Your nakshatra is the lunar mansion the Moon occupied at your birth — one of twenty-seven, each about 13°20' wide and divided into four padas. More depends on it than on almost anything else in a Vedic chart: your dasha sequence begins from it, muhurtas are chosen against it, marriages are matched by it, and traditionally your name began with a syllable it assigns.
You may know it already, and it may be wrong. Family records sometimes carry a nakshatra derived from a different ayanamsa, or one recorded from an approximate birth time when the Moon sat near a boundary. If what you find here differs from what you were told, the section below explains why. All twenty-seven →
Date and place are required. The birth time matters where the Moon sits near a boundary — it changes nakshatra roughly every day.
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Each carries a ruling planet that fixes your dasha sequence, a presiding deity, a symbol, a gana used in marriage matching, and the syllables traditionally used to name a child born under it.
| # | Nakshatra | Lord | Deity | Symbol | Gana | Naming syllables |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ashwini | Ketu | Ashwini Kumaras | Horse’s head | Deva | Chu Che Cho La |
| 2 | Bharani | Shukra | Yama | Yoni | Manushya | Lee Lu Le Lo |
| 3 | Krittika | Surya | Agni | Blade | Rakshasa | A Ee U Ae |
| 4 | Rohini | Chandra | Brahma | Ox-cart | Manushya | O Va Vi Vu |
| 5 | Mrigashira | Mangal | Soma | Deer’s head | Deva | Ve Vo Ka Ki |
| 6 | Ardra | Rahu | Rudra | Teardrop | Manushya | Ku Gha Nga Chha |
| 7 | Punarvasu | Guru | Aditi | Quiver of arrows | Deva | Ke Ko Ha Hi |
| 8 | Pushya | Shani | Brihaspati | Cow’s udder | Deva | Hu He Ho Da |
| 9 | Ashlesha | Budha | Nagas | Coiled serpent | Rakshasa | Dee Doo Day Doe |
| 10 | Magha | Ketu | Pitrs | Royal throne | Rakshasa | Ma Mee Moo May |
| 11 | Purva Phalguni | Shukra | Bhaga | Front legs of a bed | Manushya | Mo Ta Tee Too |
| 12 | Uttara Phalguni | Surya | Aryaman | Rear legs of a bed | Manushya | Te To Pa Pee |
| 13 | Hasta | Chandra | Savitr | Open hand | Deva | Pu Sha Na Tha |
| 14 | Chitra | Mangal | Tvashtar | Bright jewel | Rakshasa | Pe Po Ra Ree |
| 15 | Swati | Rahu | Vayu | Young shoot in wind | Deva | Ru Re Ro Ta |
| 16 | Vishakha | Guru | Indra-Agni | Triumphal arch | Rakshasa | Tee Too Te To |
| 17 | Anuradha | Shani | Mitra | Lotus | Deva | Na Nee Noo Nay |
| 18 | Jyeshtha | Budha | Indra | Circular amulet | Rakshasa | No Ya Yee Yu |
| 19 | Mula | Ketu | Nirriti | Bunch of roots | Rakshasa | Ye Yo Bha Bhee |
| 20 | Purva Ashadha | Shukra | Apas | Elephant tusk | Manushya | Bhu Dha Pha Dha |
| 21 | Uttara Ashadha | Surya | Vishvadevas | Elephant tusk | Manushya | Bhe Bho Ja Ji |
| 22 | Shravana | Chandra | Vishnu | Three footprints | Deva | Ju Je Jo Gha |
| 23 | Dhanishta | Mangal | Vasus | Drum | Rakshasa | Ga Gee Gu Ge |
| 24 | Shatabhisha | Rahu | Varuna | Empty circle | Rakshasa | Go Sa See Su |
| 25 | Purva Bhadrapada | Guru | Aja Ekapada | Front of a funeral cot | Manushya | Se So Da Dee |
| 26 | Uttara Bhadrapada | Shani | Ahir Budhnya | Rear of a funeral cot | Manushya | Du Tha Jha Na |
| 27 | Revati | Budha | Pushan | Fish | Deva | De Do Cha Chee |
The ruling planet is the consequential column. It determines which mahadasha you were born into and therefore the whole sequence of your life’s periods — someone born in Ashwini begins in Ketu, someone in Rohini begins in Chandra. Check your dasha →
Vimshottari allots 120 years among the nine grahas, and where your sequence begins is decided entirely by your birth nakshatra’s ruling planet. The Moon’s exact position within the nakshatra decides how much of that first period had already elapsed.
This is the single most consequential thing the nakshatra does. Two people born hours apart in different nakshatras run entirely different sequences for life. Dasha Calculator →
Every auspicious timing is judged first by nakshatra — which suits marriage, which suits travel, which suits beginning study. Your own janma nakshatra also matters: certain tithis and days count favourably or otherwise from it.
It is why a muhurta calculated without birth details is only a partial answer. Muhurat Finder →
Both Ashtakoota and the Porutham system compare the two birth nakshatras rather than the charts as a whole. Gana, yoni, nadi and rajju all derive from it, and Nadi dosha — the heaviest single koota — is a nakshatra comparison.
