Span: 26°40' Aries – 10°00' Taurus (sidereal)
Ruling lord: Sun
Presiding deity: Agni (fire)
Symbol: razor/flame
Shakti (classical power): burn/purify
Krittika is the 3rd of the 27 nakshatras, occupying 26°40' Aries to 10°00' Taurus in the sidereal zodiac. If the Moon stood in this stretch of sky at your birth, this is your Janma Nakshatra, your birth star.
The traditional reading is: sharp, blunt, purifying, fiery, protective of its own.
The behavioural marker most often named: says the blunt truth others dodge, then defends you fiercely once you are theirs.
The classical anchor for this is the shakti, the power assigned to each nakshatra in the Taittiriya Brahmana. For Krittika it is burn/purify, and the deity Agni (fire) and symbol razor/flame carry the same idea in image form.
Every nakshatra is quartered. Each quarter, a pada, is 3 degrees 20 minutes wide and maps onto a navamsa sign, which shades the reading:
| Pada | Span (sidereal) | Navamsa sign |
|---|---|---|
| Pada 1 | 26°40' Aries – 0°00' Taurus | Sagittarius |
| Pada 2 | 0°00' Taurus – 3°20' Taurus | Capricorn |
| Pada 3 | 3°20' Taurus – 6°40' Taurus | Aquarius |
| Pada 4 | 6°40' Taurus – 10°00' Taurus | Pisces |
Because a pada lasts roughly six hours, you need your birth time to know which of the four is yours.
Krittika is ruled by Sun.
Because Krittika is ruled by Sun, anyone born with the Moon here begins life in the Sun period of the Vimshottari dasha cycle, which runs 6 years. That starting point shifts the timing of every period that follows, which is why two people of the same age can be in completely different chapters.
Krittika is nakshatra number 3 of 27, spanning 26°40' Aries to 10°00' Taurus in the sidereal zodiac. Its ruling lord is Sun, its presiding deity is Agni (fire), and its symbol is razor/flame.
Each nakshatra is quartered into padas of 3 degrees 20 minutes. For Krittika the four padas fall in the navamsa signs Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, in that order.
Sun rules Krittika. In the Vimshottari dasha system the Sun period lasts 6 years.
Not sure whether Krittika is yours? It takes your date, place and ideally time of birth.
Find my nakshatraThe span and the pada boundaries are arithmetic and exact. The lord, deity and symbol follow the classical sources and vary little between them. The character reading renders the shakti, deity and symbol in plain words; the classical texts themselves are terse here, and anything longer is later compilation.
Recorded source for this entry: BPHS + Brihat Samhita; shakti to burn/purify; deity Agni (fire), symbol razor/flame, lord Sun