Nakṣatra
नक्षत्र
Lunar mansion: one of 27 divisions of 13°20′ each.
Definition
The nakshatras are twenty-seven divisions of the sidereal zodiac, each of 13°20′, beginning with Aśvinī at 0° Meṣa and ending with Revatī; muhūrta texts add a twenty-eighth, Abhijit. Each has a presiding deity and a graha lord in the Vimśottarī sequence, and the Moon spends about a day in each. The Moon's nakshatra at birth (janma nakṣatra) is the basis of the daśā, of naming syllables and of the Ashtakoota comparison.
Articles that use this term
- PanchangaExplainer
How to read a panchang
The five limbs of the Indian almanac, what each one measures, and how to make sense of a printed page.
7 min read · 15 October 2026
- Panchanga
The 27 nakshatras: a sky map older than the zodiac
Before the twelve signs reached India, the Vedic sky was read by the Moon's nightly stations. What they are and how they are still used.
7 min read · 13 October 2026
- SiddhantaExplainer
Sidereal and tropical: what the ayanamsa is, and why Lahiri
Two zodiacs, one sky. How the slow wobble of the Earth's axis separates them, and how India chose a standard in the 1950s.
7 min read · 12 October 2026
- Jyotish · HoraExplainer
Vimshottari dasha: time, divided
A 120-year cycle of nine periods, started from the Moon's nakshatra at birth. How the system is built and how to read its arithmetic.
7 min read · 8 October 2026
- Jyotish · HoraExplainer
Transits (gochar) and what Sade Sati is
How the tradition reads the present sky against the birth chart, and a calm explanation of the seven and a half years of Saturn.
7 min read · 7 October 2026
- Panchanga
Muhurta: choosing a time, the Kalpa way
From the ritual sutras to the Muhurta Chintamani: how the tradition thinks about doing an act at a fitting moment.
7 min read · 5 October 2026
- PanchangaExplainer
Navratri, twice a year: Chaitra and Sharad
The two nine-night festivals of the goddess, at the spring and autumn turns of the year, and the rules almanacs use to fix their first and last days.
7 min read · 1 October 2026
- PanchangaExplainer
Amanta and purnimanta: the Hindu calendar's two month systems
Two ways of deciding where a lunar month ends, why they give one festival two month-names, and which regions use which.
7 min read · 24 September 2026
- Panchanga
Namakshar: the syllables of the nakshatra padas
How a table of 108 syllables came to be used in naming children, what the grihya sutras say about names, and what they do not.
6 min read · 23 September 2026