27 or 28?
Most Hindu calendars today use 27 nakshatras, each spanning 13°20′ of the Moon’s path. Older Indian astronomical traditions, and the Jain tradition in particular, count 28. The additional nakshatra is Abhijit, which sits between Uttara Ashadha and Shravana.
Text version of this diagram
The Jain tradition counts 28 nakshatras. They are the familiar 27, with Abhijit placed between Uttara Ashadha (21st) and Shravana, making Abhijit the 22nd and Revati the 28th.
Jain cosmological and astronomical texts describe the Moon’s movement through all 28 nakshatras, and the list is used in Jain calendrical tradition. When your community is set to Jain, OIOA uses the 28-nakshatra list.
The 28 nakshatras
- Ashwini
- Bharani
- Krittika
- Rohini
- Mrigashira
- Ardra
- Punarvasu
- Pushya
- Ashlesha
- Magha
- Purva Phalguni
- Uttara Phalguni
- Hasta
- Chitra
- Swati
- Vishakha
- Anuradha
- Jyeshtha
- Mula
- Purva Ashadha
- Uttara Ashadha
- Abhijit
- Shravana
- Dhanishtha
- Shatabhisha
- Purva Bhadrapada
- Uttara Bhadrapada
- Revati
Jain texts often give these names in Prakrit forms, and the traditional starting point of the list can differ from the Ashwini-first order used here. The sequence around the sky is the same.
Why the spans aren’t all equal
In the 27-nakshatra system every nakshatra has the same span. In the 28-nakshatra system the spans are not equal: Abhijit is much smaller than the others, and traditional texts assign the remaining nakshatras different extents, some larger and some smaller. Abhijit is commonly placed in the last part of Uttara Ashadha and the first part of Shravana, so including it doesn’t change where the other nakshatras’ boundaries broadly fall.
This is one reason why the “current nakshatra” can differ slightly between a Jain calendar and a Hindu one around Abhijit’s portion of the sky, while agreeing elsewhere.
Abhijit: a nakshatra and a muhurat
The name Abhijit also refers to the Abhijit muhurat, the midday window around local noon. The two share a name and old associations with victory and auspiciousness, but they are different things: one is a stretch of the Moon’s path among the stars, the other a time of day.
How OIOA uses it
On the Jain Home screen, the nakshatra shown in the Today card and the panchang comes from the 28-nakshatra list, calculated on your phone from the Moon’s position. It sits alongside the tithi, Navkarshi and the sect calendar you’ve chosen.
Learn more
- The 28 Jain nakshatras and Abhijit, a longer guide.
- The 27 nakshatras
- The Jain calendar
If your tradition uses a different list or starting point and you’d like OIOA to reflect it, please tell us what we missed and include your source.