Magha nakshatra

Span

0°00′ Leo to 13°20′ Leo

Ruling planet

Ketu (Vimshottari dasha of 7 years)

Deity

The Pitris

Symbol

A royal throne

Nature

Ugra (fierce)

Gana

Rakshasa (fierce)

Yoni (animal)

Rat

Nadi

Antya (Kapha)

The meaning of Magha

Magha (मघा) is the 10th of the 27 nakshatras. Its presiding deity is the Pitris, the ancestors, and its symbol is a royal throne. In Jyotish the deity of a nakshatra is the key to its nature: what the deity does, the nakshatra does.

It is ruled by Ketu, so a person whose Moon is in Magha begins life in the Ketu dasha. The other two nakshatras ruled by Ketu are Ashwini and Mula; together they share something of Ketu’s character.

Good for: Ugra work

In the muhurta texts Magha is a ugra (fierce) nakshatra, favoured for bold, forceful or competitive undertakings, and confronting opponents. When the Moon passes through Magha (about once every 27⅓ days) it is a good day for those kinds of beginnings.

The junction between Ashlesha’s last pada and Magha’s first is gandanta, a knot where a water sign meets a fire sign; births and beginnings there are traditionally given extra care.

The four padas

Each nakshatra divides into four padas of 3°20′. Each pada falls in a navamsa sign, and each has the traditional first syllable used for naming a child born in it.

In marriage matching

In guna milan, Magha is of Rakshasa gana, rat yoni and Antya nadi. Two partners with the same nadi lose all eight points of nadi koota. Match two charts.

Find your birth nakshatra · Leo (Simha) · Chapter 5: the 27 nakshatras

Sources: Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra and Phaladeepika for the signs, planets and houses; Muhurta Chintamani for the nakshatra classes and the guna milan attributes. Wording is our own.