The 24th nakshatra, ruled by Rahu, 4 padas in Aquarius. Four padas of 3°20′, each with its navamsa sign and naam akshar.
Shatabhisha runs from 6°40′ Aquarius – 20°00′ Aquarius: 13°20′ of the ecliptic, measured sidereally from 0° Aries with the Lahiri ayanamsa. It is 4 padas in Aquarius. It follows Dhanishta and is followed by Purva Bhadrapada.
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 Shatabhisha, 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 Shatabhisha is truthful but blunt of speech, overcomes their enemies, goes their own way and plunges into work without much forethought. The verse adds a share of sorrow. 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 16.13
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 | Horse (female) | An animal, used for the 4-gun Yoni koota in matching. The rules are about the animals, not the people. |
| Nadi | Aadi | Aadi, Madhya or Antya. 8 gun, the largest single koota; two charts sharing one is Nadi dosha. |
Below, the matching engine scores Shatabhisha 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 Shatabhisha 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hasta | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.5 |
| Uttara Phalguni | 1.5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4.5 |
| Purva Bhadrapada | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Ashwini | 1.5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5.5 |
| Ardra | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Punarvasu | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
Nadi dosha. Shatabhisha is Aadi nadi, and so are Ashwini, Ardra, Punarvasu, Uttara Phalguni, Hasta, Jyeshtha, Mula and Purva 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 Shatabhisha share its nadi too; the dosha is treated as cancelled when their padas differ.
Gana. Shatabhisha 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 Hasta and Swati the Yoni koota gives 0 of 4: their animal and Shatabhisha’s, the horse, are sworn enemies in the yoni table.
| Nakshatra | Tara | Yoni | Gana | Nadi | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashwini | 1.5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5.5 |
| Bharani | 1.5 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 12.5 |
| Krittika | 1.5 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 18.5 |
| Rohini | 1.5 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 12.5 |
| Mrigashira | 3 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 13 |
| Ardra | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Punarvasu | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Pushya | 1.5 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 12.5 |
| Ashlesha | 1.5 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 18.5 |
| Magha | 1.5 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 18.5 |
| Purva Phalguni | 1.5 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 13.5 |
| Uttara Phalguni | 1.5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4.5 |
| Hasta | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.5 |
| Chitra | 3 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 18 |
| Swati | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 11 |
| Vishakha | 3 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 18 |
| Anuradha | 1.5 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 12.5 |
| Jyeshtha | 1.5 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 10.5 |
| Mula | 1.5 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 9.5 |
| Purva Ashadha | 1.5 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 12.5 |
| Uttara Ashadha | 1.5 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 12.5 |
| Shravana | 1.5 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 11.5 |
| Dhanishta | 3 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 18 |
| Shatabhisha | 3 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 13 |
| Purva Bhadrapada | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Uttara Bhadrapada | 1.5 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 12.5 |
| Revati | 1.5 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 11.5 |
This is about days, not people. The Moon passes through Shatabhisha 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 Shatabhisha, the muhurat rules allow the day for buying a vehicle, setting out on a journey, namkaran (naming a baby), mundan (the first haircut), janeu (the sacred thread) and vidyarambha (starting study). They keep it out for a wedding, griha pravesh (moving into a new house), buying land or a house, opening a shop or business, joining a job, a planned operation and building work on the house.
Shatabhisha does not make Sarvartha Siddhi yoga on any weekday.
Vimshottari dasha starts from the nakshatra the Moon was in. Shatabhisha is ruled by Rahu, so anyone born with the Moon here begins life inside an 18-year Rahu 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 | Rahu mahadasha remaining | Of the arc still ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pada 1 | 6°40′ Aquarius | 18.0 – 13.5 years | 75–100% |
| Pada 2 | 10°00′ Aquarius | 13.5 – 9.0 years | 50–75% |
| Pada 3 | 13°20′ Aquarius | 9.0 – 4.5 years | 25–50% |
| Pada 4 | 16°40′ Aquarius | 4.5 – 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.
Shatabhisha’s deity is Varuna and its symbol an empty circle. Brihat Jataka gives the person born in it a verse of its own (16.13), 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 Krittika (18.5 of 21), Ashlesha (18.5 of 21) and Magha (18.5 of 21). With Ashwini, Ardra, Punarvasu, Uttara Phalguni, Hasta, Jyeshtha, Mula and Purva 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 Shatabhisha is allowed for buying a vehicle, setting out on a journey, namkaran (naming a baby), mundan (the first haircut), janeu (the sacred thread) and vidyarambha (starting study), by the muhurat rules here; the tithi, weekday and season must agree too.
6°40′ Aquarius to 20°00′ Aquarius: 13°20′ of the sidereal ecliptic, Lahiri ayanamsa.
Rahu. Anyone born with the Moon here begins life in an 18-year Rahu mahadasha, with the part already elapsed depending on how far through the nakshatra the Moon was.
One per pada: pada 1 Go (गो), pada 2 Sa (सा), pada 3 Si (सी), pada 4 Su (सू). A child is named from the syllable of the pada the Moon was in.
Gana Rakshasa, yoni Horse (female), nadi Aadi. 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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