Hasta nakshatra: traits, lord, deity and name letters

Character

Hasta is the thirteenth nakshatra and lies wholly within Kanya, from 10°00′ to 23°20′. Mercury is the lord of Kanya, and the Moon is neither exalted, own nor debilitated there, yet Hasta is the Moon’s own nakshatra, the second of her three. A Moon passing through Hasta therefore stands in a nakshatra she governs, set in a sign that belongs to Mercury.

That blend of the Moon’s receptivity and a Mercurial sign is read as a skilful, adaptable and practical mind. A Moon in Hasta is described as good with the hands and the details: inventive, quick to learn a method by doing it, and happiest when there is something to make, mend or arrange. The nakshatra is read as humour, resourcefulness and a gift for finding a way through a small problem.

The harder reading is restlessness. Because Hasta is swift, kshipra, in nature, its Moon can be read as a mind that moves on rapidly, stretched across many small tasks and uneasy when idle. Quick comprehension may turn into impatience with slower people, and the habit of fixing everything may leave little room for simply being still. The nakshatra before it is Uttara Phalguni and the one after is Chitra.

Lord and dasha

The Moon is the lord of Hasta. Her Vimshottari dasha lasts 10 years. She governs three nakshatras, nine places apart, which are Rohini, Hasta and Shravana.

Someone born with the Moon in Hasta starts in the Moon’s own mahadasha, and what remains is set by how far she had travelled through the nakshatra. At 10°00′ of Kanya close to all 10 years are ahead, and at 23°20′ only a short balance is left. Mars follows with 7 years.

Hasta sits in Kanya, a sign Mercury governs, and the opening dasha of a life born here is read in that light: as a time of learning skills, finding a working routine and getting the details right, with the Moon’s own period lending it a receptive, impressionable tone.

Deity and symbol

The deity of Hasta is Savitar. The Brihat Samhita lists the day-maker, dinakrit, which Iyer renders Savita, and the Muhurta Chintamani gives the same deity under another name.

The popular symbol is the palm of the hand. The Muhurta Chintamani’s classical shape agrees: the hand. A palm is read as giving and receiving, as skill and as the ability to hold and shape something. The symbol points toward work done with the hands.

Gana, yoni and nature

Hasta is of the deva gana, the divine class, to which Ashwini, Mrigashira, Punarvasu, Pushya, Swati, Anuradha, Shravana and Revati also belong.

The yoni of Hasta is the buffalo. The Muhurta Chintamani pairs it with Swati, and B. V. Raman’s Muhurtha puts Hasta in the female place and Swati in the male.

Its nature is kshipra, swift, which Hasta shares with Ashwini and Pushya. The Muhurta Chintamani puts commerce, courtship, study, ornament, handicrafts and the arts in this class, and the Brihat Samhita adds the preparation of medicines and the purchase of vehicles.

Padas and name letters

Each of Hasta’s four padas, 3°20′ long, has its own navamsa, running from Mesha to Karka while the Rashi stays Kanya. Pada one, 10°00′ to 13°20′ of Kanya, is in Mesha; pada two, to 16°40′, in Vrishabha; pada three, to 20°00′, in Mithuna; pada four, to 23°20′, in Karka. In that last pada the Moon is in the navamsa of her own sign.

Hasta’s naming syllables, in pada order, are Pu, Sha, Na and Tha, so Tha goes with a Moon between 20°00′ and 23°20′ of Kanya. Like all name letters, they belong to the custom of naming.

In Prashna and muhurta

Hasta’s Moon sits in Kanya, whose lord is Mercury, so a Prashna chart cast while she is there has Mercury’s condition to weigh beside hers. With the Lagna as the asker and the Moon as the asker’s mind and the way the matter unfolds, she can be read as an alert and practical frame of mind, and the matter as one that depends on skill, handiwork, detail or a quick decision.

In a muhurta table, Hasta’s kshipra label is what marks a day as one for the trades and crafts in the text’s list.

Behind AstroGPT’s Vedic mode is the question chart described in the horary astrology guide: the sidereal sky at the minute and place a question is asked.