Candra, the Moon, is the kāraka (significator) of manas — the mind in its receptive, feeling, and instinctual dimension. Where Sūrya illuminates from within, Candra reflects: it receives the light of consciousness and distributes it through the emotional and sensory layers of experience. Parāśara describes Candra as having a round body, auspicious appearance, beautiful eyes, sweet speech, a fluctuating nature (reflecting its waxing and waning cycle), and a predominantly kapha constitution. The Moon is classified as a natural benefic (naisargika śubha) when it is in its waxing phase (śukla pakṣa), full, or in good dignity — but a functionally malefic influence when debilitated, in kṛṣṇa pakṣa (waning phase, especially within three days of amāvāsyā/new moon), or heavily afflicted.
The kārakatva of Candra encompasses the mind, mother, emotions, breast milk, water bodies, silver, pearls, rice, night, the left eye, the chest, and all matters of psychological receptivity, memory, and emotional bonding. In natal Jyotiṣa, the Moon’s sign at birth determines the janma rāśi — the birth sign used in much of Indian traditional astrology for calculating Daśā periods, compatibility, and psychological character. The Moon’s nakṣatra at birth is the janma nakṣatra, which carries even more precise information about the native’s instinctual nature and emotional patterning. Parāśara emphasizes that the Moon’s strength is central to the chart’s overall health: a strong Moon produces mental stability, emotional intelligence, and a capacity for genuine nurturing; a weak or afflicted Moon produces emotional instability, susceptibility to psychological distress, and difficulties in relationship.
The Moon’s transit cycle is the fastest among the visible planets — completing the zodiac in approximately 27.3 days and spending about 2.3 days in each nakṣatra. This rapid movement makes Candra the primary timing mechanism in classical Jyotiṣa for daily and weekly events, particularly in Praśna (horary), Muhūrta (electional), and the daily Pañcāṅga calculations that guide auspicious timing. In Praśna specifically, the Moon’s condition — its phase, sign, nakṣatra, aspects, and dignity — is considered the most immediately relevant planetary factor, as it represents the current state of the querent’s mind and the fluidity of the circumstances surrounding the question.
Candra’s exaltation at 3° Vṛṣabha places the mind’s peak expression in the sign of Venus — in embodied sensory richness, aesthetic beauty, and the stable pleasure of the material world. Its debilitation at 3° Vṛścika is deeply instructive: the mental-emotional principle is most challenged in the sign of Mars’s fixed-water intensity, where emotional depth and the confrontation with darkness and transformation press the mind beyond its preferred range of comfort. Classical texts describe this combination as indicating emotional turbulence, susceptibility to psychological crisis, and sometimes a distorted or overly suspicious perception of reality.
Mythologically, Candra is the lord of the nakṣatras — he moves through them in his monthly journey, dwelling with each of his 27 wives (the nakṣatras) in turn, though his affection for Rohiṇī (the nakṣatra in which the Moon is exalted) was so consuming that the other nakṣatras complained to their father Dakṣa, precipitating the famous curse of Candra that gave him the waxing and waning cycle. This myth encodes a core Jyotiṣa principle: the Moon’s engagement with the nakṣatra system is not merely mechanical but carries the full emotional weight of preference, jealousy, desire, and the consequences of imbalanced attention.
From the perspective of medical Jyotiṣa (Jyotiṣa-based health analysis), Candra governs the nervous system, stomach, and all mucosal and lymphatic tissues — systems that respond to emotional states with particular sensitivity. A well-placed Moon supports digestive health, emotional resilience, and the capacity to rest and recover. A challenged Moon predisposes toward psychosomatic conditions, digestive irregularity, and sleep disturbances — all reflecting the Moon’s governance of the body’s rhythmic, receptive, and nutritive functions.