Rohini Nakshatra: the Moon's own star in Taurus, its padas, the Moon dasha and what the texts say

Rohini is the fourth nakshatra, the stretch of the zodiac from Taurus 10 degrees to Taurus 23 degrees 20 minutes. It is the first nakshatra ruled by the Moon in the Vimshottari scheme, and it lies in the sign where BPHS places the Moon's exaltation and Mooltrikona, so a Moon in Rohini is a Moon in its own nakshatra in one of its strongest signs. If your Moon was there at birth, Rohini sets the Moon Mahadasha your life began in, your Serpent yoni and Manushya gana in matching, and your Moon's sub-lord. The nakshatra calculator shows your nakshatra and pada.

This page sets out what the classical books in this app's corpus say about Rohini, with chapter, sloka or page, alongside what this app's engine computes for it. The books are Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (BPHS), Kalyana Varma's Saravali, Jyotisha Siddhanta Sara and Advanced Predictive Astrology, all on the sources page. Where they differ from each other or from the engine, the difference is reported. For the idea of a Moon nakshatra in general, see Moon sign and nakshatra; for the sign, Taurus, Vrishabha Rashi.

Where Rohini sits: the middle of Taurus

With 27 nakshatras of 13 degrees 20 minutes each (Jyotisha Siddhanta Sara, Ch. II, pp. 22-23), the first three fill Aries and spill 10 degrees into Taurus, so Rohini begins at Taurus 10 degrees and ends at 23 degrees 20 minutes. All four of its padas lie in Taurus, a Venus sign. BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 49-50 makes Taurus the Moon's exaltation sign with the deepest point at 3 degrees, which is in Krittika, not Rohini; Sl. 51-54 then says that after those first 3 degrees the rest of Taurus is the Moon's Mooltrikona. On the text's reading, every Moon in Rohini is therefore in Mooltrikona, which Sl. 59-60 rates at three-quarters of the full good effect of exaltation.

Two hand checks agree with the engine's Navamsa column. Taurus is a fixed sign, so the engine starts its count of nine from the 9th sign, Capricorn: the 4th to 7th navamsas of Taurus are then Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer. BPHS Ch. 46 Sl. 87-88 gets there from the nakshatra instead: three nakshatras have passed before Rohini, 3 divided by 3 leaves 0, and adding the pada gives the 1st to 4th signs from Mesh. Rohini's second pada lands in Taurus itself, so a graha there is Vargottama, in the same sign in the birth chart and the Navamsa (D9). Why that is read as a strengthening is set out in Navamsa, the second chart.

Brahma, five stars, and a fish or a cart

BPHS Ch. 6 Sl. 24-26 lists the presiding deities of the 27 nakshatras as the lords of the Saptavimshamsa's 27 parts, and the fourth is Brahma. The Saptavimshamsa (D27) calculator uses the same list. Jyotisha Siddhanta Sara's Rohini entry (Ch. IV, p. 94) agrees on Brahma and describes the asterism as consisting of five stars.

The same entry is a small puzzle. Its printed text says Rohini is "in the form of a fish", but the drawing printed beside it in the corpus copy shows a wheeled cart. This page reports both rather than choosing. The entry goes on to give the nakshatra's sex as female, its tatthwa as Prithvi (earth), its region as Central, and its body part as the forehead; the direction table (p. 90) and body-part table (p. 91) agree on Central and forehead. It names a caste, which is not carried over here or by the engine.

The entry also lists what people born in Rohini are associated with: wealth, devotion, cattle, and wealth derived from mountain produce, and among occupations yogis, rulers and farmers. These are the book's classical associations, given as it gives them.

How Jyotisha Siddhanta Sara classifies Rohini

"Fixed" is the label to notice. The book groups Rohini with the three Uttara nakshatras as the fixed stars, and right after its list of natures it says that during the period of a planet situated in a particular star, effects will be felt according to these characteristics (p. 91). So in that book's terms the dasha of any graha placed in Rohini carries a fixed quality. The book says no more than that, and the engine does not use the classification. The yoga list (pp. 28-29) adds that the 24th yoga, Shukla, begins at Rohini by the book's yoga-point arithmetic; that locates the yoga on the zodiac and does not describe people born in Rohini.

