Ascendant (Lagna)
The ascendant (Lagna) is the zodiac sign rising on the eastern horizon at the moment and place of your birth. It becomes your first house and the starting point of your whole Kundli.
Also known as: rising sign, lagna rashi, janma lagna, udaya lagna
As the Earth turns, all twelve signs rise in the east one after another, each taking roughly one and a half to two and a half hours in India. The sign rising when you were born, and its exact degree, is your Lagna. It anchors the houses: the Lagna sign is the 1st house, the next sign the 2nd, and so on around the chart.
Astrologers treat the Lagna as the self: body, health, temperament and the way you meet the world. Its ruler, the Lagna lord, is one of the most important planets in any chart, and planets in or aspecting the 1st house strongly shape your personality.
Your Lagna is not the same as your Moon sign (Rashi), which most Indian horoscope columns use, nor your Western rising sign, which is calculated in the tropical zodiac. Because the Lagna changes every couple of hours, an accurate birth time matters more for it than for almost anything else in the chart.