KP Horary (Praśna) (KP占星卜卦（數字法）)

Ask by a Number, Answer by the Sub-Lord

Overview

KP Horary — praśna in the KP idiom — is Krishnamurti Paddhati's most famous everyday tool: you answer a question without a birth chart at all. The querent simply gives a NUMBER from 1 to 249, chosen freely as the mind settles. That number selects one of the 249 sub-lord divisions of the zodiac — the 27×9 Vimśottarī sub-arcs, with each sub that straddles a sign cusp counted twice, giving exactly 249 numbered segments — and that segment becomes the ascendant of a horary chart. Its SUB-LORD is the chief significator, the factor that decides whether the matter is promised. The planets are then read for the exact moment the question was asked, and the moment's Ruling Planets — the day-lord, the Moon's sign and star lords, and the rising sign and star lords — confirm the verdict. askTIAN builds the 249 table directly from its gold-locked KP 249-division, so number 1 is the first 46'40" of Aries (Ketu star, Ketu sub) and number 249 closes the zodiac in Pisces.

Origin & history

The number method was developed by Prof. K.S. Krishnamurti in the mid-20th century as part of the KP system, adapting the older Indian praśna (horary) tradition and the Western horary idea that the chart of the moment of asking holds the answer. Its innovation is the 1–249 number: it lets a querent trigger a precise ascendant sub-lord without knowing any birth data, which made KP horary enormously popular for quick yes/no and timing questions across South Asia.

askTIAN implements the deterministic core faithfully. The 249 table is not hand-copied from a book but DERIVED from the same gold-locked 249-division that powers the KP natal chart: the 243 Vimśottarī sub boundaries are merged with the twelve 30° sign boundaries, and the six subs that cross a sign cusp are split, yielding exactly 249 segments — the textbook 243 + 6 = 249. Each segment carries its sign, its degree range, and its sign / star / sub / sub-sub lords. The moment's nine grahas and the ascendant reuse askTIAN's KP-Old sidereal engine and shared Meeus ephemeris. The Ruling Planets are computed from the asking moment; the day-lord uses the calendar weekday, with an honest note that the KP day formally turns at sunrise.

How it works

Supply a number 1–249 and the date (and, ideally, the time and place) the question was asked. The number indexes the 249 table to give the ascendant's sub-division and, crucially, its sub-lord — KP's verdict-giver. The engine then computes the nine grahas for the asking moment in KP-Old sidereal longitude, each with its full four-lord signature, and derives the Ruling Planets: the day-lord always, the Moon's sign and star lords when a time is given, and the rising sign and star lords when a place is given. A KP reading weighs whether the ascendant sub-lord and the Ruling Planets point the same way. Without a time or place the ascendant sub-lord and day-lord still resolve; the Moon and rising Ruling Planets sharpen with full details.

Good for

Use cases

Number → Ascendant Sub-Lord

Send a number 1–249 and receive its zodiac sub-division — sign, degree range and the sign / star / sub / sub-sub lords — the ascendant of the horary chart.

Ruling Planets of the Moment

Get the day-lord, the Moon's sign and star lords, and the rising sign and star lords for the instant the question was asked — KP's confirmation set.

Moment Graha Sub-Lords

See where each of the nine grahas sits by sub-lord at the asking moment, the raw material for a KP horary judgment.

Quick Praśna

Answer a client's question on the spot without collecting birth data — the number stands in for the chart.

Key terms

Praśna / Horary
Divination from the chart of the MOMENT a question is asked, rather than a birth chart — the answer is held in the sky of the query.
The 1–249 number
The querent's freely-chosen number that selects one of the 249 sub-lord segments of the zodiac as the horary ascendant — KP horary's signature device.
249 segments
The 27×9 = 243 Vimśottarī sub-arcs with the 6 sign-cusp-crossing subs split in two = 249 numbered divisions covering the whole zodiac.
Cuspal / ascendant sub-lord
The sub-lord of the ascendant given by the number; in KP it is the chief significator that decides whether the matter is promised.
Ruling Planets (RP)
The day-lord, the Moon's sign and star lords, and the rising sign and star lords at the asking moment — KP's confirmation of the verdict.
Day-lord
The planet ruling the weekday of the query (Sun=Sunday … Saturn=Saturday); the KP day formally changes at sunrise.
KP-Old ayanamsa
The sidereal–tropical offset used (≈ Lahiri − 6'); a few arc-minutes can flip a sub-lord, so the number method is pinned to it.

API

The askTIAN KP horary endpoint answers a question from a number alone: send an integer 1–249 and the asking date (optionally time and place) and receive the ascendant's sub-division — sign, degree range and sign / star / sub / sub-sub lords — plus the nine grahas at that moment with their four-lord signatures and the Ruling Planets (day-lord always; the Moon's sign & star lords with a time; the rising sign & star lords with a place). The 249 table is derived from askTIAN's gold-locked KP 249-division (number 1 = the first 46'40" of Aries, Ketu/Ketu; number 249 closes Pisces; the six sign-cusp-splitting subs give 243 + 6 = 249), and the moment's chart shares the verified KP-Old sidereal engine. Honesty rails note the ayanamsa sensitivity of the sub-lord, that the day-lord uses the calendar weekday (the KP day turns at sunrise), and that the full Placidus cuspal-significator judgment is a later layer. A best-effort LLM reading is returned in parsable sections; set interpretation:false for structured data only. Symbolic KP analysis for reflection — not a validated predictor, and not medical, legal or financial advice.

Endpoint: POST /trpc/kp.horary — 7 TIAN Points. See the API documentation and Playground.