Nakshatra 14 of 27

Chitraచిత్త

The made thing that shines — design, form and brilliance.

Ruling planet

Mars

Deity

Tvashtar / Vishwakarma, the divine architect

Symbol

A bright jewel, a pearl

Gana

Rakshasa (fierce)

Nature

Mridu — tender

Sidereal span

Kanya 23° 20′ – Tula 6° 40′

About Chitra

Chitra means 'the brilliant', 'the many-coloured'. Its deity is Vishwakarma, the architect of the gods, and the nakshatra governs design, architecture, ornament and the impulse to make things beautiful as well as functional. Spica, its star, is one of the brightest in the sky, and the ayanamsa most panchangams use — Chitrapaksha — is defined by it. Chitra carries a strong aesthetic sense and a corresponding concern with appearance.

What it traditionally favours

Architecture and design, buying jewellery and ornaments, artistic work, and anything where form matters as much as function.

The four padas

Every nakshatra is divided into four quarters called padas, each three degrees twenty minutes wide. The pada refines the reading: two people born under the same nakshatra but in different padas are held to differ meaningfully, because each pada falls in a different navamsa and so carries a different sub-influence.

The pada also decides the first syllable of a child's name. Where the moon stood at birth gives the nakshatra; which quarter of it gives the syllable. The four syllables below are in pada order — a child born in the first pada takes the first, and so on. This is the naming convention used at namakaranam across most of southern India.

1. 1Pe23° 20′ →
2. 2Po26° 40′ →
3. 3Ra30° 00′ →
4. 4Ri33° 20′ →