Nakshatra 5 of 27

Mrigashira (मृगशिरा)

Taurus 23°20′ – Gemini 6°40′

Lord Mars · Soma · Deva gana · Serpent yoni · Madhya nadi

Mrigashira at a Glance

Number: 5 of 27
Sidereal span: Taurus 23°20′ – Gemini 6°40′
Rashi: Taurus, Gemini
Ruling planet (lord): Mars — 7-year Vimshottari dasha
Presiding deity: Soma
Symbol: Deer's head
Gana: Deva
Yoni: Serpent (female)
Nadi: Madhya (Pitta)
Muhurta class: Mridu (tender)
Keywords: Curious, gentle, searching

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 Mrigashira Natives

The deer's head, always lifted, always scanning — Mrigashira is the searching nakshatra. Ruled by Mars and presided over by Soma, it gives a gentle, curious, slightly nervous temperament and a genuine talent for finding things: information, places, people. These natives ask better questions than they answer, and they are rarely satisfied by the first explanation.

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 Mrigashira on the same day can read quite differently. The pada also fixes the traditional first syllable for a child’s name.

Pada	Navamsa sign	Name syllable
Pada 1	Leo	Ve
Pada 2	Virgo	Vo
Pada 3	Libra	Ka
Pada 4	Scorpio	Kee

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 Mars stands in that navamsa, and how much Mars mahadasha a birth there starts with.

Find names for this nakshatra Find your pada

Career and Work

Research, journalism, travel and exploration, textiles, real estate, teaching, and any work built on gathering rather than deciding.

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

What to Watch For

The searching does not switch off. Mrigashira natives change direction often enough that a career can look like several careers, and the suspicion that something better exists elsewhere undermines relationships that were working. Committing is the lesson.

Mrigashira in Kundli Milan

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

Nadi Koota — 8 guna

Mrigashira is Madhya (Pitta). A match with another Madhya nadi nakshatra scores 0 of 8, which is the single largest deduction available — 8 of the other 26 nakshatras share this nadi. Same-nadi is traditionally excused when both partners share the same birth nakshatra but sit in different padas, or when the Moon signs are the same and the nakshatras differ.

Yoni Koota — 4 guna

Mrigashira carries the serpent (female) yoni. Its classical opposite is the mongoose, held by Uttara Ashadha —that pairing scores 0. The same animal in the same gender scores the full 4.

Gana Koota — 6 guna

Mrigashira is Deva gana — the temperament class, nine nakshatras to each of the three. Deva with Deva scores the full 6, and Deva with Manushya scores 5. Deva with Rakshasa is the pairing the classics warn about — it scores 1 when the woman is Deva and 0 when the man is, because a gentle temperament matched to a forceful one is held to suffer more than the reverse.

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.

Run a full 36-guna match Compatibility by sign

Muhurta: What Mrigashira Is Used For

Mrigashira is classed as Mridu (tender) — one of 4 nakshatras in that class, alongside Chitra, Anuradha and Revati. Tender nakshatras suit the gentle and the beautiful: music, dance and the arts, wearing new clothes and ornaments, romance and marriage, making friends, and the naming of a child. They are excellent for marriage and useless for anything requiring confrontation, since a Mridu start tends to produce a soft outcome.

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 Soma, the presiding deity of Mrigashira, particularly on the day the Moon transits this nakshatra — which happens roughly once every 27 days and is listed in the daily panchang.
Strengthen Mars, the nakshatra lord, through its beej mantra and weekday observance. This matters most while the Mars mahadasha or antardasha is running.
Feed or donate on the Mars 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 Mrigashira if you want a practice tied to the nakshatra rather than the planet.

If a stone is being considered: the lord here is Mars, whose stone is Red Coral (Moonga). Selection by janma nakshatra is the more precise of the two routes, so this differs from the rashi recommendation for Taurus (Diamond or White Sapphire) and Gemini (Emerald (Panna)) — this nakshatra straddles the boundary, so which one applies depends on the pada.

More precise is still not automatic. Remedies are prescribed for a specific affliction, not for a nakshatra as such: nothing above needs doing unless Mars 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

What is the ruling planet of Mrigashira nakshatra?

Mrigashira is ruled by Mars and presided over by Soma. Because Mars is the lord, anyone born with the Moon in Mrigashira begins life in a Mars mahadasha, which runs 7 years in the Vimshottari system — the balance remaining at birth depends on how far into the nakshatra the Moon had travelled. Mars also rules Chitra and Dhanishta, so those three nakshatras share the same dasha sequence.

What degrees does Mrigashira nakshatra cover?

Mrigashira occupies Taurus 23°20′ – Gemini 6°40′, which means it straddles the boundary between Taurus and Gemini — the padas fall in two different signs. These are sidereal (Nirayana) degrees using the Lahiri ayanamsa. A tropical or Western chart will place your Moon roughly 24 degrees further on, which is why Western sources give a different nakshatra.

What are the name letters for a baby born in Mrigashira nakshatra?

The traditional first syllables are Ve for pada 1, Vo for pada 2, Ka for pada 3, Kee for pada 4. Which one applies depends on the pada the Moon occupied at birth, not on the nakshatra alone — each pada is 3°20′ wide. The four padas of Mrigashira fall in the navamsa signs Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio.

Which nakshatras are incompatible with Mrigashira for marriage?

On Yoni Koota, Mrigashira carries the serpent yoni, whose classical opposite is the mongoose — held by Uttara Ashadha. That pairing scores 0 of 4. On Nadi Koota, worth 8 of the 36 guna and the heaviest single test, a match with any other Madhya nadi nakshatra scores zero. Neither is a veto on its own: 18 of 36 is the usual pass mark, and several kootas have recognised exceptions.

Is Mrigashira nakshatra good or bad?

No nakshatra is good or bad in itself. Mrigashira is classed as Mridu for muhurta, which decides what kinds of activity it suits rather than the quality of a person born under it. What matters far more is the condition of Mars in the chart — its sign, house, dignity and aspects — since Mars is what actually delivers the nakshatra's promise.

What kind of work suits Mrigashira natives?

Research, journalism, travel and exploration, textiles, real estate, teaching, and any work built on gathering rather than deciding. This follows from Mars's natural significations combined with Soma's domain. The chart decides whether it happens: the 10th house, its lord, and the dasha running through your twenties and thirties matter more than the birth nakshatra for career questions.

Is Mrigashira Your Birth Nakshatra?

Your nakshatra is set by the Moon’s exact longitude at birth, so it needs the time and place, not just the date. A free kundli gives you the nakshatra, the pada, and the Vimshottari balance you started life with.

Generate a free kundli Talk to an astrologer

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