Nakshatra 17 of 27

Anuradha nakshatra

Anuradha is the 17th of the 27 nakshatras. It spans 3°20′ to 16°40′ of sidereal Scorpio, is ruled by Saturn, and its deity is Mitra, the god of friendship. Its symbol is a lotus, its power is devotion, and its themes are friendship, loyalty and blooming in hard or unfamiliar places.

Twenty-Seven · Updated October 5, 2026 · Written with AI help. Positions come from our own chart engine, checked against Swiss Ephemeris.

Anuradha’s symbol: a lotus.

Anuradha at a glance

Name: Anuradha, “after Radha,” the mansion that follows Vishakha (once called Radha)
Position: 3°20′ Scorpio – 16°40′ Scorpio (sidereal, Lahiri)
Sign: Scorpio
Ruling planet: Saturn (its Vimshottari period lasts 19 years)
Deity: Mitra: the god of friendship, loyalty and agreements kept
Symbol: a lotus
Shakti: the power of worship and devotion (radhana)
Themes: devotion, friendship, loyalty, blooming in hard or foreign places
Stars: the Scorpion’s head (Beta, Delta and Pi Scorpii); Delta, Dschubba, is at about 8°43′ sidereal Scorpio

The stars of Anuradha

Anuradha’s stars are the head of the Scorpion: the short arc of Beta, Delta and Pi Scorpii, low in the south on summer evenings. Delta Scorpii, also called Dschubba, sits at about 8°43′ sidereal Scorpio.

A sky detail most pages miss: Antares, the red heart of the Scorpion, is traditionally the star of Jyeshtha, the next mansion. But by sidereal (Lahiri) longitude Antares sits at about 15°54′ Scorpio, just inside the end of Anuradha’s stretch. The mansions were named from star groups, and the equal 13°20′ divisions do not always line up with them exactly.

The 27 lunar mansions. Anuradha, the 17th, is marked in red. The outer ring shows the 12 signs by their Sanskrit names.

The deity and the story

Anuradha’s deity is Mitra, one of the Adityas, the god of friendship, contracts and promises kept. In the Vedas Mitra is paired with Varuna: Varuna watches over cosmic law, and Mitra over the bonds between people.

Its symbol is the lotus, which roots in mud and opens clean above the water. The name means “after Radha”: Vishakha, the mansion before it, was once called Radha, so Anuradha is the one that follows.

What Anuradha is about

Anuradha’s shakti is radhana, the power of worship and devotion. Read as a clock, it marks seasons of loyalty and of making a place for yourself where you did not start: new cities, new groups, new work.

When the Moon sat here at birth, the old texts describe someone who builds friendships carefully and keeps them, who can be devoted to a person, a cause or a practice, and who often does well far from home. Saturn, its ruler, adds patience and staying power: the lotus takes its time.

It sits in Scorpio, the sign where the Moon is debilitated in classical rules. That does not make it bad. It makes the feelings run deep and private, steadied by Saturn’s discipline.

The four padas of Anuradha

Each nakshatra splits into four quarters of 3°20′, called padas. Each pada falls in a navamsa sign (the ninth-part chart), which colors how the mansion’s theme comes out.

Anuradha’s four padas and their navamsa signs. Red lines are sign boundaries.

Pada 1 (3°20′–6°40′ Scorpio, Leo navamsa): devotion that wants to be seen. Leadership in a group, warmth, pride.
Pada 2 (6°40′–10°00′ Scorpio, Virgo navamsa): devotion as service. Careful work, health, getting the details right.
Pada 3 (10°00′–13°20′ Scorpio, Libra navamsa): devotion through partnership. Diplomacy, fairness, close friendships.
Pada 4 (13°20′–16°40′ Scorpio, Scorpio navamsa): devotion at full depth. Intense, private, loyal to the end.

The Moon in Anuradha

Someone born with the Moon in Anuradha starts the Vimshottari periods in a Saturn period, 19 years in full, the longest but one. In Twenty-Seven those periods are “eras” and “chapters”: stretches of time with a texture, not verdicts.

The Moon passes through Anuradha about once every 27.3 days and stays about a day. At noon UTC it is in Anuradha on Oct 14, Nov 10, Dec 7, Dec 8, Jan 4 (2026), from our chart engine. To check your own birth Moon, use the nakshatra calculator.

Questions people ask

What is Anuradha nakshatra known for?

Friendship, loyalty and devotion. Its deity is Mitra, the god of friendship and promises, and its symbol is a lotus that blooms out of mud.

Which sign is Anuradha in?

Anuradha lies entirely in sidereal Scorpio, 3°20′ to 16°40′. In the Western zodiac the same stretch is roughly 28° Scorpio to 11° Sagittarius today.

What is the ruling planet of Anuradha?

Saturn. A person born with the Moon here begins life in a Saturn period of the Vimshottari dasha.

Is Antares in Anuradha or Jyeshtha?

Tradition gives Antares to Jyeshtha. By sidereal (Lahiri) longitude it falls at about 15°54′ Scorpio, just inside the end of Anuradha.

Was your Moon in Anuradha?

Twenty-Seven finds your Moon’s mansion from your birth date, time and place, then reads it to you from its old stories and talks it through. It is an AI astrologer, and it remembers what you tell it.

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Twenty-Seven is an AI astrologer, not a person. It makes no predictions: in its view the planets are clocks, not controllers.