Chitra चित्रा · pada 1 of 4
Chitra Pada 1 Baby Names — Pe (पे)
The first pada of Chitra runs Virgo 23°20′ – 26°40′ and is assigned the syllable Pe. No established Indian name begins with it, so this page gives the three substitutes the tradition actually uses rather than four invented names.
- Pada
- first of four · Chitra is nakshatra 14 of 27
- Naming syllable
- Pe पे
- Span
- Virgo 23°20′ – 26°40′ · 173°20′ – 176°40′ sidereal
- Moon sign
- Virgo (Kanya) — this nakshatra straddles a boundary, so the pada decides it
- Navamsa
- Leo (Simha) — the 12th navamsa from Virgo
- Names listed
- none — no established name begins this syllable
- Position in Virgo
- the eighth of the sign’s nine pada syllables
- Nakshatra lord
- Mars · presiding deity Vishvakarma · symbol Bright jewel
Why Chitra pada 1 has no name of its own
No established name begins with पे. Pehlaj, Pertam, Pernia and Peshala, printed for this pada across the web, are not names in use. Chitra's other three padas are the practical choice.
Sixteen of the 108 padas are in this position, and the tradition has an answer for it that does not involve inventing a word. The three substitutes are below, resolved into actual names for Chitra pada 1 rather than left as rules.
Where the Virgo naming letters come from
A panchang prints nine syllables against Virgo — To Pa Pi Pu Sha Na Tha Pe Po — usually with no explanation of why there are nine. They are the pada syllables that fall inside the sign. There are 108 padas and twelve signs, 108 divides by twelve exactly, and so every sign holds precisely nine padas with nothing left over. The rashi list and the pada syllable are not two competing traditions; the first is the second, collected by sign.
Chitra pada 1 is the eighth of the nine, contributing Pe at 173°20′ – 176°40′ sidereal. That is worth knowing if a family has been given the rashi list rather than the pada: any of the nine satisfies a Virgo birth, so a family working from the list alone has six usable syllables, while a pandit working from a birth time narrows it to the one this pada owns.
| # | Syllable | From | Names listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | To टो / तो | Uttara Phalguni pada 2 | 3 |
| 2 | Pa पा | Uttara Phalguni pada 3 | 8 |
| 3 | Pi पी | Uttara Phalguni pada 4 | 3 |
| 4 | Pu पू | Hasta pada 1 | 9 |
| 5 | Sha ष | Hasta pada 2 | 8 |
| 6 | Na ण / न | Hasta pada 3 | 8 |
| 7 | Tha ठ / थ | Hasta pada 4 | none |
| 8 | Pe पे | Chitra pada 1 — this pada | none |
| 9 | Po पो | Chitra pada 2 | none |
Chitra crosses a sign boundary, so the pada decides the rashi
A nakshatra is 13°20′ and a sign is 30°, and neither divides the other, so nine of the 27 nakshatras have their padas split between two signs. Chitra is one of them: its four padas fall in Virgo for padas 1 to 2 and Libra for padas 3 to 4. Pada 1 is in Virgo, which is why the nine-syllable list above is Virgo’s and not the other sign’s.
The practical consequence is that two children born in Chitra a day or two apart can have different Moon signs — and therefore a different rashi letter list, a different monthly rashifal and a different set of substitutes if the syllable turns out to have no names. The nakshatra alone cannot tell you which; the pada can, and the pada needs the time and place of birth.
The three substitutes, for Chitra pada 1
The 108 syllables come from dividing the zodiac rather than from asking what Sanskrit allows at the start of a word, so some land on sounds that begin few names or none. Where that happens the tradition substitutes, and three routes are recognised. Below, each is carried out for this pada rather than stated as a rule.
1 · Another pada of Chitra
Another pada of the same nakshatra. The pada fixes the syllable, but the nakshatra as a whole is what the naming rite is built on, and using a sibling pada's syllable is the commonest accommodation. For Chitra that means pada 3, whose syllable Ra carries 8 names and pada 4, whose syllable Ri carries 6 names. A pandit will usually offer this first, because the naming rite is built on the nakshatra and all four padas belong to it.
