Nakshatra Cluster · Moon-ruled · Hasta

Hasta nakshatra, 10°00' to 23°20' Virgo.

Hasta (Sanskrit hasta meaning hand or palm) is the 13th of the 27 nakshatras, occupying 10°00' to 23°20' Virgo on the sidereal lattice. The presiding deity is Savitar (an aspect of the Sun-god, the creative impeller). The ruling planet is Moon (10-year mahadasha in Vimshottari). The symbol is the hand, palm, fist. The macro register is manual skill, craft, dexterity, the capacity to make and to manifest with the hands. Sources: Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra Chapter 3, Phaladeepika Chapter 7, Sarvartha Chintamani.

Range, ruler, deity and classical attributes

Range	10°00' to 23°20' Virgo
Sequence position	13th of 27 nakshatras
Ruling planet	Moon (10-year Vimshottari mahadasha)
Presiding deity	Savitar (an aspect of the Sun-god, the creative impeller)
Symbol	hand, palm, fist
Gana (temperamental class)	deva
Varna (functional class)	vaishya
Yoni (animal-axis)	buffalo
Nadi (Ayurvedic constitution)	vata
Macro register	manual skill, craft, dexterity, the capacity to make and to manifest with the hands

Mythology and meaning

Savitar the presiding deity is an aspect of the Sun-god, the creative impeller who sets the universe in motion. The hand-symbol reflects manifestation: that which can be touched, made, crafted with the hands. Hasta carries the maker register: the chart owner manifests through skill and craft.

The classical reading walks the presiding deity, the symbol and the ruling planet together to derive the nakshatra's full register. Hasta's register is shaped by all three: the deity sets the thematic register, the symbol provides the visual-mnemonic and behavioural anchor and the ruling planet anchors the Vimshottari major-period framework and the broader chart-side reading whenever the chart owner runs the ruler's mahadasha.

What Moon in Hasta reads as

Classical professional registers commonly associated with this nakshatra include craft and handwork industries (jewellery, carpentry, surgery, fine arts), manufacturing and production, healing arts (massage, manual therapy, surgery), agriculture, anything requiring skill-of-hand or dexterity. The professional list is illustrative rather than deterministic. The nakshatra produces structural capacity; the chart owner's specific application depends on the broader chart, the dasha sequence and the natal house position of the Moon within the chart.

The four padas and per-pada navamsa signs

Each nakshatra divides into four padas of 3°20' arc each, mapping to the four navamsa signs starting from the position of the first pada. Pada-level reading qualifies the broad nakshatra register with the navamsa sign that the chart owner's Moon (or natal point) actually occupies. The four padas of Hasta.

Pada 1. Aries / Mars: skilled action through pioneering register, surgeon or martial-axis craft.
Pada 2. Taurus / Venus: refined craft through aesthetic register, artisanship axis.
Pada 3. Gemini / Mercury: dexterous communication, writing and articulate-skill axis.
Pada 4. Cancer / Moon: nurture-skill through manual care, healing-hands register.

The classical practice reads the pada-level register together with the natal Moon's navamsa sign for full nakshatra reading. The pada determines which navamsa sign the chart owner activates; the navamsa lord then participates in the broader chart reading as a parallel signature alongside the natal lord.

Moon rulership and the 10-year mahadasha

A native born with the natal Moon in Hasta opens life in the Moon mahadasha. The 10-year window foregrounds Moon's karaka register: Moon's natural signification activates as the broad thematic frame for the opening phase of the life.

Combined with Hasta's manual-skill register, the opening Moon mahadasha period often produces early-life skill formation through nurture and practice, the patient development of craft and the manifestation-capacity for which this nakshatra is renowned.

The exact degree of the Moon within Hasta fixes how much of the opening Moon mahadasha remained at birth. Moon at 0° of the nakshatra inherits the full 10-year period from birth. Moon at the closing degree of the nakshatra inherits only the residual fraction before the next mahadasha begins. The classical computation reduces this to days from the precise degree of Moon within the nakshatra range.

Transit reading: when slow planets cross Hasta

Beyond the natal-Moon reading, the Hasta nakshatra carries reading-significance whenever slow planets transit through its 13°20' arc. Saturn at approximately 2.5 years per sign passes through Hasta once every 29.5 years. Jupiter at approximately 13 months per sign passes through annually within each 12-year cycle. Rahu and Ketu at approximately 18 months per sign pass through every 18 years.

