Meaning
Uttara Bhadrapada is the second of the auspicious feet, in gamma Pegasi and alpha Andromedae, the other two corners of the Square.
Its god is Ahir Budhnya, the serpent of the depths, and modern readings follow him down: the calm of deep water, wisdom and patience, contemplation and a steadiness won the hard way. Our chart's text adds that stepping from reflection into action lets such wisdom be shared.
Shani, Saturn, is its lord in the Vimshottari order, with nineteen years; it is the last of Shani's three nakshatras, after Pushya and Anuradha. It lies wholly within Meena, 3°20′ to 16°40′.
Deity and emblem
Ahir Budhnya is the deity of the second Proshthapadas in the Taittiriya Samhita and today.
The modern emblem is the back legs of a cot, completing the cot begun in Purva Bhadrapada. The medieval lists give twins or a bed, and the Muhurta Chintamani twins.
In the chart
Uttara Bhadrapada runs from 3°20′ Meena to 16°40′ Meena of the sidereal zodiac, the twenty-sixth of 27 equal parts of 13°20′. It lies wholly within Meena (Pisces). Its four padas of 3°20′ fall in the navamsas of Simha, Kanya, Tula and Vrishchika, so a graha in its first pada stands in Simha in the D9.
Its Vimshottari lord is Shani, whose period is nineteen years. When the Moon stands here at birth, the reckoning opens in Shani's period and counts only the part still to run, in proportion to the part of Uttara Bhadrapada the Moon has yet to cross. In 2026 the same stretch of sky is about 27°33′ Pisces to 10°53′ Aries 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
- Ahir Budhnya, the serpent of the deep sourced
- Deity in the Taittiriya Samhita (iv.4.10)
- the serpent of the deep (the second Proshthapadas) sourced
- Symbol, the modern tradition's
- back legs of a cot; no dated source found disputed
- Figure in the medieval lists (Burgess, 1860)
- twins, or a bed (the Muhurta Chintamani: twins) sourced
- Themes in modern readings, our summary
- the calm of deep water: wisdom, patience, contemplation, hard-won steadiness our construction
How the schools read it
- The Vedic lists (Taittiriya Samhita iv.4.10, Keith 1914)
- the serpent of the deep (the second Proshthapadas), as today; the Taittiriya list begins with Krittika.
- The medieval lists (Burgess and Whitney, 1860)
- The figure of the asterism: twins, or a bed (the Muhurta Chintamani: twins), after the Ratnamala and the Muhurta Chintamani.
- Modern Jyotisha
- The calm of deep water: wisdom, patience, contemplation, hard-won steadiness; its symbol: back legs of a cot.
- 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: "Uttara Bhadrapada is ruled by Shani and associated with the calm depths of the ocean floor. Its energy is wise, patient and contemplative, and stepping out of reflection into action helps that hard-won wisdom be shared." Our words.
Claims about it
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Uttara Bhadrapada's deity and symbol are one fixed set handed down from the Vedas.
disputedWhat the record shows: The deity, Ahir Budhnya, 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, back legs of a cot, is the modern tradition's and has no dated source we found; the medieval lists give twins, or a bed (the Muhurta Chintamani: twins).
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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.
