You know your date and place of birth but not the time, or only roughly. That is common, and it does not rule out a Kundli. It means some results can be calculated with confidence, some only loosely, and one, the Lagna, not at all. This post sorts them, starting with where a recorded time might still be found.
First, look for a recorded time
A recorded time is worth more than any calculation, so check these before settling for an estimate:
- Hospital records. Delivery registers and discharge papers often note the time of birth. If the hospital still exists, its records department may be able to look it up.
- The birth certificate. Some certificates record the time; many in India show only the date. Check yours rather than assuming either way.
- A family Janam Patri or Kundli. A chart made around the time of the birth was calculated from a time, and that time is usually written on it.
- Relatives' memories. Ask what was happening: before or after sunrise, before or after a meal, a train, a radio programme. Write the answer down as a range, such as "between 5 and 7 in the morning", rather than a single guess.
If you end up with a range, Birth Time Uncertain? What Changes in Your Kundli and What Doesn't shows how to check which results hold across it.
What you can calculate with no time
The figures here are AstroMystra's own calculations. The percentages for births come from a test of 1,000 random births (1950 to 2023, Delhi) comparing the chart at the true time with a chart at 12:00 noon; the figures for days come from 2,000 random dates.
- Moolank and Bhagyank. The Moolank and Bhagyank calculator uses only your date of birth, so a missing time changes nothing.
- Sun sign. The Sun changes sign on only about one day a month (3.9% of days in our sample), so its sign is settled unless you were born on one of those days.
- Moon sign (Rashi). The Moon sign calculator needs your date and place, and uses a time if you give one; without one it calculates for noon. The Moon changes sign at some point during the day on 44% of days, and the noon result was wrong for about 1 birth in 8. A quick check settles it for most people: enter 00:00 and then 23:59 on your birth date. If both give the same Rashi, that is your Rashi whatever the time was. If they differ, the Moon changed sign that day and you need at least a rough time.
- Sade Sati. It is counted from the Moon sign, so the Sade Sati calculator is as reliable as your Rashi: settled if the 00:00 and 23:59 check agrees.
What needs at least a rough time
- Nakshatra. The Moon enters a new nakshatra on almost every day (96% of days in our sample), so the 00:00 and 23:59 check in the Nakshatra calculator usually shows two nakshatras, occasionally three. The noon result was wrong for about 1 birth in 4. Knowing only whether the birth was before or after the change is enough.
- Dasha timeline. The Dasha calculator works without a time, but treat its dates loosely. The noon chart showed the wrong current Mahadasha for about 1 birth in 4, and where it was right, its dates were still off by a median of about two years.
- Kundli matching. Guna Milan scores both partners' nakshatras, so a missing time on either side can change the score. Run the 00:00 and 23:59 check for both first.
What needs an exact time
- Lagna and houses. The Lagna moves through all twelve signs in a day, and a noon guess gave the wrong Lagna sign for 9 births in 10. The Lagna calculator does not calculate one without a time, and the Kundli calculator leaves the Lagna and houses out rather than show a noon Lagna as if it were yours.
- Anything counted from the Lagna. Every house is counted from the Lagna, so which planet sits in which house needs a time too, as does the Lagna part of the Mangal Dosha check. Without a time, that tool shows only its Moon-based check.
A checklist before you calculate
- Date of birth, checked against a document.
- Place of birth: the town itself, with its state or country, not the nearest large city.
- Time: recorded, remembered as a range, or unknown. Note which.
- For a range, the earliest and latest possible times.
With these written down, you know which of the results above you can rely on and which to keep as labelled estimates.
What we don't do
We don't fill in a missing time with a guess and present the result as your chart, and we don't try to work the time out from past life events, a practice called birth time rectification. Neither can be checked against a record.
Sources
- Charts and percentages: AstroMystra's calculation with the open-source astronomy-engine library and the Lahiri ayanamsa; method on our Methodology page. The 1,000-birth and 2,000-date tests are recomputed from the chart code every time the site's code is checked.