Transit Jupiter through Hasta provides a benefic overlay on the nakshatra's themes for the duration of the Jupiter transit. Transit Saturn through Hasta provides a structural-pressure overlay, often producing the consolidation or restructuring of the nakshatra's themes in the chart owner's life. Transit Rahu or Ketu through Hasta provides an amplification or dissolution overlay depending on which node is transiting and which house the nakshatra occupies on the chart.

Compatibility attributes and Ashtakoota implications

Hasta carries gana classification deva (the temperamental class layer, with three values: deva for divine, manushya for human, rakshasa for intense), varna classification vaishya (the functional class layer), yoni classification buffalo (the animal-axis compatibility marker) and nadi classification vata (the Ayurvedic constitutional axis). These attributes feed Ashtakoota compatibility scoring used in classical Vedic matchmaking. The cluster documents these for reference, not as a forward-call mechanism.

Where Hasta sits in the 27-step sequence

In the fixed 27-step sidereal nakshatra sequence, Hasta is the 13th nakshatra. The Moon traverses one nakshatra in approximately 24 hours (the lunar daily motion of approximately 13°10' per day matched against the 13°20' nakshatra arc). The nakshatra boundaries are therefore time-sensitive at the daily and even hourly level: birth time accuracy is the prerequisite for accurate nakshatra identification.

Calibration status

The article documents the classical Hasta-nakshatra reading as set out in BPHS Chapter 3 (nakshatra significations), Phaladeepika Chapter 7 and Sarvartha Chintamani. The presiding-deity reading, the symbol-interpretation, the four-pada-per-navamsa framework and the gana-varna-yoni-nadi compatibility attributes are presented as the tradition's own framework. The Tempora calibrated signature library (Note 005) does not currently include nakshatra-specific event signatures. Calibrating nakshatra placements against a labelled chart-corpus is open work.

FAQ

What is the Hasta nakshatra and where does it sit on the sidereal lattice?

Hasta is the 13th of the 27 nakshatras, occupying 10°00' to 23°20' Virgo. The ruling planet is Moon (10-year Vimshottari mahadasha). The presiding deity is Savitar (an aspect of the Sun-god, the creative impeller). The symbol is the hand, palm, fist. The macro register is manual skill, craft, dexterity, the capacity to make and to manifest with the hands. Sanskrit hasta meaning hand or palm. Sources: BPHS Chapter 3, Phaladeepika Chapter 7.

What mythology and meaning is associated with Hasta?

What does Moon in Hasta read as?

Natives born with the natal Moon in Hasta carry manual skill and craft as dominant register. The chart works with hands, manifests through making and operates with the precision of the skilled artisan. The Moon as the mental and emotional register absorbs the nakshatra's signature directly. Professional registers commonly associated: craft and handwork industries (jewellery, carpentry, surgery, fine arts), manufacturing and production, healing arts (massage, manual therapy, surgery), agriculture, anything requiring skill-of-hand or dexterity.

What are the four padas of Hasta?

Each nakshatra divides into four padas of 3°20' arc each, mapping to four navamsa signs. Hasta's padas. Pada 1: Aries / Mars: skilled action through pioneering register, surgeon or martial-axis craft. Pada 2: Taurus / Venus: refined craft through aesthetic register, artisanship axis. Pada 3: Gemini / Mercury: dexterous communication, writing and articulate-skill axis. Pada 4: Cancer / Moon: nurture-skill through manual care, healing-hands register. The natal Moon's navamsa sign determines which pada the chart owner activates.

What does the Moon rulership give Hasta?

Moon rulership means a native with Moon in Hasta opens life in the Moon mahadasha (10 years). The Moon karaka register foregrounds across the opening period. Combined with Hasta's manual-skill register, the opening Moon mahadasha period often produces early-life skill formation through nurture and practice, the patient development of craft and the manifestation-capacity for which this nakshatra is renowned.

How is Hasta read during transit?

Beyond the natal-Moon reading, Hasta carries significance when slow planets transit through its 13°20' arc. Saturn passes through once every 29.5 years. Jupiter passes annually within each 12-year cycle. Rahu and Ketu pass through every 18 years. Transit Jupiter provides benefic overlay. Transit Saturn provides structural-pressure overlay. Transit Rahu or Ketu provides amplification or dissolution overlay depending on which node and which house the nakshatra occupies.