Pushya (पुष्य)

Pushya at a Glance

Number

8 of 27

Sidereal span

Cancer 3°20′ – 16°40′

Rashi

Cancer

Ruling planet (lord)

Saturn — 19-year Vimshottari dasha

Presiding deity

Brihaspati

Symbol

Cow's udder

Gana

Deva

Yoni

Sheep (male)

Nadi

Madhya (Pitta)

Muhurta class

Kshipra / Laghu (swift and light)

Keywords

Nourishing, devotional, protective

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 Pushya Natives

Widely regarded as the single most auspicious of the twenty-seven — the cow's udder, presided over by Brihaspati, ruled by Saturn. Pushya nourishes. These natives are the ones a family relies on, dutiful without being asked and generous without keeping count. Pushya Nakshatra days are still chosen for starting anything that matters, with the notable exception of marriage.

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

Career and Work

Teaching, priesthood and religious work, dairy and food, nursing and caregiving, social work, government service, and the management of family businesses.

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

What to Watch For

The dutifulness becomes a trap — Pushya natives take on responsibility that no one asked them to carry and then resent it silently. The Saturn rulership makes them slow to claim credit. Tradition also avoids Pushya for weddings, despite it being auspicious for everything else.

Pushya in Kundli Milan

Nakshatra matching scores 36 guna across eight kootas. Three of them are read straight off the birth nakshatra, and these are Pushya’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 Pushya Is Used For

Pushya is classed as Kshipra / Laghu (swift and light) — one of 3 nakshatras in that class, alongside Ashwini and Hasta. 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 Brihaspati, the presiding deity of Pushya, particularly on the day the Moon transits this nakshatra — which happens roughly once every 27 days and is listed in the daily panchang.
• Strengthen Saturn, the nakshatra lord, through its beej mantra and weekday observance. This matters most while the Saturn mahadasha or antardasha is running.
• Feed or donate on the Saturn 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 Pushya if you want a practice tied to the nakshatra rather than the planet.

If a stone is being considered: the lord here is Saturn, whose stone is Blue Sapphire (Neelam). Selection by janma nakshatra is the more precise of the two routes, so this differs from the rashi recommendation for Cancer (Pearl (Moti)).

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