Hasta is the thirteenth of the 27 nakshatras, occupying the middle of sidereal Virgo from 10 degrees 00 minutes to 23 degrees 20 minutes. Its ruling planet is the Moon, its presiding deity is Savitar, the radiant sun god who bestows skill, and its symbol is the open hand; the name itself is the Sanskrit word for hand. A person born with the Moon in this span has Hasta as their janma nakshatra, or birth star, and is read in the classical tradition as skilful, clever, and industrious: a maker and mender, quick with wit and quicker with the hands. Their Vimshottari dasha, the planetary timeline of life, opens in a Moon period of 10 years.
This page goes deep on Hasta alone. For the system itself, why there are 27 nakshatras and how padas and lords work, start with the guide to the 27 nakshatras and come back.
Hasta at a glance
The quick facts first. Each row is unpacked in the sections that follow.
| Attribute | Hasta |
|---|---|
| Position | 10°00′ to 23°20′ Virgo (Kanya) |
| Order | 13th of 27 |
| Ruling planet (lord) | Moon |
| Deity | Savitar, the sun god of skill |
| Symbol | Open hand |
| Marker stars | The five stars of Corvus, the crow |
| Gana (temperament) | Deva (godly) |
| Nature | Kshipra (light, swift) |
| Starting dasha | Moon mahadasha, 10 years |
Where Hasta sits in the sky
Hasta fills the middle of Virgo and lies entirely inside the sign. Its marker is the small, tidy constellation Corvus, the crow, whose five visible stars the Indian tradition saw as the five fingers of a hand held up against the sky. The figure is compact and easy to spot south of Virgo's bright Spica.
The planetary layering is the placement's signature. Mercury rules Virgo, the sign of analysis, detail, and craft, while the Moon rules the star itself. Mind and hand meet here, which is why the tradition reads Hasta as intelligence that must express itself through making. It is also worth noting that Virgo is the sign of Mercury's exaltation, so the sign hosting Hasta is where the craftsman planet is at its strongest.
The deity, the symbol, and the myth
Hasta's presiding deity is Savitar, one of the solar gods of the Veda: the Sun as the golden-handed inspirer who sets the world in motion each morning and places skill into living hands. The star's symbol is the open palm. Together they make the star's teaching plain: ability is given to be used, and the hand is where intention becomes object.
Savitar has a particular character among the solar deities. He is invoked at dawn as the impeller, the one who rouses gods and people to their work, and the old verses call him golden-handed. Hasta inherits that morning energy: industriousness without heaviness, the pleasure of a task done deftly. The kshipra, or light and swift, classification of the star belongs to the same picture. This is the quick hand, not the laboured one, and in muhurta the kshipra stars are chosen for work meant to move fast: travel, trade, learning, and craft.
The personality of a Hasta Moon
Classical sketches of Hasta, in the line of the Brihat Jataka, describe a person who is resourceful, witty, and hard-working: clever in speech, quick to learn a skill, and inclined to fix what is broken rather than complain about it. The deva gana places it among the bright, benevolent temperaments.
Because the Moon in Jyotish is the mind, the birth star colours the inner life above all. A Hasta Moon thinks with its hands. Restlessness settles when there is something to make, repair, write, or arrange, and self-worth tracks competence: these are people who would rather be useful than impressive. Humour tends to be quick and verbal. The Moon's own lordship of the star gives the cleverness a warm, sociable cast, and the tradition often notes a talent for service that wins trust.
The heavier expression is the craftsman's shadow: cleverness can shade into cunning, helpfulness into restless meddling, and high standards into harshness with oneself when the work is imperfect. The tradition's pairing is gentle here: Savitar's gift is bestowed at dawn, daily, which is to say skill grows by practice and patience rather than by demand. A well-supported Moon and a strong Mercury, lord of the host sign, give a Hasta native the steadiness to match the speed.
The four padas of Hasta
Each nakshatra divides into four padas of 3 degrees 20 minutes, and each pada corresponds to one navamsa sign, the ninth divisional chart used for marriage and the inner life. Hasta begins a fresh navamsa cycle, so its padas run Aries to Cancer.
| Pada | Degrees of Virgo | Navamsa sign | Flavour |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10°00′ to 13°20′ | Aries | The fast hand: bold, direct, first to attempt the task |
| 2 | 13°20′ to 16°40′ | Taurus | The steady hand: patient craft, work that compounds |
| 3 | 16°40′ to 20°00′ | Gemini | The clever hand: words, trade, and many skills at once |
| 4 | 20°00′ to 23°20′ | Cancer | The caring hand: skill turned to healing and to home |
The pada shades where the skill flows. The same star that makes a swift surgeon in one quarter makes a patient goldsmith in another, and the navamsa sign is the classical way of reading that difference.
Hasta and your dasha timeline
The lord of the birth star opens the Vimshottari dasha, the 120-year cycle of planetary periods laid out in the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra. For Hasta that lord is the Moon, so a Hasta birth begins inside a Moon mahadasha of 10 years. The balance at birth is proportional: a Moon early in the star leaves most of the decade, a Moon near 23 degrees of Virgo only a fraction of it.
The fixed sequence then runs Mars (7 years), Rahu (18), Jupiter (16), Saturn (19), Mercury (17), Ketu (7), Venus (20), Sun (6), and around again. Hasta shares its Moon lordship with Rohini and Shravana; all three open life in a Moon period, though in different signs and tempers. The find your nakshatra page calculates yours from your birth date, time, and place.
Hasta in compatibility matching
In guna milan, the koota matching used for marriage, several of the 36 points are scored from the two birth stars. Hasta enters as a deva gana star of light, swift temperament, and the gana koota pairs it most easily with other deva and manushya stars. A full match also counts nadi, yoni, and the Moon-sign relationship between the charts.
As with every star, the matching method is deliberately plural: eight kootas, 36 points, no single factor decisive. The kundli matching tool runs the complete calculation for two charts.
Hasta in the classics
The attributions on this page are the stable, named ones: the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra carries the nakshatra scheme and the Vimshottari sequence seeded from the birth star, while the Brihat Jataka sketches the temperament of those born under each star. For Hasta the classical notes converge on industriousness, resourcefulness, lively speech, and a readiness to serve.
Hasta sharpens against its neighbours: Uttara Phalguni before it, where Virgo's service is sworn as duty, and Chitra after it, where craft rises into brilliance and design. The full wheel is laid out on the 27-nakshatra map, and a free birth chart shows which star and pada your own Moon occupies.