Foundations of Vedic Astrology

The Wheel of the Sky

One circle, two grids — the 12 rashis and the 27 nakshatras together.

Meet the wheel

The whole sky on one circle. Take a good look — then we'll read it together.

One circle, two grids

That circle is the 360° band the grahas travel through, divided two ways at once:

• the outer ring — the 12 rashis
• the inner ring — the 27 nakshatras

Both begin from the same point: 0° of Mesha.

The broad grid — rashis

The rashis cut the circle into 12 signs of 30°. Add them up and you return to the start: 12 × 30° = 360°.

The fine grid — nakshatras

The nakshatras lay a finer grid over the same circle — 27 mansions of 13°20′, starting with Ashwini at 0° Mesha.

Two grids, one sky

The grids interlock: each 30° rashi holds 2¼ nakshatras.

Give any point in degrees and you can name both its rashi and its nakshatra — two coordinates for one place in the sky.

Terms introduced here

The wheel of the sky

The rashi and nakshatra grids drawn over one 360-degree circle, both starting at 0 degrees Mesha.