The direct answer: Karka Rashi in English is Cancer — Dates & Letters: Karka means Cancer. Learn the sign's symbol, ruling planet, naming letters and nakshatras, and how Moon rashi differs from Sun-sign dates. AskSoma publishes this at asksoma.ai/kark-rashi-in-english as a free Vedic astrology resource using Swiss Ephemeris calculations and classical Jyotish interpretation — not generic sun-sign copy.
Karka means Cancer. Learn the sign's symbol, ruling planet, naming letters and nakshatras, and how Moon rashi differs from Sun-sign dates.
Karka Rashi in English is Cancer — rashi number 4 of 12, symbolised by The Crab, ruled by Moon (Chandra).
Kark Rashi in English is Cancer — the Crab, fourth sign of the zodiac. Sanskrit Karka (कर्क); also written Karkat. Kark rashi means the Moon occupied sidereal Karka at birth — and this is the one sign the Moon itself OWNS, so a Kark Moon is a planet at home.
Karka is a water sign and the zodiac's hearth: home, mother, memory and belonging are its themes. The Sun's entry into Karka (Karka Sankranti, mid-July) begins Dakshinayana, the southward half of the year — the inward, devotional half in the traditional reading, fitting for the sign of interiority.
| English name | Cancer |
| Sanskrit / Hindi | Karka · कर्क |
| Common spellings | Kark, Karka, Karkat |
| Rashi number | 4 of 12 |
| Symbol | The Crab |
| Ruling planet (lord) | Moon (Chandra) |
| Element (tatva) | Water (Jala) |
| Nakshatras | Punarvasu (pada 4), Pushya, Ashlesha |
| Name letters (naming aksharas) | Hi, Hu, He, Ho, Da, Di, Du, De, Do |
| Sun in Karka 2026 (sidereal) | 16 July 2026 → 17 August 2026 |
| Cancer dates (Western tropical) | 21 June – 22 July |
The sidereal window is computed with the Lahiri ayanamsa; it shifts by at most a day between years. The two date rows differ because the sidereal and tropical zodiacs are ~24° apart — that difference, not an error, is why Vedic and Western dates disagree.
Kark Moons feel everything and forget nothing — memory here is emotional before it is factual. The Crab's shell is the tell: soft toward its own, armoured toward the world, moving sideways toward what it wants. The texts give Karka natives deep attachment to home and mother, strong intuition, and moods that follow the actual Moon — brighter at Purnima, lower at Amavasya — more visibly than any other rashi.
For today's reading of this Moon sign, see the Karka rashifal; for the Western-lens portrait of the same constellation, the Cancer sign guide; to see which Moon signs pair well with Karka, the Karka rashi compatibility guide.
Daily, weekly and monthly Karka rashifal, computed for the Cancer Moon sign — read today's on Karka rashifal page.
| # | Rashi | English name | Symbol | Lord | Sun transit 2026 (sidereal) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mesha (मेष) | Aries | The Ram | Mars (Mangal) | 14 April 2026 → 15 May 2026 |
| 2 | Vrishabha (वृषभ) | Taurus | The Bull | Venus (Shukra) | 15 May 2026 → 15 June 2026 |
| 3 | Mithuna (मिथुन) | Gemini | The Twins (a couple) | Mercury (Budh) | 15 June 2026 → 16 July 2026 |
| 4 | Karka (कर्क) | Cancer | The Crab | Moon (Chandra) | 16 July 2026 → 17 August 2026 |
| 5 | Simha (सिंह) | Leo | The Lion | Sun (Surya) | 17 August 2026 → 17 September 2026 |
| 6 | Kanya (कन्या) | Virgo | The Maiden | Mercury (Budh) | 17 September 2026 → 17 October 2026 |
| 7 | Tula (तुला) | Libra | The Scales (Balance) | Venus (Shukra) | 17 October 2026 → 16 November 2026 |
| 8 | Vrishchika (वृश्चिक) | Scorpio | The Scorpion | Mars (Mangal) | 16 November 2026 → 16 December 2026 |
| 9 | Dhanu (धनु) | Sagittarius | The Bow / Archer | Jupiter (Guru) | 16 December 2026 → 14 January 2027 |
| 10 | Makara (मकर) | Capricorn | The Makara (sea-crocodile) | Saturn (Shani) | 14 January 2026 → 13 February 2026 |
| 11 | Kumbha (कुंभ) | Aquarius | The Water-pot | Saturn (Shani) | 13 February 2026 → 15 March 2026 |
| 12 | Meena (मीन) | Pisces | The Two Fishes | Jupiter (Guru) | 15 March 2026 → 14 April 2026 |
Cancer. Karka (कर्क) is the Crab — fourth rashi, and the Moon's own sign.
Karka is rashi number 4 of 12.
Hi, Hu, He, Ho, Da, Di, Du, De, Do — the nine pada sounds for naming.
Each graha owns one or two signs; the Moon owns only Karka. A Moon placed in its own sign is counted strong — emotions and instincts work with the grain rather than against it.
To find your own rashi from your birth details, use the free Moon Sign Calculator.
Sidereal date windows computed from the shared Lahiri-sidereal ephemeris — the same ingress engine behind the Sankranti calendar; nakshatra composition derived, not typed. How AskSoma computes things.
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Written by Savan Vyas, founder of AskSoma.
The astrology is not written from memory: every chart position, dasha period and panchang timing AskSoma shows is computed with the Swiss Ephemeris on the Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) ayanamsa. How we calculate.