Ashwini Nakshatra (अश्विनी)

Ashwini belongs to the Ashwini Kumaras, the twin horsemen who are physicians to the gods. In the Vedas they arrive at dawn on a golden chariot and rescue those in danger: they restore sight to the blind, youth to the aged sage Chyavana, and pull the drowning Bhujyu from the sea. The nakshatra carries their speed and their gift for healing.

Your janma (birth) nakshatra is the one the Moon occupied when you were born. It is read as the clearest picture of the mind and temperament. When the Moon is in Ashwini:

Quick, spirited and eager to begin, you are a natural starter who acts while others are still deliberating. There is a healer’s instinct in you, a wish to fix, rescue and restore. Finishing what you start is the lifelong lesson.

People with the Moon in Ashwini move first and think on the way. They are fresh, frank and youthful at any age, impatient with delay and quick to help. The same speed that makes them good in an emergency makes routine hard for them, and their lives often have many new beginnings.

The nakshatra is one layer of a chart. The sign the Moon is in, the planets aspecting it and the rest of the chart all change how these traits show.

Medicine and emergency care, sport, transport and anything to do with horses or vehicles, start-ups, and any field where speed counts more than ceremony.

Warm, direct and loyal, but they need room to move. A partner who is slow or controlling frustrates them; one who shares their pace brings out their generosity.

Each nakshatra is divided into four padas (quarters) of 3°20′. Each pada falls in a navamsa sign, which colours the nakshatra with that sign's temperament. This is why two people born in the same nakshatra can read quite differently.

In the naming tradition (namakarana) followed across India and Nepal, a child's name begins with the syllable of the pada the Moon occupied at birth. For Ashwini the four syllables are:

You need the pada, not just the nakshatra, so the birth time matters. A few panchangs differ by a syllable, so families often follow the one their priest uses. Find the nakshatra and pada for a birth.

The average guna milan score between Ashwini and each other nakshatra, taken over every Moon position in both and counted either way round. A real match depends on the exact padas and on who is the bride, so use these as a guide and check the exact pair.

The Vimshottari dasha, the most widely used timing system in Vedic astrology, starts from the Moon's nakshatra. If you were born with the Moon in Ashwini, your first mahadasha is Ketu's, which lasts 7 years in full. Only the part the Moon had not yet travelled through Ashwini remains at birth: a Moon early in the nakshatra leaves most of the period to run, and a Moon near its end leaves little.

Calculate your own dasha periods with exact dates, down to the prana dasha.

Deva gana, the "divine" temperament: gentle, idealistic and generous by nature.

Its yoni, the animal that stands for a nakshatra's instinctive nature, is the horse. Both gana and yoni are among the eight factors (kootas) compared in traditional kundli matching. Ashwini shares the horse yoni with Shatabhisha, the best yoni match. Its sworn enemy is the buffalo, the yoni of Hasta and Swati, which scores no yoni points in matching.

In muhurta, the choosing of auspicious times, Ashwini is classed as swift (kshipra): favoured for quick undertakings, trade, learning, medicine and short journeys.