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On a rooftop at night, a young mother cradles her newborn while the grandmother gestures toward a bright Moon among scattered stars.

Janma nakṣatra

Your janma nakṣatra is the Moon's lunar mansion at birth, one of 27 divisions of 13°20′. Its pāda identifies a quarter. Mạghā displays the star, pāda and lord, which also sets the opening Vimśottarī period.

Nila Raman's Moon at 294°15′, early in Dhaniṣṭhā's first pada, on the Capricorn side of the sign line.Dhaniṣṭhā: four equal padas

Dhaniṣṭhā spans 293°20′ to 306°40′ in four padas of 3°20′, two in Capricorn and two in Aquarius. Nila's Moon has crossed 0°55′ of it and sits in pada 1.

290° · Capricorn 20°310° · Aquarius 10°

  • Zodiac
    • Capricorn · to 300°
    • Aquarius · from 300°
  • Dhaniṣṭhā
    • 1 · 293°20′–296°40′
    • 2 · 296°40′–300°00′
    • 3 · 300°00′–303°20′
    • 4 · 303°20′–306°40′
Moon: 294°15′ (Capricorn 24°15′), 0°55′ into Dhaniṣṭhā’s first pada. Each pada spans 3°20′. Śravaṇa ends at 293°20′; Śatabhiṣā starts at 306°40′. Dhaniṣṭhā’s lord is Mars.

Each nakṣatra spans 13°20′, in four padas of 3°20′

Parāśara describes a zodiac of 27 nakṣatras beginning with Aśvinī, laid over the 12 signs beginning with Aries (Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 3.4–6). Divided equally, each nakṣatra spans 13°20′, the 800 minutes of arc the Sūrya Siddhānta gives it (2.64), and each pada 3°20′. Varāhamihira counts nine nakṣatra quarters to every sign (Bṛhat Jātaka 1.4), so a nakṣatra can run from one sign into the next.

Nila's Moon stands at 294°15′ from 0° Aries. That is 22 whole nakṣatras and 0°55′ more, so the Moon sits early in the 23rd, Dhaniṣṭhā, inside its first pada. Dhaniṣṭhā runs from 23°20′ Capricorn to 6°40′ Aquarius, and pada 1 lies on the Capricorn side, which makes her Moon sign Capricorn.

A drummer in a red turban leads a festival procession of musicians out of a temple gateway at sunrise.

The birth star's lord rules your first Vimśottarī period

In Vimśottarī, each nakṣatra has a planetary lord, and the nine lords repeat three times around the zodiac. Parāśara starts the count at Kṛttikā: count from Kṛttikā to the birth nakṣatra, divide by nine, and the remainder names the lord of the first period (Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 46.12–13). From Kṛttikā to Dhaniṣṭhā is 21; nine goes twice, leaving 3, and the third lord in his order, after the Sun and the Moon, is Mars.

Nila's Vimśottarī therefore opens with Mars, counting only the part still to run (46.16). Mạghā measures that part by the Moon's longitude: her Moon had crossed about 7% of Dhaniṣṭhā, so about six and a half of Mars's seven years remained. The same birth star anchors the nine-star count of Navatāra.

At a dining table at night, a father holds his sleeping baby while the mother looks at a tablet, with a bright Moon in the window behind them.

Mạghā shows your birth star on the Planets and Navatara tabs

Read the Moon's Nakṣatra · Pāda row with D1 selected in Planets, or use Moon/D1 in Navatara for Janma and Tara Lord. Birth Panchang also lists the star and Moon sign. The chosen ayanāṁśa applies, defaulting to Lahiri.

The Moon changes nakṣatra roughly daily and pada about every six hours. Nila's estimated entry into Dhaniṣṭhā is under two hours before birth and pada 2 about 4½ hours after, so uncertain birth time can change the result.

Dhaniṣṭhā's four padas as the navāṁśas Leo, Virgo, Libra and Scorpio, with Nila Raman's Moon in Leo in D9.From the Moon’s pada to D9

Each 3°20′ pada of Dhaniṣṭhā is one navāṁśa. Nila's Moon, in pada 1 at Capricorn 24°15′, falls at Leo 8°16′ in her Navāṁśa: nine times its longitude, less seven full circles.

