BENGALURU, INDIA — Retrograde is an AI-driven Vedic astrology platform built on the astrology engine behind Jothishi.com. Today it opens to everyone on the web, iPhone and Android. You enter your birth details once, then ask what's on your mind in your own words. Retrograde gives a personal answer on career, relationships, marriage, health, wealth, business or moving abroad, worked out from your actual birth chart rather than a sun-sign template.
The platform was built by Pranav Anand, a 16-year-old in the 12th grade at National Public School, Bangalore, together with Anand Vadakepat, founder of Jothishi. Below, we follow one evening of the kind Retrograde was made for, and then hear from the two founders in their own words.
CHAPTER 1 · 11:40 PM, A TUESDAY
The night before a decision
This is a composite story. It is written to show the kind of question people bring to Retrograde. Meera is not a real customer, and the reading below is an illustration, not a real output.
Meera is 28. She has an offer letter open in one tab and a resignation draft in another. The new job in Pune pays better and the title is bigger, but it means leaving Bengaluru, her team and the life she has spent six years building. The offer expires Friday.
She has asked everyone. Her friends say take it. Her mother says wait. The family astrologer, the one person who knows her chart, is booked for the next three weeks.
So at 11:40 pm she opens Retrograde. She types her birth date, time and place once. Then she asks the question the way she would ask a person.
Meera: I've been offered a senior role in Pune. Should I take it, or is it better to stay in Bengaluru for now?
Retrograde: Looking at your chart for career and relocation, a few things stand out:
– Your 10th house and its lord, read alongside your Dasamsa (D10), point to a period of rising responsibility.
– Your current dasha period supports a change of role. The sub-period that starts early next year is steadier for settling into it.
– The 4th house, which governs home and roots, is under some strain. Expect the move to feel unsettling for the first few months, even if the work goes well.
On balance, the chart favours the move, with a gentler start date if you can negotiate one. It's your call, and now you know what to watch for.
She didn't get a command. She got reasons, timing and a heads-up about the hard part. It came in seconds, from the same classical method a trained astrologer would use, applied to her chart and her question.
What would you ask? Meera's question was about a job. Here is what Retrograde reads in a chart for each area of life:
• Career: 10th house, D10 Dasamsa, current dasha, Ashtakvarga strength of Saturn and the Sun
• Marriage: 7th house, D9 Navamsa, Venus and Jupiter, dasha timing
• Relationships: 5th and 7th houses, Moon Nakshatra, D1 with D9, Venus
• Health: Lagna lord, 6th house, D30 Trimsamsa, dasha (complements a doctor and does not replace one)
• Wealth: 2nd and 11th houses, D2 Hora, Jupiter, Ashtakvarga bindus
• Business: 3rd, 7th and 10th houses, D10, Panchanga for start dates
• Moving abroad: 12th and 9th houses, Rahu, 4th house
CHAPTER 2 · VAKRI GATI
Why call it Retrograde?
Seen from Earth, planets normally move steadily in one direction across the sky, which astronomers call direct motion. Every so often a planet seems to slow down, stop and drift backward. It is an optical effect of the two planets' different orbital speeds, but it has a name in Vedic astrology: vakri gati. Ketu, the lunar south node, is treated as permanently moving opposite every other planet.
Meera's 11:40 pm was a retrograde moment of her own. She had stopped, turned inward and gone back over everything before choosing which way to move.
“That backward pause is exactly the moment we're built for: when someone stops, turns inward, and reconsiders before deciding which way to move. Not indecision. Reflection.”
— Anand Vadakepat, co-founder
CHAPTER 3 · UNDER THE HOOD
Twelve answers for eight billion people, or one answer for you
Most horoscope apps give the same twelve answers, sorted by sun sign, to millions of different people. Retrograde starts from the exact minute and place you were born.
Sun-sign horoscope Retrograde
Starts from Your birth month: one of 12 signs Your exact date, time and place of birth
Charts read The Sun's position only Every divisional chart D1–D60, plus Nakshatras
Timing None; the same text for everyone Your own dasha periods
Your question Not asked Answered in your words, for your chart

How a question is answered
1. Birth details: Your chart is cast from date, time and place, entered once.
2. Divisional charts: Every varga from D1 (Rasi) to D60.
3. Nakshatra: Your actual lunar-mansion placements, not just signs.
4. Dasha: Whichever dasha system applies to your chart sets the timing.
5. Ashtakvarga + Panchanga: Planetary strength scores and the qualities of the day.
6. Answer: Reasons, timing and caveats in plain language, in seconds.
The rules come from the classical texts: the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (BPHS) and Jaimini's sutras. A team of specialised AI agents, each focused on one kind of life question, applies them. The architecture is described in a peer-reviewed paper by Pranav Anand, “A Knowledge-Grounded Multi-Agent Architecture for Vedic Astrological Question Answering” (IJFMR, Vol. 8, Issue 4, 2026).
By the numbers
• 1,000 specialised AI agents, each an expert in one area of life
• ~14,000 real-life questions mapped in Retrograde's question taxonomy
• D1–D60 the full set of classical divisional charts, read for every answer
• 20+ years of Jothishi's classical engine and astrological practice underneath
CHAPTER 4 · IN CONVERSATION
The two people who built it
Pranav Anand, co-founder (product and technology), is a 12th-grade student at National Public School, Bangalore, who built Retrograde alongside school. He is the author of the research paper on its multi-agent architecture.