What the texts say about a person born in Rohini

For Rohini, Jyotisha Siddhanta Sara's two descriptions agree in tone, unlike some neighbouring entries. The prose (p. 94) says the person born in this constellation will be truthful, will not covet other people's property, and will be of clean habits, sweet speech, firm views and fine appearance. The translated sloka says the person is skilled in virtuous deeds, well-mannered, well-proportioned and impressive in appearance, highly passionate, and wealthy and proud. As with every entry, the book says these effects come to pass fully only if the Moon is powerful (p. 91), and for Rohini the Moon is unusually well placed by sign.

The engine's NAKSHATRA_TRAITS table renders the sloka as: you tend to be "well-mannered and impressive in presence, deeply passionate, and comfortable with wealth". The table's comment explains its standing omissions for all 27 entries: caste labels dropped, appearance and spouse predictions dropped, harsh verdicts softened. For Rohini little needed softening; the physical-description clauses are the part that was left out.

Saravali, which names Ashwini, Krittika and Pushya in its Raja Yoga chapter, does not mention Rohini in the corpus copy, and Bhrigu Sutras does not either. BPHS does use the word "Rohini" once more, in a different sense: Ch. 50 Sl. 78-83 names five kinds of dasha by the condition of the graha, and calls the dasha of a graha placed between deep debilitation and deep exaltation "Rohini (ascending)", as opposed to "Avrohini (descending)". That is a technical term for a rising graha, not a statement about the nakshatra, and is noted only so the two uses are not confused. Saravali Ch. 36 Sl. 5 has the same idea in its own words, calling the rays of a graha moving from debilitation towards exaltation Abhimukha, facing upwards.

Because every Rohini Moon is a Taurus Moon, Saravali's sign-level reading also applies. Ch. 23 Sl. 8 describes the Moon in Taurus as large-hearted, highly charitable, famous and forbearing, and happy in the middle and later parts of life; Sl. 9-14 then vary it by the aspecting graha. That chapter is covered on the Taurus page and is not repeated here. What the nakshatra adds to the sign is finer: the pada, and with it the Navamsa, which Saravali reads in its next chapter.

The Moon's Navamsa in each Rohini pada: Saravali Ch. 24

Saravali has a whole chapter, Ch. 24, on the Moon read by its Navamsa sign and the graha aspecting it, and it is where the four padas of a nakshatra matter most in that book. For a Rohini Moon the padas put the Moon in the Navamsa of a different lord each time: pada 1 in Aries (Mars, Sl. 1-3), pada 2 in Taurus (Venus, Sl. 4-6), pada 3 in Gemini (Mercury, Sl. 7-9) and pada 4 in Cancer, the Moon's own Navamsa (Sl. 10-12). Within each group the text gives one reading for each graha that may aspect the Moon.

A few examples show the style. In a Mars Navamsa (pada 1) aspected by Jupiter, Sl. 1-3 speak of fame and honour from the learned. In a Venus Navamsa (pada 2) aspected by Mercury, Sl. 4-6 speak of skill with musical instruments and an interest in dance and music. In a Mercury Navamsa (pada 3) aspected by Jupiter, Sl. 7-9 speak of a minister and a repository of good qualities. In the Moon's own Navamsa (pada 4) aspected by Jupiter, Sl. 10-12 speak of a minister or a king. Many other lines in the chapter are harsh verdicts about character or children; they are not repeated here.

The chapter closes with a rule that gives Rohini's Vargottama pada a special place. Sl. 22-24 say the effects are full if the Moon is in a Vargottama Navamsa, medium in its own Navamsa, and minor in another's, with the reverse for evil effects; and if the Navamsa lord is stronger than the sign lord, the Navamsa effects prevail. So on Saravali's own terms a Rohini Moon in pada 2 gives its Navamsa reading in full, and one in pada 4, the Moon's own Navamsa, gives it at medium strength. This app's engine does not implement Ch. 24, so these readings have to be made by hand from the Navamsa and aspects shown in your chart.

The Moon as lord of Rohini, and the Moon Mahadasha

BPHS Ch. 46 Sl. 12-15 begins its Vimshottari sequence at Krittika with the Sun, so the second nakshatra of the cycle, Rohini, belongs to the Moon, with a period of 10 years. The engine's nakshatraSubdivision() returns the same. The Moon rules two more nakshatras at the same position in later cycles, Hasta and Shravana. A Moon in Rohini is therefore the one case among these where the Moon is both the graha being read and the lord of its own star; for the Moon as a graha, see the Moon in Vedic astrology.

