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Pūrva Aṣāḍhā पूर्वाषाढा
“the former unconquered”
13°20′ Dhanu — 26°40′ Dhanu
Vimśottarī lord: Śukra · 20 years of daśā Presiding devatā: Āpaḥ
At a glance
| Field | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Span | 13°20′ Dhanu — 26°40′ Dhanu | arithmetic — 13°20′ from the start of Meṣa |
| Rāśi | Dhanu Rāśi lord: Guru | arithmetic — read off the span above |
| Vimśottarī lord | Śukra शुक्र 20 years of daśā | the standard Vimśottarī sequence |
| Presiding devatā | Āpaḥ आपः the Waters (toya) | Bṛhat Saṁhitā 97.5 |
| Gaṇa | Manuṣya | Kālaprakāśikā ch. XIII, through the milan tables |
| Yoni | Vānara monkey | Kālaprakāśikā ch. XIII, through the milan tables |
| Nāḍī | Madhya मध्य | from the milan tables — traditional, not traced to a classical verse |
| Varṇa | Agraja the first-born — brāhmaṇa class | Bṛhat Saṁhitā 15.28 |
| Karma-guṇa | Ugra severe Fit for: destruction and deceit, and success in imprisonment, poison, burning, weapon-attack and the like. | Bṛhat Saṁhitā 97.8 |
| Kūrma-cakra direction | West | Bṛhat Saṁhitā 14.20 |
| Symbol | an elephant’s tusk, or a winnowing fan | traditional — not traced to a verse |
| Stars | δ and ε Sagittarii | traditional — not traced to a verse |
The character of the native
What the text says of a person born when the Moon stands in this asterism. This is the verse itself, not a paraphrase of it.
Has a beloved and joyful wife; heroic, and firm in friendship.
The persons and things it rules
Which people, animals, places, trades and goods fall under this asterism — the list a mundane or praśna reading works from.
The gentle; travellers by waterways; those endowed with truthfulness, purity and wealth; dam-builders; those who live by water; fruits, flowers and water-born produce.
The four pādas
Each nakṣatra divides into four quarters of 3°20′. The quarter the Moon occupies fixes the navāṁśa sign — the divisional chart a reading leans on second only to the rāśi — and, by tradition, the syllable a child is named from. These are arithmetic: the 4 × 27 quarters run one navāṁśa each, in order, right around the zodiac.
| Pāda | Degrees | Navāṁśa | Navāṁśa lord | Nāmākṣara |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13°20′ Dhanu — 16°40′ Dhanu | Siṃha | Sūrya | Bhū |
| 2 | 16°40′ Dhanu — 20° Dhanu | Kanyā | Budha | Dhā |
| 3 | 20° Dhanu — 23°20′ Dhanu | Tulā | Śukra | Phā |
| 4 | 23°20′ Dhanu — 26°40′ Dhanu | Vṛścika | Maṅgala | Ḍha |
arithmetic — pāda k of nakṣatra i takes navāṁśa (4i + k)
Devatā, the character of the native, the persons and things of each asterism, the varṇa grouping, the karma-guṇa classes and the kūrma-cakra direction are all read from Bṛhat Saṁhitā — chapters 14, 15, 97 and 100 — as carried verse by verse in this site’s own library, and every one of them links to its verse. Vimśottarī lords are the standard sequence; gaṇa, yoni and nāḍī come from the milan tables with their own citations. Spans, rāśis, pādas and navāṁśas are arithmetic, not doctrine. The symbol, the star identification and the nāmākṣara syllables are traditional pañcāṅga material that Horā has not traced to a classical verse — they say so on their own rows. Nothing here is invented to fill a gap.