Nakshatra Meaning in Vedic Astrology
A nakshatra is one of the twenty-seven lunar mansions into which Jyotisha divides the sidereal zodiac, each of 13 degrees 20 minutes, so that the Moon passes through about one a day. They are older in Indian practice than the twelve signs, and they are the finer grain beneath the rashi chart: every planet occupies a sign and a nakshatra at once, and a great part of what the tradition does with the Moon, the timing of life by dasha, the choosing of times, and the matching of horoscopes, is done by nakshatra. The nakshatra the Moon occupies at birth is the janma nakshatra, the birth star.
The twenty-seven
The sequence begins at 0 degrees of sidereal Aries with Ashwini and ends at 30 degrees of Pisces with Revati. Each nakshatra has a presiding deity from the Vedic pantheon, which gives its nature, and a planetary lord, assigned in the fixed sequence Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, repeated three times around the zodiac. The lord is what connects the nakshatra to the Vimshottari dasha.
| Nakshatra | Lord | Deity |
|---|---|---|
| Ashwini | Ketu | the Ashwini Kumaras |
| Bharani | Venus | Yama |
| Krittika | Sun | Agni |
| Rohini | Moon | Prajapati |
| Mrigashira | Mars | Soma |
| Ardra | Rahu | Rudra |
| Punarvasu | Jupiter | Aditi |
| Pushya | Saturn | Brihaspati |
| Ashlesha | Mercury | the Nagas |
| Magha | Ketu | the Pitris |
| Purva Phalguni | Venus | Bhaga |
| Uttara Phalguni | Sun | Aryaman |
| Hasta | Moon | Savitar |
| Chitra | Mars | Tvashtar |
| Swati | Rahu | Vayu |
| Vishakha | Jupiter | Indra and Agni |
| Anuradha | Saturn | Mitra |
| Jyeshtha | Mercury | Indra |
| Mula | Ketu | Nirriti |
| Purva Ashadha | Venus | Apas |
| Uttara Ashadha | Sun | the Vishvadevas |
| Shravana | Moon | Vishnu |
| Dhanishta | Mars | the Vasus |
| Shatabhisha | Rahu | Varuna |
| Purva Bhadrapada | Jupiter | Aja Ekapada |
| Uttara Bhadrapada | Saturn | Ahir Budhnya |
| Revati | Mercury | Pushan |
Each nakshatra divides into four padas of 3 degrees 20 minutes, and each pada corresponds to one sign of the Navamsa, so that the 108 padas of the zodiac are the 108 navamsas. A twenty-eighth nakshatra, Abhijit, lying across the end of Uttara Ashadha and the beginning of Shravana, is used in muhurta, the choosing of times, and not in the dasha.
What the birth star gives
The Moon's nakshatra is the first thing read after the lagna. It gives the temperament in finer terms than the Moon's sign, through its deity and its symbol: Rohini's cart and Prajapati, Ardra's teardrop and Rudra, Mula's bound roots and Nirriti. Varahamihira's Brihat Jataka describes the nature of those born under each star, and Parashara's Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra fixes the dasha from it. The birth star also sets the first mahadasha: the lord of the Moon's nakshatra rules the first period of life, and the fraction of the nakshatra the Moon has already crossed at birth is the fraction of that period already spent.
The nakshatras are classed for matching and for muhurta. By gana they are deva, manushya, or rakshasa; by yoni each has an animal; by nadi they fall into three groups; by temperament they are fixed, movable, soft, sharp, mixed, light, or fierce, which decides what undertakings a day suits. The ashtakoota method of matching two horoscopes takes most of its points from the two birth stars. The tara system counts from the birth star to any other nakshatra in cycles of nine, janma, sampat, vipat, kshema, pratyak, sadhana, naidhana, mitra, and parama mitra, and gives the quality of a day, a transit, or a partner's star for that person.
Three junctions are singled out. Where a water sign ends and a fire sign begins, at the end of Ashlesha and the start of Magha, the end of Jyeshtha and the start of Mula, and the end of Revati and the start of Ashwini, the last and first portions are gandanta, and a Moon or lagna there is read as a difficult birth for which the tradition prescribes shanti, propitiation, rather than silence.
Finding it
The nakshatra of any point is computed from its sidereal longitude: the tropical longitude less the ayanamsa, which on the Lahiri reckoning is about twenty-four degrees at present, divided into portions of 13 degrees 20 minutes. Because the Moon moves about thirteen degrees a day, close to one nakshatra, the birth star can change within the day of birth. Near a boundary the birth time decides it, and a chart calculated for the time and place gives the pada as well as the star. A Moon sign recalled from a Western chart does not give the nakshatra, since the two zodiacs are offset; only the sidereal longitude does.