Nakshatra 13 of 27
Hasta Nakshatra
Hasta is the skilled hand: deft, clever and practical, able to make, mend and grasp whatever it sets its mind to. The Moon rules it and Savitar is its deity.
Classical attributes
- Ruling grahaOne of the nine: the seven visible bodies plus Rahu and Ketu, the two lunar nodes. A graha is read as a force at work, not as a lump of rock.
- Moon
- Deity
- Savitar, the Sun as giver of skill and life
- Symbol
- An open hand, a fist, a palm
- GanaBasic nature, sorted into gentle, worldly and forceful. Six points of the thirty six, and a mismatch here shows up in the way arguments go.
- DevaThe gentle gana, carried by nine of the twenty-seven nakshatras. Read as an even, giving temperament, and gana is worth six of the thirty six points a match is scored on.
- Guna
- SattvaThe first of the three gunas: clarity, balance and calm. A nakshatra of this guna leans towards learning and towards keeping the peace.
- YoniPhysical and instinctive comfort together, with an animal attached to every nakshatra. Four points of the thirty six.
- Buffalo (Mahisha)
- Tree
- Reetha (soapnut)
- DashaA period ruled by one graha, running for a fixed number of years. Dashas are how a chart is read forward in time instead of as a snapshot. years
- 10
- RashiA sign, one twelfth of the zodiac. In Indian practice your rashi is the sign the Moon was in, not the Sun. span
- Kanya 10°00′ – 23°20′
The four padas
Padas and their navamsa
Each nakshatraThe star the Moon is passing through. There are twenty-seven, and yours decides your naming letter and much of a matching score. divides into four padasA quarter of a nakshatra, and there are four of them. Your pada decides the syllable a traditional name starts with. of 3°20′. A pada is one navamsaThe ninth-part chart, read next to the main one. It shows how much of a promise actually holds up, and marriage is judged on it., so the Moon’s pada refines the reading — it is what a chart uses to place you within Hasta.
| Pada | Longitude | NavamsaThe ninth-part chart, read next to the main one. It shows how much of a promise actually holds up, and marriage is judged on it. rashi |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 160°00′ – 163°20′ | Mesha |
| 2 | 163°20′ – 166°40′ | Vrishabha |
| 3 | 166°40′ – 170°00′ | Mithuna |
| 4 | 170°00′ – 173°20′ | Karka |
Nature
The nature of this nakshatra
Hasta means "the hand", and everything about it turns on skill, dexterity and the power to hold. Its deity is Savitar, the solar giver of craft and vitality, and the Moon rules it, giving a quick, adaptable, service-minded mind. People with the Moon in Hasta are handy in the fullest sense: good with tools, detail and craft, clever with their wits, and able to get a grip on situations and materials that defeat others. They are helpful, hard-working and a little perfectionist, with a light wit and a knack for making things happen through patient, precise effort, and they like to leave a thing better made than they found it.
Strengths
Where it is strong
The strength is capable skill. Hasta can make, fix, arrange, heal and calculate with a dexterity and attention to detail that is genuinely rare. It is resourceful and industrious, turning ideas into finished objects and problems into solutions with its own hands. There is a gift for crafts, healing arts and any precise work, and a cheerful willingness to serve that makes it welcome anywhere. What it grasps, it holds; what it starts with its hands, it tends to complete.
Watch-outs
What to watch for
The control that skilled hands need can become controlling, anxious and over-critical. Hasta can be a perfectionist who frets over small flaws, a worrier who tries to manage everything by hand, and it can be cunning or manipulative when it uses its cleverness for narrow ends. The restless, fidgety energy can make it hard to sit still or delegate. The work is to loosen the grip: to trust others with the work, to let good-enough stand, and to aim its cleverness honestly.
Work and relationships
Career and relationships
Tradition points Hasta toward work of the hands and the fine mind: crafts and making, healing and massage, art and design, trade and commerce, writing, any skilled or detailed profession. These people do well where dexterity and diligence are rewarded, and where a job needs doing exactly rather than roughly. In relationships they are attentive, helpful and devoted. Control is the thing to let go of, caring without managing, and letting the people they love be imperfect.
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Your janma nakshatra is where the Moon stood at the moment you were born — not something you can guess from your birthday. Enter your birth details and our own calculation engine places the Moon exactly, down to the pada.
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How this page is worked out
The ruling graha, rashi span, dasha length and the four padas are the classical attributes of Hasta, computed from its position on the sidereal wheel with Lahiri ayanamsa. The written character is offered for reflection, drawn from the tradition’s significations — not a prediction about any individual life.