Krittika Nakshatra: Meaning, Deity, Traits and Padas

In short: Krittika is the third nakshatra, the Pleiades, spanning 26°40′ of sidereal Aries to 10° of Taurus. Its deity is Agni, the sacred fire, and its ruling planet is the Sun. Its name means "the cutters", and its symbol is a blade or a flame. Krittika is the energy of fire that purifies and cooks: sharp discernment, honesty, protectiveness and the courage to cut away what is false. People with the Moon or ascendant here tend to be direct, principled and warm underneath a sometimes fierce surface.

At a glance

The story: Agni and the six mothers

Agni is the fire god of the Vedas, the messenger who carries offerings from humans to the gods, present in every hearth and every sacrifice. The Rigveda's very first verse is addressed to him. Krittika, his nakshatra, is the fire in the sky.

The Mahabharata's Vana Parva tells how the Krittikas came to be. Agni fell in love with the wives of the seven great sages (the Saptarishi, the stars of the Great Bear). Svaha, who loved Agni, took on the forms of six of the wives in turn to be with him — but she could not take the form of Arundhati, the wife of Vasishtha, so perfect was Arundhati's devotion. From Agni's seed the child Skanda was born. The sages, believing their wives unfaithful, put six of them away; those six became the Krittikas, the Pleiades. Arundhati stayed with her husband, and Indian tradition still points out her faint star beside Vasishtha's in the handle of the Great Bear.

In many later tellings the six Krittikas became the foster mothers who nursed the infant Skanda, who grew six faces to drink from all six at once — and so he is called Kartikeya, "son of the Krittikas". The Shatapatha Brahmana (2.1.2) knows an older form of the story, saying the Krittikas were once the wives of the Bears and were separated from them, since the Bears rise in the north and the Krittikas in the east.

In the sky

The Pleiades are one of the most recognised star clusters on Earth, a small, misty group in Taurus that most people see as six or seven stars. Many cultures have stories about them. In Vedic astronomy they held a special place: the Taittiriya Samhita (4.4.10) and other early lists begin the nakshatras with Krittika, because the spring equinox once lay near it, and the Shatapatha Brahmana (2.1.2) observes that the Krittikas "do not swerve from the eastern quarter" — they rose due east, as stars on the celestial equator do. Astronomers have used these lines to estimate the age of the texts. In Arabic astronomy the Pleiades were the third lunar mansion, al-Thurayya.

The month of Kartika is named after the nakshatra near which its full Moon falls. In Tamil Nadu the festival of lamps, Karthigai Deepam, is held when the Moon is in Krittika in the month of Karthigai, with great fires lit on the hill at Tiruvannamalai.

The nature of Krittika

Muhurta texts class Krittika as mishra, mixed — suited to ordinary work and especially to anything involving fire, cooking, metal and decisive action. Its temperament is rakshasa, fierce in the sense of strong and uncompromising. The Sun rules it, giving pride, purpose and a sense of honour.

Krittika's blade is a kitchen knife as much as a weapon: it cuts to prepare, to refine, to make things fit to eat. Its fire cooks and purifies. So Krittika people often have a gift for discernment — seeing what is genuine and what is not — and for nurturing in a practical, sometimes sharp way.

Strengths

• Honesty and principle. Krittika says what is true and stands by it.
• Discernment. It sees clearly and cuts through confusion.
• Protectiveness. Like the six mothers, it guards and feeds those in its care.
• Determination. Fire gives drive and the energy to finish what it starts.

Challenges

• Sharpness. Its words can cut more than intended.
• Pride. The Sun's influence can make it hard to back down.
• Impatience with imperfection. It may be critical of itself and others.

Krittika's growth lies in letting the fire warm as well as burn — keeping its standards while softening its delivery.

The Moon in Krittika

The Moon is exalted in Taurus, deepest at 3°, which falls in Krittika's second pada. A Moon in the Taurus portion of Krittika therefore combines exaltation with Krittika's fire: emotionally steady, warm, principled and able to nourish others. A Moon in the Aries portion is quicker and fierier. Either way, the emotional nature values truth and dislikes pretence.

The ascendant and other planets in Krittika

A Krittika ascendant tends to give a bright, focused presence and a strong sense of self. The Sun in Krittika (around mid- to late May) gives leadership and integrity. Mars in the Aries portion is forceful and direct; Venus in the Taurus portion combines beauty with discipline. Because Krittika straddles fire and earth, the sign of each planet matters as much as the nakshatra.

Pada by pada

• Pada 1 (Sagittarius navamsa, in Aries). Idealistic and adventurous; fire on fire, principled and generous, with a teaching streak.
• Pada 2 (Capricorn navamsa, in Taurus). Disciplined and ambitious; the blade becomes a tool for steady, practical work.
• Pada 3 (Aquarius navamsa, in Taurus). Humanitarian and independent; the fire serves a cause or a community.
• Pada 4 (Pisces navamsa, in Taurus). Compassionate and devotional; the sharpness softens into care, and spiritual interests deepen.

In relationships and matching

Krittika is a rakshasa gana nakshatra, with the sheep as its yoni and Antya (Kapha) as its nadi. Its yoni pairs most naturally with Pushya, the other sheep nakshatra; the monkey nakshatras (Purva Ashadha and Shravana) are the sheep's traditional enemy. In gana matching, rakshasa and deva temperaments are traditionally considered the hardest pairing, though cancellations exist and the whole chart matters more.

In everyday terms, Krittika partners are loyal, protective and honest. They need a partner who values truth and can handle directness, and who sees the warmth behind the blade.

Career and work

Krittika favours work involving fire, precision or leadership: cooking and the food trade, metalwork and engineering, surgery, the armed forces, firm management, editing and criticism, teaching, and any role that requires cutting through to the truth.

Health as wellbeing

Krittika is linked with fire and heat, and with the head and face (as it spans Aries and Taurus). As wellbeing, it benefits from cooling foods and habits, good digestion and rest from intensity. These are traditional associations, not medical advice.

The dasha connection

A person born with the Moon in Krittika begins life in the Sun mahadasha, the shortest in the Vimshottari system at six years. The balance remaining at birth depends on how far the Moon has travelled through the nakshatra. The Moon's ten-year dasha follows, then Mars's seven (BPHS ch. 46).

Muhurta: choosing a time

As a mishra nakshatra, Krittika is traditionally suitable for routine and fire-related work — lighting a sacred fire, cooking, metalwork — and for decisive actions. As always, tithi, weekday and other factors are weighed together.

A note for Western readers

The Pleiades matter in Western astronomy and folklore too — they were the seven sisters of Greek myth, daughters of Atlas. Western astrology uses them as a fixed star cluster (at about 0° tropical Gemini) rather than as a lunar mansion; medieval astrologers gave the cluster a mixed, often sorrowful reputation.

FAQ

Which planet rules Krittika? The Sun, in the Vimshottari dasha system. The sign lord is Mars for pada 1 and Venus for padas 2–4.

What is Krittika's deity? Agni, the god of fire.

What are the Krittika name syllables? A, I, U and E, one for each pada.

Is the Moon exalted in Krittika? The Moon's exaltation point, 3° Taurus, falls in Krittika's second pada.

Why does Kartikeya have six faces? In the tradition, he was nursed by the six Krittikas, the Pleiades.

Written by Sunyra Editorial. Astrology is a tradition of interpretation; read this as guidance, not a forecast. Disclaimer.

Last reviewed 19 October 2026