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In short
A nakshatra is one of 27 equal divisions of the sidereal zodiac, each 13°20' wide, counted from Ashwini at the start of Aries. BPHS calls the nakshatras the fixed lights the grahas move through. This app gives every graha a nakshatra and a nakshatra lord; "your nakshatra" means the Moon's, which also starts the Vimshottari dasha.
What the term means
A nakshatra is an asterism, or in the BPHS translation's phrase a stellar mansion: one of 27 equal arcs of the sidereal zodiac, each 13°20' wide. Ashwini begins at 0° of Mesha and Revati ends at 30° of Meena, so three nakshatras fill every four signs exactly. Each is split into four padas and each has a lord among the nine grahas. Any point can be given a nakshatra, but on its own "your nakshatra" means the Moon's, the Janma Nakshatra.
Where the term comes from
In BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 2-6 the nakshatras are the lights that do not move, and the grahas are defined as what moves through them. The same passage gives 27 nakshatras commencing from Ashvini, and the translator lists them in order to Revati. Ch. 46 Sl. 12-14 hands each one a dasha lord, beginning from Kritika with the Sun. In the Kala Chakra worked example later in that chapter one nakshatra is reckoned as 800 kalas, which is 13°20' in arc-minutes.
How this app computes it
- The nakshatra is the sidereal longitude divided by 13°20', fraction dropped, counted from Ashwini. In the 19 January 1985, 11:14 IST, New Delhi chart the Moon is at 252.6569 degrees; divided by 13.3333 that is 18.95, the 19th nakshatra, Mula.
- The lord follows the Vimshottari order. The engine counts from Ashwini with Ketu first (Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, three times round); Parashara counts from Kritika with the Sun first. It is the same cycle entered at a different point, and Mula's lord is Ketu either way.
- Without a birth time the nakshatra calculator also reports the Moon at both ends of the birth date, because the Moon moves close to one nakshatra a day and often changes nakshatra within it.
Pages that use this term
- Ashwini Nakshatra - the first of the 27 pages.
- Mula Nakshatra - the Moon's nakshatra in the example above.
- Moon sign and nakshatra - how the two are found and how they differ.
- Why apps disagree on your nakshatra - ayanamsa, time zone and boundary cases.
- Nakshatra calculator - the Moon's nakshatra, pada and lord.
- Vimshottari dasha calculator - the periods the Moon's nakshatra starts.
Related terms
- Star lord - the graha that rules a nakshatra.
- Nakshatra sub-lord - a nakshatra cut into nine unequal parts.
- Vimshottari Dasha - the 120-year cycle built on nakshatra lords.
- Rashi - the twelve signs the same circle is also cut into.
Nakshatra (Birth Star)
Which of the 27 nakshatras held your Moon, with its pada and ruling lord.
This date is sent only to compute the answer. Nothing is stored, no account is created, and no email is asked for.