Ashlesha Nakshatra: Traits, Padas, Career, Marriage and Dates to 2027
Ashlesha is the Moon's 9th mansion, the last stretch of Karka (Cancer), ruled by Mercury. Varahamihira's harshest line and what it weighs, what your pada does to your dasha years, the gandanta edge, why the texts bar two Ashlesha partners, and every Ashlesha date to December 2027.
Ashlesha nakshatra is the 9th of the 27 lunar mansions: 106°40' to 120°00' of the sidereal zodiac, the last 13°20' of Karka (Cancer), ruled by Mercury, with the Nagas, the serpent spirits, as its deity. Varahamihira gives its Moon one of the two harshest lines in his chapter on the stars: dishonest, wily and treacherous (Brihat Jataka 16.5). I will not soften it; I will weigh it. The next Ashlesha runs from 29 November 2026, 11:00 a.m., to 30 November, 9:42 a.m. IST.
What is Ashlesha nakshatra?
A 13°20' stretch of sky the Moon crosses in 21 to 24 hours, about once every 27 days. Counting from Krittika, Parashara's dasha lords hand the 9th star to Mercury (BPHS 46.12 to 15). Varahamihira's verse calls it Bhaujamga, the serpent's star (BJ 16.5). The rest comes from Supastro's nakshatra table, which the Find Your Nakshatra tool reads.
| What | Ashlesha | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Span | 106°40' to 120°00' sidereal (Karka 16°40' to 30°00') | 27 equal stars of 13°20' |
| Moon sign | Karka (Cancer), the Moon's own sign, in all four padas | Computed; Brihat Jataka ch. 1 notes |
| Ruling planet | Mercury, whose dasha lasts 17 years | BPHS 46.12 to 15 |
| Deity | The Nagas (Sarpas), the serpent spirits | Supastro's nakshatra table |
| Symbol | A coiled serpent | Supastro's nakshatra table |
| Gana (temperament) | Rakshasa (demonic) | Prasna Marga 21.32; Supastro's table |
| Yoni (animal) | Cat | Supastro's matching table |
| Nadi | Antya (the last of three) | Supastro's matching table |
| Kind of star | Tikshna (sharp) | Supastro's table |
| Element | Water (Jala) | Prasna Marga 21.47 |
| Special degree | Mars's deepest fall, Karka 28°, in pada 4 | BPHS 3.49 to 50 |
No text in our library lists deities or symbols; those follow the standard attributions in Supastro's code. Ashlesha is one of the six Gandmool stars at the water-to-fire sign junctions. All 27 are on the nakshatras page.
What are Ashlesha nakshatra people like?
On paper, the worst character reference in the chapter: wanting in honesty of purpose, eats all sorts of food, does evil deeds, wily and treacherous; the word-by-word gloss adds a cheat, hoarding money, ungrateful (BJ 16.5). Jataka Parijata, a separate classic, agrees: silly, betraying ingratitude by his speech, hasty-tempered and depraved (JP 9.86).
Now the proportion. Every Ashlesha Moon is also a Karka Moon, and that line pulls the other way: a good friend, an astrologer, owner of many houses, ruled by his wife or by women, with money that swells and shrinks like the Moon, easily won by sweet words (BJ 17.4). The hypnotic serpent strategist of social media is in neither verse.
Both lines read the Moon, your mind, alone; the rest of the chart decides how much shows. The Moon and nakshatra chapter shows its weight; the summary of all 27 gives the short version.
What are the four padas of Ashlesha nakshatra?
Each pada (quarter) is 3°20' wide and puts your Moon in one sign of the Navamsa, the D9 chart that cuts each sign into nine. Karka is movable, and a movable sign's Navamsas count from itself (BPHS 4.5 and 6.12), so Ashlesha's quarters land in Dhanu, Makara, Kumbha and Meena, the same four as Swati. None is vargottama (the same sign in both charts); Karka's is its first quarter, in Punarvasu (Jataka Parijata 1.34).
