The 8th nakshatra, ruled by Saturn (Shani), 4 padas in Cancer. Four padas of 3°20′, each with its navamsa sign and naam akshar.
Pushya runs from 3°20′ Cancer – 16°40′ Cancer: 13°20′ of the ecliptic, measured sidereally from 0° Aries with the Lahiri ayanamsa. It is 4 padas in Cancer. It follows Punarvasu and is followed by Ashlesha.
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 Pushya, 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 says a person born with the Moon in Pushya is master of their desires, well liked, learned in the shastras (the classical texts), wealthy and fond of giving in charity. 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 | Deva | Temperament class: Deva, Manushya or Rakshasa. Worth 6 of the 36 gun in kundli matching. |
| Yoni | Sheep (male) | An animal, used for the 4-gun Yoni koota in matching. The rules are about the animals, not the people. |
| Nadi | Madhya | Aadi, Madhya or Antya. 8 gun, the largest single koota; two charts sharing one is Nadi dosha. |
Below, the matching engine scores Pushya 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 Pushya 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chitra | 1.5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.5 |
| Dhanishta | 1.5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.5 |
| Purva Ashadha | 1.5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6.5 |
| Purva Phalguni | 1.5 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 8.5 |
| Bharani | 1.5 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 9.5 |
| Mrigashira | 1.5 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 9.5 |
Nadi dosha. Pushya is Madhya nadi, and so are Bharani, Mrigashira, Purva Phalguni, Chitra, Anuradha, Purva Ashadha, Dhanishta and Uttara Bhadrapada. 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 Pushya share its nadi too; the dosha is treated as cancelled when their padas differ.
Gana. Pushya is Deva gana. The lowest it scores on Gana is 0 of 6, with Krittika, Ashlesha, Magha, Chitra, Vishakha, Jyeshtha, Mula, Dhanishta and Shatabhisha, the Deva–Rakshasa pairing usually called Gana dosha.
Yoni. With Purva Ashadha and Shravana the Yoni koota gives 0 of 4: their animal and Pushya’s, the sheep, are sworn enemies in the yoni table.
| Nakshatra | Tara | Yoni | Gana | Nadi | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashwini | 1.5 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 18.5 |
| Bharani | 1.5 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 9.5 |
| Krittika | 1.5 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 13.5 |
| Rohini | 1.5 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 16.5 |
| Mrigashira | 1.5 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 9.5 |
| Ardra | 1.5 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 16.5 |
| Punarvasu | 3 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 20 |
| Pushya | 3 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 13 |
| Ashlesha | 3 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 14 |
| Magha | 1.5 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 11.5 |
| Purva Phalguni | 1.5 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 8.5 |
| Uttara Phalguni | 1.5 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 17.5 |
| Hasta | 1.5 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 18.5 |
| Chitra | 1.5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.5 |
| Swati | 1.5 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 18.5 |
| Vishakha | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 12 |
| Anuradha | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 12 |
| Jyeshtha | 3 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 14 |
| Mula | 1.5 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 11.5 |
| Purva Ashadha | 1.5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6.5 |
| Uttara Ashadha | 1.5 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 16.5 |
| Shravana | 1.5 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 15.5 |
| Dhanishta | 1.5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.5 |
| Shatabhisha | 1.5 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 12.5 |
| Purva Bhadrapada | 3 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 17 |
| Uttara Bhadrapada | 3 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 11 |
| Revati | 3 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 20 |
This is about days, not people. The Moon passes through Pushya 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 Pushya, the muhurat rules allow the day for buying a vehicle, opening a shop or business, setting out on a journey, namkaran (naming a baby), mundan (the first haircut), janeu (the sacred thread), vidyarambha (starting study), a planned operation and building work on the house. They keep it out for a wedding, griha pravesh (moving into a new house), buying land or a house and joining a job.
Pushya on a Monday, Thursday or Sunday makes Sarvartha Siddhi yoga, a day the muhurat pages count good for any work. Pushya on a Thursday is called Guru Pushya Yog, and on a Sunday Ravi Pushya Yog: the days most sought for buying gold and starting new work.
Vimshottari dasha starts from the nakshatra the Moon was in. Pushya is ruled by Saturn (Shani), so anyone born with the Moon here begins life inside a 19-year Saturn 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 | Saturn mahadasha remaining | Of the arc still ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pada 1 | 3°20′ Cancer | 19.0 – 14.2 years | 75–100% |
| Pada 2 | 6°40′ Cancer | 14.2 – 9.5 years | 50–75% |
| Pada 3 | 10°00′ Cancer | 9.5 – 4.8 years | 25–50% |
| Pada 4 | 13°20′ Cancer | 4.8 – 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.
Pushya’s deity is Brihaspati and its symbol a cow's udder. 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 Punarvasu (20 of 21), Revati (20 of 21), Ashwini (18.5 of 21), Hasta (18.5 of 21) and Swati (18.5 of 21). With Bharani, Mrigashira, Purva Phalguni, Chitra, Anuradha, Purva Ashadha, Dhanishta and Uttara Bhadrapada 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 Pushya is allowed for buying a vehicle, opening a shop or business, setting out on a journey, namkaran (naming a baby), mundan (the first haircut), janeu (the sacred thread), vidyarambha (starting study), a planned operation and building work on the house, by the muhurat rules here; the tithi, weekday and season must agree too.
3°20′ Cancer to 16°40′ Cancer: 13°20′ of the sidereal ecliptic, Lahiri ayanamsa.
Saturn (Shani). Anyone born with the Moon here begins life in a 19-year Saturn mahadasha, with the part already elapsed depending on how far through the nakshatra the Moon was.
One per pada: pada 1 Hu (हू), pada 2 He (हे), pada 3 Ho (हो), pada 4 Da (डा). A child is named from the syllable of the pada the Moon was in.
Gana Deva, yoni Sheep (male), nadi Madhya. 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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