The 27 Nakshatras of Vedic Astrology

The Vedic zodiac is divided into 27 nakshatras, the lunar mansions the Moon passes through as it circles the sky. Each is exactly 13 degrees 20 minutes wide, one twenty-seventh of the 360 degree circle, and each is subdivided into four padas of 3 degrees 20 minutes.

Your janma nakshatra, the star the Moon occupied at your birth, carries more predictive weight than your Moon sign. It sets your entire Vimshottari dasha sequence, which decides the timing of everything in a chart, and four of the eight Ashtakoot kootas used in marriage matching are calculated from it rather than from the rashi. A rashi is 30 degrees wide; a nakshatra is less than half of that, and a pada is a quarter again.

All 27 nakshatras at a glance

Every nakshatra with its ruling graha, presiding deity, exact span and the rashi it begins in. Select any one for its full profile, padas and navamsa mapping.

Why the nakshatra decides your dasha

Each graha rules three of the 27 nakshatras, and the lord of your birth star sets which mahadasha you were born into. Someone born in a Venus-ruled star begins life in a 20 year Shukra period; someone born in a Sun-ruled star begins in a 6 year Surya period. How much of it remained at birth depends on how far the Moon had already travelled through the star.

Gana, yoni and nadi in marriage matching

Three nakshatra attributes carry most of the weight in Ashtakoot Guna Milan. Gana (Dev, Manushya or Rakshasa) describes temperament and is worth 6 points. Yoni describes instinctive compatibility and is worth 4. Nadi is worth 8, the single heaviest koota, and a shared nadi between partners creates Nadi dosha, the largest deduction in the 36 point system. None of these can be read from a rashi, which is why matching by sun sign is meaningless in Jyotish.

Nakshatras and the rashis

The two systems interlock rather than compete. Every rashi contains two and a quarter nakshatras, so a nakshatra can straddle a sign boundary and its four padas may fall in two different rashis. Open any Mesha, Vrishabha, Mithuna or another rashi page to see exactly which stars fall inside it.

New to this? Start with the twelve rashis lesson, then the janma nakshatra guide for what to do with your own birth star.