You are born inside Mercury's 17-year period, with the unused part in proportion to how much of Ashlesha the Moon still had to cross (BPHS 46.16). Ketu's 7 years follow, then Venus's 20:
| Your pada | Your Moon at birth | Navamsa sign | Mercury's period ends at about age | Ketu's 7 years end at about age | Venus's 20 years end at about age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karka 16°40' to 20°00' | Dhanu (Sagittarius) | 12.75 to 17 | 19.75 to 24 | 39.75 to 44 |
| 2 | Karka 20°00' to 23°20' | Makara (Capricorn) | 8.5 to 12.75 | 15.5 to 19.75 | 35.5 to 39.75 |
| 3 | Karka 23°20' to 26°40' | Kumbha (Aquarius) | 4.25 to 8.5 | 11.25 to 15.5 | 31.25 to 35.5 |
| 4 | Karka 26°40' to 30°00' | Meena (Pisces) | 0 to 4.25 | 7 to 11.25 | 27 to 31.25 |
Read it brutally. Pada 3 and 4 natives finish Ketu's 7 years, a malefic's period (BPHS 3.11), before 16. Then Venus takes most of your twenties. Still in Mercury's years? Read Mercury Mahadasha; the free dasha calculator gives exact dates.
Pada 4 carries two marks. Mars is at its deepest fall at Karka 28° (BPHS 3.49 to 50). And the last two ghatikas of Ashlesha, a ghatika being 24 minutes, are nakshatra gandanta, the knot where water meets fire (BPHS 92.3). I computed that band for every Ashlesha to the end of 2027: the last 42 to 48 minutes, about Karka 29°30' to 30°. Magha waits across the line.
Is Ashlesha nakshatra good for career?
No verse in our library gives Ashlesha a profession; the nearest is the Karka Moon's astrologer (BJ 17.4). A career is read from the 10th house and its lord, the D10 chart and the Amatyakaraka (the career planet among the chara karakas), which Supastro's AI Oracle checks before it answers a work question.
Is 2027 a hard year for Ashlesha nakshatra?
Hard from June. Saturn's transit counts from the Moon's sign, so every Ashlesha native shares these dates. Saturn sits 9th from your Karka Moon now: money losses and blocked good work (Phaladeepika 26.23). On 3 June 2027 it moves 10th, into Mesha, its sign of fall (BPHS 3.49 to 50): loss of honour and illness by the same verse, and a fallen planet in a bad house gives bad results "in an aggravated form" (Phaladeepika 26.32). It steps back into the 9th from 20 October 2027 to 23 February 2028.
Relief starts 8 August 2029, when Saturn enters the 11th and "confers all kinds of happiness and wealth" (26.23), with one step back from 5 October 2029 to 17 April 2030. Sade Sati runs from 31 May 2032 to 13 July 2039. The points (bindus) each sign holds in your own Ashtakavarga decide how hard each stretch lands: above 30 helps, below 25 hurts (BPHS 72.3 to 5). The free Sade Sati calculator shows them.
Who should an Ashlesha native marry?
The star sets three of the eight scores in Supastro's 36-point kundli matching:
- Gana (temperament): Ashlesha is Rakshasa (Prasna Marga 21.32). Another Rakshasa star gives 6 of 6; a Deva or Manushya star gives 0, or 1 when a Deva groom marries a Rakshasa bride.
- Yoni (animal pairing): the cat scores 4 of 4 with Punarvasu or Ashlesha and 0 with Magha or Purva Phalguni.
- Nadi: Ashlesha is Antya, with Krittika, Rohini, Magha, Swati, Vishakha, Uttara Ashadha, Shravana and Revati. A partner from that list costs all 8 Nadi points.
Two Ashlesha partners score 28 of 36, losing only Nadi, which the engine marks cancelled when your padas differ. The texts are harder. Prasna Marga bars a same-star marriage for Ashlesha (21.15). Its vedha star, the one it repels, is Mula: that couple scores 23.5 to 24.5, a pass, yet "Vedha will prevail" and both partners "go to rack and ruin" (Prasna Marga 21.45 to 46). Parashara holds a birth in Ashlesha's 2nd to 4th quarter against the mother-in-law, asks for remedies at the wedding and lifts it when the husband has no elder brother (BPHS 94.11 to 13); our Uttara Kalamrita's commentator calls such Ashlesha quarter readings "too sweeping". Supastro's match applies none of these rules, so I am telling you here. Its muhurat calendar lists Ashlesha for no event.
