नक्षत्र · Nakshatra 3 of 27 · 26°40′ Meṣa – 10°00′ Vṛṣabha
कृत्तिका Kṛttikā(Krittika)
Data
| Span | 26°40′ Meṣa – 10°00′ Vṛṣabha |
|---|---|
| Lord | सूर्य Sūrya |
| Deity | Agni, god of fire and purification |
| Symbol | A razor or sharp flame |
| Gana | rakshasa |
| Temperament | Sharp and mixed (miśra) — cutting clarity joined to a surprising warmth. |
Krittika cuts to the truth: these natives have a purifying honesty and a discernment that separates the essential from the rest, like a flame refining metal. The same stars nursed the infant Kartikeya — beneath the sharpness lives a fiercely protective, nurturing streak, and their edge serves best when it defends rather than wounds.
Cited fromTaittirīya Brāhmaṇa 1.5BPHS, Chs. 46–49BPHS, Ch. 6Nakshatra tradition
पद · The four padas
| Pada | Reading (by navamsa) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Dhanu navāṁśa (Jupiter): the truth-teller with a philosophy — sharpness in service of principle. |
| 2 | Makara navāṁśa (Saturn): disciplined refinement — patient, structured mastery of the craft. |
| 3 | Kumbha navāṁśa (Saturn): the reformer's blade — clarity applied to collective causes. |
| 4 | Mīna navāṁśa (Jupiter): fire meets water — intuition softens the edge into wise compassion. |
Sources
- Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa 1.5Taittiriya Brahmana 1.5 (with parallels in Taittiriya Samhita 4.4.10 and Atharva Veda 19.7): the Vedic nakshatra lists with their presiding deities. Vedic corpus, public domain.
- BPHS, Chs. 46–49Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (attrib. Maharshi Parashara), Chs. 46–49 (97-chapter recension, R. Santhanam ed.): the Vimshottari dasha as the foremost dasha system — sequence and years (Ketu 7, Venus 20, Sun 6, Moon 10, Mars 7, Rahu 18, Jupiter 16, Saturn 19, Mercury 17; total 120), effects of each graha's dasha, and antardasha doctrine. Sanskrit classic, public domain.
- BPHS, Ch. 6Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (attrib. Maharshi Parashara), Ch. 6 'The Sixteen Divisions of a Rashi' (97-chapter recension, R. Santhanam ed.): the navamsa (D9) scheme underlying the pada framework — each pada of 3°20′ is one navamsa. Sanskrit classic, public domain.
- Nakshatra traditionCommon Jyotish nakshatra doctrine — symbols, the deva/manushya/rakshasa gana classification, and temperament — standardized across muhurta and jataka manuals and consistent from the medieval synthesis treatises (e.g., Jataka Parijata) onward. Editorial synthesis in our own words; no copyrighted translation reproduced.