The Moon's 27 mansions
Nakshatras
The zodiac divided into 27 spans of 13°20' each, one for every day of the Moon's circuit.
Hasta
160°00'00" – 173°20'00" · lord Moon
- Symbol
- Hand
- Deity
- Savitar
- Lord
- Moon
- Gana
- Deva (divine — gentle, cooperative)
- Yoni
- Buffalo
- Nadi
- Adi (vata)
- Varna
- Vaishya
- Element
- Fire
Hasta is the hand — skill, craft and the ability to make what is imagined. The Moon rules it and Savitar, the Sun's creative aspect, is its deity. It gives dexterity of a literal kind and a quick, clever, sometimes tricky mind. Whatever this nakshatra takes up, it wants to do with its own hands and do well.
Strengths
Craftsmanship, dexterity, wit, and the ability to get a real result from limited means.
Needs watching
Cleverness sliding into sharp practice; anxiety and a busy mind.
Suited work: Crafts and manufacture, surgery, healing arts, writing and design, trade, astrology.
Gana, yoni and nadi are the three attributes used in marriage matching; the varna and tattva describe temperament and element. The reading below describes the nakshatra itself, not the whole chart — the Moon's nakshatra is the strongest single indicator of temperament, but it is one factor among many.