A Rohini Moon begins life in the Moon's own Mahadasha. BPHS Ch. 46 Sl. 16 gives the balance at birth: the dasha's years multiplied by the share of the nakshatra the Moon has still to cross.

Your own dates come from the Vimshottari Dasha calculator, and the period is described on the Moon Mahadasha page. BPHS Ch. 48 Sl. 1-8 ties what a dasha delivers to its lord's house rulership and placement in your chart, so the nakshatra fixes the dates, not the content. For how a Mahadasha is subdivided, see Antardasha and Pratyantar.

The Moon and Venus, Rohini's star lord and sign lord, are not mutual friends. In the engine's NATURAL_RELATIONS table the Moon has no enemies at all and counts Venus as neither friend nor enemy, while Venus counts the Moon as an enemy. Jyotisha Siddhanta Sara's relationship table (Ch. III, p. 85) gives the same pairing: Chandra neutral towards Sukra, Sukra hostile to Chandra. The two sources agree here.

Rohini as a dignity for every graha

Because Rohini is wholly in Taurus, the engine's dignityOf() gives the same label anywhere in it. Running it with natural relationships only gives: Sun, enemy sign; Moon, exalted; Mars, neutral; Mercury, friendly sign; Jupiter, enemy sign; Venus, own sign; Saturn, friendly sign.

The Moon's label is where the engine and BPHS part company. The engine's MOOLATRIKONA table does give the Moon Taurus 3 to 30 degrees, matching Ch. 3 Sl. 51-54, but dignityOf() tests exaltation first and has no end-point for the Moon's exaltation, so every Moon in Taurus is labelled Exalted and the Mooltrikona band is never reached. For Rohini that means the engine says "Exalted" where the text says Mooltrikona. The engine's strength ladder scores the two the same, so no number changes; only the label differs. This page reports the difference and does not correct it.

Saravali's rays give a continuous view. Ch. 36 Sl. 6 counts rays by the rule of three from a graha's deep debilitation point, and Sl. 3-4 report that most authorities give every graha 7 rays at exaltation. Worked by hand with the same formula the engine's planetaryRays() uses, a Moon at the start of Rohini has about 6.73 rays and one at its end about 6.21, falling away from the peak at Taurus 3 degrees. Venus in Rohini has about 5.3 to 4.8, Jupiter rises from about 4.9 to 5.4 as it approaches Cancer. The engine notes it does not apply Saravali's later corrections (Sl. 7-9).

The Sun crosses Rohini once a year. Running the engine's sidereal Sun for 2026 gives entry into Rohini on 25 May and into Mrigashira on 8 June, so births from late May to early June have the Sun in Rohini, in a sign the engine counts as hostile to it.

The nine sub-lords inside Rohini

The engine divides Rohini into nine arcs in proportion to the Vimshottari years, beginning with the Moon's own (BPHS Ch. 51 Sl. 2 gives the first sub-period to the dasha lord). The sub-lord calculator reports these for every graha.

The Vargottama pada (Taurus 13 degrees 20 minutes to 16 degrees 40 minutes) contains the end of the Rahu sub, all of Jupiter's and the start of Saturn's. The sub-lord is far more sensitive to birth time than the pada; see the sub-lord and birth time.

Rohini in the Kala Chakra and the other dasha systems

BPHS Ch. 46 Sl. 56-58 divides the nakshatras between a Savya (clockwise) and an Apsavya (counter-clockwise) Kala Chakra, and Rohini is the first nakshatra placed in the Apsavya chart. Sl. 71-72 describe that chart, with the signs set out from Vrischik in reverse order, and make Rohini the model for a group: Deha and Jiva "would be the same for Rohini, Magha, Vishakah and Shravan, as for Rohini". Sl. 73-76 then give each Rohini pada's Deha and Jiva (shown in the first table) and the order of nine sign lords for its dashas.

