Mercury in Purva Ashadha Nakshatra (Budh in पूर्वाषाढ़ा)

Purva Ashadha, the 20th of the 27 nakshatras, covers 253°20′ – 266°40′ of the sidereal zodiac, wholly inside Sagittarius. Purva Ashadha is ruled by Venus, so Mercury in Purva Ashadha stands in Venus’s star.

Mercury and Venus count each other a friend, so in Purva Ashadha the graha and the lord of its star agree about each other. The other two nakshatras Venus rules, Bharani and Purva Phalguni, put Mercury under the same star lord.

Mercury in Purva Ashadha, Pada by Pada

By rashi, Mercury is in a neutral sign in all four padas of Purva Ashadha, because the whole nakshatra lies in Sagittarius. By navamsa the four padas fall in Leo, Virgo, Libra and Scorpio. Mercury’s strongest navamsa in Purva Ashadha is pada 2 (Virgo, exalted), and its weakest is pada 4 (Scorpio, in a neutral sign).

Neither Mercury’s deepest exaltation (Virgo) nor its deepest debilitation (Pisces) degree falls inside Purva Ashadha, and Mercury’s moolatrikona lies outside it as well, so in Purva Ashadha the rashi and navamsa verdicts above are the whole of Mercury’s dignity.

When Mercury Is in Purva Ashadha, 2026–2028

• 6 January 2026: Mercury enters Purva Ashadha, and leaves on 15 January 2026 — 9 days.
• 30 December 2026: Mercury enters Purva Ashadha, and leaves on 8 January 2027 — 9 days.
• 23 December 2027: Mercury enters Purva Ashadha, and leaves on 31 December 2027 — 8 days.
• 15 December 2028: Mercury enters Purva Ashadha, and leaves on 24 December 2028 — 9 days.

Those are the four spells Mercury spends in Purva Ashadha between 1 January 2026 and 1 January 2029, 35 days in all. Over the same span Mercury stands in every one of the 27 nakshatras. The dates are days only; for Mercury in Purva Ashadha a minute would be more precise than the ayanamsa behind it.

Inside Purva Ashadha: what the tables locate there for Mercury

Of the 100 complete spells Mercury has in the table, in any nakshatra, the shortest is 4 days and the longest 58; the Purva Ashadha spells, at 9, 9, 8 and 9 days, sit inside that range.

• 1 January 2027: Mercury meets the Sun at 16° Sagittarius, in Purva Ashadha pada 2.
• 20 December 2028: Mercury meets Rahu at 20° Sagittarius, in Purva Ashadha pada 3.

The retrograde table runs from 2024 to 2031, wider than the ingress table, and it places two of Mercury's stations in Purva Ashadha. On 28 January 2029 Mercury stations direct inside Purva Ashadha, in pada 3. On 22 December 2029 Mercury stations retrograde inside Purva Ashadha, in pada 4. At a station Mercury’s motion is at its slowest, so these are the days it is most nearly still in Purva Ashadha.

Purva Ashadha as the Setting for Mercury

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

Related Placements

The sign-level reading is on Mercury in Sagittarius; Mercury in all 27 nakshatras is on the Mercury nakshatra table. For the nakshatras themselves, see the 27 nakshatras guide and our Purva Ashadha article.

The Other Grahas in Purva Ashadha