Shravana nakshatra: traits, padas, lord and compatibility

Shravana is the twenty-second of the 27 nakshatras, spanning 10° to 23°20′ of Makara, ruled by the Moon in the Vimshottari scheme and presided over by Vishnu. Its name comes from the Sanskrit for hearing, and it is the star of listening, learning and passing on what has been heard. It follows Uttara Ashadha and leads into Dhanishta.

This page covers the deity and symbol, the star's nature, its four padas, the Moon and lagna here, the dasha at birth, work, relationships, matching and muhurta, and ends with a worked example. The panel above lists its correspondences.

Deity and symbol

Shravana has two symbols, and both point to Vishnu. The first is the ear. Vedic knowledge is called shruti, "that which is heard", because it was handed down by recitation from teacher to student for centuries before it was written. A star named for hearing and ruled by the preserver of the world is read as the keeper of what is worth remembering.

The second symbol is three footprints. In the Puranic story, Vishnu came as Vamana, a small Brahmin boy, to King Mahabali, who had won the three worlds. Vamana asked only for as much land as he could cover in three steps. When the king agreed, Vamana grew to cosmic size as Trivikrama: one step covered the earth, the second the heavens, and the third came to rest on Mahabali's head, sending him to rule the netherworld. The story is about order restored through patience and a small, well-chosen request rather than force.

Together they describe someone who learns by listening, waits for the right moment, and achieves a great deal through modest, steady means.

The star is also woven into the calendar. The lunar month of Shravan takes its name from the full Moon near this star, and that full Moon is the day of Raksha Bandhan and, in many communities, of the yearly renewal of the sacred thread. In Kerala, Thiruvonam is the Malayalam name for Shravana, and Onam is celebrated when the Moon reaches it in the month of Chingam, recalling Mahabali's yearly return.

Nature: gana, yoni and nadi

• Gana: deva (divine). The deva gana is read as gentle, idealistic and inclined towards duty and good conduct.
• Yoni: monkey. Shravana shares the monkey with Purva Ashadha. The monkey is quick, social and a gifted imitator, which suits a star that learns by watching and listening.
• Nadi: antya. The third of the three nadis, which matters mainly in matching.

The strengths show as behaviour. Shravana natives listen well and remember what they hear. They are good students and, later, patient teachers. They respect tradition and know the family stories, and they are often the person who keeps a group in touch. They notice what people say and how they say it, so they make good mediators.

The shadow side is the same receptiveness overdone. Listening to everyone can become reluctance to state a view; a wish to keep the peace can become saying what others want to hear; and sensitivity to what is said about them can make them guarded. In the words of the site's nakshatra table, the growth edge is speaking their own mind.

The four padas

Pada 1 (10° to 13°20′ Makara), Mesha navamsa. Mars's sign adds drive and initiative to a listening star. This pada learns quickly and then wants to act on what it has learned.

Pada 2 (13°20′ to 16°40′ Makara), Vrishabha navamsa. Venus's earth sign gives steadiness, a love of comfort and a good ear for music and language. It is the most settled and practical of the four.

Pada 3 (16°40′ to 20° Makara), Mithuna navamsa. Mercury's sign makes this the most communicative pada: curious, talkative, good with words, languages and information.

Pada 4 (20° to 23°20′ Makara), Karka navamsa. The Moon's own sign in the navamsa. This pada is the most caring and the most attached to home and family, and it feels the moods of others keenly.

None of Shravana's padas is vargottama, because the star sits wholly in Makara and its navamsas run from Mesha to Karka.

The naming tradition gives the four padas the syllables Ju, Je, Jo and Gha. It is a custom that many families follow and many adapt; spellings vary by region, and nothing in the chart depends on whether a name follows it.

Moon in Shravana (janma nakshatra)

Shravana is one of the Moon's own three nakshatras, with Rohini and Hasta, so the Moon here works in familiar territory. The mind is receptive, attentive and thoughtful. It takes in a great deal before it speaks, and it remembers conversations long after others have forgotten them.

The sign is always Makara, a sign the Moon counts as neutral by the dignity table. Makara brings seriousness and ambition, and the Moon brings feeling, so the result is a person who cares about doing things properly and about how others see that work. Reputation matters to a Shravana Moon; so does the approval of elders and teachers.

These natives often feel most at home in settings with structure and continuity: an institution, a family business, a field with a long tradition. Change unsettles them when it comes without explanation, and steadies them when someone takes the time to explain why.

When the lagna falls in Shravana, the same qualities show in manner: attentive, courteous, a good listener who comes across as calm and well informed.

Dasha at birth

Shravana belongs to the Moon, so a Moon here begins life in the Moon's mahadasha, which lasts ten years in full. How much remains at birth depends on how much of the nakshatra the Moon still has to cross: a Moon at the start of the star has nearly the whole ten years ahead, and one near its end has only a little. Multiply the fraction still to run by ten to find the balance.

