moon stations

In the same way that the passing of a year is tracked by noting the sun's passage through the 12 constellations of the zodiac, the movement of the moon in the course of a lunar period (a month) can be tracked by imagining it to pass through 27 or 28 “moon stations” along the ecliptic. The Pleiades, for example, is one such station. Some of the names given to the moon or lunar stations are:

“menazil” or “manzilâ”	Arab world
“nakshatra”	India, literally, “star”
“hsiu”	China, literally “night inn”

As happened with the constellations of the solar zodiac in the West, the names of the nakshatra originally denoted groups of stars, but later meant one of 27 segments 13° 27′ wide on the ecliptic. In the process, one of the groups, Abhijit, was discarded. The list originally began with Krtittikâ, the Pleides. Later Asvini was made the first station, but for calendrical, not religious, purposes.

Authorities differ on whether the Arab and Hindi stations have a common origin, but their similarities are certainly striking.

	Prominent stars	Arab name	Hindi name
1	β, γ Arietis	Alsharatan (the “two signs”)	Asvini
2	ε, δ, π Arietis	Albutain (“little womb”)	Bharani
3	the Pleiades	Althurayya	Krtittikâ
4	α Tauri	Aldabaran	Rohini
5	λ, φ′, φ″ Orionis	Alhaka	Mrigasiras or Agrahâyani
6	γ, ξ Geminorum	Alhan’a	Ardrâ (alpha of Orion)
7	α, β Geminorum	Aldhira	Punarvasu (Pollux)
8	Cancri	Alnathra	Pushya or Tishya
9		Altarf	Aslesha (epsilon of Hydra)
10	ζ, γ, η Leonis	Aljabha	Magha (Regulus)
11	δ, θ Leonis	Alzubra	Purva-Phalguni
12	β Leonis	Alsarfa	Uttara-Phalguni (Denebola)
13	β, δ, ε, γ, η Virginis		Hasta (delta of Corvis)
14	Spica	Alsimak Ala’zal	Chitrâ
15	ι, κ, λ Virginis	Alghafr	Svâti (Arcturus)
16	α, β Librae	Alzubana	Vishhâkhâ
17	β, δ, π Scorpii	Al’iklil	Anurâdha
18	α Scorpii	Alkalb	Jyeshthâ
19	λ, υ Scorpii	Alshaula	Mula
20	δ, ε, φ, γ, η, σ, τ, ζ Sagittarii	Alna’a’im	Purvâ-Shâdhâ (delta of Sagittarius
21	a desert	Albalda	Uttarâ-Shâdhâ (sigma of Sagittarius)
			Abhijit (discarded when the stations were redefined as 13° 27′ wide segments of the ecliptic)
22	α, β Capricorni	Sa’d-Aldhabih	Sravana (Altair)
23	ε, μ, ν Aquarii	Sa’d-Bula’	Dhanistha or Sravishtha
24	β, ξ Aquarii	Sa’d Alsu’ud	Satabhishaj or Satarârakâ
25	γ, η, π, ζ Aquarii	Sa’d Al’akhbiya	Purva-Bhâdrapada (markab)
26	α, β Pegasi	Alfargh Al’awwal	Uttara-Bhâdrapada (Alpherat)
27	γ Pegasi, α Andromedae	Alfargh Althani	Revati (Zeta of Pisces)
28	β Andromedae	Batn-Alhut