The term Nakshatra is a combination of "naks" and "shetra". In Sanskrit, naks means sky and shetra means region or area. So nakshatra means an area of sky. Nakshatra refers to the lunar mansions in Indian astrology.
According to Vedic concepts the ecliptic sky is divided into 27 equal sectors each being called a Nakshatra. The moon which is given more priority in Indian Astrology is said to travel across one nakshtra house in a single day.
Janma nakshatra is the nakshatra where moon is placed at the time of the birth of the native.
Nakshatras are ruled by their respective deities and planets and they also have individual temples dedicated solely for them spread out in India. The nakshatras are classified on the basis of many aspects like gender, temperament or Guna or character. The nakshatras are male and some are female according to gender classification. The other classification is on the basis of the temperaments and the nakshatras are divided in deva, human and rakhashas category. One more classification is based on the gunas namely rajo, tamo and sato guna.