Kalsarpa Dosha (or Kaal Sarp Yoga) forms when all seven classical planets — Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn — fall on one side of the Rahu-Ketu axis, hemmed between the two karmic lunar nodes. Because Rahu and Ketu represent unfinished karma, the pattern is read as funnelling the whole life force through a single channel, often bringing early struggle followed by an unusual, almost serpentine rise.
There are twelve named types, keyed to the house Rahu occupies — Anant, Kulik, Vasuki, Shankhpal, Padma, Mahapadma, Takshak, Karkotak, Shankhachud, Ghatak, Vishdhar, and Sheshnag. Each concentrates the karmic pressure on a different life area, from health and home to career, partnership, and spiritual release. When only six of the seven planets are on one side, it is a partial or "broken" Kalsarpa with a built-in release valve.
Kalsarpa is widely misunderstood as a curse. In practice it is an intense, all-or-nothing karmic pattern that, once worked with rather than fought, often produces remarkable results. This calculator checks the exact node positions and tells you whether the dosha is present and which type; the timing of its effects depends on your dasha periods, which a full reading maps.