Rohini Nakshatra

What is Rohini nakshatra?

Rohini is the 4th of the 27 nakshatras, spanning 40°00' to 53°20' of the zodiac, all in Vrishabha. Its lord is Chandra, its deity Brahma (Prajapati), the creator, and its symbol is a cart or chariot. The name means 'the red one', after its brightest star, Aldebaran, the red eye of the Bull. In the old story Rohini was the favourite of the Moon's twenty-seven wives, which is why the Moon is said to be happiest here.

Which rashi is Rohini in, and who is its lord?

Rohini lies wholly in Vrishabha, Shukra's sign and the sign of Chandra's exaltation. Its own lord is Chandra, and its lord's Vimshottari dasha lasts 10 years. Chandra also rules Hasta and Shravana.

If the Moon was in Rohini at birth, it was in its own nakshatra, and life begins in Chandra's dasha. The balance of those ten years depends on how far the Moon had travelled through Rohini: nearly all of them early in the nakshatra, very little near its end.

What are the four padas of Rohini?

Each pada is 3°20' wide. The four padas fall in the navamsas of Mesha, Vrishabha, Mithuna and Karka. The navamsa (D9) is the chart in which each pada becomes a sign, and it is read for marriage and for the inner strength of a graha. All four padas are in Vrishabha; the second pada is vargottama, Vrishabha in both charts, and the fourth falls in Karka, Chandra's own navamsa. Rohini is not a gandamool nakshatra.

What does tradition say about people born in Rohini?

The texts describe Rohini natives as attractive, steady and fond of comfort. Varahamihira's verse calls them truthful, clean, sweet-spoken, steady of mind and good-looking. Tradition holds that Prajapati gives a talent for making and growing things, and that the cart gives a liking for trade, movement of goods and a full house. The Moon as lord is said to add feeling, taste and a pull towards family. Manushya gana is a practical, worldly temper. The classical caution is attachment: Rohini is said to hold on to people and possessions tightly.

Which careers are traditionally linked with Rohini?

Tradition links Rohini with farming, food, dairy and cattle, with fashion, cosmetics and the arts, and with trade, transport and hospitality. These come from the fertile earth sign, the cart and the Moon. They are associations, not a forecast. Work is read from the 10th house, its lord and the dashas, and the birth nakshatra only shades it.

What does Rohini mean for marriage and kundli matching?

For Ashtakoota matching Rohini is manushya gana, serpent yoni (male) and Antya nadi. Manushya matches fully with manushya, is accepted with deva and scores lowest with rakshasa. Of the 36 points, nadi carries 8, gana 6 and yoni 4. Two Antya nadi Moons is the classical concern, nadi dosha, and the texts give exceptions to it.

Matching only compares two Moons. The marriage itself I read from the 7th house, its lord, Shukra and the dashas. Rohini has a famous reputation as the Moon's favourite, but that is a story about the Moon, not a promise about anyone's marriage.

Which syllables belong to Rohini?

The traditional syllables for the four padas are O, Va, Vi and Vu, in order. Families use the syllable of the Moon's pada to begin a child's name.

What does Rohini not tell you?

A Moon in Rohini sounds like a strong Moon, but the nakshatra does not say whether that Moon is waxing or waning, which house it rules, or what aspects it. A waning Moon in Rohini in the 8th house reads very differently from a full Moon in the 4th. Nor does it tell you the ascendant, which changes every couple of hours. Two people with a Rohini Moon share one line of the chart and little else. I read it from the whole chart.