The Moon completes a circuit of the sky in about 27⅓ days. Indian astronomy divides its path into 27 nakshatras or lunar mansions, so the Moon spends roughly one day in each. The nakshatra is the third limb of the Panchang and is central to muhurat selection, naming customs and birth charts.
Divisions and padas
The 360° sidereal zodiac is split into 27 equal parts of 13°20′ each, counted from the start of Mesha (Aries). Each nakshatra is further divided into four padas (quarters) of 3°20′. With 27 × 4 = 108 padas and 12 signs, each sign holds exactly nine padas. A nakshatra's duration varies from about 20 to 27 hours depending on the Moon's speed.
The 27 nakshatras
- Ashwini (अश्विनी)
- Bharani (भरणी)
- Krittika (कृत्तिका)
- Rohini (रोहिणी)
- Mrigashira (मृगशिरा)
- Ardra (आर्द्रा)
- Punarvasu (पुनर्वसु)
- Pushya (पुष्य)
- Ashlesha (आश्लेषा)
- Magha (मघा)
- Purva Phalguni (पूर्वा फाल्गुनी)
- Uttara Phalguni (उत्तरा फाल्गुनी)
- Hasta (हस्त)
- Chitra (चित्रा)
- Swati (स्वाती)
- Vishakha (विशाखा)
- Anuradha (अनुराधा)
- Jyeshtha (ज्येष्ठा)
- Mula (मूल)
- Purva Ashadha (पूर्वाषाढ़ा)
- Uttara Ashadha (उत्तराषाढ़ा)
- Shravana (श्रवण)
- Dhanishta (धनिष्ठा)
- Shatabhisha (शतभिषा)
- Purva Bhadrapada (पूर्वा भाद्रपद)
- Uttara Bhadrapada (उत्तरा भाद्रपद)
- Revati (रेवती)
Lords and traditional notes
Each nakshatra has a planetary lord in the Vimshottari system. Starting from Ashwini, the lords run Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, and this cycle of nine repeats three times across the 27 nakshatras. The Moon's nakshatra at birth sets the starting point of the Vimshottari Dasha.
Some older texts also mention a 28th nakshatra, Abhijit, occupying part of Uttara Ashadha and the start of Shravana. It is a traditional note used in certain muhurat contexts; standard Panchangs, including this one, use the 27-fold scheme. Traditions may vary by region and Panchang convention.
How this platform calculates it
We compute the Moon's sidereal longitude using the Lahiri ayanamsa by default, and show the nakshatra and pada with their exact end times for your location on the Panchang page.