Span: 20°00' Aquarius – 3°20' Pisces (sidereal)
Ruling lord: Jupiter
Presiding deity: Aja Ekapada
Symbol: front legs of a funeral cot
Shakti (classical power): raise spiritual fire
Purva Bhadrapada is the 25th of the 27 nakshatras, occupying 20°00' Aquarius to 3°20' Pisces 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: intense, idealistic, unconventional, driven by strong beliefs.
The behavioural marker most often named: burns for a cause and will go to extremes for what it is convinced is right.
The classical anchor for this is the shakti, the power assigned to each nakshatra in the Taittiriya Brahmana. For Purva Bhadrapada it is raise spiritual fire, and the deity Aja Ekapada and symbol front legs of a funeral cot 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' Aquarius – 23°20' Aquarius | Aries |
| Pada 2 | 23°20' Aquarius – 26°40' Aquarius | Taurus |
| Pada 3 | 26°40' Aquarius – 0°00' Pisces | Gemini |
| Pada 4 | 0°00' Pisces – 3°20' Pisces | Cancer |
Because a pada lasts roughly six hours, you need your birth time to know which of the four is yours.
Purva Bhadrapada is ruled by Jupiter.
Because Purva Bhadrapada 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.
Purva Bhadrapada is nakshatra number 25 of 27, spanning 20°00' Aquarius to 3°20' Pisces in the sidereal zodiac. Its ruling lord is Jupiter, its presiding deity is Aja Ekapada, and its symbol is front legs of a funeral cot.
Each nakshatra is quartered into padas of 3 degrees 20 minutes. For Purva Bhadrapada the four padas fall in the navamsa signs Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, in that order.
Jupiter rules Purva Bhadrapada. In the Vimshottari dasha system the Jupiter period lasts 16 years.
Not sure whether Purva Bhadrapada 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 raise spiritual fire; deity Aja Ekapada, symbol front legs of a funeral cot, lord Jupiter