Nakshatra
Hasta Nakshatra
The hand — skill, dexterity, and the ability to actually make the thing rather than only imagine it.
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The temperament
Hasta is about capability. The open hand means craft, healing touch, and also holding: what Hasta grasps, it tends to keep. People with it prominent usually have some manual or technical facility — they are the ones who can fix things — along with a quick, clever, sometimes mischievous mind. There is a persistent theme of wanting to get things into one's own hands rather than trusting them to others, which makes for excellent makers and difficult delegators.
Strengths
Dexterity and craft, practical intelligence, healing ability, wit, and a genuinely useful resourcefulness.
Where it gets difficult
Control, restlessness, and a cleverness that can tip into sharp practice if the moral compass is not held firmly.
Work it suits
Crafts and trades, surgery and physiotherapy, art and illustration, engineering, writing, and any skilled manual profession.
In relationships
Attentive, practical and playful. Hasta shows affection by doing things for people, and is happiest with a partner who notices.
The four padas
Each pada is a quarter of the nakshatra, 3°20′ wide, and each corresponds to a navamsa sign. The pada is where a reading gets specific — it is the difference between describing twenty-seven kinds of person and describing a hundred and eight.
Pada 1 — navamsa in Aries
Skill applied at speed. Impatient, capable, wants to start making immediately.
Pada 2 — navamsa in Taurus
The most craftsmanlike quarter. Patient hands, material sense, quality over speed.
Pada 3 — navamsa in Gemini
Dexterity of mind and speech. Witty, quick, good with tools and with words.
Pada 4 — navamsa in Cancer
The healing hand. Nurturing, domestic, and protective of what it has made.
Traditional name syllables, one per pada in order: Pu, Sha, Na, Tha.
The mythology
Savitar is the aspect of the sun associated with inspiration, blessing and the granting of skill — the deity of the Gayatri mantra. The hand is his gift: the capacity to turn intention into a made object.
How Hasta shapes your dasha
Because Hasta is ruled by Moon, anyone born under it begins life in a Moon mahādaśā. How much of that period remained at birth depends on exactly how far the Moon had travelled through the nakshatra — which is why two people born on the same day can be running completely different periods for decades. Your full chart shows the whole timeline, including the sub-periods within it.
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Common questions
How do I know if Hasta is my nakshatra?
Your janma nakshatra is the one the Moon occupied at the moment you were born. Hasta spans 10°00′ – 23°20′ Virgo, so if your Moon fell in that range, this is yours. You can check in a few seconds with our free nakshatra calculator — you do not need an exact birth time, because the Moon takes roughly a day to cross one nakshatra.
Which planet rules Hasta?
Moon. That matters for more than temperament: the ruling planet of your birth nakshatra becomes the lord of your first vimshottari mahadasha, so it sets where your life begins in the 120-year dasha cycle. How far the Moon had already travelled through Hasta decides how much of that first period had elapsed before you were born.
What are the padas of Hasta?
Each nakshatra divides into four quarters of 3°20′ called padas, and each pada corresponds to a navamsa sign. For Hasta they run pada 1 in Aries, pada 2 in Taurus, pada 3 in Gemini, pada 4 in Cancer. The pada refines the reading considerably — two people born under the same nakshatra a few hours apart can fall in different padas.
What are the name syllables for Hasta?
Traditionally, Pu, Sha, Na, Tha — one syllable per pada, in order. Many Indian families still choose a child's first name to begin with the syllable matching the pada the Moon occupied at birth, which is why the nakshatra is usually asked for before a naming ceremony.
Is Hasta a good nakshatra to be born under?
There is no such thing as a good or bad nakshatra, and you should be wary of anyone who says otherwise — particularly if they then offer to sell you a remedy. Classical texts describe temperament and mythology, not worth. Hasta describes a disposition, and every disposition has both its strengths and its harder edges.