Span: 3°20' Cancer – 16°40' Cancer (sidereal)
Ruling lord: Saturn
Presiding deity: Brihaspati
Symbol: cow's udder (also flower/arrow)
Shakti (classical power): nourish
Pushya is the 8th of the 27 nakshatras, occupying 3°20' Cancer to 16°40' Cancer in the sidereal zodiac. If the Moon stood in this stretch of sky at your birth, this is your Janma Nakshatra, your birth star.
The traditional reading is: caring, dutiful, protective, wants to feed and support people.
The behavioural marker most often named: makes everyone feel looked after, and can turn controlling when its care is refused.
The classical anchor for this is the shakti, the power assigned to each nakshatra in the Taittiriya Brahmana. For Pushya it is nourish, and the deity Brihaspati and symbol cow's udder (also flower/arrow) carry the same idea in image form.
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 | 3°20' Cancer – 6°40' Cancer | Leo |
| Pada 2 | 6°40' Cancer – 10°00' Cancer | Virgo |
| Pada 3 | 10°00' Cancer – 13°20' Cancer | Libra |
| Pada 4 | 13°20' Cancer – 16°40' Cancer | Scorpio |
Because a pada lasts roughly six hours, you need your birth time to know which of the four is yours.
Pushya is ruled by Saturn.
Because Pushya is ruled by Saturn, anyone born with the Moon here begins life in the Saturn period of the Vimshottari dasha cycle, which runs 19 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.
Pushya is nakshatra number 8 of 27, spanning 3°20' Cancer to 16°40' Cancer in the sidereal zodiac. Its ruling lord is Saturn, its presiding deity is Brihaspati, and its symbol is cow's udder (also flower/arrow).
Each nakshatra is quartered into padas of 3 degrees 20 minutes. For Pushya the four padas fall in the navamsa signs Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, in that order.
Saturn rules Pushya. In the Vimshottari dasha system the Saturn period lasts 19 years.
Not sure whether Pushya is yours? It takes your date, place and ideally time of birth.
Find my nakshatraThe 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 (most auspicious nakshatra); shakti to nourish; deity Brihaspati, symbol cow's udder (also flower/arrow), lord Saturn