Rohini nakshatra: traits, padas, lord and compatibility

Rohini is the fourth of the 27 nakshatras, spanning 10° to 23°20′ of Vrishabha, ruled by the Moon (Chandra) in the Vimshottari sequence, with Brahma, the creator, as its deity and a cart or chariot as its symbol. It follows Krittika and gives way at 23°20′ Vrishabha to Mrigashira, and it lies wholly inside Vrishabha.

This page covers Rohini's deity and symbol, its nature, the four padas, what it means as a birth star, the dasha it starts, its place in matching and muhurta, and a worked example. The panel above lists its correspondences, and the nakshatra lesson explains the system as a whole.

Deity and symbol

Rohini means "the red one", and the star at its heart is the bright reddish Aldebaran. In the Puranic story the Moon married the 27 daughters of Daksha, who are the nakshatras, but spent his time with Rohini. The other sisters complained, Daksha's curse made the Moon waste away, and the curse was softened so that he wanes and waxes in turn: the tradition's image of the Moon's monthly cycle. Rohini is remembered as the Moon's favourite, the place where it is most at ease. Tradition also holds that Krishna was born with the Moon in Rohini, which is why the star is linked with Janmashtami.

The deity is Brahma, also called Prajapati, the creator, who brings things into form and makes them grow. The symbol, a cart or chariot, is the image of a harvest carried home and of goods taken to market: steady movement with something valuable on board. Together they make Rohini a star of growth, fertility and accumulation. The site's summary is fertile, attractive, grounded.

Nature: gana, yoni and nadi

Three labels from the matching tables describe Rohini's temperament.

• Gana: Manushya. The human gana is practical and balanced between ideals and appetites. Rohini is at home in ordinary life and good at making it pleasant.
• Yoni: serpent. The serpent is perceptive, sensuous, slow to move until it decides and attached to its own ground. Rohini shares the serpent yoni with Mrigashira.
• Nadi: Antya. The last of the three nadis, traditionally linked with the kapha quality of steadiness and substance.

The strengths show as behaviour. Rohini natives draw people easily, have a good eye for beauty and comfort, and are patient builders, of gardens, businesses, homes and families. They make others feel welcome and tend to be loyal to people and places.

The shadow side comes from the same pull towards keeping what is good: possessiveness, jealousy, resistance to change and a habit of over-indulging in comfort. Things gathered can start to hold the person rather than the other way round. The site's reading names the growth edge: sharing rather than holding.

The four padas

Each pada of 3°20′ is also a navamsa.

Pada 1 (10° to 13°20′ Vrishabha), Mesha navamsa. Mars's fire sign adds drive and initiative to a steady star. This quarter is read as the most enterprising: Rohini's wish to build, with the energy to start.

Pada 2 (13°20′ to 16°40′), Vrishabha navamsa. A Moon here is vargottama, in the same sign in the main chart and the navamsa. This is the most purely Rohini quarter: settled, sensual, practical and patient.

Pada 3 (16°40′ to 20°), Mithuna navamsa. Mercury's air sign adds wit, conversation and trade. This quarter is read as skilled with words, music and the arts of communication.

Pada 4 (20° to 23°20′), Karka navamsa. The Moon's own sign, so the nakshatra lord is at home in the navamsa. This quarter is read as the most caring and home-centred, with feeling for family and the past.

By custom, a child born with the Moon in Rohini is given a name beginning with the pada's syllable: O, Va, Vi or Vu. It is a tradition, not a rule.

Moon in Rohini: the janma nakshatra

When the Moon is in Rohini at birth, Rohini is the janma nakshatra, and the Moon is in its own nakshatra. Add the sign: Vrishabha is the Moon's sign of exaltation, and the site's dignity table counts 4° to 30° of it as the Moon's moolatrikona, so the whole of Rohini lies in that range. Few placements are read as more natural for the Moon.

The mind this describes is calm, receptive and content. A Rohini Moon enjoys good food, music, beautiful things and the company of people it likes, and it tends to create a comfortable atmosphere wherever it settles. It feels deeply but steadily; moods rise and fall more slowly than in most. It is often good with growing things, from plants to savings to children, because it is patient with slow results.

The challenge is that the same contentment resists disturbance. A Rohini Moon can hold on to a person, an opinion or a routine past its season, and can feel unsettled when circumstances change around it. Learning to let things move, and to give away some of what it has gathered, keeps the mind as generous as it is steady. The moon sign lesson explains how sign and nakshatra combine.

When the lagna rather than the Moon falls in Rohini, the same qualities show in appearance and manner: a pleasant presence, an unhurried way of moving and a voice people like to listen to.