These rows do not pass the arithmetic check that the Savya rows pass. For Bharani's group, adding the Kala Chakra years of Sl. 84 (Sun 5, Moon 21, Mars 7, Mercury 9, Jupiter 10, Venus 16, Saturn 4) along each pada's nine lords reproduces the full-year figures Sl. 89 gives for that pada's Navamsa. Done the same way for Rohini as printed, the four rows total 81, 74, 85 and 100 years, which do not line up pada for pada with Sl. 89's 100, 85, 83 and 86 for the Navamsas Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer. The Mrigashira rows of the same Apsavya chart (Sl. 78-81) show what is going on: they total 86, 83, 85 and 100, which are Sl. 89's figures for their Navamsas in reverse pada order, as a counter-clockwise chart might suggest. Read that way, Rohini's padas 3 and 4 (85 and 100) fit, but padas 1 and 2 (81 and 74, against an expected 86 and 83) do not, and pada 2's row names Vrischik three times. The text itself forces the repair. In the Apsavya chakra the Deha is the last sign of the row (Sl. 94-95), and Sl. 73-76 names Kark as pada 1's Deha and Tula as pada 2's; ending pada 1 on Kark instead of the printed Tula, and pada 2 on Tula instead of a third Vrischik, gives 86 and 83, exactly Sl. 89's figures. The table above shows the repaired rows, which are the ones the app uses.

The app computes the Kala Chakra from those rows, and builds two more systems from the same chapter. Ashtottari (Sl. 17-20) places Rohini in Venus's group of three with Krittika and Mrigashira, a 21-year dasha in that system, and Shastihayani (Sl. 40-41) lists Rohini under the Sun (Surya), whose dasha there is 10 years. The app dates the Ashtottari periods, and dates Shastihayani too: the sloka gives no balance rule, so the app uses the published rule "as in Vimshottari" from outside BPHS (Sanjay Rath), the Sun's 10 years times the part of Rohini still to cross.

The six systems the engine does build are shown in the alternate dashas calculator. For a Rohini Moon their first lords are: Shodshottari (counted from Pushya) Venus, 18 years; Dwadashottari (birth star to Revati) Moon, 21; Panchottari (from Anuradha) Sun, 12; Shatabdik (from Revati) Jupiter, 20; Chaturashiti-sama (from Swati) Mars, 12; Dwisaptati-sama (from Mula) Jupiter, 9. Each applies, BPHS says, only to the kind of chart it names, and the calculator shows whether yours qualifies.

Rohini in Ashtakoot matching

Running the engine's ashtakoot() with a Rohini Moon gives the nakshatra-based kootas below. The Kundli matching calculator applies them to two charts.

Uttara Ashadha stands out: it is Rohini's Yoni enemy (0 of 4) and shares its Antya Nadi (0 of 8), yet scores the full 3 on Tara and the same Manushya gana (6 of 6). That is a reminder that a total is a sum of unrelated rules, not one judgement. The engine's comment says its Gana, Yoni and Nadi tables are the conventional ones, kept because no book in the corpus prints the Ashtakoot rules; its Tara rule never scores 0, because the two inclusive counts between different stars always sum to 29 and cannot both leave 3, 5 or 7 after dividing by 9.

For Nadi there is one outside comparison. Advanced Predictive Astrology (Vol. II, p. 225) prints a table of "humour producing asterisms", and its Kapha column (Krittika, Rohini, Ashlesha, Makha, Swati, Vishaka, Uttarasada, Sravana, Revati) is exactly the engine's Antya Nadi group. The book applies the grouping to health tendencies; that is its view, not medical advice. Jyotisha Siddhanta Sara adds a counting rule (Ch. IV, p. 89): the 22nd star from one's birth star is vainasika and to be avoided for auspicious events; counting Rohini as the first, it is Purva Bhadrapada. The app does not use that rule.

Rohini in muhurat

Rohini is among the most favoured nakshatras in this app's muhurat finder. In muhuratEngine.js it is on five of the six activity lists: Marriage, Business launch, Property purchase, New job and Investment. Only Travel leaves it out. Uttara Phalguni, Hasta and Uttara Ashadha are also on five lists, and Anuradha is on all six. A window with the Moon in a listed nakshatra gains 16 points; one outside the list loses 6; tithi, paksha, the Moon's house from your chart, the weekday, Rahu Kaal and your numerology day are then added, so even Rohini cannot carry a window alone.

