Chapter 15 - On the Nakṣatras (nakṣatra-vyūha)

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Summary: Allotment of animate and inanimate objects to the several asterisms (nakṣatra).

1. Those who are born on the lunar day of Kṛttikā will delight in white flowers, will perform sacrificial rites, will be Brāhmins, potters, priests or astronomers.^[1]

2. Those who are born on the lunar day of Rohiṇī will be devout men, merchants, rulers, rich men, Yogis, drivers, or men possessed of cows, cattle and the animals of water, farmers and men possessed of wealth derived from mountain produce.

3. Those who are born on the lunar day of Mṛgaśirṣa will delight or deal in perfumes, dress, pearls, flowers, fruits, precious stones, wild beasts, birds and deer; will be Somayajis or singers; will be lascivious; will be good writers or painters.

4. Those who are born on the lunar day of Ārdrā will delight in killing, torturing, lying, in adultery, thieving, cheating and tale-bearing; will deal in pod-grains, black magic, sorcery and exorcism.

5. Those who are born on the lunar day of Punarvasu will be noted for truthfulness, generosity, cleanliness, respectable descent, personal beauty, sense, fame and wealth; they will also be merchants, dealing in excellent articles, will be fond of service and will delight in the company of painters and sculptors.

6. Those who are born on the lunar day of Puṣya will be dealers in barley, wheat, rice, sugar-canes and in the produce of the forest; will be either ministers or rulers; will live by water; will be Sādhus and will delight in sacrificial rites.

7. Those who are born on the lunar day of Āśleṣā, will be dealers in perfumes, roots, fruits, reptiles, serpents and poison; will delight in cheating others of their property; will be dealers in pod grains and will be skilled in medicine of every sort.

8. Those who are born on the lunar day of Maghā will be possessed of wealth, grains and storehouses; will delight in frequenting hills and in the performance of religious rites; will be merchants; will be valiant; will take animal food and will be female haters.

9. Those who are born on the lunar day of Pūrvaphālguni will delight in dance, in young women, in music, in painting, in sculpture and in trade; will be dealers in cotton, salt, honey and oil and will be forever in the enjoyment of the vigour of youth.

8. Those who are born on the lunar day of Uttaraphālguni will be mild, cleanly, modest, heretical, generous and learned; will be dealers in grains; will be wealthy, virtuous and in the company of princes.

11. Those who are born on the lunar day of Hasta will be thieves, dealers in elephants, charioteers, chief ministers, painters, merchants and dealers in pod-grains; learned in the Śāstras and of bright appearance.

12. Those who are born on the lunar day of Citrā will be dealers in jewels, precious stones, fine cloths, writers and singers, manufacturers of perfumes, good mathematicians, weavers, surgeons, oculists and dealers in Rājadhānya.^[2]

13. Those who are born on the lunar day of Svātī will delight in keeping birds, deer, horses; will be grain merchants; dealers in beans; of weak friendship; weak, of abstemious habits and skilled tradesmen.

14. Those who are born on the lunar day of Viśākhā will grow trees yielding red flowers and red fruits; be dealers in gingelly seeds, beans, cotton, black gram and chick peas and worshippers of Indra and Agni.

15. Those who are born on the lunar day of Anurādhā will be valiant; heads of parties; fond of the company of Sādhus, keep vehicles and grow every species of crop.

16. Those who are born on the lunar day of Jyeṣṭhā will be valiant, of good descent, wealthy, famous; disposed to cheat others of their property, fond of travelling, rulers of provinces or commanders of armies.

17. Those who are born on the lunar day of Mūla will be druggists, heads of men, dealers in flowers, roots, fruits and seeds; will be rich and will delight in garden work.

18. Those who are born on the lunar day of Pūrvāṣāḍha will be of gentle manners; fond of sea-voyage, truthful, cleanly and wealthy; will delight in earth work; will be boatmen; will be dealers in fruits and flowers of water.

19. Those who are born on the lunar day of Uttarāṣāḍha will be chief ministers or wrestlers; will keep elephants and horses, will be religious; will be men of principles; soldiers; happy and of bright appearance.

20. Those who are born on the lunar day of Śravaṇa will be cunning, of active habits, efficient workmen, bold, virtuous, god-fearing and truthful.

21. Those who are born on the lunar day of Dhaniṣṭhā will be shameless, of weak friendship, haters of women, generous, rich and free from temptation.

22. Those who are born on the lunar day of Śatabhiṣaj will be fishermen or dealers in fish and hogs; washermen; dealers in wine and birds.

23. Those who are born on the lunar day of Pūrvabhādrapada will be thieves, shepherds, torturers; wicked, mean and deceitful; will possess no virtues; neglect religious rites and will be successful in fight.

24. Those who are born on the lunar day of Uttarabhādrapada will be Brāhmins, performers of sacrificial rights; will be generous, devout, rich and observant of the rules of the holy orders; will be heretics, rulers, dealers in rice.

25. Those who are born on the lunar day of Revatī will be dealers in water-flowers, salt, gems, conch shells, pearls, creatures of water, fragrant flowers and perfumes; they may also be boat-men.

26. Those who are born on the lunar day of Aśvinī will keep horses, will be commanders of army; physicians, servants, dealers in horse, riders, tradesmen or masters of horses.

27. Those who are born on the lunar day of Bharaṇī will deal in precious stones, will be flesh eaters, will be wicked men; will delight in acts of killing and torture; will be dealers in pod grains; will be of low descent or weak-minded.

28. The constellations of Pūrvaphālguni, Pūrvāṣāḍha, Pūrvabhādrapada and Kṛttikā belong to the Brāhmaṇa class; those of Puṣya, Uttaraphālguni, Uttarabhādrapada belong to the Kṣatriya class; those of Revatī, Anurādhā, Maghā and Rohiṇī belong to the Śūdra class.

29. The constellations of Punarvasu, Hasta, Abhijit and Aśvinī belong to the Vaiśya class; those of Mūla, Ārdrā, Svāti and Śatabhiṣaj belong to the butcher class.

30. The constellations of Mṛgaśīrṣa, Jyeṣṭhā, Citrā and Dhaniṣṭhā belong to the serving class; those of Āśleṣā, Viśākhā, Śravaṇa and Bharaṇī belong to the lowest or Cāṇḍāla class.

31. That constellation in which the Sun and Saturn might happen to be together or through which Mars might happen to pass or in which the retrograde motion of a planet might lie or in which a lunar or solar eclipse might take place or through which the moon might pass, will bring misery to the persons and objects it represents. If on the other hand the constellation should be free from any such affection, the same persons or objects will prosper.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Of course, one and the same person cannot be all these; though several characters might belong to him.

[2]:

Rājadhānya: a kind of rice—Panicum frumentaceum.