Nakshatra 14 of 27

Chitra nakshatra

Chitra is the 14th of the 27 nakshatras. It spans 23°20′ of sidereal Virgo to 6°40′ of sidereal Libra, is ruled by Mars, and its deity is Vishvakarma, the divine architect. Its symbol is a bright jewel, its power is to gather merit, and its themes are beauty made by design, brilliance and building something striking.

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

Chitra’s symbol: a bright jewel.

Chitra at a glance

Name: Chitra, “bright,” “brilliant” or “many-colored”
Position: 23°20′ Virgo – 6°40′ Libra (sidereal, Lahiri)
Signs: Virgo and Libra
Ruling planet: Mars (its Vimshottari period lasts 7 years)
Deity: Vishvakarma (Tvashtar): the divine architect and craftsman who designs the forms of the world
Symbol: a bright jewel
Shakti: the power to accumulate merit (punya chayani)
Themes: beauty made by design, brilliance, aesthetics, building something striking
Stars: Spica (Alpha Virginis), at 0°00′ sidereal Libra: the star the Lahiri zodiac is set by

The stars of Chitra

Chitra’s star is Spica, the brightest star in Virgo, a blue-white point low in the south on spring evenings. Chitra means “bright.”

Spica matters to the whole sidereal zodiac. The Lahiri ayanamsa, the standard measure in India since the 1950s and the one Twenty-Seven uses, is set so that Spica sits at 0° Libra, splitting Chitra in half. Swiss Ephemeris puts Spica at 29°59′ Virgo on Lahiri’s scale in October 2026, a hair from the line. That is why the system is also called Chitra paksha, “Chitra’s side.”

The 27 lunar mansions. Chitra, the 14th, is marked in red. The outer ring shows the 12 signs by their Sanskrit names.

The deity and the story

Chitra’s deity is Vishvakarma, also called Tvashtar: the architect and craftsman of the gods, who designed their palaces, forged their weapons and shaped the forms of living things.

So Chitra is about design: not raw beauty, but beauty that was made, with tools and on purpose. Its symbol, a bright jewel, is a stone that only shines once someone has cut it.

What Chitra is about

Chitra’s shakti is punya chayani, the power to gather merit. Read as a clock, it marks seasons of making: designing, building, dressing a room or a life with care, and wanting the work to be seen.

When the Moon sat here at birth, the old texts describe a strong eye for form and color, drive (Mars rules the mansion), and a wish to stand out by what one makes. The mansion straddles two signs: the first half in careful, detail-loving Virgo and the second in Libra, which cares about balance, beauty and other people.

The four padas of Chitra

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.

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

Pada 1 (23°20′–26°40′ Virgo, Leo navamsa): the maker who wants to shine. Bold design, pride in the work.
Pada 2 (26°40′–30°00′ Virgo, Virgo navamsa): the craftsman. Precision, technique, getting every detail right.
Pada 3 (0°00′–3°20′ Libra, Libra navamsa): design for others. Harmony, taste, relationships, aesthetics.
Pada 4 (3°20′–6°40′ Libra, Scorpio navamsa): design with depth. Intensity, research, hidden structures.

The Moon in Chitra

A Moon in Chitra can be in Virgo or in Libra, depending on its exact degree. Someone born with the Moon here starts the Vimshottari periods in a Mars period, 7 years in full.

The Moon passes through Chitra about once every 27.3 days and stays about a day. At noon UTC it is in Chitra on Oct 11, Nov 7, Dec 4, Dec 31 (2026), from our chart engine. To check your own birth Moon, use the nakshatra calculator.

Questions people ask

What is Chitra nakshatra known for?

Brilliance and design. Its deity is Vishvakarma, the architect of the gods, and its symbol is a bright jewel.

Which sign is Chitra in?

Both. Chitra runs from 23°20′ sidereal Virgo to 6°40′ sidereal Libra. Padas 1 and 2 are in Virgo; padas 3 and 4 are in Libra.

Why is Spica important in Vedic astrology?

The Lahiri ayanamsa, India’s standard since the 1950s, fixes the sidereal zodiac so that Spica sits at 0° Libra. Every sidereal position measured with Lahiri is measured from that point.

What is the ruling planet of Chitra?

Mars. A person born with the Moon in Chitra begins life in a Mars period of the Vimshottari dasha.

Was your Moon in Chitra?

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.