When is Ashlesha nakshatra? Every date in 2026 and 2027
Sixteen times from November 2026 to December 2027. Times are the Moon's entry and exit on the Lahiri zodiac, in IST; the moment is the same worldwide. I computed them on 5 November 2026 on the zodiac Supastro's daily panchang uses and checked three periods against Drik Panchang's New Delhi pages that day: three of six times matched to the minute, three were a minute earlier on Drik's page.
| Ashlesha starts (IST) | Ashlesha ends (IST) | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Mon 02 Nov 2026 04:31 | Tue 03 Nov 2026 03:46 | 23.3 |
| Sun 29 Nov 2026 11:00 | Mon 30 Nov 2026 09:42 | 22.7 |
| Sat 26 Dec 2026 20:13 | Sun 27 Dec 2026 18:05 | 21.9 |
| Sat 23 Jan 2027 07:31 | Sun 24 Jan 2027 04:53 | 21.4 |
| Fri 19 Feb 2027 18:36 | Sat 20 Feb 2027 16:08 | 21.5 |
| Fri 19 Mar 2027 03:21 | Sat 20 Mar 2027 01:31 | 22.2 |
| Thu 15 Apr 2027 09:33 | Fri 16 Apr 2027 08:18 | 22.7 |
| Wed 12 May 2027 14:56 | Thu 13 May 2027 13:41 | 22.8 |
| Tue 08 Jun 2027 21:37 | Wed 09 Jun 2027 19:48 | 22.2 |
| Tue 06 Jul 2027 06:34 | Wed 07 Jul 2027 04:03 | 21.5 |
| Mon 02 Aug 2027 17:09 | Tue 03 Aug 2027 14:16 | 21.1 |
| Mon 30 Aug 2027 03:45 | Tue 31 Aug 2027 01:03 | 21.3 |
| Sun 26 Sep 2027 12:38 | Mon 27 Sep 2027 10:33 | 21.9 |
| Sat 23 Oct 2027 19:07 | Sun 24 Oct 2027 17:42 | 22.6 |
| Sat 20 Nov 2027 00:27 | Sat 20 Nov 2027 23:07 | 22.7 |
| Fri 17 Dec 2027 07:07 | Sat 18 Dec 2027 05:11 | 22.1 |
What else has to be computed before this becomes a prediction?
| Layer | What I compute | How it can change the answer |
|---|---|---|
| Birth time near an edge | How far your Moon sits from 106°40', 120°00' or a pada line | The Moon crosses a pada in five to six hours; near an edge, a wrong time moves you to Pushya, Magha or another pada |
| The gandanta band | Whether the Moon is in Ashlesha's last two ghatikas (BPHS 92.3) | The band is only 42 to 48 minutes wide, so a small error in the birth time decides whether you are in it |
| The Moon's strength | Waxing or waning, and its Shadbala (six-source strength) | The Moon is in its own sign here, yet a waning Moon still counts among the malefics (BPHS 3.11) |
| Mercury, lord of the star | Mercury's sign, house, dignity and Navamsa | Mercury runs your first dasha, and it turns malefic when it joins a malefic (BPHS 3.11) |
| Navamsa of the Moon | Your pada's sign and its lord in the D9 | Dhanu, Makara, Kumbha and Meena give the same Ashlesha Moon four different lords to answer to |
| Lagna (rising sign) | The rising degree and the 1st house lord | Varahamihira's lines are for the Moon; your body and direction come from the Lagna |
| Running dasha | Mahadasha and sub-period from your exact Moon degree | Decides which of these traits is switched on now |
| Saturn in transit | Saturn's house from your Moon and its Ashtakavarga points (BPHS 72.3 to 5) | 9th now, 10th and fallen from 3 June 2027 (Phaladeepika 26.23 and 26.32), 11th from 8 August 2029, Sade Sati 31 May 2032 to 13 July 2039; the points decide how heavy each stretch is |
Frequently asked questions
Which rashi is Ashlesha nakshatra in?
Karka (Cancer), in all four padas, with the Moon as sign lord and Mercury as star lord.
Who is the lord of Ashlesha nakshatra?
Mercury (BPHS 46.12 to 15), so every Ashlesha native is born in Mercury's 17-year dasha. Its deity in Supastro's table is the Nagas.
Is Ashlesha nakshatra bad?
Its verse is among the harshest, and it is a Gandmool star. That is one line about the Moon; the Moon's strength, Mercury and your dasha decide the rest.
Can an Ashlesha native marry another Ashlesha?
Supastro's match gives the pair 28 of 36, but Prasna Marga bars it (21.15). I would not let a score overrule the text.
What is Ashlesha gandanta?
The last two ghatikas before Karka turns into Simha (BPHS 92.3): the last 42 to 48 minutes of each Ashlesha in 2026 and 2027, about Karka 29°30' to 30°.
How long does Ashlesha nakshatra last?
21.1 to 23.3 hours in the 16 periods I computed, as the Moon's speed changes.
