27 Nakshatras or Constellations in Astrology or Jyotish

In Vedic astrology , Nakshatra or constellation is one of many factors considered for doing the accurate predictions. These nakshatras are 27 in numbers and together they comprises of 360 degrees in the sky from a fixed point. So the value for each nakshatra is 13 degrees and 20 minutes. The 360 degrees from a fixed point comprises 12 zodiacs and 27 nakshatras. In other words, nakshatra is a further sub-division of zodiac. So this method of prediction using nakshatra is considered more accurate in Indian astrology than the method of prediction using zodiac.

The term Nakshatra is a combination of naks and shetra. In Sanskrit, naks means sky and shetra means region or area. So the meaning of this word is region or area of sky. In Vedic astrology, the predictive system is based on janma nakshatra.

In Vedic system of astrology, moon has been given the special importance. Moon travels through the sky and revolves around the earth. During this journey, moon travels through all of these nakshatras and at a particular time, it resides in a nakshatra. Moon resides in a nakshatra for approximately one day.

Janma nakshatra is the nakshatra where moon is placed at the time of the birth of the native. Janma nakshatra plays a importance role in deciding the person’s personality, appearance, nature, luck his personal and professional life and level of achievements during his life-span.

Nakshatras are ruled by their respective deities and planets. The respective deities and planets have their impacts on different aspects of the life of the native. The nakshatras are classified on the basis of many aspects. One aspect is on the basis of gender. The nakshatras are male and some are female. The other classification is on the basis of the temperaments and the nakshatras are divided in deva, human and rakhashas category. One more classification is based on the gunas namely rajo, tamo and sato guna.

Every Nakshatra is divided in to 4 sections. These sections are called charans or padas. The pada of a nakshatra is an important aspect in case of making prediction as they are different from each other in case of results.