Character
Krittika is the third nakshatra and the first one to straddle a boundary. It begins 3°20′ before the end of Mesha, at 26°40′, and runs on to 10°00′ of Vrishabha. Its first pada is in Mesh Rashi; the remaining three are in Vrishabh Rashi, where the Moon is exalted. A Moon in Krittika therefore has two possible Rashis, and which one she holds depends on the pada.
A Moon in Krittika at birth is read as a sharp, discriminating and direct mind. The nakshatra is described as one that cuts, separates and purifies: it sees flaws quickly, says what it sees and holds high standards for itself and for others. The warm side of that is protectiveness and a readiness to defend; the hard side is a tongue and a temper that can burn. Its lord, the Sun, adds a reading of pride, visibility and a wish to be the one who leads.
Krittika belongs to the rakshasa gana, the class of the rakshasas, and its nature is mishra, mixed. The two labels fit a nakshatra read as capable of both warmth and severity, the way fire can both cook a meal and burn a house.
Lord and dasha
The Sun is the lord of Krittika, and of Uttara Phalguni and Uttara Ashadha as well. The Vimshottari cycle gives the Sun 6 years, the shortest portion of the 120.
A birth with the Moon in Krittika begins in that short mahadasha, and at most six years pass before the next one starts. If the Moon had nearly crossed the nakshatra, in its last degrees of Vrishabha, the Sun’s share is only a matter of months. The Moon’s 10 years come after it, then Mars’s 7, and the rest of the cycle follows in the usual order.
In the sequence of the 27, Krittika comes straight after Bharani, whose dasha belongs to Venus and runs 20 years. The two neighbours therefore open a life with the longest and the shortest of the nine periods. Rohini comes next.
Deity and symbol
The deity of Krittika is Agni, the fire. Varahamihira’s Brihat Samhita names him by the epithet dahana, and the Muhurta Chintamani by vahni. Through Agni the nakshatra is read as connected with heat, purification and the transforming of what is offered into the flame.
The symbol is a razor or a flame. The Muhurta Chintamani, for its part, gives the shape as a razor, kṣura, a barber’s razor. The two images fit different sides of the nakshatra: the flame lights, warms and consumes, the razor trims close and leaves a clean edge. Together they are read as clarity bought at the price of some loss.
Gana, yoni and nature
Krittika belongs to the rakshasa gana. Eight other nakshatras share it, among them Ashlesha, Magha and Mula.
The yoni of Krittika is the sheep. According to the Muhurta Chintamani it is paired with Pushya under that animal. Raman’s Muhurtha then makes Krittika the female sheep and Pushya the male. Gana and yoni are two of the eight kootas of marriage matching.
Its nature is mishra, mixed, which it shares with Vishakha alone. In the Muhurta Chintamani the mixed class is given rites of fire, works that are part one thing and part another, and the vrishotsarga, the ritual freeing of a bull. Varahamihira’s verses say simply that results under these stars come out mixed. The label can be read as a description of Krittika’s double nature.
Padas and name letters
The sign boundary falls after Krittika’s first pada. That pada, 26°40′ to 30°00′ of Mesha, is in the Dhanu navamsa. The three padas in Vrishabha are in Makara (0°00′ to 3°20′), Kumbha (to 6°40′) and Meena (to 10°00′), so the navamsas run Dhanu to Meena, four signs in a row.
A Moon in the first pada has Mesha as her Rashi and the syllable A. In the next three she has Vrishabha and takes I, U or E. The four syllables are A, I, U and E, from Govinda’s commentary on the Muhurta Chintamani, and in Namakarana a name starts with the one for the pada the Moon held at birth, a custom of naming that says nothing about the person who carries it. The kundli calculator finds that pada from a date, time and place.
In Prashna and muhurta
Krittika’s two Rashis shape a Prashna reading. In the first pada the Moon is in Mesha, where Mars is the lord. In the other three she is in Vrishabha, where Venus is the lord. The Moon is exalted there, and the condition of the sign lord is weighed with her. The chart is cast for the moment of asking, with the Lagna as the asker and the Moon as the mind behind the question and the course of the matter. A question that asks for a decision, a clearing-out or a clean break suits the razor and the flame, and a Moon in Krittika can be read as a question with an edge.
In the Muhurta Chintamani the mixed class holds the rites of fire, and Krittika and Vishakha are its only two members. Krittika is therefore tied to fire twice over, through its deity and through the works of its class.
In the AstroGPT chat the same method runs at your location and the minute you send the message, and the horary astrology guide sets it out.
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