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Kṛttikā कृत्तिका
“the cutters”
26°40′ Meṣa — 10° Vṛṣabha
Vimśottarī lord: Sūrya · 6 years of daśā Presiding devatā: Agni
At a glance
| Field | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Span | 26°40′ Meṣa — 10° Vṛṣabha | arithmetic — 13°20′ from the start of Meṣa |
| Rāśi | Meṣa · Vṛṣabha Rāśi lord: Maṅgala · Śukra | arithmetic — read off the span above |
| Vimśottarī lord | Sūrya सूर्य 6 years of daśā | the standard Vimśottarī sequence |
| Presiding devatā | Agni अग्नि Agni, fire | Bṛhat Saṁhitā 97.4 |
| Gaṇa | Rākṣasa | Kālaprakāśikā ch. XIII, through the milan tables |
| Yoni | Meṣa sheep | Kālaprakāśikā ch. XIII, through the milan tables |
| Nāḍī | Antya अन्त्य | from the milan tables — traditional, not traced to a classical verse |
| Varṇa | Agraja the first-born — brāhmaṇa class | Bṛhat Saṁhitā 15.28 |
| Karma-guṇa | Miśra mixed Fit for: the mixed soft-and-sharp group; it produces mixed results. | Bṛhat Saṁhitā 97.11 |
| Kūrma-cakra direction | Centre | Bṛhat Saṁhitā 14.2 |
| Symbol | a blade, or a flame | traditional — not traced to a verse |
| Stars | the Pleiades | traditional — not traced to a verse |
The character of the native
What the text says of a person born when the Moon stands in this asterism. This is the verse itself, not a paraphrase of it.
A great eater, fond of others’ wives, energetic and renowned.
The persons and things it rules
Which people, animals, places, trades and goods fall under this asterism — the list a mundane or praśna reading works from.
Those who offer white flowers, fire-priests, knowers of mantra, sūtra and commentary; miners, barbers, brāhmaṇas, potters, family priests, and astrologers.
The four pādas
Each nakṣatra divides into four quarters of 3°20′. The quarter the Moon occupies fixes the navāṁśa sign — the divisional chart a reading leans on second only to the rāśi — and, by tradition, the syllable a child is named from. These are arithmetic: the 4 × 27 quarters run one navāṁśa each, in order, right around the zodiac.
| Pāda | Degrees | Navāṁśa | Navāṁśa lord | Nāmākṣara |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26°40′ Meṣa — 30° Meṣa | Dhanu | Guru | A |
| 2 | 0° Vṛṣabha — 3°20′ Vṛṣabha | Makara | Śani | Ī |
| 3 | 3°20′ Vṛṣabha — 6°40′ Vṛṣabha | Kumbha | Śani | U |
| 4 | 6°40′ Vṛṣabha — 10° Vṛṣabha | Mīna | Guru | E |
arithmetic — pāda k of nakṣatra i takes navāṁśa (4i + k)
Devatā, the character of the native, the persons and things of each asterism, the varṇa grouping, the karma-guṇa classes and the kūrma-cakra direction are all read from Bṛhat Saṁhitā — chapters 14, 15, 97 and 100 — as carried verse by verse in this site’s own library, and every one of them links to its verse. Vimśottarī lords are the standard sequence; gaṇa, yoni and nāḍī come from the milan tables with their own citations. Spans, rāśis, pādas and navāṁśas are arithmetic, not doctrine. The symbol, the star identification and the nāmākṣara syllables are traditional pañcāṅga material that Horā has not traced to a classical verse — they say so on their own rows. Nothing here is invented to fill a gap.