What is the difference between my rashi and my Western sun sign?
Your rashi is your Vedic Moon sign, the sign the Moon occupied at your birth, read in the sidereal zodiac. Your Western sun sign is the Sun's sign in the tropical zodiac. They differ for two reasons: Vedic astrology centres the Moon, not the Sun, and its zodiac is offset by about 24 degrees (the ayanamsa). This is why your Vedic sign is often one sign earlier.
Western horoscopes are 'Sun-sign' columns: one of twelve readings for everyone born in a month-long window. Vedic astrology instead reads your Moon sign (Chandra rashi) as the emotional core of the chart, because the Moon moves fastest and reflects the mind. Two people born the same month can have different rashis if the Moon changed sign between their births.
The second difference is the zodiac itself. The tropical zodiac used in the West is fixed to the seasons; the sidereal zodiac used in India is fixed to the actual stars. They have drifted about 24 degrees apart over two millennia, so a late-Aries tropical Sun becomes a Pisces sidereal Sun. Because of this, most people's Vedic Sun sign, and often their Moon sign, sits one sign behind the Western one they know.
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Frequently asked questions
Which is more accurate, Vedic or Western astrology?
Neither is objectively 'more accurate'; they are different systems with different anchors. Vedic astrology is more granular (it uses the Moon, nakshatras and dasha timing) and is what Indian astrologers use for predictions and matchmaking.
How do I find my rashi?
Your rashi needs your exact date, time and place of birth so the Moon's sign can be computed. Approximate birth times can land the Moon in the wrong sign, so precision matters.