The Moon's 27 mansions
Nakshatras
The zodiac divided into 27 spans of 13°20' each, one for every day of the Moon's circuit.
Ashwini
0°00'00" – 13°20'00" · lord Ketu
- Symbol
- Horse head
- Deity
- Ashwini Kumaras
- Lord
- Ketu
- Gana
- Deva (divine — gentle, cooperative)
- Yoni
- Horse
- Nadi
- Adi (vata)
- Varna
- Vaishya
- Element
- Earth
Ashwini is the first nakshatra and behaves like a beginning — quick, impatient, and already moving. Its deity is the twin physicians of the gods, so healing and rescue run through it: people born here recover fast themselves and are often the ones who arrive first when someone else is in trouble. Ketu rules it, which gives sudden insight rather than gradual learning.
Strengths
Speed, initiative, healing instinct, and the courage to act before the plan is complete.
Needs watching
Impatience, and starting more than can be finished. The same quickness that rescues can also crash.
Suited work: Medicine and emergency care, transport, sport, defence, and any work that rewards a fast start.
Gana, yoni and nadi are the three attributes used in marriage matching; the varna and tattva describe temperament and element. The reading below describes the nakshatra itself, not the whole chart — the Moon's nakshatra is the strongest single indicator of temperament, but it is one factor among many.