Dasha at birth

Because the Moon rules Rohini, a Moon here starts life in the Moon's own mahadasha of ten years. The balance at birth is the fraction of Rohini still ahead of the Moon, multiplied by ten.

A Moon at 11° Vrishabha is 1° into Rohini, with 740′ of 800′ still to cover, so 0.925 × 10 = 9.25 years of Moon dasha remain. A Moon at 22° Vrishabha is 12° in, with 80′ left, so 0.1 × 10 = one year remains. Mars's seven-year mahadasha follows, then Rahu's eighteen. The Moon page describes how its period is read, and the dasha lesson gives the method.

Work and money

Rohini does well where patience, taste and care for growth are rewarded. Common leanings, not prescriptions:

• Growing and feeding: agriculture, horticulture, dairy, food and hospitality.
• Beauty and the arts: fashion, cosmetics, design, music, singing and the decorative arts, where Venus as sign lord adds to the Moon's taste.
• Holding value: banking, property, jewellery and luxury goods, the cart that brings the harvest home.
• Caring for people: customer-facing and public roles, where the Moon's ease with people is the skill.

With money, Rohini is usually a steady saver and a good custodian. The practical habit is to circulate some of what is saved, in giving and in investment, rather than only holding it.

Relationships

In relationships Rohini is affectionate, devoted and sensual. It wants a stable, comfortable bond and will put real effort into making a home. The difficulties are possessiveness and jealousy, and a reluctance to raise problems for fear of disturbing the peace. A partner who is reassuring and consistent suits it, and Rohini's own work is to hold the relationship loosely enough for both people to grow.

Compatibility

The table scores Rohini against each birth star on the four kootas that come from the nakshatras.

• Tara (3 points) counts from one star to the other and back; in the site's method a pair scores 3 or 1.5, never zero. Rohini scores the full 3 with the stars of its own lord, the Moon, and of the Sun and Mars either side: Krittika, Rohini, Mrigashira, Uttara Phalguni, Hasta, Chitra, Uttara Ashadha, Shravana and Dhanishta.
• Yoni (4 points). Serpent with serpent (Rohini, Mrigashira) scores 4. Serpent with horse or elephant scores 3. Serpent and mongoose (Uttara Ashadha) are a traditional enemy pair and score 0.
• Gana (6 points). Manushya with Manushya scores 6, Manushya with Deva 5 or 6 depending on which chart is counted first, and Manushya with Rakshasa 0, which tradition reads as a difference of temperament rather than a fault.
• Nadi (8 points). Rohini is Antya, so a partner whose star is also Antya (Krittika, Rohini, Ashlesha, Magha, Swati, Vishakha, Uttara Ashadha, Shravana or Revati) gives Nadi dosha. Schools differ on its exceptions, and an astrologer checks them before weighing it.

These four are half of the eight kootas; the other four come from the Moon signs. The score compares two Moon positions and is never a verdict on two people. The matching lesson explains all eight.

Rohini in muhurta

Muhurta groups the nakshatras by character. Rohini is a fixed (dhruva) nakshatra, with Uttara Phalguni, Uttara Ashadha and Uttara Bhadrapada. Fixed stars are chosen for beginnings meant to last: laying a foundation, building or entering a house, planting and sowing, and long-term agreements. Rohini also appears in the common lists of stars preferred for weddings. Like every muhurta rule, the nakshatra is weighed with the tithi, the weekday and the chart of the moment. The muhurta lesson explains the everyday tables.

A worked example

Take a Moon at 15°00′ Vrishabha. This is an illustrative position, not a real person.

1. Nakshatra. Rohini runs from 10° to 23°20′ of Vrishabha, so 15°00′ is in Rohini. The distance into the nakshatra is 15°00′ − 10°00′ = 5°00′.
2. Pada. Each pada is 3°20′: pada 1 to 3°20′, pada 2 to 6°40′. 5°00′ falls in pada 2, which in Vrishabha runs from 13°20′ to 16°40′.
3. Navamsa. Rohini's padas map to Mesha, Vrishabha, Mithuna and Karka, so pada 2 gives Vrishabha navamsa. The Moon is in Vrishabha in both charts: vargottama.
4. Syllable. The second syllable of Rohini is Va.
5. Dasha balance. 5°00′ is 300′ of 800′, so 0.375 of Rohini has been travelled. The balance is (1 − 0.375) × 10 = 0.625 × 10 = 6.25 years, six years and three months of the Moon's mahadasha at birth, followed by Mars for 7 years.

The reading: a Moon in its own nakshatra, in its sign of exaltation and moolatrikona range, and vargottama as well, which tradition reads as a settled, contented and steady mind, with Venus as sign lord adding taste and warmth. The growth edge is Rohini's own: sharing rather than holding.

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