The 27 Nakshatras: The Moon’s Mansions

Long before the twelve zodiac signs were used in India, Vedic astronomers divided the Moon’s path into nakshatras — lunar mansions, one for roughly each day of the Moon’s 27.3-day circuit through the stars. The Taittiriya Samhita and the Atharva Veda already list them with their deities. Today they remain the most detailed tool in Jyotish: a sign tells you the broad colour of a placement, the nakshatra tells you its texture.

How the zodiac is divided

The 360 degrees of the sidereal zodiac are split into 27 equal nakshatras of 13 degrees 20 minutes each. Each nakshatra is divided into four padas (quarters) of 3 degrees 20 minutes, giving 108 padas in all — a number that appears in the 108 beads of a japa mala. Because 27 does not divide evenly into twelve signs, a sign holds two and a quarter nakshatras, and some nakshatras, such as Krittika, Mrigashira and Punarvasu, are split across two signs.

The nakshatras and their lords

Each nakshatra is ruled by one of the nine planets, in the order of the Vimshottari Dasha. The cycle of nine runs three times:

• Ketu — Ashwini, Magha, Mula
• Venus — Bharani, Purva Phalguni, Purva Ashadha
• Sun — Krittika, Uttara Phalguni, Uttara Ashadha
• Moon — Rohini, Hasta, Shravana
• Mars — Mrigashira, Chitra, Dhanishta
• Rahu — Ardra, Swati, Shatabhisha
• Jupiter — Punarvasu, Vishakha, Purva Bhadrapada
• Saturn — Pushya, Anuradha, Uttara Bhadrapada
• Mercury — Ashlesha, Jyeshtha, Revati

This is why the Moon’s nakshatra decides your first Mahadasha: a Moon in Hasta begins life in the Moon’s period, a Moon in Mula in Ketu’s.

Deities, symbols and nature

Every nakshatra has a presiding deity and a symbol that describe its character. Ashwini, ruled by the twin physician gods, is linked with speed and healing; Rohini, the Moon’s favourite, with beauty, growth and fertility; Ardra, under Rudra, with storms that clear the air; Pushya, under Brihaspati, with nourishment and is considered one of the most auspicious; Jyeshtha, under Indra, with seniority and protection; Revati, under Pushan, with safe journeys and endings. Reading the deity is often the quickest way into a nakshatra’s meaning.

Gana, yoni and nadi

Each nakshatra also carries classifications used above all in marriage matching. Gana divides them into Deva (divine), Manushya (human) and Rakshasa (fierce) temperaments. Yoni assigns an animal symbol, fourteen in all, used to judge physical and emotional compatibility. Nadi places each nakshatra in one of three groups — Adi, Madhya and Antya — and partners of the same nadi lose all eight points of that koota. These are the building blocks of the 36-point Guna Milan.

Where nakshatras are used

• Naming: each pada has a starting syllable, used for a child’s name (nama nakshatra).
• Dashas: the Moon’s nakshatra and its exact degree set the whole Vimshottari timeline.
• Matching: Guna Milan compares the two partners’ Moon nakshatras.
• Muhurta: the day’s nakshatra is classified as fixed, movable, sharp, soft or mixed, which decides what the day suits.
• Tarabalam: counting from your birth star to the day’s star tells whether the day is favourable for you personally.
• Interpretation: the nakshatra of the Lagna and of each planet refines how it acts.

Abhijit, the 28th

Older lists include a 28th nakshatra, Abhijit, spanning the last part of Uttara Ashadha and the first part of Shravana around the star Vega. It is not used for dashas or matching, but it survives in muhurta, where the Abhijit Muhurta around midday is considered strong enough to overcome many other faults.

Your Kundli lists the nakshatra and pada of your Moon, your Lagna and every planet. Start with the Moon’s — your Janma Nakshatra — and read its deity and lord; it is the single most personal fact in a Vedic chart.