The 27 nakshatras (lunar mansions) divide the sidereal zodiac into equal arcs of 13°20′, each split into four padas of 3°20′. They are the foundation of most Vedic timing: the Moon's nakshatra seeds the daśā systems, drives Kundli Matching and names the day in the Panchang. This page covers the Nakshatras dialog.
The 27 nakshatras, 4 padas each
The first nakshatra, Ashwini, starts at 0° sidereal Aries. Each has a ruling lord, and the lord sequence — Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury — repeats three times through the 27. That same nine-lord cycle is what the Vimshottari daśā walks through; see Daśā Systems.
Opening the dialog
Choose Vedic → Nakshatras. The dialog reads the chart currently on screen: the birth chart on the Natal tab, or the transiting planets on the Transit tab — handy for checking which nakshatra Saturn is moving through.
The Moon's row is highlighted — your Janma Nakshatra, repeated in the footer.
Reading the table
One row per body — Lagna (Asc) first, then Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu, each name in its Vedic colour — with six columns:
| Column | Shows |
|---|---|
| BODY | The graha (or the Lagna) |
| SIGN | The sidereal sign and whole degree |
| NAKSHATRA | Which of the 27 it falls in |
| PADA | 1 to 4 — the quarter within that nakshatra |
| LORD | The nakshatra's ruling planet (the star lord) |
| RULES | New in 3.1 — the houses this graha rules, counted as whole signs from the Lagna, e.g. 2, 9. Rahu and Ketu show "—". |
The footer names your Janma Nakshatra: Janma Nakshatra (Moon): Rohini, pada 2 — lord Moon.
Works on a tropical chart too
Nakshatras are sidereal by nature, but the dialog doesn't need your chart to be. On a tropical chart every longitude is converted with your ayanamsa first, and the subtitle says so: Computed from sidereal longitudes · ayanamsa 24°07′ (chart shown tropical). On a sidereal chart it reads Sidereal positions · ayanamsa 24°07′.
Why padas matter
A pada is the same 3°20′ slice that maps a planet into the Navāṁśa (D9), which is why nakshatra pada and Navāṁśa placement are read together — see Divisional Charts & Bhava Chalit. Padas also decide one of the Nadi dosha exceptions in Kundli Matching: the same nakshatra with a different pada cancels the dosha.
Nakshatras on the dashboard
In Vedic mode the Graha Positions card adds RĀŚI and NAKṢATRA columns, and the optional Tithi & Nakṣatra card shows how far the Moon is through its current nakshatra and when it moves on (Panchang).