Where Anuradha sits in the zodiac
Start the count at 3°20′ Scorpio (213.33 degrees) and Anuradha runs to 16°40′ Scorpio (226.67 degrees). The whole nakshatra lies in Scorpio.
Positions are sidereal, using the Lahiri ayanamsa, about 24 degrees 13 minutes at the start of 2026. That offset is why a planet's sign in a Vedic chart is usually the sign before its Western one. Each nakshatra is exactly 13 degrees 20 minutes, since 360 divided by 27 is 13 and one third. The 27 divisions are slices of the ecliptic, not the outlines of constellations. The traditional stars are a short curved line in the head of Scorpius, the scorpion, just above its claws. On the circle it follows Vishakha and comes before Jyeshtha. The signs it touches are Scorpio.
The name Anuradha
Anuradha means 'following Radha', since anu means after and, in tradition, Radha is the name some lists give to Vishakha, the nakshatra just before it. It is the seventeenth nakshatra and lies wholly inside Scorpio.
Deity and symbol
Its deity is Mitra, the Vedic god of friendship and of contracts between people. He is usually named together with Varuna, and the pair guards agreements made in daylight.
The symbol is a lotus, drawn as an open flower on the water. Some lists show an arched gateway as well.
Ruling planet and the Vimshottari dasha
In the Vimshottari scheme Anuradha is ruled by Saturn. The nine lords go round in a fixed order, and Saturn is given 19 years out of 120.
A birth with the Moon in Anuradha begins partway through Saturn's dasha. The part left is in proportion to the distance still to run: close to 19 years at the start, 9.5 at the middle, close to nothing at the end. After Saturn the order runs Mercury, Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu and Jupiter. The other nakshatras ruled by Saturn are Pushya and Uttara Bhadrapada. The dasha calculator shows the balance for your own chart.
The four padas of Anuradha
Each nakshatra splits into four padas of 3 degrees 20 minutes. A pada matches one sign of the navamsha (D9) chart, and the four take four signs in a row.
The first pada (3°20′ Scorpio to 6°40′ Scorpio) belongs to Leo in the navamsha chart. Its syllable is Na.
Pada 2: 6°40′ Scorpio to 10°00′ Scorpio, navamsha Virgo, syllable Ni.
Pada 3 starts at 10°00′ Scorpio. It falls in the navamsha sign Libra, and its naming syllable is Nu.
In pada 4, from 13°20′ Scorpio to 16°40′ Scorpio, the navamsha sign is Scorpio. Names for this pada begin with Ne.
The first pada of Jyeshtha then starts at Sagittarius. Syllables follow the commonly printed lists, and regional lists differ slightly.
Anuradha in the sky and in the year
Mridu (soft) is the category the muhurta texts give Anuradha. In 2026 the Sun moves into it on 20 November 2026 and out on 3 December 2026, Indian time. The Moon crosses a nakshatra in about a day, between roughly 21 and 27 hours depending on how fast it is moving.
Anuradha beside its neighbours
All four padas of Anuradha sit in Scorpio, so the sign never changes while the Moon crosses it. In the full Vimshottari round, Saturn is eighth of nine, occupying years 84 to 103. The three Saturn nakshatras sit 120 degrees apart, and Anuradha is the second of them.
The neighbours differ in ruler: Jupiter for Vishakha, Mercury for Jyeshtha, and Saturn for Anuradha. As for category, Vishakha is Mishra (mixed) while Anuradha is Mridu (soft), and Jyeshtha is Tikshna (sharp). For deity, the one before is Indra and Agni, a joint pair of gods, and the one after is Indra, the king of the gods.
How to find out if your Moon is in Anuradha
To check, find where the Moon stood at your birth. Anywhere from 3°20′ Scorpio to 16°40′ Scorpio is Anuradha. The Moon moves about half a degree an hour, so a birth within an hour or two of a boundary can land on either side if the time is slightly off. The nakshatra finder works it out from your date, time and place of birth.
Calculated with the Lahiri ayanamsa and whole sign houses; every setting is on the method page. Last checked 2026-10-04.