The lunar mansion
Craft · image · form
Chitra is the star of the made thing. It combines beauty with engineering, and often brings a strong instinct for design, presentation and form.
Where it sits in the zodiac
Chitra spans 13°20′. It begins in Virgo and crosses into Libra. Because nakshatras do not align with sign boundaries, a planet in a sign can be carrying the flavour of two different lunar mansions.
The four padas
Each nakshatra is divided into four padas of 3°20′. The pada adds a further layer of nuance and is used in divisional charts such as the navamsa.
Pada 123° 20′ Virgo — 26° 40′ Virgo
Pada 226° 40′ Virgo — 0° 00′ Virgo
Pada 30° 00′ Libra — 3° 20′ Libra
Pada 43° 20′ Libra — 6° 40′ Libra
The ruling planet
Chitra is ruled by Mars, the planet of kriya · courage, drive, conflict. The dasha sequence begins from this planet when your Moon is in this nakshatra.