Pushya nakshatra: traits, padas, lord and compatibility

Pushya is the eighth of the 27 nakshatras, spanning 3°20′ to 16°40′ of Karka (93°20′ to 106°40′ of the sidereal zodiac), ruled by Shani (Saturn) and presided over by Brihaspati, the teacher of the gods. Its name comes from the root push, "to nourish", and tradition calls it the most nourishing of the stars.

This page covers its deity and symbol, its nature, the four padas, the Moon placed in it at birth, the Saturn dasha that follows, work, relationships, compatibility and muhurta. The panel above lists its correspondences.

Brihaspati and the cow's udder

The deity, Brihaspati, is the priest, counsellor and guru of the gods in the Vedas, the lord of prayer and sacred speech. When the gods need advice, they go to him. His name is also the Sanskrit name of the planet Jupiter, so Pushya carries Jupiter's spirit of wisdom and blessing even though Saturn is its lord.

The symbol, a cow's udder, shows the kind of nourishment Pushya gives: steady, generous and given every day without fuss. In Indian tradition the cow is the image of gentle abundance, and milk is the first food. Some traditions give a flower or a circle as alternative symbols, but the meaning stays with nourishment.

In the sky Pushya is usually identified with faint stars in the body of the Crab. The lunar month Pausha takes its name from it, because the full Moon of that month falls near these stars. Older texts also call the nakshatra Tishya and Sidhya, the second from the root for success. Pushya also holds the point of Jupiter's deepest exaltation, 5° Karka, which adds to its reputation as a blessed star.

The lord, Saturn, gives that blessing a shape. Brihaspati brings wisdom and the Moon's sign brings care, while Saturn adds patience, duty and the willingness to keep going. Pushya's nourishment is reliable because it is disciplined.

The nature of Pushya

In the language of kundli matching, Pushya is:

• Deva gana. The gentle, idealistic temperament: principled, kind and inclined to do the right thing.
• Sheep yoni. The sheep is mild, sociable and happiest in a settled flock. Pushya shares the sheep yoni with Krittika.
• Madhya nadi. The middle of the three nadis. Nadi is used in matching only, where two people of the same nadi score zero on that koota.

The strengths show as behaviour:

• Dependability. Pushya does what it said it would, on time, and keeps doing it.
• Care. Feeding, teaching and protecting people come naturally, and others tend to grow in Pushya's company.
• Principle. Rules, traditions and fairness matter; Pushya is often the person others trust to keep a promise or hold money.
• Patience. Saturn's influence lets Pushya work towards results that take years.

The shadow side is the same care without limits:

• Self-neglect. Everyone else is looked after first, and Pushya's own needs wait.
• Over-responsibility. Taking on more than is fair, and feeling it is wrong to say no.
• Rigidity. A preference for the known way that can harden into resistance to change.
• Quiet resentment. Care that goes unappreciated for too long can turn into silent hurt.

The growth edge, in the site's reading, is caring for themselves as well: letting the nourishment flow both ways.

The four padas

Each pada is 3°20′ and corresponds to one navamsa. All four of Pushya's padas fall in Karka:

Pada 1 (Simha navamsa), 3°20′ to 6°40′ Karka. The Sun's navamsa gives care a public face: leadership through looking after people, dignity and generosity. Jupiter's point of deepest exaltation, 5° Karka, lies in this pada.

Pada 2 (Kanya navamsa), 6°40′ to 10° Karka. Mercury's navamsa makes the care practical and precise. This pada serves through skill, organisation and attention to detail.

Pada 3 (Tula navamsa), 10° to 13°20′ Karka. Venus's navamsa turns Pushya towards fairness, partnership and hospitality. It nourishes through relationships and a sense of balance.

Pada 4 (Vrishchika navamsa), 13°20′ to 16°40′ Karka. Mars's navamsa adds intensity and protectiveness. This pada guards what it cares for, and often has a private, searching depth.

The naming custom gives the syllables Hu, He, Ho and Da to padas 1 to 4. Families use them, adapt them or leave them aside; it is a tradition, not a rule, as the nakshatra lesson explains.

Moon in Pushya

When the Moon is in Pushya at birth, it is the janma nakshatra, the birth star that names the person and starts the dasha. The Moon is the mind in Jyotish, so Pushya describes a caring, steady mind that finds meaning in looking after others and in doing its duty well.

Every Pushya Moon is in Karka, the Moon's own sign, where it is at home: emotional, protective and responsive. Saturn as nakshatra lord adds seriousness and reserve. A Pushya Moon often seems mature early, takes responsibility without being asked, and prefers to show love through what it does rather than what it says.

The emotional style is quiet and constant rather than dramatic. A Pushya Moon remembers what people need, notices who has not eaten, and keeps traditions alive. What unsettles it is disorder, broken promises and being unable to help. What steadies it is a role to fulfil and people who return its care.

When the lagna degree falls in Pushya, the same qualities show in manner: a calm, trustworthy presence, a protective instinct and a sense that this person will handle things.

The Saturn dasha at birth

Vimshottari dasha begins from the lord of the birth nakshatra, so a Moon in Pushya starts life in the Saturn mahadasha, 19 years in full. Only the part of that period matching the fraction of Pushya still to run remains at birth: that fraction times 19 years is the balance.

A Moon at the start of Pushya leaves almost all 19 years of Saturn; a Moon near the end leaves only weeks. After Saturn come Mercury (17 years) and Ketu (7 years).

