Span: 20°00' Gemini – 3°20' Cancer (sidereal)
Ruling lord: Jupiter
Presiding deity: Aditi
Symbol: quiver of arrows
Shakti (classical power): renew/regain substance
Punarvasu is the 7th of the 27 nakshatras, occupying 20°00' Gemini to 3°20' Cancer 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: optimistic, resilient, generous, loves home and returning.
The behavioural marker most often named: can lose everything and start over with the same easy faith it will work out again.
The classical anchor for this is the shakti, the power assigned to each nakshatra in the Taittiriya Brahmana. For Punarvasu it is renew/regain substance, and the deity Aditi and symbol quiver of arrows 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 | 20°00' Gemini – 23°20' Gemini | Aries |
| Pada 2 | 23°20' Gemini – 26°40' Gemini | Taurus |
| Pada 3 | 26°40' Gemini – 0°00' Cancer | Gemini |
| Pada 4 | 0°00' Cancer – 3°20' Cancer | Cancer |
Because a pada lasts roughly six hours, you need your birth time to know which of the four is yours.
Punarvasu is ruled by Jupiter.
Because Punarvasu is ruled by Jupiter, anyone born with the Moon here begins life in the Jupiter period of the Vimshottari dasha cycle, which runs 16 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.
Punarvasu is nakshatra number 7 of 27, spanning 20°00' Gemini to 3°20' Cancer in the sidereal zodiac. Its ruling lord is Jupiter, its presiding deity is Aditi, and its symbol is quiver of arrows.
Each nakshatra is quartered into padas of 3 degrees 20 minutes. For Punarvasu the four padas fall in the navamsa signs Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, in that order.
Jupiter rules Punarvasu. In the Vimshottari dasha system the Jupiter period lasts 16 years.
Not sure whether Punarvasu 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; shakti to renew/regain substance; deity Aditi, symbol quiver of arrows, lord Jupiter