Ardra Nakshatra: Traits, Padas, Career, Marriage and Dates to 2027
Ardra is the Moon's 6th mansion, all of it in Mithuna (Gemini), ruled by Rahu and named for Rudra. What the verses really say about Ardra people, what your pada does to your dasha years, the Sade Sati that starts in 2029, and every Ardra date to December 2027.
Ardra nakshatra is the 6th of the 27 lunar mansions: 66°40' to 80°00' of the sidereal zodiac, all of it inside Mithuna (Gemini), ruled by Rahu, with Rudra, the storm god, as its deity. The internet sells Ardra as stormy brilliance. Varahamihira calls the Ardra native vain, deceitful, ungrateful, cruel and vicious (Brihat Jataka 16.3). And the hard date: every Ardra Moon is a Gemini Moon, so every Ardra native's Sade Sati starts on 8 August 2029.
What is Ardra nakshatra?
A 13°20' stretch the Moon crosses in 21 to 23 hours, every 27 days or so. Counting from Krittika, Parashara's dasha lords run Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu and on, which hands the 6th star, Ardra, to Rahu (BPHS 46.12 to 15). The rest comes from Supastro's nakshatra table, which the Find Your Nakshatra tool reads.
| What | Ardra | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Span | 66°40' to 80°00' sidereal (Mithuna 6°40' to 20°00') | 27 equal stars of 13°20' |
| Moon sign | Mithuna (Gemini) in all four padas | Computed; Brihat Jataka ch. 1 notes |
| Ruling planet | Rahu, whose dasha lasts 18 years | BPHS 46.12 to 15 |
| Sign lord | Mercury | Brihat Jataka 1.6 |
| Deity | Rudra, the storm | Supastro's nakshatra table; the BJ 16.3 gloss calls Ardra Rudra's star |
| Symbol | A teardrop | Supastro's nakshatra table |
| Gana (temperament) | Manushya (human) | Prasna Marga 21.32; Supastro's table |
| Yoni (animal) | Dog | Supastro's matching table |
| Nadi | Adi (the first of three) | Supastro's matching table |
| Kind of star | Tikshna (sharp) | Supastro's table |
| Element | Water (Jala) | Prasna Marga 21.47 |
The deity has a classical witness: the commentary on Varahamihira's verse calls Ardra Raudra, Rudra's star. The teardrop has none; no text in our library lists the symbols. All 27 are on the nakshatras page.
What are Ardra nakshatra people like?
Hard company, by the verse. Varahamihira gives one line for the Moon in each star (Brihat Jataka 16). For Ardra: vain and deceitful, treacherous, harmful and vicious (BJ 16.3); his commentator glosses it haughty, a traitor, cruel. Jataka Parijata adds: without wealth, fickle, of great bodily strength and given to base acts (JP 9.85). Two authors, and the only compliment is physical strength.
Every Ardra Moon is also a Mithuna Moon, and the Gemini line supplies the better half: clever, versed in the shastras, witty, a joker and a gambler, smooth in speech, fond of music, a big eater and fond of women (BJ 17.3).
Together: a sharp mind with a loose conscience, clever enough to talk anyone round and tempted to use it badly. The stormy genius of social media is the flattering half. The one-line summary of all 27 is the gentle version; the Moon and nakshatra chapter shows how little one star decides.
What are the four padas of Ardra nakshatra?
Each pada (quarter) is 3°20' wide and puts your Moon in one sign of the Navamsa, the D9 chart that cuts each sign into nine. Mithuna is a dual sign, and a dual sign's Navamsas count from the 5th sign (BPHS 4.5 and 6.12), so Ardra's quarters land in Dhanu, Makara, Kumbha and Meena. A dual sign's vargottama Navamsa (same sign in both charts) is its last (Jataka Parijata 1.34), inside Punarvasu, so no Ardra Moon is vargottama.
