What is a nakshatra?
Long before the twelve signs, Indian astronomers divided the Moon's path into 27 nakshatras or lunar mansions, one for each day of the Moon's circuit of the sky. Each spans 13 degrees 20 minutes and is named after a star or star group near it — Ashwini, Bharani, Krittika and on to Revati.
Each nakshatra is split into four padas (quarters) of 3 degrees 20 minutes. Nine nakshatra quarters make one sign, which is how the nakshatras and the twelve rashis fit together.
Nakshatra lord and your dasha
The nakshatras are ruled in a repeating order by nine grahas: Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury. The lord of your birth nakshatra is the first mahadasha of your life in the Vimshottari system, and how far the Moon had travelled through the nakshatra decides how much of that first period remained at birth. Your full kundli shows the whole 120-year sequence from here.
Deity, gana, yoni and nadi
Tradition gives every nakshatra a set of qualities. The calculator shows yours:
- Deity (devata): the Vedic deity who presides over the nakshatra — Agni for Krittika, Brihaspati for Pushya, Vishnu for Shravana.
- Gana: temperament — Deva (gentle), Manushya (human, mixed) or Rakshasa (intense, independent). Used for the gana koota (6 points) in matching.
- Yoni: one of fourteen animal symbols, male or female, used for the yoni koota (4 points) — a measure of natural compatibility.
- Nadi: Adi, Madhya or Antya. The nadi koota carries the most weight in gun milan (8 of 36 points).
Naam akshar: the naming syllable
Each pada of each nakshatra has its own syllable — 108 in all. In the namkaran tradition a child's name begins with the syllable of the Moon's pada at birth; for example Rohini's padas give O, Va, Vi and Vu. The calculator shows your pada's syllable and all four of your nakshatra. The syllables follow the common North Indian table; some regional almanacs differ slightly.
How we calculate it
The Moon's sidereal longitude (Lahiri ayanamsa) comes from our own engine, accurate to a few arcseconds. The nakshatra is that longitude divided into 27 equal parts; the pada into 108. Birth time is read in your birthplace's time zone. The traditional qualities come from fixed classical tables. No AI is involved in the calculation.