Where Purva Bhadrapada sits in the zodiac
It is shared between Aquarius and Pisces: the first 10°00′ lie in Aquarius and the remaining 3°20′ in Pisces. In degrees, Purva Bhadrapada stretches from 320.00 to 333.33, which reads 20°00′ Aquarius to 3°20′ Pisces.
The ayanamsa in use is Lahiri, near 24 degrees 13 minutes in 2026, which is the gap between Western and Vedic signs. The 27 parts are equal at 13 degrees 20 minutes each. The 27 divisions are slices of the ecliptic, not the outlines of constellations. The traditional stars are Markab and Scheat, two of the four corners of the Great Square of Pegasus, the winged horse. On the circle it follows Shatabhisha and comes before Uttara Bhadrapada. The signs it touches are Aquarius and Pisces.
The name Purva Bhadrapada
Bhadrapada means 'good feet' or 'the feet of a stool', and Purva means 'former', so the name is 'the former Bhadrapada'. It is the twenty-fifth nakshatra and lies between Aquarius and Pisces.
Deity and symbol
Its deity is Aja Ekapada, 'the one-footed goat', an old Vedic god linked to the sky and the storm, who in one telling of the Rigveda is pictured holding up the sky.
The symbol is the front legs of a cot, or a two-faced man, sometimes drawn as a sword. Its twin, Uttara Bhadrapada, has the back legs.
Ruling planet and the Vimshottari dasha
Every nakshatra has a Vimshottari ruling planet, and the nine planets take their turns three times in all around the circle of 27. Purva Bhadrapada belongs to Jupiter, whose full dasha lasts 16 years.
With the Moon in Purva Bhadrapada at birth, life starts inside Jupiter's dasha and only the unused part is counted. At the first degree nearly all 16 years remain, at the midpoint 8, and at the last degree almost none. After Jupiter the order runs Saturn, Mercury, Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars and Rahu. The other nakshatras ruled by Jupiter are Punarvasu and Vishakha. The dasha calculator shows the balance for your own chart.
The four padas of Purva Bhadrapada
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 (20°00′ Aquarius to 23°20′ Aquarius) belongs to Aries in the navamsha chart. Its syllable is Se.
The second pada (23°20′ Aquarius to 26°40′ Aquarius) belongs to Taurus in the navamsha chart. Its syllable is So.
Pada 3: 26°40′ Aquarius to 30°00′ Aquarius, navamsha Gemini, syllable Da.
Pada 4 starts at 0°00′ Pisces. It falls in the navamsha sign Cancer, and its naming syllable is Di.
The first pada of Uttara Bhadrapada then starts at Leo. Syllables follow the commonly printed lists, and regional lists differ slightly.
Purva Bhadrapada in the sky and in the year
The Sun is in Purva Bhadrapada from 5 March 2026 until 18 March 2026 in 2026, by Indian time. Muhurta texts file this star under Ugra (intense). The Moon crosses a nakshatra in about a day, between roughly 21 and 27 hours depending on how fast it is moving.
Purva Bhadrapada beside its neighbours
Pada by pada, Aquarius and Pisces takes padas 1 to 3 and pada 4, so a Moon in Purva Bhadrapada can be in either of two signs. Counted from Ketu at year 0, the 120-year cycle reaches Jupiter at year 68, and the Jupiter period ends at year 84. Purva Bhadrapada is the third of the three nakshatras Jupiter rules, each 120 degrees apart.
Shatabhisha comes just before and is ruled by Rahu. Uttara Bhadrapada comes just after and is ruled by Saturn. Shatabhisha is Chara (movable) while Purva Bhadrapada is Ugra (intense); Uttara Bhadrapada is Dhruva (fixed). Its neighbours carry other deities: Varuna, the god of the cosmic waters at Shatabhisha, Ahir Budhnya, the serpent of the deep at Uttara Bhadrapada.
How to find out if your Moon is in Purva Bhadrapada
Look at the Moon's sidereal longitude at birth. A reading from 320.00 up to 333.33 degrees means the Moon was in Purva Bhadrapada. 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.