he classical list of 27 nakshatras is first found in the Vedanga Jyotisha, a text

dated to the 600�700 BCE. The nakshatra system predates the Hellenistic astronomy
which became prevalent from about the 2nd century CE.

In Hindu astronomy, there was an older tradition of 28 Nakshatras which were used
as celestial markers in the heavens. When these were mapped into equal divisions of
the ecliptic, a division of 27 portions was adopted since that resulted in a
cleaner definition of each portion (i.e. segment) subtending 13� 20' (as opposed to
12� ?51 3/7' in the case of 28 segments). In the process, the Nakshatra Abhijit was
left out without a portion.[5]:179 The Surya Siddhantha concisely specifies the
coordinates of the twenty seven Nakshatras.[5]:211

It is noted above that with the older tradition of 28 Nakshatras each equal segment
would subtend 12.85 degrees or 12� 51'. But the 28 Nakshatra were chosen at a time
when the Vedic month was recognised as having exactly 30 days. In India and China
the original 28 lunar mansions were not equal. Weixing Nui provides a list of the
extent of the original 28 Nakshatras expressed in Muhurtas (with one Muhurta = 48
minutes of arc). Hindu texts note there were 16 Nakshatras of 30 Muhurtas, 6 of 45
Muhurtas, 5 of 15 Muhurtas and one of 6 Muhurtas.

The 28 mansions of the 360� lunar zodiac total 831 Muhurtas or 27.7 days. This is
sometimes described as an inaccurate estimate of our modern sidereal period of 27.3
days, but using the ancient Indian calendar with Vedic months of 30 days and a
daily movement of the Moon of 13 degrees, this early designation of a sidereal
month of 831 Muhurtas or 27.7 days is very precise.[a][6] Later some Indian savants
dropped the Nakshatra named Abhijit to reduce the number of divisions to 27, but
the Chinese retained all of their original 28 lunar mansions. These were grouped
into four equal quarters which would have been fundamentally disrupted if it had
been decided to reduce the number of divisions to 27.

Irrespective of the reason why ancient early Indian astronomers followed a Vedic
calendar of exactly 12 months of 30 days it was this calendar and not a modern
calendar of 365 days that they used for the astronomical calculations for the
number of days taken for the Moon to complete one sidereal cycle of 360�. This is
why initially they named 28 Nakshatras on their lunar zodiac.[7]