Purva Bhadrapada nakshatra

Span

20°00′ Aquarius to 3°20′ Pisces

Ruling planet

Jupiter (Vimshottari dasha of 16 years)

Deity

Aja Ekapada

Symbol

The front of a funeral cot, or a sword

Nature

Ugra (fierce)

Gana

Manushya (human)

Yoni (animal)

Lion

Nadi

Adi (Vata)

The meaning of Purva Bhadrapada

Purva Bhadrapada (पूर्वभाद्रपदा) is the 25th of the 27 nakshatras. Its presiding deity is Aja Ekapada, the one-footed goat, a fiery form of Rudra, and its symbol is the front of a funeral cot, or a sword. In Jyotish the deity of a nakshatra is the key to its nature: what the deity does, the nakshatra does.

It is ruled by Jupiter, so a person whose Moon is in Purva Bhadrapada begins life in the Jupiter dasha. The other two nakshatras ruled by Jupiter are Punarvasu and Vishakha; together they share something of Jupiter’s character.

Good for: Ugra work

In the muhurta texts Purva Bhadrapada is a ugra (fierce) nakshatra, favoured for bold, forceful or competitive undertakings, and confronting opponents. When the Moon passes through Purva Bhadrapada (about once every 27⅓ days) it is a good day for those kinds of beginnings.

The four padas

Each nakshatra divides into four padas of 3°20′. Each pada falls in a navamsa sign, and each has the traditional first syllable used for naming a child born in it.

In marriage matching

In guna milan, Purva Bhadrapada is of Manushya gana, lion yoni and Adi nadi. Two partners with the same nadi lose all eight points of nadi koota. Match two charts.

Find your birth nakshatra · Aquarius (Kumbha) · Chapter 5: the 27 nakshatras

Sources: Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra and Phaladeepika for the signs, planets and houses; Muhurta Chintamani for the nakshatra classes and the guna milan attributes. Wording is our own.