Mula nakshatra

Span

0°00′ Sagittarius to 13°20′ Sagittarius

Ruling planet

Ketu (Vimshottari dasha of 7 years)

Deity

Nirriti

Symbol

A bunch of tied roots

Nature

Tikshna (sharp)

Gana

Rakshasa (fierce)

Yoni (animal)

Dog

Nadi

Adi (Vata)

The meaning of Mula

Mula (मूल) is the 19th of the 27 nakshatras. Its presiding deity is Nirriti, the goddess of dissolution, who uproots, and its symbol is a bunch of tied roots. 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 Mula begins life in the Ketu dasha. The other two nakshatras ruled by Ketu are Ashwini and Magha; together they share something of Ketu’s character.

Good for: Tikshna work

In the muhurta texts Mula is a tikshna (sharp) nakshatra, favoured for severing ties, decisive action and difficult rites. When the Moon passes through Mula (about once every 27⅓ days) it is a good day for those kinds of beginnings.

The junction between Jyeshtha’s last pada and Mula’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, Mula is of Rakshasa gana, dog yoni and Adi nadi. Two partners with the same nadi lose all eight points of nadi koota. Match two charts.

Find your birth nakshatra · Sagittarius (Dhanu) · 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.