Span: 13°20' Sagittarius – 26°40' Sagittarius (sidereal)
Ruling lord: Venus
Presiding deity: Apas (the waters)
Symbol: fan/winnowing basket (some texts: tusk)
Shakti (classical power): invigoration / invincibility
Purva Ashadha is the 20th of the 27 nakshatras, occupying 13°20' Sagittarius to 26°40' Sagittarius 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: confident, persuasive, stubborn, believes it cannot lose.
The behavioural marker most often named: will not back down from a stance, and usually talks the others around to it instead.
The classical anchor for this is the shakti, the power assigned to each nakshatra in the Taittiriya Brahmana. For Purva Ashadha it is invigoration / invincibility, and the deity Apas (the waters) and symbol fan/winnowing basket (some texts: tusk) 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 | 13°20' Sagittarius – 16°40' Sagittarius | Leo |
| Pada 2 | 16°40' Sagittarius – 20°00' Sagittarius | Virgo |
| Pada 3 | 20°00' Sagittarius – 23°20' Sagittarius | Libra |
| Pada 4 | 23°20' Sagittarius – 26°40' Sagittarius | Scorpio |
Because a pada lasts roughly six hours, you need your birth time to know which of the four is yours.
Purva Ashadha is ruled by Venus.
Because Purva Ashadha is ruled by Venus, anyone born with the Moon here begins life in the Venus period of the Vimshottari dasha cycle, which runs 20 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.
Purva Ashadha is nakshatra number 20 of 27, spanning 13°20' Sagittarius to 26°40' Sagittarius in the sidereal zodiac. Its ruling lord is Venus, its presiding deity is Apas (the waters), and its symbol is fan/winnowing basket (some texts: tusk).
Each nakshatra is quartered into padas of 3 degrees 20 minutes. For Purva Ashadha the four padas fall in the navamsa signs Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, in that order.
Venus rules Purva Ashadha. In the Vimshottari dasha system the Venus period lasts 20 years.
Not sure whether Purva Ashadha 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 of invigoration / invincibility; deity Apas (the waters), symbol fan/winnowing basket (some texts: tusk), lord Venus