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.
Ardra
66°40'00" – 80°00'00" · lord Rahu
- Symbol
- Teardrop
- Deity
- Rudra
- Lord
- Rahu
- Gana
- Manushya (human — mixed, practical)
- Yoni
- Dog
- Nadi
- Adi (vata)
- Varna
- Shudra
- Element
- Water
Ardra is the storm — a teardrop for a symbol, Rudra for a deity, Rahu for a lord. It destroys in order to clear, and lives born under it usually contain one sharp break that reorganises everything after it. There is real intellectual power here, of the analytical and unsentimental kind, and an emotional intensity that surprises people who took the calm surface at face value.
Strengths
Penetrating intelligence, resilience through upheaval, and honesty about difficult things.
Needs watching
Turbulence, grief carried too long, and destructiveness turned inward.
Suited work: Research and analytics, technology, psychology, disaster and emergency work, engineering.
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.