Nakshatra

A nakshatra is a "lunar mansion": one of the 27 (sometimes 28) segments of the ecliptic that the Moon passes through as it circles the sky roughly once a month. Named already in the Vedas, the nakshatras are the indigenous, lunar backbone of Indian astronomy — older than the twelve solar rashi signs, which India adopted later from Hellenistic astrology.

Each nakshatra has a ruling deity, symbol and nature, and your birth nakshatra (the mansion the Moon occupied at birth) is central to Vedic naming, matchmaking and choosing auspicious days.