Nakshatra
The twelve rasis (signs) are not the only way to cut up the zodiac. A finer and older division splits it into twenty-seven nakshatras (constellations), each named after a group of stars along the Moon's path. The Moon passes through about one nakshatra a day, so they suit the Moon especially well, but every point of a chart, each graha (planet) and the lagna (ascendant), stands in one of them.
Twenty-seven parts of 13°20′
Divide the 360° of the nirayana (sidereal) zodiac by 27 and each part spans 13°20′. The first, Aswini, starts at 0° Aries, the same point where the first rasi starts, and the last, Revati, ends at 360°, where the circle closes. Nine nakshatras fit into every four rasis, so a nakshatra may start in one rasi and end in the next: Punarvasu, the seventh, starts in Gemini and ends in Cancer.
Four padas
Each nakshatra is again cut into four padas (quarters) of 3°20′. A rasi of 30° holds exactly nine of them, so no pada ever crosses from one rasi into the next. hora numbers the padas 1 to 4 within each nakshatra.
Lords and deities
Every nakshatra has a Vimsottari lord: one of the nine grahas, taken in a fixed cycle that starts with Ketu at Aswini and runs nine nakshatras long, so it goes round three times in the zodiac. The lords matter most for the Vimsottari dasa, a way of dividing a life into periods ruled by the grahas, which the book teaches in chapter 16; hora does not calculate dasas yet.
Each nakshatra also has a ruling deity, a figure of Vedic lore whose nature colours it.
The table
The table gives the same facts as the book's Table 2: each nakshatra's name, where it starts and ends, its Vimsottari lord and its ruling deity. Start and end are written in the short form of the rasi page: degrees into the rasi, the rasi's symbol, then arcminutes, so 13 Ar 20 is 13°20′ into Aries. The book's spelling writes long vowels doubled (Swaati); hora keeps it, as does the chart page, and the second column gives the spelling you are more likely to meet elsewhere.
| Nakshatra | Common spelling | Start | End | Vimsottari lord | Ruling deity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aswini | Ashvini | 00 Ar 00 | 13 Ar 20 | Ketu | Aswini Kumara |
| Bharani | Bharani | 13 Ar 20 | 26 Ar 40 | Venus | Yama |
| Krittika | Krittika | 26 Ar 40 | 10 Ta 00 | Sun | Agni |
| Rohini | Rohini | 10 Ta 00 | 23 Ta 20 | Moon | Brahma |
| Mrigasira | Mrigashira | 23 Ta 20 | 06 Ge 40 | Mars | Moon |
| Aardra | Ardra | 06 Ge 40 | 20 Ge 00 | Rahu | Shiva |
| Punarvasu | Punarvasu | 20 Ge 00 | 03 Cn 20 | Jupiter | Aditi |
| Pushyami | Pushya | 03 Cn 20 | 16 Cn 40 | Saturn | Jupiter |
| Aasresha | Ashlesha | 16 Cn 40 | 30 Cn 00 | Mercury | Rahu |
| Makha | Magha | 00 Le 00 | 13 Le 20 | Ketu | Sun |
| Poorva Phalguni | Purva Phalguni | 13 Le 20 | 26 Le 40 | Venus | Aryaman |
| Uttara Phalguni | Uttara Phalguni | 26 Le 40 | 10 Vi 00 | Sun | Sun |
| Hasta | Hasta | 10 Vi 00 | 23 Vi 20 | Moon | Viswakarma |
| Chitra | Chitra | 23 Vi 20 | 06 Li 40 | Mars | Vaayu |
| Swaati | Svati | 06 Li 40 | 20 Li 00 | Rahu | Indra |
| Visaakha | Vishakha | 20 Li 00 | 03 Sc 20 | Jupiter | Mitra |
| Anooraadha | Anuradha | 03 Sc 20 | 16 Sc 40 | Saturn | Indra |
| Jyeshtha | Jyeshtha | 16 Sc 40 | 30 Sc 00 | Mercury | Nirriti |
| Moola | Mula | 00 Sg 00 | 13 Sg 20 | Ketu | Varuna |
| Poorvaashaadha | Purva Ashadha | 13 Sg 20 | 26 Sg 40 | Venus | Viswadeva |
| Uttaraashaadha | Uttara Ashadha | 26 Sg 40 | 10 Cp 00 | Sun | Brahma |
| Sravanam | Shravana | 10 Cp 00 | 23 Cp 20 | Moon | Vishnu |
| Dhanishtha | Dhanishta | 23 Cp 20 | 06 Aq 40 | Mars | Vasu |
| Satabhishak | Shatabhisha | 06 Aq 40 | 20 Aq 00 | Rahu | Varuna |
| Poorvaabhaadra | Purva Bhadrapada | 20 Aq 00 | 03 Pi 20 | Jupiter | Ajacharana |
| Uttaraabhaadra | Uttara Bhadrapada | 03 Pi 20 | 16 Pi 40 | Saturn | Ahirbudhanya |
| Revati | Revati | 16 Pi 40 | 30 Pi 00 | Mercury | Pooshan |
The book prints Rohini's deity as Bramha; this table writes Brahma, as the book does for Uttaraashaadha.
Abhijit
Abhijit is a name given to the fourth pada of Uttaraashaadha, from 6°40′ to 10°00′ in Capricorn. Treated as a nakshatra of its own, it makes a count of twenty-eight, but only a few special charts use that count, the Kota and Sarvatobhadra chakras among them. hora, like most of Jyotish, counts twenty-seven.
A worked example
On 1 January 2000 at 12:00 UT, at Greenwich, hora places the Sun at 16°31′17″ in Sagittarius, a longitude of 256°31′17″ (see the chart; the rasi page works out that longitude).
- 256°31′17″ divided by 13°20′ is 19, with 3°11′17″ left over: nineteen nakshatras are complete, so the Sun is in the twentieth, Poorvaashaadha, 3°11′17″ past its start at 13 Sg 20.
- 3°11′17″ is less than one pada of 3°20′, so the Sun is in pada 1.
- Poorvaashaadha's Vimsottari lord, from the table, is Venus.
In the chart
The chart page's table gives each graha's nakshatra, with its number from Aswini, its pada and its Vimsottari lord; the panchaanga lists the nakshatra of the Moon, one of its five limbs, and when the Moon entered and will leave it. Each nakshatra name there links to this page.
Next comes the tithi: a day counted by the Moon's distance from the Sun.
Book reference: P.V.R. Narasimha Rao, Vedic Astrology: An Integrated Approach, chapter 1, § 1.3.6. Where to get the book