After the Moon comes Mars (7 years), then Rahu (18) and Jupiter (16). Childhood therefore opens with the Moon's emphasis on home, mother and feeling, and moves into Mars's more active period in the school years. The Chandra page explains how the Moon's period is read, and the Vimshottari lesson explains the full cycle.

Work and money

Shravana suits work that depends on listening, learning and passing knowledge on. As tendencies rather than prescriptions:

• Teaching and scholarship: teaching at any level, research, libraries, archives and editing.
• Language and sound: translation, broadcasting, music, audio and anything where the ear is the instrument.
• Counselling and mediation: advice, counselling, customer care, human resources and negotiation, where hearing people out comes first.
• Tradition and travel: religious and cultural work, guiding, and travel connected with learning or pilgrimage.

Makara adds an interest in standing and steady progress, so Shravana natives often build careers inside institutions and rise through them. With money they are careful and conventional. They save, respect family property and prefer secure income to a gamble, though they can be talked into helping others more than is wise.

Relationships

In relationships Shravana is attentive and devoted. It remembers what a partner said months ago, notices a change of mood quickly and works hard to keep the peace. Family matters a great deal, and a partner is expected to respect the wider family too.

The friction comes from what goes unsaid. A Shravana native may listen to a partner's complaints and agree, while quietly disagreeing, and the difference comes out much later. Saying "I see it differently" early, and trusting that the relationship can carry a disagreement, keeps things honest. Partners who ask for their opinion directly bring out the best in them.

Compatibility and matching

The table below takes each of the 27 nakshatras as a partner's birth star and shows Tara, Yoni, Gana and Nadi against Shravana:

Tara counts from one birth star to the other and back again. A count that leaves a remainder of 3, 5 or 7 when divided by nine is unfavourable. The koota gives 3 points when both directions are favourable, 1.5 when one is and 0 when neither is. For Shravana, nine stars score the full 3 and the other eighteen score 1.5 by the rule this site uses.

Yoni compares the two animals, out of 4. Monkey with monkey, Shravana or Purva Ashadha, scores 4. The monkey and the sheep are a traditional enemy pair, so Krittika and Pushya score 0. The horse stars (Ashwini, Shatabhisha), elephant stars (Bharani, Revati), cat stars (Punarvasu, Ashlesha) and the mongoose (Uttara Ashadha) score 3; the tiger stars Chitra and Vishakha score 1.

Gana compares temperaments, out of 6. With another deva star the score is 6; with a manushya star it is 6 or 5, depending on which chart is counted as the boy's, because the traditional table is not symmetrical; with a rakshasa star it is 1, which the tradition reads as a difference in style rather than a fault.

Nadi checks whether both stars share a nadi, out of 8. Shravana is antya, like Krittika, Rohini, Ashlesha, Magha, Swati, Vishakha, Uttara Ashadha and Revati. A partner born in any of these, or in Shravana itself, gives Nadi dosha, a score of 0. Astrologers check exceptions before reading it as a bar, and schools differ on which exceptions apply.

These four are part of the eight-koota Ashtakoot method, and Ashtakoot is a screen, never a verdict on two people. The matching lesson explains all eight.

In muhurta

Shravana is one of the five movable (chara) nakshatras, with Punarvasu, Swati, Dhanishta and Shatabhisha. Movable stars are chosen for undertakings that involve movement: setting out on a journey, buying or first using a vehicle, moving goods, and work that is meant to keep going rather than stay put. A muhurta weighs the tithi, the weekday and other factors as well; the star is one part of the choice. The muhurta lesson explains the daily tables.

Some older schemes count a 28th star, Abhijit, across the end of Uttara Ashadha and the opening of Shravana. The 27-star scheme used for dashas and matching leaves it out, as this site does.

A worked example

Take a Moon at 15°50′ Makara. This is an illustrative position, not a real person.

1. Nakshatra. Makara begins at 270°, so the Moon is at 285°50′. Shravana runs from 280° to 293°20′, so the Moon is in Shravana. As a check, 285°50′ ÷ 13°20′ = 21.44, and the 22nd nakshatra (index 21) is Shravana.
2. Pada. The distance into the star is 285°50′ − 280° = 5°50′. Each pada is 3°20′, so pada 2 runs from 3°20′ to 6°40′ of the star. 5°50′ falls in pada 2, which in Makara is 13°20′ to 16°40′.
3. Navamsa and syllable. Pada 2 of Shravana falls in Vrishabha navamsa, and its syllable by the common list is "Je".
4. Dasha at birth. The Moon has covered 5°50′ of 13°20′, that is 350′ of 800′, or 0.4375 of the star. The fraction still to run is 0.5625, and 0.5625 × 10 = 5.625 years: about 5 years and 7½ months of Moon mahadasha remain at birth, followed by Mars's seven years.

The reading: a Makara mind that plans carefully, with Shravana's listening and memory, a Vrishabha navamsa that adds steadiness and a good ear, and a childhood opening in the Moon's own period. The growth edge is the star's own: speaking their own mind.

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