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Jyotisha Chart (Sidereal) · Nakshatra 16 of 27

Vishakha, the forked star and the arch of triumph

Vishakha, "the forked" or "two-branched" one, is the sixteenth nakshatra: it lies in the stars of Libra and spans the end of Tula and the start of Vrishchika. Indra and Agni share it as deities in every list, its emblem is a triumphal arch, and Guru is its lord.

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The ring of the 27 nakshatras with Vishakha, number 16, marked from 20°00′ Tula to 3°20′ Vrishchika, its four padas ticked inside the arc; beside it the name in IAST, Viśākhā, and its lord, Guru. 0° Mesha 16 of 27 Vishakha Viśākhā 20°00′ Tula to 3°20′ Vrishchika four padas of 3°20′ lord Guru
Vishakha on the ring of the 27 nakshatras: Ashwini starts at 0° Mesha at the top and the count runs clockwise; the longer ticks are the twelve rashis. Our drawing.

Facts

Position
Nakshatra 16 of 27, counted from Ashwini at 0° Mesha
Name
Vishakha; IAST Viśākhā; विशाखा
The name means
the forked, two-branched
Span, sidereal
20°00′ Tula to 3°20′ Vrishchika
In the tropical zodiac, 2026
about 14°13′ Scorpio to 27°33′ Scorpio, by the Lahiri measure
Vimshottari lord
Guru (Jupiter), 16 years
Padas and their navamsas
1 Mesha · 2 Vrishabha · 3 Mithuna · 4 Karka
Stars of the name
α, β, γ and ι Librae

Meaning

Vishakha means "forked" or "two-branched", and its stars are in the Scales, alpha, beta, gamma and iota Librae; the Vedic lists name it in the dual, the two Vishakhas.

It is the only nakshatra with two gods, Indra and Agni together, and modern readings make it the nakshatra of purpose: determination, ambition, the push towards a chosen goal, and the fork in the road where a choice must be made. Our chart's text adds that enjoying the path as well as the goal keeps such drive from turning restless.

Guru, Jupiter, is its lord, with sixteen years. Its first three padas lie in Tula and its last in Vrishchika.

Deity and emblem

Indra and Agni, king of the gods and the fire, share Vishakha in the Taittiriya Samhita and today.

The modern emblem is a triumphal arch, and the medieval lists give a torana, a decorated gateway, so the image is old.

In the chart

Vishakha runs from 20°00′ Tula to 3°20′ Vrishchika of the sidereal zodiac, the sixteenth of 27 equal parts of 13°20′. It lies across two rashis: its first three padas in Tula and the rest in Vrishchika. 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 Guru, whose period is sixteen years. When the Moon stands here at birth, the reckoning opens in Guru's period and counts only the part still to run, in proportion to the part of Vishakha the Moon has yet to cross. In 2026 the same stretch of sky is about 14°13′ Scorpio to 27°33′ Scorpio 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
Indra and Agni sourced
Deity in the Taittiriya Samhita (iv.4.10)
Indra and Agni (the two Vishakhas) sourced
Symbol, the modern tradition's
triumphal arch sourced
Figure in the medieval lists (Burgess, 1860)
a torana, a decorated gateway sourced
Themes in modern readings, our summary
purpose and the drive toward a goal; the fork where a choice is made our construction

How the schools read it

The Vedic lists (Taittiriya Samhita iv.4.10, Keith 1914)
Indra and Agni (the two Vishakhas), as today; the Taittiriya list begins with Krittika.
The medieval lists (Burgess and Whitney, 1860)
The figure of the asterism: a torana, a decorated gateway, after the Ratnamala and the Muhurta Chintamani.
Modern Jyotisha
Purpose and the drive toward a goal; the fork where a choice is made; its symbol: triumphal arch.
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: "Vishakha, ruled by Guru, means the forked or two-branched one and is associated with focus, ambition and reaching a chosen goal. Its energy is determined and purposeful, and enjoying the path as well as the destination keeps that drive from turning restless." Our words.

Claims about it

  • Vishakha's deity and symbol are one fixed set handed down from the Vedas.

    disputed

    What the record shows: The deity, Indra and Agni, 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, triumphal arch, is the modern tradition's; here it matches the figure of the medieval lists, a torana, a decorated gateway.

  • The nakshatra is a constellation, 13°20′ wide.

    false

    What 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.

Elsewhere on EsoTerrier

Sources

Primary texts (3)
  1. Positional Astronomy Centre, India Meteorological Department, Rashtriya Panchang 1948 Saka (2026-27), online edition: ayanamsa by month, daily nirayana longitudes of the Sun and Moon, explanation page. Government of India, Kolkata, 2026. Official values cited; tables not reproduced. packolkata.imd.gov.in/panchang/index.php/en
  2. Parashara (attributed); tr. R. Santhanam, Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra of Maharshi Parasara, English translation with commentary. Ranjan Publications, New Delhi, 1984. In copyright; facts and chapter numbers only.
  3. Arthur Berriedale Keith (translator), The Veda of the Black Yajus School, entitled Taittiriya Sanhita, part 2 (Kandas IV to VII). Harvard Oriental Series vol. 19, Harvard University Press, 1914. Public domain; the deity list of iv.4.10. archive.org/details/vedaofblackyajus02keit
Studies and other sources (4)
  1. Astrodienst AG (Dieter Koch, Alois Treindl), Swiss Ephemeris programming interface and general documentation (sections 2.2 lunar nodes and apogees, 2.8 sidereal and ayanamsha, 6.3 to 6.4 Vertex and polar houses, Appendix E published ayanamsha values). Astrodienst, Zurich, 2022. Read as documentation only; facts. astro.com/swisseph/swisseph.htm
  2. Wikipedia, Nakshatra. Read 2026-10-12. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakshatra
  3. Wikipedia, Dasha (astrology). Read 2026-10-12. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasha_(astrology)
  4. Ebenezer Burgess (with William Dwight Whitney), Translation of the Surya-Siddhanta, a Text-Book of Hindu Astronomy; with Notes, and an Appendix. Journal of the American Oriental Society 6, 1860. Public domain; the notes to chapter VIII, verse 9. archive.org/details/jstor-592174
Our own research (2)
  1. EsoTerrier (main research agent), Natal and sidereal wheels: research for the rebuild (README, report-main.md, notes/). 2026; research/2026-10-11-natal-sidereal/. Our dated research: tools, names and transliteration, dignities, the claim audit.
  2. EsoTerrier, EsoTerrier chart engine: services/chart/ephemeris.py, calculation.py, jyotish.py, texts.py. 2026; python/esoterrier/esoterrier/services/chart/. Our engine; the readings in it are our own words.
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By EsoTerrier. Written with AI assistance from our research and checked against its sources; last revised 20 October 2026. How we write these pages.

First published ; last revised . Corrections: support@esoterrier.com.