Mercury in Rohini Nakshatra (Budh in रोहिणी)

Rohini, the 4th of the 27 nakshatras, covers 40°00′ – 53°20′ of the sidereal zodiac, wholly inside Taurus. Rohini is ruled by the Moon, so Mercury in Rohini stands in the Moon’s star.

Mercury counts the Moon an enemy, while the Moon counts Mercury a friend. The table is not symmetric, so Mercury in Rohini has to be described from both sides, as it is here. The other two nakshatras the Moon rules, Hasta and Shravana, put Mercury under the same star lord.

Mercury in Rohini, Pada by Pada

By rashi, Mercury is in a friend's sign in all four padas of Rohini, because the whole nakshatra lies in Taurus. By navamsa the four padas fall in Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer. Mercury’s strongest navamsa in Rohini is pada 3 (Gemini, in its own sign), and its weakest is pada 4 (Cancer, in an enemy's sign).

Rohini pada 2 is vargottama — Taurus in rashi and in navamsa — so Mercury there is in a friend's sign on both counts. Of the 108 padas only twelve are vargottama, one for each sign.

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

When Mercury Is in Rohini, 2026–2028

• 19 May 2026: Mercury enters Rohini, and leaves on 25 May 2026 — 6 days.
• 11 May 2027: Mercury enters Rohini, and leaves on 19 May 2027 — 8 days.
• 4 May 2028: Mercury enters Rohini, and leaves on 30 June 2028 — 57 days.

Those are the three spells Mercury spends in Rohini between 1 January 2026 and 1 January 2029, 71 days in all. Over the same span Mercury stands in every one of the 27 nakshatras. The dates are days only; for Mercury in Rohini a minute would be more precise than the ayanamsa behind it.

Inside Rohini: 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 Rohini spells, at 6, 8 and 57 days, sit inside that range.

• 25 May 2028: Mercury meets Venus at 21° Taurus, in Rohini pada 4.
• 2 June 2028: Mercury meets the Sun at 17° Taurus, in Rohini pada 3.
• 21 June 2028: Mercury meets Mars at 15° Taurus, in Rohini pada 2.
• 25 June 2028: Mercury meets Mars at 18° Taurus, in Rohini pada 3.

The retrograde table runs from 2024 to 2031, wider than the ingress table, and it places two of Mercury's stations in Rohini. On 21 May 2028 Mercury stations retrograde inside Rohini, in pada 4. On 14 June 2028 Mercury stations direct inside Rohini, in pada 2. At a station Mercury’s motion is at its slowest, so these are the days it is most nearly still in Rohini.

Rohini as the Setting for Mercury

In the nakshatra tables Rohini’s deity is listed as Brahma and its symbol as cart; its gana is Manushya, and the muhurta texts put it in the Dhruva class (fixed). Those belong to Rohini whichever graha is in it, and they are read on the Rohini page. What changes with Mercury is everything above: the dignities in Taurus, the relation to the Moon, and the dates. None of it is a prediction for anyone born with Mercury in Rohini; 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 Taurus; Mercury in all 27 nakshatras is on the Mercury nakshatra table. For the nakshatras themselves, see the 27 nakshatras guide and our Rohini article.

The Other Grahas in Rohini