  1. Pada 1 · Leo293°20′–296°40′Nila’s Moon
  2. Pada 2 · Virgo296°40′–300°00′
  3. Pada 3 · Libra300°00′–303°20′
  4. Pada 4 · Scorpio303°20′–306°40′
  1. D1 longitudeCapricorn 24°15′294°15′12.6″
  2. Multiply by nine294°15′12.6″ × 9 − 2520°Subtract seven full circles
  3. D9 longitude128°16′53.4″Leo 8°16′ · pada 1
Each 3°20′ pada maps to one navāṁśa. Nila Raman’s Moon falls in the first pada of Dhaniṣṭhā.

Each pada matches a navāṁśa, so Nila's Moon is in Leo in D9

A pada and a navāṁśa, one ninth of a sign, cover the same 3°20′. Parāśara starts the navāṁśas of a movable sign such as Capricorn from the sign itself (Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 6.12), and counted his way the 108 padas run through the navāṁśa signs from Aries to Pisces nine times. Dhaniṣṭhā's four padas fall in Leo, Virgo, Libra and Scorpio.

Nila's Moon, in pada 1, is therefore in Leo in her Navāṁśa (D9). Mạghā puts it at 8°16′ Leo: its longitude multiplied by nine, with seven full circles removed. The Navāṁśa tile on her chart page shows the Moon in Leo, and choosing D9 in "Planetary details divisional" prints "Le 08°16′" in the Moon's row.

Questions about the birth star

How do I find my janma nakṣatra from my date of birth?

You need the birth time and place as well as the date, because the Moon changes nakṣatra about once a day. Mạghā finds the 13°20′ nakṣatra and 3°20′ pada containing the Moon's sidereal longitude. Open your chart's Planets tab and choose D1 in "Planetary details divisional" to read both in the Moon's row. On Navatara, use Moon as the reference and D1 as the division to mark it Janma.

Which planet is the lord of my nakṣatra?

Counting from Aśvinī, the lords run Ketu, Venus, the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Rāhu, Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury, three times over. So Aśvinī, Maghā and Mūla belong to Ketu, and Mṛgaśiras, Citrā and Dhaniṣṭhā to Mars. In Mạghā's Navatara tab, choose D1 in "Navatara divisional chart": Tara Lord gives each planet's nakṣatra lord. The Moon's nakṣatra lord begins the Vimśottarī Daśā card.

Is the birth star the same as the Moon sign?

No. The Moon sign, or janma rāśi, is the 30° sign the Moon occupies; the birth star is the 13°20′ nakṣatra within it. A sign holds nine padas, so some nakṣatras cross two signs: Dhaniṣṭhā's first two padas are in Capricorn, its last two in Aquarius. Nila's pada 1 makes her Moon sign Capricorn. Mạghā's Birth Panchang lists both, as Rashi and Nakshatra.

Why do apps show different birth stars for the same person?

Usually the birth time or the ayanāṁśa differs. For Nila, Lahiri and Raman shift the sidereal Moon by about 1°27′, which changes the nakṣatra only when the Moon sits that close to an edge. Mạghā uses Lahiri unless you choose another in Calculation defaults, and it looks up the time zone and daylight saving for the birthplace itself.

Find your birth star in Mạghā

The real Navatara Moon row marked Janma; the phone frame also shows its Tara Lord Mars.
The unchanged Nila Raman’s chart, 14 October 1994 at 06:30 IST in Bengaluru, uses Lahiri. The Moon is in Dhanishta pada 1. Web shows its Janma row; the Tara Lord column lies beyond the initial horizontal crop. Phones scroll to the Moon’s real Tara Lord Mars. This prepared demo cannot calculate your birth star.

See the Moon's nakṣatra, pada and lord in your own chart, free for life like every astrology feature in Mạghā. The preview shows the Moon's Janma row for Nila Raman.

Find your birth star