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Rashi and nakshatra calculator: find your Moon sign and birth star
Enter your date and time of birth to find the sign and the nakshatra the Moon was in. Every answer comes from the Jyotishi Vani engine, the same calculation the app uses, and your details never leave your device.
Your birth details
In short
Your rashi is the sign the Moon was in when you were born, and your nakshatra (janma nakshatra, or birth star) is which of the 27 lunar mansions it occupied. Both are counted in the sidereal zodiac, so your rashi is often not your Western sun sign. The Moon changes nakshatra about once a day and sign about every two and a quarter days, so the date alone is not always enough: a birth time off by an hour changes the nakshatra for about 1 birth in 12.
What your rashi and nakshatra are used for
The Moon is the reference point for much of Jyotisha, and these two placements feed into most of what an astrologer works out:
- Sade Sati and transits. Saturn’s Sade Sati is counted from your Moon sign, and so are the classical readings of Jupiter, Rahu and Ketu moving through the signs. See Sade Sati dates for every Moon sign and the transit dates.
- Your dasha timeline. The lord of your nakshatra starts your Vimshottari dasha, and how far the Moon had travelled through it sets how much of that first period was left at birth.
- Kundli matching. Gana, nadi, yoni and tara come from the nakshatra, and varna, vashya, graha maitri and bhakoot from the rashi. The guna milan calculator scores all eight from two sets of birth details.
- Daily timing. Tarabala and chandrabala, the classical checks for a good day, count from your birth star and Moon sign.
The guide to the 27 nakshatras lists every nakshatra with its lord, deity, padas, gana, nadi and yoni.
Why your birth time matters
The Moon is the fastest body in the chart: it crosses a pada in about six hours, a nakshatra in about a day and a sign in about two and a quarter days. So the question is not only whether your birth time is right, but how close your birth was to a change. Over 200,000 random births from 1950 to 2010, this is how often an error in the birth time would change each placement:
| Birth time could be off by up to | Pada changes | Nakshatra changes | Rashi changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 minutes | 16.5% | 4.1% | 1.9% |
| 1 hour | 32.9% | 8.1% | 3.7% |
| 2 hours | 65.9% | 16.5% | 7.4% |
Computed by the Jyotishi Vani engine (Lahiri), 200,000 random births, 1950–2010.
That is why the calculator tells you when your birth time is close to a change, and what your nakshatra or rashi would be on the other side of it. If your time is uncertain, a few minutes either way rarely matters; an hour sometimes does.
The 12 rashis
| Rashi | Hindi | English name | Lord |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mesha | मेष | Aries | Mars |
| Vrishabha | वृषभ | Taurus | Venus |
| Mithuna | मिथुन | Gemini | Mercury |
| Karka | कर्क | Cancer | Moon |
| Simha | सिंह | Leo | Sun |
| Kanya | कन्या | Virgo | Mercury |
| Tula | तुला | Libra | Venus |
| Vrishchika | वृश्चिक | Scorpio | Mars |
| Dhanu | धनु | Sagittarius | Jupiter |
| Makara | मकर | Capricorn | Saturn |
| Kumbha | कुंभ | Aquarius | Saturn |
| Meena | मीन | Pisces | Jupiter |
Each name links to that Moon sign’s Sade Sati dates.
Rashi, sun sign and lagna
Three different signs get called “your sign”. Western horoscopes use the sun sign in the tropical zodiac. Vedic astrology uses the sidereal zodiac, about 24°13′ behind it in 2026, and gives most weight to the rashi (Moon sign) and the lagna (rising sign). The lagna needs your exact birthplace as well as the time, and it changes about every two hours, so it is part of the full kundli rather than this calculator. Vedic vs Western astrology explains why the signs differ.
How the calculator works
It uses the conventions of the app: the sidereal zodiac with the Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) ayanamsa and the Moon’s true position, worked out for the centre of the Earth. The Jyotishi Vani engine computed the exact minute the Moon entered each of the 108 padas from 1920 to 2049, and the calculator looks your birth up in those tables, so its answer matches the app’s. Your birthplace time zone is applied with its history, including daylight saving abroad and India’s +6:30 wartime clocks of 1941–45. The dasha dates are given to the month, as “about”, because a few minutes of birth time move them by days.
How Jyotishi Vani works sets out the method behind every reading.
Frequently asked
How do I find my rashi?
Your rashi is the sign the Moon was in when you were born, counted in the sidereal zodiac that Vedic astrology uses. Enter your date of birth, the time and the time zone of your birthplace in the calculator above. If you do not know the time, it shows every sign and nakshatra the Moon passed through on that date, with the times it changed.
What is my rashi if I do not know my birth time?
The Moon spends about two and a quarter days in each sign, so on many dates the rashi is the same all day and the calculator can tell you for certain. It changes nakshatra about once a day, so the nakshatra more often depends on the time. Even a rough time helps: an error of up to an hour changes the rashi for only about 1 birth in 27.
Is my rashi the same as my zodiac sign?
Usually not. The zodiac sign in Western horoscopes is the Sun's sign in the tropical zodiac. Your rashi is the Moon's sign in the sidereal zodiac, which runs about 24°13′ behind the tropical one (Lahiri, 1 January 2026). Your Sun, Moon and rising sign are three different things, and Vedic astrology gives the Moon sign and the rising sign the most weight.
Why does another website or almanac give me a different nakshatra?
Three reasons account for almost every difference. Some use another ayanamsa: Raman’s runs 1°27′ behind Lahiri, about two and a half hours of the Moon’s motion, while KP differs by only about 6′ (values for 1 January 2026). Some get the time zone wrong for births abroad or in daylight-saving periods, or for India in 1941–45, when wartime clocks ran an hour ahead. And births close to a change are sensitive to the minute. The calculator says when your birth time is close to a change.
What is a pada?
Each nakshatra of 13°20′ is divided into four padas (quarters) of 3°20′, which makes 108 padas around the zodiac, nine to every sign. The pada sets the Moon’s place in the navamsa (D9) chart, and in many families it suggests the first syllable of a child’s name.
Does my place of birth matter?
For the rashi and nakshatra, only through its time zone. They are worked out for the centre of the Earth, as in the app, so two people born at the same moment in Delhi and Chennai share both. Your lagna (rising sign) is different: it depends on the exact place and changes about every two hours, which is why the full kundli asks for your birthplace.