Saturn signifies discipline, labour and service, delay, longevity and justice, and its dasha is read through those themes and through Saturn's placement in the individual chart. A childhood under Saturn is often read as one that teaches responsibility early. The Shani page explains Saturn in full, and the Vimshottari lesson explains how periods are read. A dasha describes themes coming forward; it does not forecast events.

Work and money

Pushya does well where the work is to sustain people or institutions over time. Typical fits, as tendencies rather than prescriptions:

• Teaching and guidance: education, counselling, mentoring and religious or community roles, in Brihaspati's line.
• Care and service: caregiving, social work, hospitality, food and agriculture.
• Stewardship: administration, public service, banking and trusts, where reliability is the job.
• Law and order: law, compliance and governance, which suit Saturn's sense of justice.

What wears Pushya down is chaos and work without purpose. With money, Pushya is usually a careful saver and a good custodian of shared resources. The useful habit is to spend a fair share on its own needs, not only on others.

Relationships

In relationships Pushya is devoted, protective and dependable. It provides, plans and stays. Partners often feel looked after in practical ways: meals made, bills paid, problems handled before they grow.

The friction comes from reserve and over-giving. Pushya may struggle to say what it feels, or start looking after a partner the way a parent would. Unspoken needs can build into quiet hurt. A partner who notices Pushya's care, gives some back and asks what Pushya wants suits it well. The growth edge applies directly: letting itself be cared for.

Compatibility

The table below shows, for each of the 27 nakshatras as a partner's birth star, how Pushya scores on the four nakshatra-based kootas:

Tara (3 points) counts from one birth star to the other, then divides by nine; remainders of 3, 5 and 7 are unfavourable. It is counted both ways: favourable both ways scores 3, one way 1.5. For Pushya, nine stars score the full 3: Punarvasu, Pushya itself, Ashlesha, Vishakha, Anuradha, Jyeshtha, Purva Bhadrapada, Uttara Bhadrapada and Revati. The other eighteen score 1.5.

Yoni (4 points) compares the nakshatra animals. Pushya's sheep scores 4 with the other sheep star, Krittika, and with Pushya itself, and 3 with the elephant (Bharani, Revati), the cow (Uttara Phalguni, Uttara Bhadrapada), the buffalo (Hasta, Swati) and the mongoose (Uttara Ashadha). The classical table makes the sheep and the monkey natural enemies, so the pairings with Purva Ashadha and Shravana score 0.

Gana (6 points) compares temperaments. Deva with deva scores 6; deva with manushya scores 6 or 5, depending on which partner is which in the classical table; deva with rakshasa scores 1, read as a difference of temperament rather than a fault.

Nadi (8 points) scores 0 when both partners share a nadi, which is called Nadi dosha. Pushya is madhya, as are Bharani, Mrigashira, Purva Phalguni, Chitra, Anuradha, Purva Ashadha, Dhanishta and Uttara Bhadrapada. Astrologers check the classical exceptions before treating it as a bar, and schools differ on which exceptions apply.

These four are half of the eight Ashtakoot kootas; the rest come from the Moon signs. A score describes ease and friction, never a verdict on two people. The Ashtakoot lesson explains all eight.

Pushya in muhurta

In muhurta, the choice of a good time, Pushya is one of the three swift (kshipra) nakshatras, with Ashwini and Hasta. Swift stars are traditionally chosen for undertakings that should start well and move quickly: beginning study, learning a skill, opening a shop, trade and short journeys. Pushya is among the most widely favoured stars for beginnings of all kinds, and a Thursday or Sunday with the Moon in Pushya, called Guru Pushya or Ravi Pushya, is a popular day in many families for starting study or making a planned purchase. That is custom, recorded as culture.

One long-standing exception: the usual classical marriage lists leave Pushya out, and schools explain the exception in different ways. A muhurta is never one factor: the tithi, weekday, lagna and the person's own chart are weighed together, as the muhurta lesson explains. The next nakshatra, Ashlesha, completes the Karka stars.

A worked example

Take a Moon at 11°00′ Karka, which is 101°00′ of the sidereal zodiac. This is an illustrative position, not a real person.

1. Nakshatra. Punarvasu ends at 3°20′ Karka and Pushya runs from 3°20′ to 16°40′, so 11°00′ is in Pushya.
2. Distance into the nakshatra. 11°00′ − 3°20′ = 7°40′.
3. Pada. Pada 3 runs from 6°40′ to 10°00′ of the nakshatra, so 7°40′ is in pada 3, which in Karka runs from 10°00′ to 13°20′.
4. Navamsa and syllable. Pushya's padas map to Simha, Kanya, Tula and Vrishchika, so pada 3 is Tula navamsa. The traditional naming syllable is Ho.
5. Birth dasha. The lord is Saturn, 19 years. The Moon has covered 7°40′ of 13°20′, that is 460′ of 800′, or 0.575 of the nakshatra. The balance is (1 − 0.575) × 19 = 8.075 years, about 8 years and 1 month of Saturn dasha remaining at birth, followed by Mercury's 17 years.

The reading: a Moon in its own sign, in Pushya's caring and dependable nature, with the Tula navamsa adding fairness, partnership and a gift for hospitality. The growth edge is still Pushya's: caring for itself as well as others.

Calculate yours

Try the calculator this lesson explains.

Date of birth

Day

Month

Year

For example 14 08 1990 · Remembered on this device only, never sent anywhere.

Time of birth

Hour (24h)

:

Minute

I don't know the time

24-hour clock, for example 14 30 for 2:30 pm

Place of birth

Type at least two letters and pick a town or city. Place data from GeoNames.

Calculate