The 27 nakshatrasthe Moon’s lodging-places

The Moon travels around the zodiac in 27.3 days, so it advances about 13 degrees a night. Dividing the circle of 360 degrees into 27 equal parts gives each nakshatra a span of 13°20′. Each nakshatra is further divided into four quarters called padas of 3°20′, so there are 108 padas around the wheel. Each sign holds nine padas, which is two and a quarter nakshatras.

The word nakshatra is often translated as “star” or “lunar mansion”. A nakshatra is a segment of the ecliptic, but each one is named after, and traditionally identified with, a prominent star or group, which is its yogatārā. Where several sources disagree about the identification, the table below notes the most common choice.

The ring shows the 27 mansions in order from Aśvinī at the top, with the twelve sign boundaries marked. The colours of the inner ring are the elements of the signs.

Identifications of the yogatārā differ among the texts, and the Sanskrit translations given for each symbol vary between authors. A twenty-eighth nakshatra, Abhijit, appears in older lists and is used in some muhurta work, but is left out of the 27-fold scheme.

One couplet for each lodging, in the Moon’s order. The names and symbols are traditional; the lines are ours, and are meant as poems rather than predictions.

1. 1
   AśvinīHoofbeats before the question is finished:
   someone is already coming with the cure.
2. 2
   BharaṇīWhat is carried must be set down.
   The vessel knows, and bears it to the end.
3. 3
   KṛttikāA flame is a kind of knife.
   It takes away what was never the thing.
4. 4
   RohiṇīThe cart creaks home with the whole harvest.
   Even the Moon stops here to look.
5. 5
   MṛgaśīrāA deer lifts its head at nothing you can hear.
   Follow gently. The forest is the question.
6. 6
   ĀrdrāThe storm breaks, and the air remembers how to be clean.
   Grief was only weather passing through.
7. 7
   PunarvasuYou went out as far as you could, and came back
   to find the porch light had stayed on.
8. 8
   PuṣyaThe cow gives without being asked.
   Nothing blooms that was not first fed.
9. 9
   ĀśleṣāA coil is a decision to hold.
   Whether it shelters or binds, ask the one inside.
10. 10
    MaghāSeated, you are still carried
    by everyone who stood here first.
11. 11
    Pūrva PhalgunīRest is also a craft.
    Lay the table, light the lamp, begin the enjoying.
12. 12
    Uttara PhalgunīA promise kept at the back of the bed
    holds up the whole house.
13. 13
    HastāThe hand knows what the mind is still explaining.
    Give it clay.
14. 14
    CitrāLight, caught and cut, turns itself into design.
    Look how a made thing shines.
15. 15
    SvātīIt bends because it intends to grow.
    The wind is only a teacher.
16. 16
    ViśākhāOne gate, built for one arrival.
    Walk toward it as if you had already come.
17. 17
    AnurādhāThe lotus keeps its roots in mud and its face to the sun.
    Friendship does both.
18. 18
    JyeṣṭhāThe eldest carries the umbrella for everyone else.
    It is not always dry underneath.
19. 19
    MūlaDig until the root shows.
    It is smaller than the tree, and holds the tree.
20. 20
    PūrvāṣāḍhāWater cannot be defeated, only crossed.
    Say it plainly and the river listens.
21. 21
    UttarāṣāḍhāNot the loud win, the one that lasts.
    A principle is a very long staircase.
22. 22
    ŚravaṇaLearning begins with a held silence.
    The world is always telling you something.
23. 23
    DhaniṣṭhāThe drum asks only that you keep time with others.
    Wealth is a rhythm shared.
24. 24
    ŚatabhiṣāA hundred small cures in an empty circle.
    The healer works alone, and is thanked in silence.
25. 25
    Pūrva BhādrapadāFire for the old shape, so that something truer can stand.
    The fierce ones are often the kindest.
26. 26
    Uttara BhādrapadāDeep water does not hurry.
    What lies at the bottom is calm, and old, and kind.
27. 27
    RevatīThe last mansion is a road home.
    Someone has gone ahead and left a lantern.

The most practical use of the nakshatras is timing. The system of Vimshottari dasha divides a life of 120 years into nine planetary periods in a fixed order. The starting point is the nakshatra of the Moon at birth, and the lord of that nakshatra gives the first period.

The lords repeat three times over the 27 nakshatras, in the same order: Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury. That is why the table shows Ketu as lord of Aśvinī, Maghā and Mūla, and so on. How far the Moon had travelled through its nakshatra at birth decides how much of the first period remains, so an accurate birth time matters.

Because the arithmetic depends on the Moon’s exact longitude, it also depends on the ayanamsa. A different choice can move the Moon into the next pada or nakshatra, and change the entire sequence of periods that follows.