Your pada also sets your first decades, and here Ardra has a twin: Swati, also Rahu's, with the same four Navamsa signs and so the same dasha clock. You are born inside Rahu's 18 years, the used-up part matching how far the Moon had crossed Ardra (BPHS 46.16):
| Your pada | Your Moon at birth | Navamsa sign | Rahu's period ends at about age | Jupiter's 16 years end at about age | Saturn's 19 years end at about age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mithuna 6°40' to 10°00' | Dhanu (Sagittarius) | 13.5 to 18 | 29.5 to 34 | 48.5 to 53 |
| 2 | Mithuna 10°00' to 13°20' | Makara (Capricorn) | 9 to 13.5 | 25 to 29.5 | 44 to 48.5 |
| 3 | Mithuna 13°20' to 16°40' | Kumbha (Aquarius) | 4.5 to 9 | 20.5 to 25 | 39.5 to 44 |
| 4 | Mithuna 16°40' to 20°00' | Meena (Pisces) | 0 to 4.5 | 16 to 20.5 | 35 to 39.5 |
Read it brutally. Rahu is a malefic on Parashara's own list (BPHS 3.11), and a pada 1 native lives under it until 13.5 to 18. Pada 3 and 4 natives enter Saturn's 19 years between 16 and 25. Read Rahu Mahadasha; the free dasha calculator gives your exact dates.
When does Sade Sati start for Ardra nakshatra?
On 8 August 2029, when Saturn enters Vrishabha, the 12th sign from your Moon. Sade Sati, Saturn's seven and a half years around the Moon, counts from the Moon sign, so every Gemini Moon shares the dates. Saturn steps back into Mesha from 5 October 2029 to 17 April 2030, reaches your Moon's sign on 31 May 2032, moves into Karka on 13 July 2034 and leaves it on 27 August 2036.
Before it, until 3 June 2027, Saturn sits 10th from your Moon: a wrong act, loss of honour, illness (Phaladeepika 26.23). Then it moves 11th, where Saturn gives happiness, wealth and unique honour (26.23), apart from a step back to the 10th from 20 October 2027 to 23 February 2028. The catch: in your 11th, Saturn stands in Mesha, its sign of fall (BPHS 3.49 to 50), and a planet in its fall in a good house becomes void of effect (Phaladeepika 26.32). The gain is promised, then emptied.
How hard each phase lands depends on the points (bindus) each sign holds in your own Ashtakavarga: above 30 helps, below 25 hurts (BPHS 72.3 to 5). The last phase is in Karka, and the Moon is Saturn's enemy (BPHS 3.55): a bad house in an enemy's sign aggravates the harm (Phaladeepika 26.32). The free Sade Sati calculator shows your points; Saturn entering Aries covers every Moon sign.
Is Ardra nakshatra good for career?
The only work word in its verses is messenger: the Gemini Moon knows the shastras and can act as an envoy (BJ 17.3). A career is read from the 10th house and its lord, the D10 chart and the Amatyakaraka (the career planet among the chara karakas), which Supastro's AI Oracle checks before it answers a work question.
Who should an Ardra native marry?
The star sets three of the eight scores in Supastro's 36-point kundli matching:
- Gana (temperament): Ardra is Manushya (Prasna Marga 21.32). Another Manushya star gives 6 of 6, a Deva star 5 or 6 depending on who is the groom, a Rakshasa star 0.
- Yoni (animal pairing): the dog scores 4 of 4 with Ardra or Mula and 0 with Anuradha or Jyeshtha.
- Nadi: Ardra is Adi, with Ashwini, Punarvasu, Uttara Phalguni, Hasta, Jyeshtha, Mula, Shatabhisha and Purva Bhadrapada. A partner from that list costs all 8 Nadi points.
Two Ardra partners score 28 of 36 in Supastro's match, losing only Nadi. Prasna Marga says no anyway: same-star marriage is barred for Ardra and eleven other stars (Prasna Marga 21.15). Its second veto is vedha, stars that repel: Ardra repels Shravana (21.45), and vedha prevails over every other agreement (21.46). Ardra with Shravana scores about 22 of 36 in Supastro's match, which does not check vedha; read the Shravana guide first. Ardra is in none of the star lists of Supastro's muhurat calendar.
