D40 Khavedamsa Chart in Vedic Astrology

The Khavedamsa splits each sign into forty parts of 0°45′. Parashara reads it for auspicious and inauspicious effects in general; later astrologers read it for the inheritance of the mother’s line.

Like every varga past the D30, its ascendant changes within minutes, so it is only meaningful with a well-rectified birth time.

Each sign of 30° is divided into 40 equal parts of 0°45′. Odd signs count from Aries, even signs from Libra.

For example, a planet at 17°24′ Taurus falls in part 24 of 40, which puts it in Virgo in the D40.

The ascendant moves through the whole zodiac in a day, about one sign every two hours, so the finer the division, the sooner its ascendant changes. For the D40 that is about every 3 minutes on average. A birth time rounded to the nearest quarter hour can easily give the wrong chart. The planets move far more slowly, so their D40 signs are reliable even when the ascendant is not, the Moon excepted in the finest charts.