Mars in Magha Nakshatra (Mangal in मघा)

Magha, the 10th of the 27 nakshatras, covers 120°00′ – 133°20′ of the sidereal zodiac, wholly inside Leo. Magha is ruled by Ketu, so Mars in Magha stands in Ketu’s star.

Ketu’s row in the friendship lists counts Mars a friend; Mars’s own row names no node, so Mars’s view of the lord of Magha has no entry, and this page does not supply one. The other two nakshatras Ketu rules, Ashwini and Mula, put Mars under the same star lord.

Mars in Magha, Pada by Pada

By rashi, Mars is in a friend's sign in all four padas of Magha, because the whole nakshatra lies in Leo. By navamsa the four padas fall in Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer. Mars’s strongest navamsa in Magha is pada 1 (Aries, in its own sign), and its weakest is pada 4 (Cancer, debilitated).

Magha pada 1 (Leo 0°00′ – 3°20′) is gandanta: one of the six padas on the junction of a water sign and the fire sign after it, and Mars placed in that quarter of Magha sits on the junction itself.

Neither Mars’s deepest exaltation (Capricorn) nor its deepest debilitation (Cancer) degree falls inside Magha, and Mars’s moolatrikona lies outside it as well, so in Magha the rashi and navamsa verdicts above are the whole of Mars’s dignity.

When Mars Is in Magha, 2026–2028

• 12 November 2026: Mars enters Magha, and leaves on 19 December 2026 — 37 days.
• 31 January 2027: Mars enters Magha while retrograde, backing in from the next nakshatra, and leaves on 10 March 2027 moving backwards — 38 days.
• 26 April 2027: Mars enters Magha, and leaves on 2 June 2027 — 37 days.
• 14 October 2028: Mars enters Magha, and leaves on 6 November 2028 — 23 days.

Those are the four spells Mars spends in Magha between 1 January 2026 and 1 January 2029, 135 days in all. Over the same span Mars stands in every one of the 27 nakshatras. The dates are days only; for Mars in Magha a minute would be more precise than the ayanamsa behind it.

Inside Magha: what the tables locate there for Mars

Of the 49 complete spells Mars has in the table, in any nakshatra, the shortest is 16 days and the longest 47; the Magha spells, at 37, 38, 37 and 23 days, sit inside that range.

• 15 November 2026: Mars meets Ketu at 1° Leo, in Magha pada 1.
• 16 November 2026: Mars meets Jupiter at 1° Leo, in Magha pada 1.

Magha as the Setting for Mars

In the nakshatra tables Magha’s deity is listed as Pitrs and its symbol as throne; its gana is Rakshasa, and the muhurta texts put it in the Ugra class (fierce). Those belong to Magha whichever graha is in it, and they are read on the Magha page. What changes with Mars is everything above: the dignities in Leo, the relation to Ketu, and the dates. None of it is a prediction for anyone born with Mars in Magha; the house it occupies and the dasha running decide what the placement does in a chart.

Related Placements

The sign-level reading is on Mars in Leo; Mars in all 27 nakshatras is on the Mars nakshatra table. For the nakshatras themselves, see the 27 nakshatras guide and our Magha article.

The Other Grahas in Magha