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In short
A pada is one quarter of a nakshatra: 3°20' of the zodiac, so 108 padas fill the circle. BPHS uses the padas in its Kala Chakra dasha and reckons one as 200 arc-minutes, the width of a Navamsa. This app gives every graha, and the Ascendant when known, a pada from 1 to 4.
What the term means
A pada is one quarter of a nakshatra. A nakshatra is 13°20' wide, so each pada is 3°20', and the 27 nakshatras hold 108 padas. Because a sign is exactly nine of these quarters and a nakshatra exactly four, every pada boundary falls on a Navamsa boundary: a pada and a Navamsa part are the same stretch of sky.
Where the term comes from
BPHS uses the padas in Ch. 46, in the Kala Chakra dasha. Sl. 59 turns to "the Padas (quarters) of the Nakshatras", and the slokas that follow assign each pada a body sign and a life sign. Sl. 85-88 judge the span of life from the pada of the birth nakshatra and say the padas must be known. In the translator's worked example one nakshatra is 800 kalas (arc-minutes) and one pada 200, which the translation equates with a Navamsa. BPHS also uses "Pada" for something unrelated: in Ch. 29 it is an Arudha, a sign found by counting, not a quarter of a nakshatra.
How this app computes it
- The pada is how far the point has gone through its nakshatra, in quarters: the distance into the nakshatra divided by 3°20', fraction dropped, plus one.
- In the 19 January 1985, 11:14 IST, New Delhi chart the Moon is 12.66 degrees into Mula, which begins at 240 degrees. That is 3.80 quarters in, so pada 4.
- The Ascendant moves through a pada in minutes. The same chart's Ascendant is in Revati pada 2 at 11:14 and in Revati pada 3 at 11:18, four minutes later.
Pages that use this term
- Ashwini Nakshatra - its four padas, all in Aries.
- Aries (Mesha Rashi) - a sign's nine padas, each with its Navamsa sign.
- Moon sign and nakshatra - where the Moon's pada is reported.
- Nakshatra calculator - the Moon's nakshatra and pada.
- Navamsa (D9) calculator - the same 3°20' parts, read as signs.
Related terms
- Janma Nakshatra - the Moon's nakshatra, with its pada.
- Kalachakra Dasha - the dasha BPHS builds on padas.
- Bhava pada - the other, Jaimini sense of "pada".
- Degree in sign - the number a pada is read from.
Nakshatra (Birth Star)
Which of the 27 nakshatras held your Moon, with its pada and ruling lord.
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