Anand Vadakepat, co-founder and founder of Jothishi, is an astrologer with more than 20 years of study. He spent years building the classical engine behind Jothishi.com, which Retrograde runs on.
Q: Let's start simple. What is Retrograde?
Anand: At its core, Retrograde is a way to ask a real question and get a real, personalized answer, grounded in your actual birth chart, not a generic template. You share your birth details once, then ask whatever's on your mind in plain language: “Should I take this job?” “When's a good time to get married?” “Is this the right city for me?” Retrograde reads your chart the way a trained astrologer would and answers in seconds.
Q: Pranav, you're still finishing high school. How did you end up co-building an astrology platform?
Pranav: I kept noticing the same pattern: people wanting a second opinion on a big decision, but the astrologers who could actually give a thoughtful, chart-based answer were booked out for weeks. Meanwhile I had access to the same tools every developer has right now: AI, large language models, a laptop. I started talking to Anand, who'd already spent years building the classical engine behind Jothishi, and it became obvious we could put that depth of analysis in front of anyone instantly instead of a lucky few.
Q: Why the name “Retrograde”?
Pranav: It's deliberate. Normally, from Earth, planets appear to move steadily in one direction, what astronomers call direct motion. Every so often a planet appears to slow down, stop, and drift backward, which is really just an optical effect of relative orbital speeds. Vedic astrology has a word for that: Vakri gati, retrograde motion. Ketu, the lunar south node, is treated as permanently moving opposite every other planet in the sky.
Anand: We named the platform Retrograde because that backward pause is exactly the moment we're built for: when someone stops, turns inward, and reconsiders before deciding which way to move. Not indecision. Reflection.
Q: How is this different from the horoscope apps that already exist?
Anand: Most of them give you the same twelve answers based on your sun sign, repeated across millions of different people. That's entertainment, not astrology. Retrograde's engine applies the classical framework of the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, the BPHS, along with Jaimini's sutras: a person's actual Nakshatra placements, every divisional chart from D1 through D60, whichever dasha timing system applies to them, Ashtakvarga strength scoring, and Panchanga. It's the same depth of method a serious astrologer would use, applied to your specific chart and your specific question.
Q: What kinds of questions can someone actually bring to Retrograde?
Pranav: Career decisions, marriage timing, relationships, health, money, whether to move abroad. Basically anything someone would want a second, informed opinion on. That's the whole point: those are exactly the decisions people find hardest to get real guidance on quickly.
Q: You've both mentioned this is “the age of the one-person company.” What do you mean by that?
Pranav: A few years ago, building something like Retrograde would have needed a full team of engineers. Now, with AI and large language models doing so much of the heavy lifting, one founder and one collaborator can build and ship a genuinely complete product. The fact that I could do this while still in the 12th grade is kind of the proof of that shift.
Q: What's the philosophy behind Retrograde? Why does this matter beyond the product itself?
Anand: We believe clearer decisions, made with less anxiety, lead to happier lives. Career changes, marriages, health choices, big financial bets: these are the moments people most want a wiser second opinion on, and most struggle to get one for. If we can make that kind of guidance available instantly, privately, from home, we think that's genuinely a form of wellbeing, not just a product feature.
Q: What's next for Retrograde?
Anand: Deepening the astrological coverage, and continuing to build out both the web and mobile experience.
Pranav: And honestly, just keeping the answers honest, grounded in real methodology, not shortcuts. That's the thing we don't want to compromise on as we grow.
CHAPTER 5 · 8:15 AM, WEDNESDAY
The morning after
Meera slept. In the morning she reread the answer over coffee. It hadn't made the decision for her. It had shown her where the strain would come from and when things would settle, and that turned a vague dread into something she could plan for.
She replied to the offer, accepted, and asked for a start date six weeks out. Then she called her mother and told her why.
The planet hadn't gone backward. It had paused, and so had she. Then both of them moved forward.
“We believe clearer decisions, made with less anxiety, lead to happier lives.”
— Anand Vadakepat, co-founder
Retrograde offers guidance for reflection. For health, legal or financial matters it complements qualified professionals and does not replace them.
FOR EDITORS
About Retrograde
Retrograde (www.retrograde.co.in) is an AI-driven Vedic astrology platform from Jothishi Online and Advertising Services Private Limited, Bengaluru. Built on the classical engine behind Jothishi.com, it applies the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra and Jaimini's sutras, including Nakshatra placements, divisional charts D1–D60, dasha timing, Ashtakvarga and Panchanga, to give personalised answers on career, relationships, marriage, health, wealth, business and relocation. Retrograde was co-founded by Pranav Anand and Anand Vadakepat and is available on the web, iPhone and Android.
Story angles
• A 16-year-old co-founder and “the age of the one-person company”
• A 20-year-old astrology engine meets AI agents
• Retrograde motion, explained: the science behind the name
Availability
Retrograde is available now on the web, iPhone and Android at www.retrograde.co.in.
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