Krittika (कृत्तिका)

Krittika at a Glance

Number

3 of 27

Sidereal span

Aries 26°40′ – Taurus 10°00′

Rashi

Aries, Taurus

Ruling planet (lord)

Sun — 6-year Vimshottari dasha

Presiding deity

Agni

Symbol

Razor

Gana

Rakshasa

Yoni

Sheep (female)

Nadi

Antya (Kapha)

Muhurta class

Mishra (mixed)

Keywords

Sharp, purifying, courageous

Degrees are sidereal, using the Lahiri ayanamsa as the Indian ephemeris does. A Western chart uses tropical longitudes and will place the same Moon roughly 24° earlier in the zodiac.

Character of Krittika Natives

Ruled by the Sun and presided over by Agni, the fire god, with a razor for its symbol — Krittika cuts. These natives see what is wrong with something instantly and say so, and the criticism is usually correct, which is what makes it hard to take. Agni purifies by burning, and Krittika natives genuinely improve whatever they are put in charge of.

The Four Padas and Their Naming Letters

Each nakshatra divides into four padas of 3°20′, and each pada falls in a different navamsa sign — which is why two people born in Krittika on the same day can read quite differently. The pada also fixes the traditional first syllable for a child’s name.

27 nakshatras × 4 padas = 108 = 12 signs × 9 navamsas, so the padas run through the navamsa signs in one unbroken cycle. Syllables vary a little between regional traditions; a family pandit’s list takes precedence over any table. Each pada above links to its own page: the exact 3°20′ arc, the rashi it falls in, where the Sun stands in that navamsa, and how much Sun mahadasha a birth there starts with.

Career and Work

Editing and quality control, surgery, the armed forces, cooking and culinary work, metallurgy, and any role where standards have to be enforced.

The nakshatra sets the flavour; the 10th house and its lord decide the actual profession. Where the Sun sits and how strong it is matters more than the list above — see Sun in Vedic astrology.

What to Watch For

The bluntness costs relationships that the native did not intend to end. Krittika straddles Aries and Taurus, so the first pada behaves quite differently from the last three. Sharp speech is the specific thing to watch.

Krittika in Kundli Milan

Nakshatra matching scores 36 guna across eight kootas. Three of them are read straight off the birth nakshatra, and these are Krittika’s values:

18 of 36 is the conventional pass mark. Guna Milan is a filter, not a verdict — Mangal dosha, the 7th house and both Venus positions still have to be read, and a high score does not override a badly afflicted 7th.

Muhurta: What Krittika Is Used For

Krittika is classed as Mishra (mixed) — one of 2 nakshatras in that class, alongside Vishakha. Mixed nakshatras give mixed results and are selected only when nothing better is available in the required window. They are used for routine, low-stakes work — day-to-day business, minor purchases, and the ordinary fire rituals — and specifically avoided for marriage, foundations and surgery.

A real muhurta needs the tithi, vara, yoga and karana too, not the nakshatra alone — the day’s panchang carries all five, and choghadiya narrows it to the hour.

Remedies and Practice

• Worship Agni, the presiding deity of Krittika, particularly on the day the Moon transits this nakshatra — which happens roughly once every 27 days and is listed in the daily panchang.
• Strengthen the Sun, the nakshatra lord, through its beej mantra and weekday observance. This matters most while the Sun mahadasha or antardasha is running.
• Feed or donate on the Sun weekday. Charity attributed to the lord is the remedy the classics prefer over gemstones, because it carries no risk of strengthening the wrong graha.
• Recite the nakshatra’s 108 names or the Nakshatra Suktam during the Moon’s transit through Krittika if you want a practice tied to the nakshatra rather than the planet.

If a stone is being considered: the lord here is Sun, whose stone is Ruby (Manik). Selection by janma nakshatra is the more precise of the two routes, so this differs from the rashi recommendation for Aries (Red Coral (Moonga)) and Taurus (Diamond or White Sapphire) — this nakshatra straddles the boundary, so which one applies depends on the pada.

More precise is still not automatic. Remedies are prescribed for a specific affliction, not for a nakshatra as such: nothing above needs doing unless the Sun is genuinely weak or badly placed in your chart, and no stone should be worn on nakshatra grounds alone. See dosha remedies.

Frequently Asked Questions