Nakshatra Calculator
Find your Janma Nakshatra (birth star) and Pada from your exact birth date, time, and place — your ruling deity, symbol, classical traits, and baby-naming syllable, computed from your Moon's true sidereal position.
Understanding Nakshatra in Vedic Astrology
What is a Nakshatra?
A Nakshatra ("that which does not decay") is one of 27 fixed lunar mansions the Moon passes through on its roughly 27.3-day orbit around the zodiac — one Nakshatra approximately every day. Your Nakshatra is determined by exactly where the Moon sat, sidereally, at your moment of birth, which is why it depends on your birth time far more precisely than your Sun sign does. Each Nakshatra spans 13°20' of the zodiac and carries its own presiding deity, ruling planet, symbol, and classical personality associations distinct from the broader 12-sign Rashi system.
The Three Gana Groups
Every Nakshatra is classified into one of three Gana (temperament) groups: Deva (Sattvic, gentle, principled), Manushya (Rajasic, active, worldly), and Rakshasa (Tamasic, intense, transformative). This classification is one of the eight koota (compatibility) factors traditionally checked in Kundali Milan for marriage matching, alongside your Nakshatra's ruling planet, symbol, and yoni (animal totem).
What is a Nakshatra Pada?
Each Nakshatra divides further into 4 Padas of 3°20' apiece — 108 Padas across the whole zodiac, matching the 108 divisions of the Navamsha (D9) chart used for marriage and dharma analysis. Your Pada is often assigned its own baby-naming syllable (Namakaran) in classical Vedic tradition, refining the broader Nakshatra reading down to a specific quarter.
Why Accurate Birth Time Matters
The Moon crosses roughly one Pada every 6 hours and a full Nakshatra every day, so a birth time that's off by even an hour or two can — rarely, but occasionally — place you in a neighboring Pada, or even a neighboring Nakshatra, if your Moon was near a boundary at birth. If you're unsure of your exact birth time, check your birth certificate or hospital records before relying on the result here for naming or matchmaking purposes.
This calculator uses the classical Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) sidereal ayanamsha and Swiss Ephemeris planetary positions — the same standard adopted by the Indian government's official Panchang and used across every chart on this site.