/v1/chart/ascendant

Lagna (ascendant) sign + degree.

What this tells you

The ascendant (lagna) is the degree of the zodiac rising on the eastern horizon at birth. It defines the 1st house and anchors the entire chart. Birth time accuracy matters: the ascendant moves about one degree every 4 minutes, so a few minutes of birth-time error can change the degree, the nakshatra, or even the sign.

Request

All requests require an Authorization header with your dv_live_* API key.

example request

curl "https://api.lifeastroapi.com/v1/chart/ascendant?date=1990-01-15&tz=Asia%2FKolkata&lat=19.076&lon=72.8777&time=10%3A30" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Query parameters

Checked against the API: a parameter is marked required when the request fails without it.

Name	Required	Example	Description
`date`	yes	`1990-01-15`	Birth date (YYYY-MM-DD).
`tz`	yes	`Asia/Kolkata`	Birth place timezone: IANA name (Asia/Kolkata) or UTC offset (+05:30).
`lat`	yes	`19.076`	Birth place latitude in decimal degrees.
`lon`	yes	`72.8777`	Birth place longitude in decimal degrees.
`time`	no	`10:30`	Birth time (HH:MM, 24-hour, local). Defaults to 12:00.
`ayanamsa`	no	—	Ayanamsa (sidereal offset) to use. Defaults to lahiri.

Response (200 OK)

The real response to the example request above, generated from the API itself. Long arrays are trimmed to their first two items. Field names are stable across versions.

200 response

{
  "date": "1990-01-15",
  "time": "10:30",
  "location": {
    "lat": 19.076,
    "lon": 72.8777,
    "alt": 0
  },
  "tz": "Asia/Kolkata",
  "ayanamsa": "lahiri",
  "ayanamsa_value": 23.71795,
  "house_system": "whole_sign",
  "ascendant": {
    "sidereal_lon": 326.391667,
    "sign_index": 10,
    "deg_in_sign": 26.391667,
    "dms_in_sign": "26°23'30\"",
    "nakshatra_idx": 24,
    "pada": 2,
    "nak_lord": "Jupiter",
    "mc": 239.182315,
    "house_system": "whole_sign"
  }
}

Field reference

Every field in the response, with its type, a real example, and what it means.

Field	Type	Meaning
date	string	Birth date you sent (YYYY-MM-DD), echoed back. example: `"1990-01-15"`
time	string	Birth time you sent, echoed back. "12:00" when you leave `time` out. example: `"10:30"`
tz	string	Timezone you sent (IANA name or fixed offset such as +05:30), echoed back. example: `"Asia/Kolkata"`
location	object	Birth coordinates used. `alt` is in metres and is 0 unless you send `alt`. example: `{ "lat": 19.076, "lon": 72.8777, "alt": 0 }`
ayanamsa	string	Ayanamsa used. Default lahiri; set it with the `ayanamsa` parameter (lahiri, raman, krishnamurti, fagan, yukteshwar, true_chitrapaksha). example: `"lahiri"`
ayanamsa_value	number	Ayanamsa in degrees at the birth moment. Sidereal longitude = tropical longitude − this value. example: `23.71795`
house_system	string	Echo of the optional `house_system` parameter (default whole_sign). This endpoint does not use it, so you never need to send it; only /v1/chart/houses changes with it. The ascendant and MC degrees are the same in every house system. example: `"whole_sign"`
ascendant	object	The lagna. The same object appears in /v1/chart/houses and /v1/chart/astro-details. example: `{ "sidereal_lon": 326.391667, … }`
ascendant.sidereal_lon	number (0–360)	Sidereal longitude of the lagna (the rising degree). example: `326.391667`
ascendant.sign_index	integer (0–11)	Lagna sign: 0=Aries, 1=Taurus, …, 11=Pisces. example: `10`
ascendant.deg_in_sign	number (0–30)	Degrees inside the sign. example: `26.391667`
ascendant.dms_in_sign	string	Degrees, minutes and seconds inside the sign, for display. example: `"26°23'30\""`
ascendant.nakshatra_idx	integer (0–26)	Nakshatra of the lagna: 0=Ashwini, …, 26=Revati. example: `24`
ascendant.pada	integer (1–4)	Pada within the nakshatra. example: `2`
ascendant.nak_lord	string	Vimshottari lord of the lagna nakshatra. Translated with `locale`. example: `"Jupiter"`
ascendant.mc	number (0–360)	Sidereal longitude of the Midheaven (MC), the degree culminating overhead. It is a point, not the 10th whole-sign house. example: `239.182315`
ascendant.house_system	string	House system the ascendant was computed with; follows the `house_system` parameter. The degree itself is the same in every system. example: `"whole_sign"`

Usage tips

How to use it

Require accurate birth time
Ask users for HH:MM accuracy. "I was born around 3 PM" is not enough — the ascendant may be wrong by an entire sign. If you leave `time` out, the API uses 12:00 local time.
Display the lagna lord prominently
There is no lagna-lord field. Take the ruler of `sign_index`, or read `houses[0].sign_lord` from /v1/chart/houses.

Errors

Every error follows the same envelope. Use the error.code field (not the message) for conditional logic in your integration.

401 Unauthorized

{
  "error": {
    "code": "unauthorized",
    "message": "missing or invalid API key",
    "request_id": "req_01hqy7k8c3e7m1n"
  }
}

402 Payment Required

{
  "error": {
    "code": "trial_exhausted",
    "message": "your free trial credits are exhausted — pick a plan to continue",
    "top_up_url": "https://lifeastroapi.com/pricing",
    "request_id": "req_01hqy7k8c3e7m1n"
  }
}

429 Too Many Requests

{
  "error": {
    "code": "rate_limited",
    "message": "rate limit exceeded; retry after 12 seconds",
    "request_id": "req_01hqy7k8c3e7m1n"
  }
}

Try it

Get a dv_live_* key from your dashboard and paste into the cURL snippet above. New accounts get 1,500 free credits. Sign up.