Introduction
Today's nakshatra in the panchang is the same for everyone. But when choosing a muhurta the pandit looks at one more thing: where does today's nakshatra stand from your own birth nakshatra? This is called tara bala.
B. V. Raman, in his book Muhurtha, writes that three factors are common to almost every election: tara bala, chandra bala and panchaka. Tara bala is the simplest of them, and with a little understanding you can read it yourself.
First of all: tara bala is not a prediction about your day. It is only a count, which tradition uses when choosing a day to begin something new.
How the tara is found
The Muhūrta-cintāmaṇi (Gocara-prakaraṇa 10–11) gives the method:
- Take your birth nakshatra as 1.
- Count from there to today's nakshatra.
- Divide by 9. The remainder is today's tara; a remainder of 0 means the 9th tara.
Raman's example: someone born in Ashwini wants to travel on a day ruled by Shravana. Counting from Ashwini to Shravana gives 22. Dividing 22 by 9 leaves 4, the Kshema tara, which tradition counts as favourable.
Over 27 nakshatras this cycle of nine runs three times: 1 to 9, 10 to 18, and 19 to 27.
The nine taras
The Muhūrta-cintāmaṇi (Gocara-prakaraṇa 12) names the nine taras and says each is taken to give results like its name.
| No. | Tara | How tradition sees it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Janma tara | major ceremonies usually not begun on it |
| 2 | Sampat (prosperity) | favourable |
| 3 | Vipat | new starts kept for another day |
| 4 | Kshema (wellbeing) | favourable |
| 5 | Pratyari | new starts kept for another day |
| 6 | Sadhaka (accomplishing) | favourable |
| 7 | The seventh tara | tradition avoids it for new work |
| 8 | Mitra (friend) | favourable |
| 9 | Ati-mitra (closest friend) | favourable |
So five of the nine are plainly favourable, and in the rest tradition only suggests keeping a new beginning for another day. Daily work, jobs, study and worship go on as usual under every tara.
The third round and part of a day
The texts themselves soften the rule.
- The third round: the Muhūrta-cintāmaṇi commentary (Gocara-prakaraṇa 13) says that in the third round, the 19th to 27th nakshatras from the birth nakshatra, the third, fifth and seventh taras are entirely fine too. In the second round only a part of each is set aside.
- Part of the day, not all of it: Raman writes that when the rest of the day is good, the whole day need not be dropped for these taras; only the opening part of the nakshatra may be set aside.
- The janma tara: the Muhūrta-cintāmaṇi (Śubhāśubha-prakaraṇa 34) lists the birth nakshatra among the times in which major auspicious work is not held. That simply means tradition looks for another day to begin a wedding or a griha-pravesh.
So there is no reason to worry on seeing a tara that is "not chosen". The next favourable day usually comes within a day or two, because the Moon crosses a new nakshatra almost every day.
Your tara bala in ePandit
If you have saved your birth details, ePandit's panchang counts today's nakshatra from your birth nakshatra and shows your tara in calm words. You will read lines such as "tradition suggests keeping new beginnings for another day" or "tradition counts it as favourable". No alarming language, because it is only a count.
Note that the "tara koota" of kundli matching is different: there the bride's and groom's birth nakshatras are counted from each other, not from today's nakshatra.