degree in any stream, and says the programme is not offered to international students ¹.

How much does an astrology course cost in India?

The courses on this page state Rs 7,500 a year at IGNOU ¹, Rs 7,000 to Rs 9,000 a level at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bengaluru ⁴, and at ICAS an exam fee of Rs 1,000 plus Rs 1,000 life membership, with chapter tuition not stated publicly ³.

Do I need an astrology certificate to apply to Kismo?

No. Kismo asks for no certificate, resume or interview; you are judged on one chat reading, which a person reads in full before deciding within 2 days. A certificate can still help you learn in order, which is its real value.

Can I add numerology or tarot to my Kismo profile later?

No. On Kismo, practices, languages and years of experience are fixed once you submit the application. List every practice you already use with clients, and only those, before you send it.

Read for clients on Kismo

Set your own per-minute rate for chat and calls, from Rs 20 to Rs 1,000. Apply in your browser with your Aadhaar or PAN and one reading.