Ashlesha nakshatra

Ashlesha is the 9th of the 27 nakshatras, occupying 16°40' Cancer to 0°00' Leo in the sidereal zodiac. If the Moon stood in this stretch of sky at your birth, this is your Janma Nakshatra, your birth star.

What is the character of Ashlesha?

The traditional reading is: hypnotic, clever, secretive, reads people quickly.

The behavioural marker most often named: wraps around you with charm and can be quietly manipulative to get what it wants.

The classical anchor for this is the shakti, the power assigned to each nakshatra in the Taittiriya Brahmana. For Ashlesha it is poison / to entwine, and the deity the Nagas (serpents) and symbol coiled snake carry the same idea in image form.

What are the four padas of Ashlesha?

Every nakshatra is quartered. Each quarter, a pada, is 3 degrees 20 minutes wide and maps onto a navamsa sign, which shades the reading:

Pada	Span (sidereal)	Navamsa sign
Pada 1	16°40' Cancer – 20°00' Cancer	Sagittarius
Pada 2	20°00' Cancer – 23°20' Cancer	Capricorn
Pada 3	23°20' Cancer – 26°40' Cancer	Aquarius
Pada 4	26°40' Cancer – 0°00' Leo	Pisces

Because a pada lasts roughly six hours, you need your birth time to know which of the four is yours.

Which planet rules Ashlesha, and why does it matter?

Ashlesha is ruled by Mercury.

Because Ashlesha is ruled by Mercury, anyone born with the Moon here begins life in the Mercury period of the Vimshottari dasha cycle, which runs 17 years. That starting point shifts the timing of every period that follows, which is why two people of the same age can be in completely different chapters.

Common questions

What is the Ashlesha nakshatra?

Ashlesha is nakshatra number 9 of 27, spanning 16°40' Cancer to 0°00' Leo in the sidereal zodiac. Its ruling lord is Mercury, its presiding deity is the Nagas (serpents), and its symbol is coiled snake.

What are the padas of Ashlesha?

Each nakshatra is quartered into padas of 3 degrees 20 minutes. For Ashlesha the four padas fall in the navamsa signs Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, in that order.

Which planet rules Ashlesha?

Mercury rules Ashlesha. In the Vimshottari dasha system the Mercury period lasts 17 years.

Where these details come from

The span and the pada boundaries are arithmetic and exact. The lord, deity and symbol follow the classical sources and vary little between them. The character reading renders the shakti, deity and symbol in plain words; the classical texts themselves are terse here, and anything longer is later compilation.

Recorded source for this entry: BPHS; shakti of poison / to entwine; deity the Nagas (serpents), symbol coiled snake, lord Mercury