← All twenty-seven nakshatras

Nakshatra 2 of 27

Bharani

भरणी

Bearing and enduring; ruled by Yama, it carries themes of restraint, limits and consequence.

The essentials

Presiding deity
Yama
Symbol
The yoni — the womb
Ruling planet
Venus — a 20-year Vimshottari mahadasha
Sidereal span
13°20'26°40' of Mesh
Career associations
Obstetrics, law and judiciary, creative arts, agriculture, work involving discipline.
Naming syllables
Li, Lu, Le, Lo — one per pada, in order

Born under Bharani

Personality

People born with the Moon in Bharani present a compelling mix of fierce independence and intense emotional depth, driven by the combined influences of energetic Mesh and creative Venus. Governed by Yama, the deity of duty and righteousness, they possess a serious, principled core beneath an alluring exterior. They rarely do anything by halves, coming across to others as potent, transformative, and unyielding. Represented by the yoni, their presence carries a quiet aura of restraint, privacy, and immense latent power.

Strengths

Bharani bestows remarkable psychological endurance and moral courage, reflecting the steady power of its elephant yoni. Guided by Yama's focus on truth, these individuals possess an unshakeable sense of justice and the ability to confront painful realities directly. Venus's lordship grants them strong creative instincts and the patience to nurture projects through long periods of gestation.

Challenges

Their main shadow side is a tendency toward harsh extremes, swinging between intense desire and rigid self-restraint. The solemn weight of Yama can turn into obsessive possessiveness, secretiveness, or unforgiving judgment toward self and others. When challenged, their stubbornness makes it difficult to let go of dead ends or toxic emotional burdens.

Work and career

Bharani is classically suited to professions involving transformation, justice, and the cycles of life and death. They excel in medicine—especially gynaecology, surgery, and pathology—as well as legal fields, crisis management, and creative arts. Their natural capacity to handle intense transitions makes them powerful administrators and researchers.

Love and relationships

In love, Bharani seeks intense devotion and absolute honesty, driven by Venusian passion and the steadfast loyalty of the elephant. They love deeply and protectively, but they need a partner who respects their strict personal boundaries and privacy. They cannot tolerate superficiality, requiring a companion who can handle their emotional weight and stand firm during life's hardships.

Written from the classical attributes shown on this page — the ruling planet, the element, the nakshatra scheme — and checked against them before publishing. It describes the traditional reading of this nakshatra, not a prediction about you.

The four padas

Each nakshatra divides into four padas of 3°20′. A pada is exactly one navamsa (D9) division, so each one carries a second sign alongside the nakshatra’s own — and the traditional first syllable of a child born under it.

  1. Pada 1

    Li
    Span
    13°20'16°40'
    Navamsa
    Sinh
    Navamsa lord
    Sun
  2. Pada 2

    Lu
    Span
    16°40'20°00'
    Navamsa
    Kanya
    Navamsa lord
    Mercury
  3. Pada 3

    Le
    Span
    20°00'23°20'
    Navamsa
    Tula
    Navamsa lord
    Venus
  4. Pada 4

    Lo
    Span
    23°20'26°40'
    Navamsa
    Vrishchik
    Navamsa lord
    Mars

In matchmaking (Guna Milan)

Ashtakoota matchmaking scores 36 points across eight kootas, and six of them are read straight off the birth nakshatra. These are Bharani’s.

Gana
Manushya — temperament. Same gana scores all 6 points; Deva with Rakshasa scores 1.
Yoni
Elephant — physical affinity. The same yoni scores 4; a natural enemy scores 0.
Nadi
Madhya — the 8-point koota. A partner with the same nadi scores zero (Nadi dosha), so this one field decides nearly a quarter of the total.
Varna
Mlechcha — worth 1 point.
Vashya
Chatuspada — mutual influence, worth 2 points.
Tara
Counted by distance between the two nakshatras, so it depends on both charts.
Run a full 36-guna match

Naming a Bharani baby

The namakarana tradition takes the child’s first syllable from the pada the Moon occupied at birth — so a Bharani child born in pada 1 is named from Li, pada 4 from Lo. You need the exact birth time to know which pada.

All nakshatras