Mercury in Pushya Nakshatra (Budh in पुष्य)

Pushya, the 8th of the 27 nakshatras, covers 93°20′ – 106°40′ of the sidereal zodiac, wholly inside Cancer. Pushya is ruled by Saturn, so Mercury in Pushya stands in Saturn’s star.

Mercury counts Saturn neutral, while Saturn counts Mercury a friend. The table is not symmetric, so Mercury in Pushya has to be described from both sides, as it is here. The other two nakshatras Saturn rules, Anuradha and Uttara Bhadrapada, put Mercury under the same star lord.

Mercury in Pushya, Pada by Pada

By rashi, Mercury is in an enemy's sign in all four padas of Pushya, because the whole nakshatra lies in Cancer. By navamsa the four padas fall in Leo, Virgo, Libra and Scorpio. Mercury’s strongest navamsa in Pushya 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 Pushya, and Mercury’s moolatrikona lies outside it as well, so in Pushya the rashi and navamsa verdicts above are the whole of Mercury’s dignity.

When Mercury Is in Pushya, 2026–2028

• 8 August 2026: Mercury enters Pushya, and leaves on 16 August 2026 — 8 days.
• 1 August 2027: Mercury enters Pushya, and leaves on 7 August 2027 — 6 days.
• 23 July 2028: Mercury enters Pushya, and leaves on 29 July 2028 — 6 days.

Those are the three spells Mercury spends in Pushya between 1 January 2026 and 1 January 2029, 20 days in all. Over the same span Mercury stands in every one of the 27 nakshatras. The dates are days only; for Mercury in Pushya a minute would be more precise than the ayanamsa behind it.

Inside Pushya: 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 Pushya spells, at 8, 6 and 6 days, sit inside that range.

• 15 August 2026: Mercury meets Jupiter at 15° Cancer, in Pushya pada 4.
• 25 July 2028: Mercury meets the Sun at 8° Cancer, in Pushya pada 2.

The retrograde table runs from 2024 to 2031, wider than the ingress table, and it places one of Mercury's stations in Pushya. On 11 August 2025 Mercury stations direct inside Pushya, in pada 3. At a station Mercury’s motion is at its slowest, so these are the days it is most nearly still in Pushya.

Pushya as the Setting for Mercury

In the nakshatra tables Pushya’s deity is listed as Brihaspati and its symbol as cow's udder; its gana is Deva, and the muhurta texts put it in the Kshipra class (swift and light). Those belong to Pushya whichever graha is in it, and they are read on the Pushya page. What changes with Mercury is everything above: the dignities in Cancer, the relation to Saturn, and the dates. None of it is a prediction for anyone born with Mercury in Pushya; 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 Cancer; Mercury in all 27 nakshatras is on the Mercury nakshatra table. For the nakshatras themselves, see the 27 nakshatras guide and our Pushya article.

The Other Grahas in Pushya