Your Lagna is the sign that was rising on the eastern horizon at the moment you were born. It is the first house of your chart, and every other house is counted from it — which makes it the single most time-sensitive thing in Vedic astrology. The Lagna changes sign roughly every two hours, so a birth time wrong by that much gives you a different chart entirely.
The Earth turns a full circle each day, so all twelve signs rise in twenty-four hours. Which one was rising at your birth minute, from your birth latitude, is your Lagna.
House one is your Lagna, and the other eleven follow from it. Change the Lagna and your career house, marriage house and wealth house all move — which is why astrologers ask for the time first.
The planet ruling your rising sign is your chart's most important planet. Where it sits, and how strong it is, colours the whole reading.
Your Lagna is the sign rising in the east at your birth; your Rashi is the sign the Moon was in. The Lagna describes how you meet the world and sets your house structure, while the Rashi describes your mind and drives your daily Rashifal. They are usually different signs.
Not reliably. The Lagna changes sign about every two hours, so even a one-hour error can hand you the wrong one. If your time is uncertain, a good astrologer can rectify it from life events — but a guessed time gives a guessed chart.
The idea is the same, but the number is not. Western astrology uses the tropical zodiac and Vedic uses the sidereal, and the two differ by the ayanamsa — currently about 24 degrees. So your Vedic Lagna is often the sign before your Western rising sign.
Because the rising sign depends on your latitude as well as the time. The same minute produces a different Ascendant in Chennai and in Delhi, which is why this asks for the place and not just the time zone.
ShukrAI computes from your real birth chart with the Swiss Ephemeris and Lahiri ayanamsa. It is for reflection and self-understanding, is never a prediction of doom, and is not a substitute for professional advice.