Mrigashira Pada 1 (Leo Navamsa)

Mrigashira Pada 1 at a Glance

Pada

1st of 4 — navamsa 17 of the zodiac's 108

Sidereal span

Taurus 23°20′ – 26°40′ — 53°20′ – 56°40′ sidereal

Rashi (Moon sign)

Taurus — Mrigashira straddles Taurus and Gemini, and the pada decides which

Navamsa (D-9)

Leo, ruled by Sun

Navamsa from the rashi

4th from Taurus — a kendra, and the most private of the four

Mars in Leo

in a friend’s sign — supported without being strong

Name syllable

Ve

Mars dasha balance

5 years 3 months to 7 years of the 7-year period

What Pada 1 Settles About a Mrigashira Birth

This is the pada that matters most on Mrigashira, because Mrigashira crosses a sign boundary and pada 1 lands in Taurus. The rest of the nakshatra divides differently — padas 3 and 4 are in Gemini — so two people who both read Mrigashira as their birth star can have different rashis, different rashi lords and different monthly readings. Pada 1 shares Taurus with pada 2 of Mrigashira.

The pada is fixed by the Moon’s exact longitude, so it needs the birth time and place rather than the date: a Mrigashira Moon anywhere in Taurus 23°20′ – 26°40′ is pada 1, 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 1 rather than just Mrigashira, and with it the Leo navamsa and how much of the Mars mahadasha was left.

Leo Navamsa: What the D-9 Adds

The first pada of Mrigashira is the Leo navamsa, lorded by the Sun — the 4th sign from Taurus, a kendra, and the most private of the four. Taurus and Leo are different signs, so the D-9 shifts the reading rather than confirming it. They share a mobility — both fixed — while differing in element, Taurus being earth and Leo fire. Pada 1 is not the vargottama one and neither are the other three: Mrigashira has no vargottama pada at all, which it shares with 17 other nakshatras.

Two grahas carry this pada: Mars, which lords Mrigashira, and the Sun, which lords the Leo navamsa. Between Taurus 23°20′ – 26°40′ and the Leo D-9 that arc points to, Mars counts the Sun a natural friend, so the two pull together. Reading Mrigashira pada 1 in a particular chart means reading both Mars and the Sun.

Where Mars Stands in This Pada

Mars lords Mrigashira, and in the Leo navamsa Mars is in a friend’s sign — supported without being strong. That is a statement about pada 1 specifically: the lord of a nakshatra sits in a different navamsa sign in each of its four quarters, and across Mrigashira the grade runs from Mars in its own sign in Scorpio at pada 4 down to Mars in an enemy’s sign in Virgo at pada 2 — pada 1 has 1 of the four above it and 2 below.

Mrigashira pada 1 is one of 30 padas that put the lord in a friendly sign — the commonest of the six grades. The Moon matters separately, since a pada is a Moon position: in Leo the Moon is in a friend’s sign, which is about the mind a Mrigashira pada 1 birth starts with rather than about what Mars can deliver.

Vimshottari: The Mars Balance a Pada 1 Birth Starts With

A Moon in Mrigashira means life begins inside a Mars mahadasha, 7 years long. The pada fixes how much of it is left: pada 1 of Mrigashira runs from 5 years 3 months to 7 years remaining — the fullest of the four, because the Moon has only just entered Mrigashira — where knowing only that the Moon was somewhere in Mrigashira leaves the whole 7 years open. Inside Taurus 23°20′ – 26°40′ it takes the exact longitude to place a birth within that range, and the pada is as far as a nakshatra reading gets.

Mars rules three of the 27 nakshatras, so Mrigashira shares that 7-year opening with Chitra and Dhanishta — and pada 1 of Mrigashira shares the range above with pada 1 of those two, because the balance turns on the quarter rather than on which Mars nakshatra it is. Pada 2 of Mrigashira carries a different one. The dasha calculator takes the Mars balance a Mrigashira pada 1 birth starts with and lays out what follows it: Rahu for 18 years, then Jupiter.

The Syllable Ve

A child born with the Moon in Mrigashira pada 1 is traditionally named from Ve. The other three quarters of Mrigashira give Vo for pada 2, Ka for pada 3 and Kee 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 Mrigashira

Mrigashira is Taurus 23°20′ – Gemini 6°40′, ruled by Mars, Deva gana, serpent yoni, Madhya nadi, and pada 1 shares every one of those with the other three. What belongs to pada 1 alone is the arc, the navamsa and the syllable — Taurus 23°20′ – 26°40′, Leo, Ve:

The rashi column is the one to read first on Mrigashira: it changes inside the nakshatra, which is true of only nine of the 27.

Frequently Asked Questions