This is why matching needs only date, place and approximate time. Kundli Matching →
Each pada assigns a syllable, and a child’s formal name at the Namakarana was chosen to begin with it. Many families still keep a nakshatra name alongside the everyday one.
The syllables are in the table above — four per nakshatra, one for each pada.
Three classifications derived from the nakshatra, used chiefly in marriage compatibility.
| Attribute | Divides into | Read for |
|---|---|---|
| Gana | Deva, Manushya, Rakshasa | Temperament. Deva with Deva and Manushya with Manushya are read as easy; Deva with Rakshasa is the difficult pairing |
| Yoni | 14 animal symbols | Instinctive and physical compatibility. Hostile animal pairs — such as cow and tiger — score poorly |
| Nadi | Adi, Madhya, Antya | Constitution and progeny. Same nadi for both raises Nadi dosha, the heaviest koota at eight points |
| Rajju | Five body divisions | Weighed above all others in the Southern Porutham system. Same rajju is questioned regardless of other agreements |
| Tara | 9 groups from the count | Fortune between the two. Counted from one nakshatra to the other and back |
Gana is not a judgement of character. Rakshasa gana includes Krittika, Ashlesha, Magha, Chitra, Vishakha, Jyeshtha, Mula, Dhanishta and Shatabhisha — roughly a third of all people, among them a great many of exceptional temperament. It describes an energetic register, not a moral one, and it matters in matching rather than in life.
The ayanamsa is the usual reason. We use Lahiri, the Indian government standard. Some family almanacs follow Raman or KP, which place the Moon slightly differently — enough to shift a nakshatra when it sits near a boundary. Neither is wrong; they are different conventions, and a difference of one nakshatra between sources is common.
Birth time is the other. The Moon crosses a nakshatra in about a day, so a birth recorded to the nearest hour is usually fine — unless the Moon happened to be near an edge, in which case an hour decides it. The pada is far more sensitive: the Moon crosses one in roughly six hours.
Where they differ, your family’s record usually wins. A nakshatra recorded at birth by a priest, or used at your Namakarana, was calculated from details closer to the event than anything you can reconstruct now. If it has been used for your rituals all your life, continue with it — and mention the discrepancy to whoever performs them.
Sign in once and every one of these fills itself in from the same birth details.
The rite for each of the twenty-seven birth stars, performed individually.
The sequence your nakshatra begins, and the period you are running.
The monthly days counted from your birth star.
Each birth star in full — qualities, deity and the ritual for it.
Long before the twelve rashis were adopted, Indian astronomy divided the sky by the Moon. The Moon takes about twenty-seven and a third days to circle the zodiac, so the path was divided into twenty-seven equal parts of 13°20' each — one for roughly every night’s journey. Each was named for the star group marking it, and given a presiding deity.
The rashis came later and were layered over the same circle, which is why the two systems do not align neatly: a nakshatra can straddle two signs, and each divides further into four padas that map onto the navamsa. The older lunar system was never displaced. In practice it carries more weight than the solar one for anything requiring precision — timing, matching, and the dasha sequence itself.
This is also why Vedic astrology reads from the Moon rather than the Sun. The framework was built around the Moon’s movement, and the nakshatra is the point at which that framework touches an individual life.
Usually theirs, if it was recorded at your birth or used at your Namakarana — it was calculated from details closer to the event than anything reconstructed later. Differences arise from the ayanamsa (we use Lahiri; some almanacs use Raman or KP) or from a birth time recorded approximately while the Moon sat near a boundary. Continue with the one your family has always used for rituals.
For the nakshatra itself, rarely — the Moon stays in one for about a day, so an approximate time is usually enough. For the pada, yes: the Moon crosses a pada in roughly six hours, so an hour’s error can move it. Padas matter for matching, for the navamsa, and for the naming syllable.
Each nakshatra divides into four quarters of 3°20', and the four map onto the navamsa chart — which is read for marriage and for inner strength. The pada also assigns the syllable a child’s formal name traditionally begins with, and it refines several matching calculations. Same nakshatra, different pada, is a genuinely different placement.
No, and the name misleads. It describes an energetic, forceful register rather than anything moral, and it covers roughly a third of all people — Krittika, Ashlesha, Magha, Chitra, Vishakha, Jyeshtha, Mula, Dhanishta and Shatabhisha. It matters in marriage matching, where Deva paired with Rakshasa scores poorly, and hardly at all outside it.
Yes — each of the twenty-seven has its own homa, performed to its presiding deity. It is traditionally done on the day the Moon returns to your birth star, which happens once every lunar month, and many families perform it annually near a birthday. The Nakshatra Homas →
An additional nakshatra recognised in some classical texts, occupying a small span between Uttara Ashadha and Shravana. It is not used in the twenty-seven-fold division that governs dashas and matching — including it would break the Vimshottari arithmetic — but it survives in muhurta, where Abhijit is the auspicious window around solar noon.
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Each of the twenty-seven nakshatras has a homa performed to its presiding deity, traditionally on the day the Moon returns to it. Ours are performed individually at our Yagna Ashram, in your name and gotra, on a muhurta calculated from your own chart.