--- title: "Akshavedamsha Chart (D45): Character, Conduct and the Paternal Line" slug: "akshavedamsha-chart-d45" canonical_url: "https://mahadasha.com/akshavedamsha-chart-d45" description: "The Akshavedamsha chart (D45) uses the same three start signs as the D16 with almost three times as many divisions. What it shows about character and conduct." published_date: "2026-08-07 10:19:00" modified_date: "2026-08-07 10:19:00" author: "Pawan Acharya" keywords: "akshavedamsha chart d45, d45 chart, akshavedamsa chart, d45 character, akshavedamsha calculator, paternal line astrology, conduct astrology, divisional charts" locale: "en" --- # Akshavedamsha Chart (D45): Character, Conduct and the Paternal Line > Same three doors as the Shodashamsha, Aries, Leo and Sagittarius, with forty five rooms behind them instead of sixteen. It reads character, and the sources also give it the father's line. # Akshavedamsha Chart (D45): Character, Conduct and the Paternal Line The Akshavedamsha chart (D45) is read for character in the conduct sense: how a person behaves, what they are like to deal with, the moral texture of a life as it is actually lived. Many sources also give it the paternal line, pairing it with the D40 which holds the mother's. It is one of the last two charts in the Shodashavarga and one of the least written about, which makes the derivation worth getting exactly right before anybody interprets anything. ## How the Akshavedamsha chart (D45) is derived Each sign divides into forty five parts of 0 degrees 40 minutes. The count begins from Aries for a movable sign, from Leo for a fixed sign, and from Sagittarius for a dual sign. Those are exactly the start signs the [Shodashamsha chart (D16)](https://mahadasha.com/shodashamsha-chart-d16) uses. Same three doors, forty five rooms behind them instead of sixteen. The D20 uses the same three signs in a different order, swapping the fixed and dual starts, so all three of these vargas share a vocabulary and only one of them reverses it. A planet at 7 degrees Sagittarius sits in the eleventh part, since 7 divided by two thirds of a degree gives 10 with a remainder. Sagittarius is dual, so the count begins at Sagittarius itself in this case, and eleven parts on lands in Libra. That example is a good reminder that an absolute start sign sometimes coincides with the natal sign, which is exactly when a mis-implemented calculator agrees with a correct one and gives no sign of the problem. Test a movable sign instead, where counting from Aries and counting from the sign itself diverge immediately. ## What the Akshavedamsha chart (D45) shows Conduct, meaning behaviour rather than intention. The chart describes what a person does under ordinary conditions, which is a more testable claim than anything about their inner nature and is the reading this varga supports. The paternal line, in the sources that assign it. Traits and inheritance from the father's family, read the way the [Khavedamsha chart (D40)](https://mahadasha.com/khavedamsha-chart-d40) reads the mother's. General moral character, which is the traditional heading and the one that needs the most care. A chart is not a moral score, and reading forty five divisions to decide whether somebody is a good person is both bad practice and bad astrology. What the chart does support is a description of a person's characteristic response: whether they are steady under pressure, whether they keep their word when it costs something, whether their behaviour is consistent across contexts. Sitting beside the [Trimsamsa chart (D30)](https://mahadasha.com/trimsamsa-chart-d30) , which reads weakness and vice, the D45 reads conduct as a whole. The two overlap and the D30 is by far the older and better documented of the pair. ## How to read it beside the birth chart Start with the ascendant and its lord in the birth chart, which describe the person, and the ninth house for the father and for dharma. Then check the Sun as karaka for the father and for the self in its authoritative aspect. If your D1 carries [the Sun in the 1st house](https://mahadasha.com/sun-in-1st-house) , the D45 will tell you whether that self assurance is matched by consistent conduct or mostly a matter of presence. Take the lagna lord across into the D45 and read its dignity there. Then look at where the ninth lord landed, for the paternal reading. Keep the conclusions modest, because the interpretive tradition here is thin and the divisions are very fine. ## Conduct is not personality The distinction is the whole reason this chart exists separately from the ascendant, and it is worth holding on to. Personality is what a person is like. Conduct is what they do, which is a narrower and more observable thing, and the two come apart constantly. Charming people behave badly. Difficult people keep their commitments. The birth ascendant and its lord describe the first; this varga describes the second. That is also why a strong D45 in a chart whose owner is hard work socially is not a contradiction. It says the behaviour is reliable whatever the manner is like, which is usually the thing that matters when you are deciding whether to work with somebody. Kept in that frame the chart stays useful and stays modest. Stretched into a judgement about worth, it becomes something no honest reading should produce. ## Precision, and what it costs A 40 minute division takes the ascendant under three minutes to cross. The D45 ascendant is therefore meaningless without a birth time recorded to the minute, and there is no way around that. Worse for this chart specifically, even the Moon changes division about every seventy five minutes, so a birth time uncertain by a couple of hours moves the Moon too. Most vargas are stable in their planetary placements and fragile only in the ascendant. At this resolution that reassurance starts to run out, and the same applies to the D60. Which leads to a plain recommendation. If your birth time came from a memory, a rounded hour, or a family story, this chart is not telling you about your character. It is telling you about the character of somebody born at the time you happen to have written down. Rectify the time first, or read the D30 and the birth chart instead and accept a coarser answer that is actually about you. ## Where the D45 sits in the classical scheme The Akshavedamsha is one of Parashara's sixteen, entering only the Shodashavarga group and none of the smaller ones. Its Vimshopaka weight is half a point out of twenty, the same as its counterpart the D40. ## Frequently asked questions ### What does the Akshavedamsha chart (D45) show? Conduct and character, and in many sources the inheritance from the father's line. It describes behaviour under ordinary conditions rather than delivering a moral verdict. ### Where does the counting start? Aries for movable signs, Leo for fixed and Sagittarius for dual, which is the same rule the D16 uses. The D20 shares the three signs and swaps two of them. ### How accurate does my birth time need to be? To the minute. A division is 40 minutes of arc and the ascendant crosses one in under three minutes, so a rounded time makes this chart unusable. ### How does it differ from the Trimsamsa? The D30 reads weakness, harm and vice, and has far more classical material behind it. The D45 reads conduct as a whole. Where they disagree, the D30 is the better documented chart. Cast it with the [Akshavedamsha calculator](https://mahadasha.com/akshavedamsha-calculator) once your birth time is solid, and read the [9th house in astrology](https://mahadasha.com/9th-house-astrology) alongside it.