Krittika cuts. Its deity is Agni, the fire that cooks, purifies and burns away what is false; its symbol is the razor. The Pleiades are its stars, the six mothers who raised Kartikeya, and the nakshatra joins a nurturing warmth to a critical edge: people with the Moon here are protective, direct, ambitious and quick to spot what is wrong, in a dish or in a person.
The Sun rules the nakshatra, and it straddles two signs — the first pada in Mars's Aries, the last three in Venus's Taurus. A Krittika Moon in Aries is the sharper, more combative; in Taurus the fire is banked into determination, taste and the slow pursuit of comfort. Either way the Sun's dignity and pride are there. A Moon here starts life in the Sun mahadasha, the shortest at six years, and moves early into the Moon's.
The four padas of Krittika
Each nakshatra is divided into four padas of 3°20′. The pada says which sign the Moon is in when a nakshatra straddles two, and which navamsa (the ninth-harmonic sign) it falls in — the finer grain astrologers read for temperament and marriage.
| Pada | Span | Sign | Navamsa |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26°40′–30°00′ | Aries | Sagittarius |
| 2 | 0°00′–3°20′ | Taurus | Capricorn |
| 3 | 3°20′–6°40′ | Taurus | Aquarius |
| 4 | 6°40′–10°00′ | Taurus | Pisces |
Krittika in kundli matching
Three of the eight kootas of guna milan are read from the nakshatra alone. Yoni (Sheep): the instinctive match by the nakshatra's animal — Elephant, Cow, Buffalo and Mongoose are its friends; the Monkey is its enemy. Gana (Rakshasa): fierce — strong-willed, sharp, not easily led; the same or a compatible gana scores in full. Nadi (Antya): the last pulse, kapha; two Moons in the same nadi are the heaviest dosha, with the classical exemptions. Check a match to see all eight for two charts.
Born under Krittika
The Vimshottari dasha starts from the nakshatra of the natal Moon. A Moon in Krittika begins life in the Sun mahadasha of 6 years, less the part already spent by the Moon's degree within the nakshatra; the further into Krittika the Moon stood, the shorter the balance at birth. The exact balance needs the degree, which your free kundli gives.