The 9th nakshatra, ruled by Mercury (Budh), 4 padas in Cancer. Four padas of 3°20′, each with its navamsa sign and naam akshar.
Ashlesha runs from 16°40′ Cancer – 0°00′ Leo: 13°20′ of the ecliptic, measured sidereally from 0° Aries with the Lahiri ayanamsa. It is 4 padas in Cancer. It follows Pushya and is followed by Magha.
Brihat Jataka, Varahamihira’s sixth-century text on the birth chart, gives each nakshatra a verse on the person born with the Moon in it. This is its verse for Ashlesha, in paraphrase. It reads the Moon’s nakshatra alone and, like every text of its age, speaks of a male native: your lagna, the Moon’s rashi and the rest of the kundli decide how much of it shows.
Brihat Jataka is severe on Ashlesha: it says a person born with the Moon here pays little heed to other people’s work, eats without care for what or where, is ungrateful and clever at deceiving others, and leans towards wrongdoing. The note to the chapter in the 1885 translation adds that these results come in full only when the Moon is strong at birth.
Brihat Jataka 16.5
Each nakshatra divides into four padas of 3°20′. Each pada maps to a navamsa sign (the D9 chart is built from exactly this) and carries a naam akshar, the syllable a child born in it is named by. The Moon crosses a pada in about six hours, so it is the first thing an imprecise birth time puts in doubt.
These are classifications from the tradition rather than anything computed from the arc. They are given because kundli matching uses them, and each line says which part.
| Classification | This nakshatra | What it is used for |
|---|---|---|
| Gana | Rakshasa | Temperament class: Deva, Manushya or Rakshasa. Worth 6 of the 36 gun in kundli matching. |
| Yoni | Cat (male) | An animal, used for the 4-gun Yoni koota in matching. The rules are about the animals, not the people. |
| Nadi | Antya | Aadi, Madhya or Antya. 8 gun, the largest single koota; two charts sharing one is Nadi dosha. |
Below, the matching engine scores Ashlesha with each of the 27 on these and on Tara.
Kundli matching counts 36 gun over eight kootas. Four of them go by the two birth nakshatras alone: Tara (3), Yoni (4), Gana (6) and Nadi (8), 21 of the 36. Below is how Ashlesha scores with each of the 27 on those four, by the rules the kundli matching tool uses. The other 15 gun (Varna, Vashya, Graha Maitri and Bhakoot) go by the two Moon rashis, so a pair that does well here can still lose gun there, and the other way round.
| Nakshatra | Tara | Yoni | Gana | Nadi | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jyeshtha | 3 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 20 |
| Shatabhisha | 1.5 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 18.5 |
| Mula | 3 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 18 |
| Chitra | 1.5 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 17.5 |
| Dhanishta | 1.5 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 17.5 |
| Nakshatra | Tara | Yoni | Gana | Nadi | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rohini | 1.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3.5 |
| Shravana | 1.5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3.5 |
| Swati | 1.5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4.5 |
| Uttara Ashadha | 1.5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4.5 |
| Revati | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
Nadi dosha. Ashlesha is Antya nadi, and so are Krittika, Rohini, Magha, Swati, Vishakha, Uttara Ashadha, Shravana and Revati. With any of them the Nadi koota gives 0 of 8: that is Nadi dosha, the heaviest single loss in matching. Two people both born in Ashlesha share its nadi too; the dosha is treated as cancelled when their padas differ.
Gana. Ashlesha is Rakshasa gana. The lowest it scores on Gana is 0 of 6, with Ashwini, Mrigashira, Punarvasu, Pushya, Hasta, Swati, Anuradha, Shravana and Revati, the Deva–Rakshasa pairing usually called Gana dosha.
