Meaning
Rohini is named for its star, Aldebaran, the reddish eye of the Bull: the name means "the red one".
The best-known story of the nakshatras is Rohini's. The Mahabharata and the Harivamsa make the 27 the daughters of Daksha, all married to the Moon, who loved Rohini more than her sisters; their father cursed him to waste away, and the gods softened the curse to the waning of each month. It is told as lore, and it explains the Moon's round of the mansions.
Modern readings make Rohini the field that bears: growth, fertility, beauty, attraction and the comfort of good things, with possessiveness as the shadow side. Chandra, the Moon, is its lord in the Vimshottari order, and the Moon's own exaltation, at 3° Vrishabha, lies just before it, inside Krittika.
Deity and emblem
Its deity is Prajapati, the lord of creatures, whom later books also call Brahma, the creator. The Taittiriya Samhita gives Prajapati, so the deity is the same in the Vedic list and today.
The modern emblem is an ox cart. The medieval lists give a wain or cart, and some of them a temple, so the cart has a long history.
In the chart
Rohini runs from 10°00′ Vrishabha to 23°20′ Vrishabha of the sidereal zodiac, the fourth of 27 equal parts of 13°20′. It lies wholly within Vrishabha (Taurus). Its four padas of 3°20′ fall in the navamsas of Mesha, Vrishabha, Mithuna and Karka, so a graha in its first pada stands in Mesha in the D9.
Its Vimshottari lord is Chandra, whose period is ten years. When the Moon stands here at birth, the reckoning opens in Chandra's period and counts only the part still to run, in proportion to the part of Rohini the Moon has yet to cross. In 2026 the same stretch of sky is about 4°13′ Gemini to 17°33′ Gemini in the tropical zodiac, by the Lahiri measure; another ayanamsa moves the edges, and a Moon or lagna within a few minutes of arc of an edge can fall in the neighbouring nakshatra in another tool.
Correspondences
Each item with how it stands: “sourced” is in the work cited, “our construction” is EsoTerrier’s own, and “disputed” means the sources disagree.
- Deity, as used today
- Prajapati (Brahma), the creator sourced
- Deity in the Taittiriya Samhita (iv.4.10)
- Prajapati sourced
- Symbol, the modern tradition's
- ox cart sourced
- Figure in the medieval lists (Burgess, 1860)
- a wain or cart; by some a temple sourced
- Themes in modern readings, our summary
- growth, fertility, beauty and attraction, with possessiveness as the shadow our construction
How the schools read it
- The Vedic lists (Taittiriya Samhita iv.4.10, Keith 1914)
- Prajapati, as today; the Taittiriya list begins with Krittika.
- The medieval lists (Burgess and Whitney, 1860)
- The figure of the asterism: a wain or cart; by some a temple, after the Ratnamala and the Muhurta Chintamani.
- Modern Jyotisha
- Growth, fertility, beauty and attraction, with possessiveness as the shadow; its symbol: ox cart.
- The 28-nakshatra scheme
- Abhijit, in the stars of Lyra, stands between Uttara Ashadha and Shravana in the older lists; the equal division into 27 leaves it out.
- Western sidereal (Fagan-Bradley)
- The same 27 divisions, about 0°53′ further on than Lahiri's; Western siderealists rarely use them.
- EsoTerrier
- Our chart's text for a Moon here: "Ruled by Chandra, Rohini is the red star of growth, beauty and fertile creativity, often described as the Moon's favorite. Its energy is attractive, artistic and nurturing, and staying generous rather than possessive keeps that richness flowing." Our words.
Claims about it
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Rohini's deity and symbol are one fixed set handed down from the Vedas.
disputedWhat the record shows: The deity, Prajapati (Brahma), is the same in the Taittiriya Samhita (iv.4.10) and today, but five other nakshatras have different deities in different Vedic lists. The symbol, ox cart, is the modern tradition's; here it matches the figure of the medieval lists, a wain or cart; by some a temple.
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The nakshatra is a constellation, 13°20′ wide.
falseWhat the record shows: The nakshatras began as star groups of unequal size, 28 in the Atharvaveda with Abhijit. The equal division into 27 parts of 13°20′ is a later convention; the name points at stars, the division is arithmetic.
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Rohini is the favourite of the Moon among the 27 daughters of Daksha.
told as loreWhat the record shows: The story of the Moon and his wives explains the monthly round; we tell it as lore.