2 · Another syllable of Virgo
Any syllable of the same Moon sign. Each rashi covers either two and a quarter nakshatras or nine padas, so this widens the choice to roughly nine syllables. Virgo holds nine pada syllables and six of the other eight carry names, so a Chitra pada 1 birth has no shortage of options inside its own Moon sign. The fullest are Pu (Hasta pada 1), Pa (Uttara Phalguni pada 3) and Sha (Hasta pada 2) — 9 names apiece or close to it.
3 · A name of Vishvakarma
A name of the nakshatra's presiding deity, which sidesteps the syllable question altogether — Rudra for Ardra, Indra for Jyeshtha, Vishnu for Shravana. Chitra is presided over by Vishvakarma, so this route is open regardless of what Pe does or does not begin, and it is the one families choose when they want the nakshatra named in the child rather than merely encoded in a sound. None of the three is treated as a lesser choice.
The other three padas of Chitra
A nakshatra is 13°20′ wide and a pada is a quarter of that, 3°20′ — so the first quarter of Chitra occupies Virgo 23°20′ – 26°40′ and its other three sit either side of it. What the four share is Chitra itself: Mars as lord, Vishvakarma as presiding deity, the bright jewel as symbol, and a character read as beautiful, designing, magnetic. What separates them is the navamsa, the Moon sign — Chitra crosses a boundary — and, the naming syllable, which is Pe for pada 1 and Po, Ra and Ri for the others.
| Pada | Syllable | Moon sign | Navamsa | Names |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pada 1 — this page | Pe पे | Virgo | Leo | none |
| Pada 2 | Po पो | Virgo | Virgo | none |
| Pada 3 | Ra रा | Libra | Libra | 8 |
| Pada 4 | Ri री | Libra | Scorpio | 6 |
All four listed together, with the full name tables and the Chitra profile, are on the Chitra baby names page. The pada follows from the Moon’s exact longitude, so it needs the time and place of birth — the baby name finder resolves it from a birth date, and the Chitra pada 1 page covers what this quarter means beyond the name.
Chitra pada 1 — common questions
What letter should a Chitra pada 1 baby's name start with?
Chitra pada 1 is assigned the syllable Pe (पे), and no established Indian name begins with it. That is a fact about the script rather than a gap in a list, so the tradition substitutes instead of improvising: the commonest route is another pada of Chitra — pada 3 carries Ra and pada 4 carries Ri, and names of Vishvakarma, the presiding deity of Chitra, are always accepted.
How many names begin with Pe?
None in established use. No established name begins with पे. Pehlaj, Pertam, Pernia and Peshala, printed for this pada across the web, are not names in use. Chitra's other three padas are the practical choice. The pages that show four for this pada have padded the list, which is why this one does not.
Which rashi is Chitra pada 1?
Virgo — Kanya, entered at 173°20′ – 176°40′ sidereal longitude. Only for this pada: Chitra is split across two signs, and pada 1 is the one that lands eighth in Virgo. Ask for the rashi of Chitra without naming a pada and there is no single answer — Virgo for padas 1 to 2 and Libra for padas 3 to 4.
Are all nine Virgo naming syllables different sounds?
Yes — Virgo is one of the eleven signs whose nine padas give nine distinct spellings, so the syllable Pe is not duplicated anywhere else in To Pa Pi Pu Sha Na Tha Pe Po. That is not true of every sign: Sagittarius carries Dha twice, for the dental and retroflex forms, and yields eight spellings from its nine padas. Within Virgo, Chitra pada 1 owns Pe outright.
Does the navamsa change the name for Chitra pada 1?
Not the syllable. The syllable comes from the pada, and for Chitra pada 1 it is Pe. The navamsa — Leo here, the 12th navamsa counted from Virgo — is read for the child's temperament and for chart work rather than for the naming letter.
Naming a Chitra pada 1 child?
The syllable is fixed by the pada, but the namakaran itself is fixed by the chart and by the day — which is a reading rather than a table. Our pandits do both.