Hasta (हस्त)

Hasta at a Glance

Number

13 of 27

Sidereal span

Virgo 10°00′ – 23°20′

Rashi

Virgo

Ruling planet (lord)

Moon — 10-year Vimshottari dasha

Presiding deity

Savitar

Symbol

Hand

Gana

Deva

Yoni

Buffalo (female)

Nadi

Adi (Vata)

Muhurta class

Kshipra / Laghu (swift and light)

Keywords

Skilful, witty, hands-on

Degrees are sidereal, using the Lahiri ayanamsa as the Indian ephemeris does. A Western chart uses tropical longitudes and will place the same Moon roughly 24° earlier in the zodiac.

Character of Hasta Natives

An open hand, presided over by Savitar, ruled by the Moon — Hasta is the nakshatra of skill. Whatever these natives do with their hands, they do well: craft, surgery, instruments, massage, cooking, writing. It also carries wit, and Hasta is often the funniest person in the room. The hand is open, which classically means both the ability to acquire and the ability to give.

The Four Padas and Their Naming Letters

Each nakshatra divides into four padas of 3°20′, and each pada falls in a different navamsa sign — which is why two people born in Hasta on the same day can read quite differently. The pada also fixes the traditional first syllable for a child’s name.

27 nakshatras × 4 padas = 108 = 12 signs × 9 navamsas, so the padas run through the navamsa signs in one unbroken cycle. Syllables vary a little between regional traditions; a family pandit’s list takes precedence over any table. Each pada above links to its own page: the exact 3°20′ arc, the rashi it falls in, where the Moon stands in that navamsa, and how much Moon mahadasha a birth there starts with.

Career and Work

Crafts and fine handwork, surgery, physiotherapy and massage, art and sculpture, comedy and performance, trade, and the manufacture of anything intricate.

The nakshatra sets the flavour; the 10th house and its lord decide the actual profession. Where the Moon sits and how strong it is matters more than the list above — see Moon in Vedic astrology.

What to Watch For

A swift, light nakshatra — excellent for starting small things, less suited to grand ones. The characteristic difficulty is scale: Hasta undersells itself, takes on the small commission instead of the large contract, and the wit can turn into deflection when something serious needs saying.

Hasta in Kundli Milan

Nakshatra matching scores 36 guna across eight kootas. Three of them are read straight off the birth nakshatra, and these are Hasta’s values:

18 of 36 is the conventional pass mark. Guna Milan is a filter, not a verdict — Mangal dosha, the 7th house and both Venus positions still have to be read, and a high score does not override a badly afflicted 7th.

Muhurta: What Hasta Is Used For

Hasta is classed as Kshipra / Laghu (swift and light) — one of 3 nakshatras in that class, alongside Ashwini and Pushya. Swift and light nakshatras are chosen for anything that should be over quickly: buying and selling, taking medicine, short journeys, sport, learning a skill, and opening a shop. They are poor choices for anything meant to last — a foundation laid under a Kshipra nakshatra is classically held not to hold.

A real muhurta needs the tithi, vara, yoga and karana too, not the nakshatra alone — the day’s panchang carries all five, and choghadiya narrows it to the hour.

Remedies and Practice

• Worship Savitar, the presiding deity of Hasta, particularly on the day the Moon transits this nakshatra — which happens roughly once every 27 days and is listed in the daily panchang.
• Strengthen the Moon, the nakshatra lord, through its beej mantra and weekday observance. This matters most while the Moon mahadasha or antardasha is running.
• Feed or donate on the Moon weekday. Charity attributed to the lord is the remedy the classics prefer over gemstones, because it carries no risk of strengthening the wrong graha.
• Recite the nakshatra’s 108 names or the Nakshatra Suktam during the Moon’s transit through Hasta if you want a practice tied to the nakshatra rather than the planet.

If a stone is being considered: the lord here is Moon, whose stone is Pearl (Moti). Selection by janma nakshatra is the more precise of the two routes, so this differs from the rashi recommendation for Virgo (Emerald (Panna)).

More precise is still not automatic. Remedies are prescribed for a specific affliction, not for a nakshatra as such: nothing above needs doing unless the Moon is genuinely weak or badly placed in your chart, and no stone should be worn on nakshatra grounds alone. See dosha remedies.

Frequently Asked Questions