Śravaṇa

Śravaṇa (श्रवण, also written Shravana) is the twenty-second of the twenty-seven nakṣatras, occupying the central third of Makara from 10° to 23°20′. The name means hearing — the receptive faculty by which scripture and teaching are transmitted in the oral tradition (śruti, from the same root). Its devatā is Viṣṇu, one of the few classical nakshatra attributions where a Puranic-era deity directly inherits the older Vedic register: the Viṣṇu addressed here is the three-stepping form of Vāmana, whose three strides (Trivikrama) measure out the worlds and give the nakshatra its footprint symbol. Vimśottarī rulership belongs to Chandra.

Classical grounding

Parāśara in Brihat Parāśara Horā Śāstra and Varāhamihira's Bṛhat Saṃhitā identify Viṣṇu as Śravaṇa's devatā. The Ṛgveda hymns to Viṣṇu (especially 1.154, which gives the Trivikrama episode in its earliest form) establish the classical footprint-and-strides imagery; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa and the Vāmana- related Puranas continue the lineage into the better-known Vāmana-avatāra narrative. The yoni is markaṭī — the female monkey — whose classical yoni-kūṭa pair is Pūrva Āṣāḍha's male monkey, a same-yoni match. The gaṇa is deva, the varṇa mleccha in Parāśara's list, and the nāḍī antya. The śakti is saṃhanana-śakti — the power to connect, to join together, to unify — viniyoga in the work of bringing disparate elements into coherent arrangement.

Significations

What Śravaṇa classically governs:

• Hearing and the receptive register of learning — the śruti transmission tradition by which Vedic knowledge passes without loss
• Oral tradition, music, mantra recitation, and the auditory arts
• Pilgrimage and the crossing of measured distance — Viṣṇu's three strides as the classical image of bounded traverse
• Connection, linking, and the work of joining ideas or people across distance — the saṃhanana signature
• Teaching at the receptive end: the student who hears clearly and holds what is heard
• Vocations in audio engineering, music, radio, speech therapy, translation, teaching traditions that emphasise oral transmission, and the logistics work that connects distant parts

Pāda-level reading

Śravaṇa's four pādas continue the Makara navāṃśa sequence, which for this movable sign begins at Makara itself. Pāda 1 (10°–13°20′) is Meṣa navāṃśa, the fourth navāṃśa of Makara — Mangala's initiating register giving the pāda a forward-leaning quality. Pāda 2 is Vṛṣabha navāṃśa, Śukra-ruled, often reading for musical or aesthetic work in the hearing register. Pāda 3 is Mithuna navāṃśa, Budha-ruled and classically the pāda of the skilled communicator — translator, broadcaster, teacher of language. Pāda 4 is Karkaṭa navāṃśa, Chandra-ruled (matching the nakshatra's own ruler) and reading for the nurture-oriented hearing of the counsellor or confidant.

Practical interpretation

A graha in Śravaṇa carries the nakshatra's receptive-hearing signature into that graha's functional domain. Janma-nakṣatra Śravaṇa — the Moon here at birth — reads for a native with natural listening skill, good memory for what is heard, and a characteristic orientation toward traditions of transmitted knowledge. Classical tradition names Śravaṇa natives as well-suited to learning scripture, languages, and the oral arts. In muhūrta reading, Śravaṇa is classified cara (movable) and is used for travel, first meetings where listening matters, and the launching of teaching or broadcasting work.

Related Concepts

• Chandra — ruling graha in the Vimśottarī scheme
• Makara — rāśi occupied (fully or partially) by this nakshatra
• Nāḍī-kūṭa — Aṣṭa-kūṭa compatibility via nāḍī classification
• Yoni-kūṭa — Aṣṭa-kūṭa compatibility via yoni classification
• Gaṇa-kūṭa — Aṣṭa-kūṭa compatibility via gaṇa classification
• Tārā-kūṭa — Aṣṭa-kūṭa compatibility via nakshatra Tārā cycle