The 27 nakshatras: your lunar mansion explained
Twenty-seven divisions of the zodiac, and the layer Western astrology has no equivalent for.
4 min read · Published 22 August 2026
The short answer
Nakshatras are 27 divisions of the zodiac, each 13°20' wide, tracking the Moon's roughly 27-day journey around the sky — one mansion per day. Each has a ruling planet, a symbol and a body of traditional association. Your nakshatra usually means the one your Moon occupied at birth, and it is central to Vedic practice: it determines your dasha sequence, and it is consulted for marriage matching and timing in a way the Moon sign alone is not.
Why 27
Because the Moon takes about 27.3 days to complete one circuit against the fixed stars. Dividing the zodiac into 27 gives roughly one nakshatra per day of the Moon's journey — so the system tracks where the Moon actually is, night by night.
Each nakshatra is exactly 13°20' of arc, which is 360 divided by 27. They cut across sign boundaries: a 30-degree sign contains two and a quarter nakshatras, so a nakshatra can straddle two signs.
Each also divides into four padas of 3°20', giving 108 padas in total — a number of some significance in Indian tradition, and the reason 108 recurs throughout Jyotisha.
The twenty-seven
| # | Nakshatra | Ruling planet | Symbol |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ashwini | Ketu | Horse's head |
| 2 | Bharani | Venus | Yoni |
| 3 | Krittika | Sun | Blade or flame |
| 4 | Rohini | Moon | Cart or chariot |
| 5 | Mrigashira | Mars | Deer's head |
| 6 | Ardra | Rahu | Teardrop |
| 7 | Punarvasu | Jupiter | Quiver of arrows |
| 8 | Pushya | Saturn | Cow's udder; flower |
| 9 | Ashlesha | Mercury | Coiled serpent |
| 10 | Magha | Ketu | Throne |
| 11 | Purva Phalguni | Venus | Front legs of a bed |
| 12 | Uttara Phalguni | Sun | Back legs of a bed |
| 13 | Hasta | Moon | Hand |
| 14 | Chitra | Mars | Bright jewel |
| 15 | Swati | Rahu | Young shoot in wind |
| 16 | Vishakha | Jupiter | Triumphal arch |
| 17 | Anuradha | Saturn | Lotus |
| 18 | Jyeshtha | Mercury | Earring; umbrella |
| 19 | Mula | Ketu | Bunch of roots |
| 20 | Purva Ashadha | Venus | Fan; winnowing basket |
| 21 | Uttara Ashadha | Sun | Elephant tusk |
| 22 | Shravana | Moon | Ear; three footprints |
| 23 | Dhanishta | Mars | Drum |
| 24 | Shatabhisha | Rahu | Empty circle |
| 25 | Purva Bhadrapada | Jupiter | Front of a funeral cot |
| 26 | Uttara Bhadrapada | Saturn | Back of a funeral cot |
| 27 | Revati | Mercury | Fish; drum |
The ruling planets repeat in a fixed nine-fold sequence — Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury — three times through the 27. That sequence is not decorative: it is the order of the Vimshottari dasha system, and your birth nakshatra's ruler determines which planetary period you are born into.
What they are used for
- Setting your dasha sequence. The single most consequential use. Your Moon's nakshatra determines which planetary period your life starts in and how far through it you were born — everything in the dasha timeline follows from it.
- Marriage matching. The kuta or guna milan system scores compatibility largely from the two people's nakshatras. It remains in active use in arranged-marriage contexts.
- Muhurta — electional timing. Choosing an auspicious moment for an undertaking is done substantially by nakshatra.
- Character reading. Each nakshatra carries traditional associations of temperament, drawn from its symbol, deity and ruling planet.
Why the Moon's nakshatra and not the Sun's
Because Jyotisha treats the Moon as the primary personal significator — see why Vedic astrology prioritises your Moon sign.
Every planet occupies a nakshatra, and a full reading considers them all. But 'your nakshatra' without qualification means the Moon's, and it is the one used for dashas and matching.
This makes birth time matter more than for a Sun sign. The Moon moves roughly 13 degrees a day, so it crosses a nakshatra boundary about once a day — meaning a birth without a recorded time can leave your nakshatra genuinely uncertain, and with it your entire dasha timeline.
Finding yours
You need a sidereal Moon position, which means an ayanamsa has been applied — see the ayanamsa. A tropical Moon position will give you the wrong nakshatra roughly one time in two, because the 24-degree shift moves the Moon nearly two full nakshatras.
AsterNym computes tropical positions and does not calculate nakshatras, dashas or any sidereal placement. For those you want a Jyotisha tool — Far Far Away is one example of a free sidereal chart service.
What we can give you is the astronomically exact position of the Moon at your birth on your natal chart, which is the same underlying measurement before either zodiac is applied to it.
Common questions
- What are the 27 nakshatras?
- Divisions of the zodiac, each 13°20' wide, corresponding to the Moon's roughly 27-day journey around the sky — approximately one per day. Each has a ruling planet, a symbol and traditional associations, and each subdivides into four padas.
- How do I find my nakshatra?
- It is determined by the sidereal position of the Moon at your birth, so you need a Vedic chart with an ayanamsa applied. A tropical Moon position gives the wrong nakshatra roughly half the time, since the sidereal shift moves the Moon nearly two full nakshatras.
- Why does the Moon's nakshatra matter most?
- Because Vedic astrology treats the Moon as the primary personal significator, and because the Moon's nakshatra determines your Vimshottari dasha sequence — the planetary periods that structure the entire timing system.
- Does Western astrology have nakshatras?
- Not in mainstream modern practice. There was a lunar mansion tradition in medieval European and Arabic astrology, but it did not survive into contemporary Western use. The 27-fold division is a genuine structural difference between the systems.