Nakshatra 8 of 27
Pushya Nakshatra
Pushya is the most nourishing and auspicious of the nakshatras. Saturn rules it, Brihaspati is its deity, and it is steady, dutiful and protective of whatever is in its care.
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.
- Saturn
- Deity
- Brihaspati, the guru of the gods
- Symbol
- A cow's udder, a lotus, an arrow
- 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.
- Sheep (Mesha)
- Tree
- Peepal (sacred fig)
- 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
- 19
- RashiA sign, one twelfth of the zodiac. In Indian practice your rashi is the sign the Moon was in, not the Sun. span
- Karka 3°20′ – 16°40′
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 Pushya.
| 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 | 93°20′ – 96°40′ | Simha |
| 2 | 96°40′ – 100°00′ | Kanya |
| 3 | 100°00′ – 103°20′ | Tula |
| 4 | 103°20′ – 106°40′ | Vrischika |
Nature
The nature of this nakshatra
Pushya means "to nourish", and it is traditionally counted the most auspicious nakshatraThe star the Moon is passing through. There are twenty-seven, and yours decides your naming letter and much of a matching score. of all. Its symbol is a cow’s udder, sustenance freely given, and its deity is Brihaspati, the teacher of the gods. Saturn’s rulership adds duty, patience and moral weight, so the nourishing warmth here comes with real responsibility. People with the Moon in Pushya are caretakers by instinct: dependable, protective, conservative in the good sense, drawn to serve and to steady the people around them. There is a quiet, unshowy dignity to them and a strong attachment to family, tradition and what has been proven to work, and they would rather be trusted than admired.
Strengths
Where it is strong
Pushya’s strength is nourishing reliability. It is the person others lean on, who shows up and stays, and it has the discipline of Saturn behind the kindness, so its care is durable rather than sentimental. It is trustworthy with responsibility, wise in a grounded way, and good at building institutions and families that last. The Jupiter-Saturn pairing gives both moral seriousness and genuine warmth: principled and kind at once, and slow to be moved from what it knows to be right.
Watch-outs
What to watch for
The strong sense of duty can harden into rigidity, and the nourishing instinct into control or smothering, caring for people in ways that keep them small. Pushya can be conservative to a fault, clinging to the familiar and suspicious of the new, and it can become a martyr, giving until it is depleted and quietly resentful. The caution can shade into worry that never quite lets go. The work is to nourish without possessing, to loosen its grip on "how things are done", and to let itself be cared for in turn.
Work and relationships
Career and relationships
Tradition associates Pushya with work that nurtures and sustains: teaching, medicine and care, food and agriculture, public service, religion, any role that holds a community together. These people do well where they are trusted to look after something, and they are often the steady centre a family or an institution is built around. In relationships they are devoted, protective and family-centred. Control is the thing to loosen, so that they support the people they love without needing to manage them.
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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 Pushya, 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.