When is Ardra nakshatra? Every date in 2026 and 2027
Fifteen times to December 2027, each lasting 21 to 23 hours. Times are the Moon's entry into and exit from Ardra on the Lahiri zodiac, in IST; the moment is the same worldwide. I computed them on 5 November 2026 on the zodiac Supastro's daily panchang uses and checked three periods against Drik Panchang's New Delhi pages that day: three of the six times matched to the minute, and three were a minute earlier on Drik's page.
| Ardra starts (IST) | Ardra ends (IST) | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Thu 26 Nov 2026 17:47 | Fri 27 Nov 2026 15:09 | 21.4 |
| Thu 24 Dec 2026 04:53 | Fri 25 Dec 2026 01:47 | 20.9 |
| Wed 20 Jan 2027 16:17 | Thu 21 Jan 2027 13:24 | 21.1 |
| Wed 17 Feb 2027 01:38 | Wed 17 Feb 2027 23:29 | 21.9 |
| Tue 16 Mar 2027 08:13 | Wed 17 Mar 2027 06:46 | 22.5 |
| Mon 12 Apr 2027 13:34 | Tue 13 Apr 2027 12:13 | 22.6 |
| Sun 09 May 2027 19:59 | Mon 10 May 2027 18:08 | 22.2 |
| Sun 06 Jun 2027 04:37 | Mon 07 Jun 2027 02:08 | 21.5 |
| Sat 03 Jul 2027 14:56 | Sun 04 Jul 2027 12:10 | 21.2 |
| Sat 31 Jul 2027 01:24 | Sat 31 Jul 2027 22:53 | 21.5 |
| Fri 27 Aug 2027 10:23 | Sat 28 Aug 2027 08:32 | 22.2 |
| Thu 23 Sep 2027 17:07 | Fri 24 Sep 2027 15:58 | 22.9 |
| Wed 20 Oct 2027 22:30 | Thu 21 Oct 2027 21:33 | 23.0 |
| Wed 17 Nov 2027 04:42 | Thu 18 Nov 2027 03:18 | 22.6 |
| Tue 14 Dec 2027 13:25 | Wed 15 Dec 2027 11:21 | 21.9 |
What else has to be computed before this becomes a prediction?
| Layer | What I compute | How it can change the answer |
|---|---|---|
| Birth time near an edge | How far your Moon sits from 66°40', 80°00' or a pada line | The Moon crosses a pada in five to six hours; near an edge, a wrong time moves you to Mrigashira, Punarvasu or another pada |
| The Moon's strength | Waxing or waning, and its Shadbala (six-source strength) | Parashara counts a waning Moon among the malefics (BPHS 3.11); the same Ardra Moon reads differently after full Moon |
| Mercury, lord of Mithuna | Mercury's sign, house, dignity and Navamsa | Mercury owns the sign your Moon sits in; the wit of the Gemini line needs a working Mercury |
| Rahu, lord of the star | Rahu's house and the sign lord it sits with | Rahu runs your first dasha, so its placement colours your early years |
| Navamsa of the Moon | Your pada's sign and its lord in the D9 | Dhanu and Meena hand the Moon to Jupiter in the D9, Makara and Kumbha to Saturn |
| Lagna (rising sign) | The rising degree and the 1st house lord | Varahamihira's lines are for the Moon; your body and direction come from the Lagna |
| Running dasha | Mahadasha and sub-period from your exact Moon degree | Decides which of these traits is switched on now |
| Saturn in transit | Saturn's house from your Gemini Moon and its Ashtakavarga points (BPHS 72.3 to 5) | 10th until 3 June 2027, 11th in its fall until 8 August 2029, then Sade Sati until 27 August 2036 |
Frequently asked questions
Which rashi is Ardra nakshatra in?
Mithuna (Gemini), in all four padas, with Mercury as sign lord and Rahu as star lord.
Is Ardra nakshatra good or bad?
Its verse gives it no virtue, and I will not pretend otherwise. But it is one line in a whole chart, and Ardra is not one of the six Gandmool stars. Mercury, Rahu, the Lagna and the dasha decide how much of it survives.
Can an Ardra native marry another Ardra?
Supastro's match gives the pair 28 of 36, but Prasna Marga forbids a shared birth star for Ardra (21.15). I would not ignore that line.
When does Sade Sati start for Ardra nakshatra?
On 8 August 2029, for every Ardra native; it ends on 27 August 2036.
How long does Ardra nakshatra last?
Between 20.9 and 23.0 hours in the 15 periods I computed to December 2027; the Moon's speed changes through its orbit.
