Nakshatra, yoga and karana

Tithi and vara tell you how far the Moon has moved from the Sun and which day it is. The other three limbs complete the picture. Nakshatra and yoga are read from sidereal longitudes, so they depend on the ayanamsa; the karana is simply half a tithi.

Nakshatra: the Moon’s lunar mansion

The sidereal zodiac, measured against the fixed stars, is divided into 27 equal nakshatras of 13°20′ each, since 360° ÷ 27 = 13°20′. The nakshatra of the day is the one in which the Moon stands. The Moon covers about 13° a day, so it passes through roughly one nakshatra a day, and like the tithi the nakshatra can change at any hour.

A worked example: the Moon is at sidereal 45°. 45 ÷ 13°20′ = 3.375, so three nakshatras are complete (Ashwini, Bharani, Krittika) and the Moon is in the 4th, Rohini, which spans 40°00′ to 53°20′, that is Taurus 10° to 23°20′.

Padas: the quarters of a nakshatra

Each nakshatra is split into 4 padas (quarters) of 3°20′. The 27 × 4 = 108 padas fill the zodiac, and exactly 9 padas fit into each 30° sign. That is why a nakshatra can straddle two signs. In the example, the Moon is 5° into Rohini: 5 ÷ 3°20′ = 1.5, so it is in Rohini’s 2nd pada.

Nakshatra lords

Each nakshatra has a lord taken from the Vimshottari dasha sequence: Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury. Starting from Ashwini, the nine lords are assigned in order, and the sequence repeats three times across the 27 nakshatras:

• Ashwini, Magha, Mula — Ketu
• Bharani, Purva Phalguni, Purva Ashadha — Venus
• Krittika, Uttara Phalguni, Uttara Ashadha — Sun
• Rohini, Hasta, Shravana — Moon
• Mrigashira, Chitra, Dhanishtha — Mars
• Ardra, Swati, Shatabhisha — Rahu
• Punarvasu, Vishakha, Purva Bhadrapada — Jupiter
• Pushya, Anuradha, Uttara Bhadrapada — Saturn
• Ashlesha, Jyeshtha, Revati — Mercury

So the Moon in Rohini has the Moon as its nakshatra lord. That is a calculated fact. What Rohini signifies, its deity, its nature and the activities the tradition associates with it, belongs to traditional interpretation.

Yoga: the Sun and the Moon added together

The Panchang yoga, not to be confused with chart yogas such as Gajakesari, adds the sidereal longitudes of the Sun and the Moon and divides the sum into 27 parts of 13°20′. If the total exceeds 360°, subtract 360°. Example: Sun at 20°, Moon at 110°, sum 130°. 130 ÷ 13°20′ = 9.75, so the 10th yoga, Ganda, is running.

The 27 yogas, in order, are Vishkambha, Priti, Ayushman, Saubhagya, Shobhana, Atiganda, Sukarma, Dhriti, Shula, Ganda, Vriddhi, Dhruva, Vyaghata, Harshana, Vajra, Siddhi, Vyatipata, Variyan, Parigha, Shiva, Siddha, Sadhya, Shubha, Shukla, Brahma, Indra and Vaidhriti. Muhurat texts traditionally avoid Vyatipata (the 17th) and Vaidhriti (the 27th) for auspicious beginnings.

Karana: half a tithi

A karana is half a tithi: each 6° that the Moon gains on the Sun. A lunar month of 30 tithis therefore has 60 karanas. There are 11 named karanas: 7 movable ones, Bava, Balava, Kaulava, Taitila, Gara, Vanija and Vishti, and 4 fixed ones, Shakuni, Chatushpada, Naga and Kimstughna.

The fixed karanas each occur once a month at fixed places: Kimstughna is the first half of Shukla Pratipada, Shakuni the second half of Krishna Chaturdashi, and Chatushpada and Naga the two halves of Amavasya. The other 56 half-tithis are filled by the 7 movable karanas repeating 8 times in order (7 × 8 = 56), starting with Bava in the second half of Shukla Pratipada.

Example: the Moon is 100° ahead of the Sun. 100 ÷ 6 = 16.67, so the 17th karana is running. Karana 1 is Kimstughna, karanas 2 to 8 are Bava to Vishti, 9 to 15 repeat Bava to Vishti, and 16 is Bava again, so the 17th is Balava, the first half of Shukla Navami.

Vishti karana is also called Bhadra. Because Vishti comes round 8 times in each lunar month, Bhadra occurs about 8 times a month. The tradition generally avoids beginning auspicious work during Bhadra; the site’s Bhadra page lists its times.

Tithi and karana do not depend on the ayanamsa, but nakshatra and yoga do. A different ayanamsa shifts the moment the Moon enters a nakshatra, so two almanacs can disagree on nakshatra and yoga times. This site uses “Lahiri (calibrated)” by default, with standard Lahiri selectable.

The panel below works out all five limbs for your birth moment if you have saved birth details, or for the sky right now otherwise.