The 27 Nakshatras

The Three Ganas

Every nakshatra belongs to one of three temperaments, nine each. Gana Koota is worth 6 of the 36 points in Kundli Milan, and a Deva–Rakshasa pairing is the one combination the classics warn about most directly.

Deva

Godly temperament — refined, cooperative, generous. Nine nakshatras, from Ashwini to Revati.

Manushya

Human temperament — mixed motives, ambitious, socially driven. The middle ground of the three.

Rakshasa

Demonic in the classical sense of forceful, not evil — self-willed, blunt, hard to sway.

Padas and the 108 Divisions

Each nakshatra splits into four padas of 3°20′. Since 27 × 4 = 108 and 108 ÷ 12 = 9, the padas march through the navamsa signs in one continuous cycle beginning with Ashwini pada 1 in Aries. This is why 108 is the count of beads on a mala — it is the number of pada divisions in the sky.

The pada matters practically: it supplies the traditional first syllable for a newborn’s name, and it decides the navamsa position that a chart is judged by for marriage and inner strength. Two people sharing a nakshatra but not a pada often read quite differently.