List of Nakshatras and their Padas and Meaning

Pada means foot or steps. Every nakshatra has four steps. Due to the Moon’s permanence in a single nakshatra for one day, the padas correspond to the natural divisions of the day: sunrise, midday, sunset and midnight. A pada is the same as a navamsha and equals 3°20′ each. There is often confusion between the terms pada and navamsha.

This connection between the nakshatras is formed by the order of the padas — nine nakshatras will have the same padas. That’s important, as it’s used in techniques for understanding the nakshatras.

In an astrological chart, each Nakshatra and its pada corresponds to a zodiac sign, which is used to create the navamsa chart or the D-9 chart. The first pada as you will see from the table below falls in fire signs and hence the energy of this is of creation. Pada 2 falls under earthy signs and hence the energy is of sustenance. The 3rd pada falls in airy signs i.e. Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius. Here the energies are more intellectualize. The last pada has watery signs i.e. cancer, scorpio and pisces.

Following is the complete table of all 27 Nakshtras and their 4 padas and their corresponding zodiac signs.