Yoni. With Magha and Purva Phalguni the Yoni koota gives 0 of 4: their animal and Ashlesha’s, the cat, are sworn enemies in the yoni table.
| Nakshatra | Tara | Yoni | Gana | Nadi | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashwini | 3 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 14 |
| Bharani | 1.5 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 13.5 |
| Krittika | 1.5 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 10.5 |
| Rohini | 1.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3.5 |
| Mrigashira | 1.5 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 10.5 |
| Ardra | 1.5 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 11.5 |
| Punarvasu | 1.5 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 13.5 |
| Pushya | 3 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 14 |
| Ashlesha | 3 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 13 |
| Magha | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 9 |
| Purva Phalguni | 1.5 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 10.5 |
| Uttara Phalguni | 1.5 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 13.5 |
| Hasta | 1.5 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 12.5 |
| Chitra | 1.5 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 17.5 |
| Swati | 1.5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4.5 |
| Vishakha | 1.5 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 9.5 |
| Anuradha | 3 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 14 |
| Jyeshtha | 3 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 20 |
| Mula | 3 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 18 |
| Purva Ashadha | 1.5 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 12.5 |
| Uttara Ashadha | 1.5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4.5 |
| Shravana | 1.5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3.5 |
| Dhanishta | 1.5 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 17.5 |
| Shatabhisha | 1.5 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 18.5 |
| Purva Bhadrapada | 1.5 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 12.5 |
| Uttara Bhadrapada | 3 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 15 |
| Revati | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
This is about days, not people. The Moon passes through Ashlesha once in about 27 days and stays a little over a day, and a muhurat (an auspicious time) is chosen partly by that nakshatra.
When the Moon is in Ashlesha, the muhurat rules allow the day for buying land or a house and vidyarambha (starting study). They keep it out for a wedding, griha pravesh (moving into a new house), buying a vehicle, opening a shop or business, joining a job, setting out on a journey, namkaran (naming a baby), mundan (the first haircut), janeu (the sacred thread), a planned operation and building work on the house.
Ashlesha on a Tuesday makes Sarvartha Siddhi yoga, a day the muhurat pages count good for any work. Ashlesha is one of the six Gand Mool nakshatras (Ashwini, Ashlesha, Magha, Jyeshtha, Mula and Revati), which sit where a water rashi ends and a fire rashi begins. A child born with the Moon here is traditionally given a Mool Shanti puja, usually on the 27th day after birth, when the Moon is back in the same nakshatra.
Vimshottari dasha starts from the nakshatra the Moon was in. Ashlesha is ruled by Mercury (Budh), so anyone born with the Moon here begins life inside a 17-year Mercury mahadasha, but almost nobody gets the whole of it: the part remaining is the part of the nakshatra the Moon had not yet crossed.
| Moon in | From | Mercury mahadasha remaining | Of the arc still ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pada 1 | 16°40′ Cancer | 17.0 – 12.8 years | 75–100% |
| Pada 2 | 20°00′ Cancer | 12.8 – 8.5 years | 50–75% |
| Pada 3 | 23°20′ Cancer | 8.5 – 4.2 years | 25–50% |
| Pada 4 | 26°40′ Cancer | 4.2 – 0.0 years | 0–25% |
The exact figure needs the Moon's degree, not just the pada: find yours, and the dasha pages carry the 120-year sequence that follows it.
Ashlesha’s deity is Sarpa and its symbol a coiled serpent. Brihat Jataka gives the person born in it a verse of its own (16.5), quoted above; it reads the Moon’s nakshatra alone; the rest of the kundli decides how much of it shows.
On the four kootas that go by the nakshatras alone (Tara, Yoni, Gana and Nadi, 21 of the 36 gun), the highest are Jyeshtha (20 of 21), Shatabhisha (18.5 of 21) and Mula (18 of 21). With Krittika, Rohini, Magha, Swati, Vishakha, Uttara Ashadha, Shravana and Revati it has Nadi dosha. The other 15 gun go by the two Moon rashis, so the full match needs both kundlis.
A day with the Moon in Ashlesha is allowed for buying land or a house and vidyarambha (starting study), by the muhurat rules here; the tithi, weekday and season must agree too.
16°40′ Cancer to 0°00′ Leo: 13°20′ of the sidereal ecliptic, Lahiri ayanamsa.
Mercury (Budh). Anyone born with the Moon here begins life in a 17-year Mercury mahadasha, with the part already elapsed depending on how far through the nakshatra the Moon was.
One per pada: pada 1 Di (डी), pada 2 Du (डू), pada 3 De (डे), pada 4 Do (डो). A child is named from the syllable of the pada the Moon was in.
Gana Rakshasa, yoni Cat (male), nadi Antya. Kundli matching uses them: 6 gun for gana, 4 for yoni and 8 for nadi, out of 36.
It needs a birth time, because the Moon crosses a nakshatra in about a day. The free kundli gives you the nakshatra, the pada and the dasha that follows from it.
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