Hasta Pada 3 (Gemini Navamsa)

Hasta Pada 3 at a Glance

Pada

3rd of 4 — navamsa 51 of the zodiac's 108

Sidereal span

Virgo 16°40′ – 20°00′ — 166°40′ – 170°00′ sidereal

Rashi (Moon sign)

Virgo, the whole of Hasta being inside it

Navamsa (D-9)

Gemini, ruled by Mercury

Navamsa from the rashi

10th from Virgo — a kendra, the house of visible action

Moon in Gemini

in a friend’s sign — supported without being strong

Name syllable

Na

Moon dasha balance

2 years 6 months to 5 years of the 10-year period

What Pada 3 Settles About a Hasta Birth

All four padas of Hasta fall inside Virgo, so the pada leaves the rashi alone — a Hasta native is a Virgo native whichever quarter the Moon occupied. What pada 3 settles instead is the navamsa: Gemini, the 10th sign from Virgo, where the other three quarters of Hasta give Aries, Taurus and Cancer. The D-9 is where the classical texts look for the strength behind a promise the rashi chart only states, which is why a Hasta pada 3 birth and a pada 4 birth are both Virgo natives with Mercury as rashi lord and still do not read the same.

The pada is fixed by the Moon’s exact longitude, so it needs the birth time and place rather than the date: a Hasta Moon anywhere in Virgo 16°40′ – 20°00′ is pada 3, and the Moon crosses 3°20′ in roughly five to seven hours depending on how fast it is moving. A free kundli will say pada 3 rather than just Hasta, and with it the Gemini navamsa and how much of the Moon mahadasha was left.

Gemini Navamsa: What the D-9 Adds

The third pada of Hasta is the Gemini navamsa, lorded by Mercury — the 10th sign from Virgo, a kendra, the house of visible action. Virgo and Gemini are different signs, so the D-9 shifts the reading rather than confirming it. They share a mobility — both dual — while differing in element, Virgo being earth and Gemini air. Pada 3 is not the vargottama one and neither are the other three: Hasta has no vargottama pada at all, which it shares with 17 other nakshatras.

Two grahas carry this pada: the Moon, which lords Hasta, and Mercury, which lords the Gemini navamsa. Between Virgo 16°40′ – 20°00′ and the Gemini D-9 that arc points to, the Moon counts Mercury a natural friend, so the two pull together. Reading Hasta pada 3 in a particular chart means reading both the Moon and Mercury.

Where the Moon Stands in This Pada

The Moon lords Hasta, and in the Gemini navamsa the Moon is in a friend’s sign — supported without being strong. That is a statement about pada 3 specifically: the lord of a nakshatra sits in a different navamsa sign in each of its four quarters, and across Hasta the grade runs from the Moon exalted in Taurus at pada 2 down to the Moon in a neutral’s sign in Aries at pada 1 — pada 3 has 2 of the four above it and 1 below.

Hasta pada 3 is one of 30 padas that put the lord in a friendly sign — the commonest of the six grades. Because the Moon is both the lord of Hasta and the graha whose position defines a pada at all, the two dignity questions collapse into one here: the Moon in Gemini is in a friend’s sign, and that is the whole answer for a Hasta pada 3 birth.

Vimshottari: The Moon Balance a Pada 3 Birth Starts With

A Moon in Hasta means life begins inside a Moon mahadasha, 10 years long. The pada fixes how much of it is left: pada 3 of Hasta runs from 2 years 6 months to 5 years remaining — 25% to 50% of the 10 years — where knowing only that the Moon was somewhere in Hasta leaves the whole 10 years open. Inside Virgo 16°40′ – 20°00′ it takes the exact longitude to place a birth within that range, and the pada is as far as a nakshatra reading gets.

The Moon rules three of the 27 nakshatras, so Hasta shares that 10-year opening with Rohini and Shravana — and pada 3 of Hasta shares the range above with pada 3 of those two, because the balance turns on the quarter rather than on which Moon nakshatra it is. Pada 4 of Hasta carries a different one. The dasha calculator takes the Moon balance a Hasta pada 3 birth starts with and lays out what follows it: Mars for 7 years, then Rahu.

The Syllable Na

A child born with the Moon in Hasta pada 3 is traditionally named from Na. The other three quarters of Hasta give Poo for pada 1, Sha for pada 2 and Tha for pada 4, which is why a naming list keyed to the nakshatra alone gets it wrong three times out of four — the syllable follows the pada, and the pada follows the longitude.

The Other Three Padas of Hasta

Hasta is Virgo 10°00′ – 23°20′, ruled by the Moon, Deva gana, buffalo yoni, Adi nadi, and pada 3 shares every one of those with the other three. What belongs to pada 3 alone is the arc, the navamsa and the syllable — Virgo 16°40′ – 20°00′, Gemini, Na:

The rashi column is constant on Hasta; the navamsa column is what the pada buys you.

Frequently Asked Questions