Makar rashi (मकर) is Capricorn in English, the tenth sign of the Vedic zodiac. It is ruled by Saturn, belongs to the earth element, is movable (chara) in quality and is symbolised by the makara. In Vedic astrology Makar is your rashi only if the Moon was in it when you were born; the Sun crosses it 14 Jan – 12 Feb in 2026.
Shani owns Makara, and Mangal is exalted in it: endurance married to force, which is why the sign is the classical signature of the long climb. Its symbol is not a goat but the makara, the composite sea-creature of the Puranas. The Sun's entry here is Makar Sankranti. A Makara Moon matures late and keeps what it builds.
The classical meaning of a rashi comes from its lord, its element and its quality taken together: Saturn ruling a sign of the earth element and movable quality. Read as shorthand, a Moon in Makar leans towards the four qualities above. Treat them as the sign's raw material rather than a portrait of a person: the planets that sit with the Moon, the house Makar falls in from your lagna and the dasha that is running change the picture a great deal.
The name letters of Makar rashi are Bho, Ja, Ji, Ju, Je, Jo, Gha, Ga, Gee. Each is the naming syllable of one of the nine nakshatra padas that fall inside the sign, so a name that begins with one of these sounds has Makar as its naam rashi. The naam rashi is a naming convention; your Moon sign still comes from your birth time.
Choosing a name for a baby? The baby name letters calculator gives the syllable for the exact nakshatra pada, and the rashi by name calculator reads the rashi of a name you already have.
Makar rashi holds Uttara Ashadha (2–4), Shravana, Dhanishtha (1–2). A rashi is 30 degrees wide and a nakshatra 13°20', so a sign holds two and a quarter nakshatras and shares the padas at its edges with Dhanu and Kumbh. The nakshatra your Moon sits in inside Makar decides your Vimshottari dasha and much of your marriage matching.
Only if the Moon was in Makar when you were born. Western horoscopes use the tropical Sun sign, which sits about 24 degrees away from the sidereal zodiac every Indian panchang uses, so a newspaper column and a Vedic chart often give different signs. The Moon crosses a rashi in about two and a quarter days, which is why the date alone cannot settle it and the birth time is needed. Calculate your Moon sign, find your birth nakshatra, or make the full kundli to see the lagna and all nine planets.
Short answers about Makar rashi: its English name, lord, name letters and dates.
Your own rashi is your Moon sign. It takes a date, a time and a place.
Find my Moon signMakar rashi (मकर) is Capricorn in English. It is the tenth sign of the sidereal zodiac, spanning 270° to 300°, and its symbol is the makara. The Vedic and Western Capricorn share a name but not dates: the sidereal zodiac sits about 24 degrees behind the tropical one, so the Sun reaches Makar about three weeks later.
Saturn is the lord of Makar rashi. The lord, or rashi swami, is the planet that owns the sign, and a reading of the sign always goes through it: where Saturn sits in your chart, how strong it is and when its dasha runs matter more than the sign alone. Saturn also rules Kumbh rashi.
The name letters of Makar rashi are Bho, Ja, Ji, Ju, Je, Jo, Gha, Ga and Gee. They are the syllables of the nine nakshatra padas that fall in the sign, and a name that begins with one of them gives a naam rashi of Makar. The naam rashi is separate from the Moon sign, which comes from the birth time.
Makar rashi holds Uttara Ashadha (2–4), Shravana, Dhanishtha (1–2). A rashi spans 30 degrees, which is two and a quarter nakshatras, so the padas at either end of the sign are shared with the neighbouring rashis. The nakshatra your Moon occupies inside Makar decides your Vimshottari dasha and much of your marriage matching.
In 2026 the sidereal Sun is in Makar rashi from 14 Jan – 12 Feb. The day it enters the sign, the sankranti, moves by about a day across the leap-year cycle, so it is computed for each year. Western horoscopes give earlier dates because they use the tropical zodiac. Your own rashi is your Moon sign, which these Sun dates do not decide.
Your rashi is Makar only if the Moon was in Makar when you were born. Vedic astrology reads the Moon sign, not the Sun sign, and the Moon crosses a rashi in about two and a quarter days, so the date alone is not enough. A Moon sign calculator finds it from your birth date, time and place.
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