/v1/prashna/chart

Prashna (horary) chart at question moment.

What this tells you

Prashna (horary) astrology answers a question from the chart cast at the moment it is asked, at the querent's place. No natal chart is needed: the question moment is the input. Used for yes/no questions and quick decisions.

Pass the question moment as `date`, `time`, `tz` and the querent's place as `lat`, `lon` (all required except `time`, which defaults to 12:00).

Request

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

example request

curl "https://api.lifeastroapi.com/v1/prashna/chart?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

{
  "at_iso": "1990-01-15T10:30",
  "at_jd": 2447906.708333,
  "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"
  },
  "planets": [
    {
      "id": "sun",
      "name": "Sun",
      "sidereal_lon": 271.063319,
      "sign_index": 9,
      "deg_in_sign": 1.063319,
      "dms_in_sign": "01°03'47\"",
      "house": 12,
      "nakshatra_idx": 20,
      "pada": 2,
      "nak_lord": "Sun",
      "speed": 1.018256,
      "is_retro": false,
      "ecl_lat": -0.000088
    },
    {
      "id": "moon",
      "name": "Moon",
      "sidereal_lon": 140.127289,
      "sign_index": 4,
      "deg_in_sign": 20.127289,
      "dms_in_sign": "20°07'38\"",
      "house": 7,
      "nakshatra_idx": 10,
      "pada": 3,
      "nak_lord": "Venus",
      "speed": 12.579355,
      "is_retro": false,
      "ecl_lat": -2.411875
    }
  ]
}

Field reference

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

Field	Type	Meaning
at_iso	string	Question moment as passed: date + "T" + time, local wall time in `tz`, with no offset. example: `"1990-01-15T10:30"`
at_jd	number	Julian Day (UT) of the question moment. example: `2447906.708333`
ascendant	object	Prashna lagna at the question moment and place. example: `{ "sign_index": 2, "deg_in_sign": 11.491027, … }`
ascendant.sidereal_lon	number (0–360)	Sidereal longitude of the ascendant. example: `326.391667`
ascendant.sign_index	integer (0–11)	Ascendant sign (0 = Aries). example: `10`
ascendant.deg_in_sign	number (0–30)	Degrees within the sign. example: `26.391667`
ascendant.dms_in_sign	string	Degrees within the sign as DD°MM'SS". example: `"11°29'27\""`
ascendant.nakshatra_idx	integer (0–26)	Ascendant nakshatra (0 = Ashwini). example: `24`
ascendant.pada	integer (1–4)	Nakshatra pada. example: `2`
ascendant.nak_lord	string	Vimshottari lord of the ascendant nakshatra. Localised with `locale`. example: `"Jupiter"`
ascendant.mc	number (0–360)	Sidereal longitude of the midheaven (MC). example: `239.182315`
ascendant.house_system	string	The `house_system` parameter (default "whole_sign"). Planet house numbers are whole-sign in every case. example: `"whole_sign"`
planets[]	array (9 items)	Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu at the question moment (Rahu/Ketu mean node). example: `[…]`
planets[].id	string	Stable lower-case key ("sun" … "ketu"). Not localised; use it to match planets. example: `"sun"`
planets[].name	string	Planet name. Localised with `locale`. example: `"Sun"`
planets[].sidereal_lon	number (0–360)	Sidereal longitude in degrees. example: `271.063319`
planets[].sign_index	integer (0–11)	Sign index (0 = Aries). example: `9`
planets[].deg_in_sign	number (0–30)	Degrees within the sign. example: `1.063319`
planets[].house	integer (1–12)	Whole-sign house counted from the Prashna ascendant. example: `12`
planets[].nakshatra_idx	integer (0–26)	Nakshatra index (0 = Ashwini). example: `20`
planets[].pada	integer (1–4)	Nakshatra pada. example: `2`
planets[].nak_lord	string	Vimshottari lord of the nakshatra. example: `"Sun"`
planets[].speed	number	Longitude speed in degrees per day. example: `1.018256`
planets[].is_retro	boolean	True when speed is negative. example: `false`
planets[].ecl_lat	number	Geocentric ecliptic latitude in degrees (north positive). Decides a graha yuddha: the planet further north wins. Left out for Rahu and Ketu, which sit on the ecliptic. example: `-0.000088`

Usage tips

How to use it

Time of question = query moment
The moment the user asks is the input. Do not let users pick arbitrary dates for Prashna; it defeats the purpose.
Related endpoints
/v1/prashna/lagna-lord, /v1/prashna/answer (yes/no for a question house), /v1/prashna/significators and /v1/prashna/arudha read the same chart.

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.