Vedic Astrology

Introduction
Vedic Astrology (VA) was created by Hindus.  It is over 5,000 years old!  VA has 12 signs like the Western Zodiac.  It also has naksatras, dashas, grahas, gocharas, bhavas, etc.  VA has 6 branches: gola, ganita, jataka, prasna, muhurta, and nimitta.  VA is called Jyotisha (science of light).

History
VA was created in India around 3,000 BCE.  Parasara Rsi learned astrology from various schools.  He put what he learned in a book called Brhat Parasara Hora Sastra.  The info in this book and others became the basis for VA.  Hellenistic Astrology had a big impact on VA because the Greeks conquered a part of India.

Breakdown of VA
Naksatras: The positions of moon in space. There are 27.5 constellations.  They all have different aspects.  

Dashas: Planetary positions.  The positions of the planets determine if they give off positive or negative energy.

Grahas: Planets-Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Northern and Southern Node.  All the planets have different traits.  The nodes are just positions.

Gocharas: Transits of the planets.  They have an effect on you.  

Bhavas: 12 signs of the zodiac.
                                                         6 branches of VA

Gola: Position of celestial objects.

Ganita: Helps determine the effect of celestial bodies.

Jataka: Predictions

Prasna: Answers to questions.

Muhurta: The time to start something.

Nimitta: Omens

2 Traditions of Astrology
Sidereal Astrology: It focus on the constellations.  Hindu Astrology is sidereal.

Tropical Astrology: It focus on the seasons.  Western Astrology is tropical.

Conclusion
This is wonderful system of astrology!  I love the complexity.  There is much to learn from this.  Get into it.

References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_astrology
http://shyamasundaradasa.com/jyotish/what_is_jyotish/jyotish_history.html
http://www.futurepointindia.com/articles/astrology/general/what-is-astrology.aspx
http://insa.nic.in/writereaddata/UpLoadedFiles/IJHS/Vol26_1_1_KDAbhyankar.pdf
https://www.scribd.com/doc/149233647/46120226-Naksatras-the-Besf-of-by-Divya
https://www.scribd.com/doc/143760282/46057257-the-Book-of-Naksatras-by-P-Trivedi
http://www.parashara.com/
https://books.google.com/books?id=1AiYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=gola+is+vedic+astrology&source=bl&ots=p_bxOizeYN&sig=YAWFdnk_x-D3G5hBCiFQDuakMLk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1wOjQ5MnOAhXG8CYKHbH-D80Q6AEISzAI#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://kaldu.com/sidetrop.html
http://www.astro-calendar.com/shtml/Research/tropsidzodiacs2.shtml