Taurus (Vrishabha Rashi) in Vedic Astrology

Taurus, called Vrishabha in Sanskrit, is the second of the 12 rashis, the zodiac signs of Vedic astrology. It spans 30 to 60 degrees of the sidereal zodiac, the star-anchored zodiac that Jyotish uses. Vrishabha is a fixed earth sign ruled by Venus. Its symbol is the bull, and it maps to the face of the Kala Purusha, the cosmic body laid across the sky. The Moon is exalted in Taurus, and no planet is debilitated here. The classical reading of the sign is patient, steady, and sensual: wherever Taurus falls in a chart, that part of life wants to build slowly, hold firmly, and enjoy what it has built.

This page goes deep on Vrishabha alone: its keys, its lord, the exalted Moon, the nakshatras it contains, and how it reads as a Moon sign or rising sign. For the system itself, how the 12 signs divide the sky and what elements and modalities mean, start at the guide to all 12 Vedic zodiac signs.

Vrishabha at a glance

The quick facts first, all from the standard scheme of the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, each unpacked below.

The bull and the face of the cosmic body

Vrishabha means bull in Sanskrit, and the animal is the sign's whole argument: strength held in reserve, wealth on four legs, the patient power that ploughs and provides. In the agrarian world of the classics the bull was prosperity itself, and Taurus keeps that meaning as the zodiac's sign of resources and accumulated value.

As the second sign, Taurus maps to the face of the Kala Purusha, the cosmic body. From the face come speech, expression, and eating, which is why the classics tie Taurus to the voice, to food, and to the pleasures of the senses generally.

The Sun passes through sidereal Taurus from about 15 May to 14 June, a day either way depending on the year. The solar entry is marked in Indian calendars as Vrishabha Sankranti.

Fixed earth: the two keys to Vrishabha

Each sign is described by two keys, element and modality. Vrishabha is earth by element, the tattva of the body, work, and things built to last, and fixed by modality, the mode that holds and sustains. Fixed earth is the patient ground, and that phrase carries most of the sign's character.

Taurus shares the earth element with Virgo and Capricorn, the earth triangle of signs with a natural sympathy for one another. It shares the fixed mode with Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius, the four signs of stability and persistence. The combination makes Taurus the most settled sign of the twelve: earth that has decided to stay put.

Venus, the lord of Vrishabha

The ruler of Taurus is Venus, the planet of beauty, affection, comfort, and the arts. The sign is the home and the planet sets its tone, so Taurus themes carry a Venusian finish: a love of quality, a good eye and a good ear, loyalty in affection, and real skill at enjoying life.

Venus rules two signs, Taurus and Libra. In Taurus its gifts turn material and tangible, toward food, music, possessions, gardens, and skin-level comfort, where Libra carries the same planet toward relationship and balance. Venus placed in its own sign of Taurus is strong and at ease, like a king in his own palace, and tends to give the sign's pleasures without excess.

The exalted Moon in Taurus

Taurus hosts one exaltation and no debilitation. The Moon is exalted here, with its deepest point at 3 degrees of Taurus, and the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra also names Taurus as the Moon's mulatrikona, the zone where the planet does its best work. No planet among the classical seven has its fall in this sign.

The logic of the exaltation is worth pausing on. The Moon is the mind, receptive and ever-moving, and it finds in fixed earth exactly what it lacks: stability, nourishment, and ground. A mind that rests is a mind that can enjoy, remember, and care, which is why the classics treat the Taurus Moon as the happiest placement of the chart's fastest planet. The deepest degree of that exaltation, 3 degrees of Taurus, falls inside the nakshatra Krittika, while the Moon's own star Rohini occupies the middle of the sign, a double association between this sign and the Moon.

The nakshatras inside Taurus

A little over two nakshatras, the 27 lunar mansions, fit inside every sign. Taurus contains the last three quarters of Krittika, the whole of Rohini, and the first half of Mrigashira. A planet in Taurus always occupies one of these three, and the nakshatra refines the sign-level reading.

Rohini deserves its own note: it is one of the few nakshatras contained entirely within a single sign, it is ruled by the Moon, and it sits in the sign of the Moon's exaltation. The full Rohini profile covers why the classics treat that combination so favourably. Krittika brings the Sun's sharpness to the sign's first 10 degrees, and Mrigashira, the searching deer, begins in late Taurus and crosses into Gemini. The 27-nakshatra map links every profile.

Taurus as a Moon sign

In everyday Vedic practice your rashi means your Moon sign, and a Taurus Moon is the exalted Moon described above. The inner life it describes is steady and appetitive: feelings move slowly, attachments run deep and long, and contentment is the default rather than the exception.

The Brihat Jataka sketches the Taurus Moon as patient, pleasing, generous with food and hospitality, constant in affection, and gifted at making money grow. The shadow side follows directly from the strengths: attachment can become possessiveness, comfort can become inertia, and a made-up Taurus mind is famously hard to change. The tradition's counsel is again structural: the condition of Venus, the Moon's host here, shows whether the sign's love of the good things stays generous or turns acquisitive.

Taurus rising, and the sign opposite

If Taurus was rising in the east at your birth, it is your lagna, or rising sign, and Venus becomes the ruler of your chart. The classical sketch of a Taurus lagna is a calm, attractive, deliberate person who trusts what can be touched and tested, builds wealth steadily, and resists being hurried by anyone.

Across the wheel sits Scorpio, and the axis between them runs from having to sharing: Taurus holds its own resources, Scorpio holds what is merged with others. Opposite signs complete each other, so the Taurus chart matures by learning Scorpio's comfort with change and joint stakes, letting go being the one skill fixed earth is not born with.

How much of this page applies to you depends on whether Taurus holds your Moon, your lagna, or a single planet. A free birth chart lays out every placement, and the profiles of neighbouring Aries and Gemini show how sharply the sky changes flavour on either side of the bull.