The 27 Nakshatras: Names, Lords, Sign Spans and Padas

Divide the zodiac into twelve and you get signs; into twenty-seven and you get nakshatras. The Moon goes round the sky in about twenty-seven days, so the ancient seers marked the star group beside which the Moon stood each night as one of its "lunar mansions". Each nakshatra spans 13°20′ and is split into four padas of 3°20′.

The twenty-seven nakshatras

Note the order of dasha lords: Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury. This cycle of nine runs three times to cover the twenty-seven. The lord of the nakshatra the Moon occupies at birth starts the Vimshottari dasha sequence.

Padas and name letters

Each of a nakshatra's four padas has a sound assigned to it: Ashwini's are chu, che, cho, la. The custom of choosing a child's first letter by the birth nakshatra's pada comes from this. In reverse, when the birth time is unknown, the first sound of a name gives a nakshatra and a sign; Suvolagna's name-letter horoscope works this way.

Abhijit

For electional work a twenty-eighth nakshatra, Abhijit, is sometimes used, made from the last pada of Uttara Ashadha and the opening part of Shravana. The daily Abhijit muhurta is a different thing: the period around local noon.

What the gana is for

The three ganas, Deva, Manushya and Rakshasa, describe three temperaments. "Rakshasa gana" is nothing to fear: it means firm, independent and uncompromising, not wicked. The six points of gana in marriage matching come from this division.

Gandanta

The junctions where a water sign ends and a fire sign begins (Ashlesha–Magha, Jyeshtha–Mula, Revati–Ashwini) are called gandanta. Births and beginnings close to these joints are traditionally treated with caution, and remedial rites are prescribed.