To make that concrete, the engine's own Moon positions, sampled every ten minutes, put the next three passes of the Moon through Rohini at 28 October 2026 13:30 to 29 October 11:20 IST, 24 November 23:30 to 25 November 20:40 IST, and 22 December 10:50 to 23 December 08:00 IST. Each lasts a little under 22 hours, shorter than the average because the Moon moves faster in some parts of its orbit than others. The muhurat finder only samples three windows a day (early morning, late morning and afternoon), so in practice each pass offers two or three Rohini windows, which are then scored on everything else.

The engine's lists cite no text, and no book in this corpus gives activity-by-activity muhurat lists. Jyotisha Siddhanta Sara's classification is consistent with the pattern: it calls Rohini fixed, and the engine's lists favour it for settling things (marriage, property, investment) but not for travel, while the light and movable stars carry the travel list. That is an observation about agreement, not a citation for the lists. The day's nakshatra is in the Panchang.

Checking Rohini in your own chart

The Moon's nakshatra needs the birth date and a time; the place matters only for the Ascendant and houses. The Moon covers Rohini in about a day and each pada in about six hours. The app's Moon longitude is accurate to about 0.1-0.3 degrees, as the methodology page explains, so a Moon within a few tenths of a degree of Taurus 10 degrees, 23 degrees 20 minutes, or a pada edge could honestly fall on either side; for Rohini that includes whether the Moon is Vargottama. The choice of ayanamsa moves all of these boundaries together, the usual reason two apps disagree; see why apps disagree on your nakshatra. The Moon sign calculator shows sign and nakshatra together.

Rohini between Krittika and Mrigashira

Before Rohini is Krittika, ruled by the Sun, which holds the Moon's deepest exaltation point; after it comes Mrigashira, ruled by Mars, which shares Rohini's Serpent yoni and crosses from Taurus into Gemini. In Jyotisha Siddhanta Sara's triple grouping Rohini opens the second set, Rohini, Mrigashira, Aardra, as Sristi, Sthithi, Laya. In the Kala Chakra it heads the Apsavya chart, while Mrigashira and Ardra are reckoned with the Mrigashira group. The sign lord throughout is Venus; see Venus in Vedic astrology.

Which planet rules Rohini nakshatra?

The Moon, with a 10-year Mahadasha, in the Vimshottari scheme of BPHS Ch. 46 Sl. 12-15. The sign lord is Venus, because all of Rohini is in Taurus.

Who is the deity of Rohini?

Brahma. BPHS Ch. 6 Sl. 24-26 lists Brahma fourth among the nakshatra deities, and Jyotisha Siddhanta Sara (Ch. IV, p. 94) names Brahma as the presiding deity.

What is the symbol of Rohini?

Jyotisha Siddhanta Sara's text says the five-star asterism is in the form of a fish, while the drawing beside the entry shows a cart. The engine's Yoni animal for Rohini is the Serpent.

Is the Moon exalted in Rohini?

By BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 51-54, a Moon in Rohini is in its Mooltrikona, since the exaltation portion is only the first 3 degrees of Taurus. This app's engine labels it Exalted; its strength score is the same either way.

Which pada of Rohini is Vargottama?

Pada 2, Taurus 13 degrees 20 minutes to 16 degrees 40 minutes, whose Navamsa sign is Taurus. The other padas fall in Aries, Gemini and Cancer.

What is the gana, yoni and nadi of Rohini?

Manushya gana, Serpent yoni and Antya nadi in this app's matching engine, which uses the conventional tables.

Why is Rohini favoured in muhurat?

In this app's muhurat engine Rohini is on five of six activity lists, all except travel. The lists carry no citation; Jyotisha Siddhanta Sara classes Rohini as a fixed nakshatra, which is consistent with that pattern.

When is the Moon next in Rohini?

From the engine's own Moon positions: 28 October 2026 13:30 to 29 October 11:20 IST, then 24-25 November and 22-23 December 2026. The Moon returns about every 27.3 days and each pass lasts roughly a day; the Panchang shows the current nakshatra.

Does the pada of a Rohini Moon change the reading?

In Saravali Ch. 24 it does: the pada sets the Moon's Navamsa (Aries, Taurus, Gemini or Cancer), each read by its lord and the aspecting graha, and Sl. 22-24 give full effect to the Vargottama pada 2. This app does not compute Ch. 24; it shows the Navamsa so you can read it by hand.

How long is the Moon dasha at birth for a Rohini Moon?

Up to 10 years. The balance is 10 years times the share of Rohini still ahead of the Moon; 5 degrees in leaves 6.25 years.