Hasta

Hasta (हस्त, also written Hasta) is the thirteenth of the twenty-seven nakṣatras, occupying the middle region of Kanyā from 10° to 23°20′. The name means hand — the instrument that grasps, shapes, and passes objects between registers. Its devatā is Savitā, the aspect of the Sun that impels and sets in motion, the devatā addressed in the Gāyatrī mantra and named in the opening hymns of every Vedic day. Savitā as devatā of Hasta establishes the nakshatra's signature quality: what the Sun sets in motion is received by the skilled hand. Vimśottarī rulership belongs to Chandra.

Classical grounding

Parāśara in Brihat Parāśara Horā Śāstra and Varāhamihira in Bṛhat Saṃhitā identify Savitā as Hasta's devatā; the Ṛgvedic hymns to Savitā (1.35, 3.62.10 — the Gāyatrī itself — and many others) supply the liturgical anchor. Savitā is one of the Ādityas (solar aspects) but is specifically the pre-sunrise and impelling aspect, distinguished in Vedic liturgy from Sūrya (the visible disc) and Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga and other Āditya forms. The yoni is mahiṣa, the male buffalo; the classical yoni-kūṭa pair is Svātī's female buffalo — a same-yoni pairing. The gaṇa is deva, the varṇa Vaiśya, the nāḍī ādi. The śakti is hasta-sthāpaniya-āgamana-śakti — the power to acquire what one seeks, to place the sought-after object into the hand — viniyoga in the work of skilled grasping.

Significations

What Hasta classically governs:

• The hand in every register — craft, handiwork, the precision of manual work, surgery, sleight-of-hand
• Acquisition — Hasta's śakti names it as the nakshatra of things being put into one's grasp
• The impelling and initiating registers that Savitā as devatā carries — the start-up, the push-off, the impulsion into action
• Trade and craft vocations that involve handling objects — jewellery, watchmaking, sculpture, the skilled trades
• Healing work done with the hands — surgery, physical therapy, classical Āyurvedic massage
• Astrological and palmistric work, since Hasta's symbol is the palm and the tradition names hand-reading among its domains
• The hands and wrists in bodily correspondence, continuing Kanyā's waist-region assignment into the upper limbs used in service work

Pāda-level reading

Hasta's four pādas continue the Kanyā navāṃśa sequence, which for this dual sign begins at Makara (the fifth sign from Kanyā). Pāda 1 (10°–13°20′) is Meṣa navāṃśa — the fourth navāṃśa of Kanyā — bringing Mangala's energy and first-arrival quality into the hand-register; charts with Hasta pāda 1 often show athletic or surgical dexterity. Pāda 2 is Vṛṣabha navāṃśa, where the skilled hand meets Śukra's aesthetic register and the pāda reads for craft involving beauty. Pāda 3 is Mithuna navāṃśa, doubling on Budha as both the sign-lord of Kanyā and the navāṃśa's lord, the pāda of articulation paired with manual skill. Pāda 4 is Karkaṭa navāṃśa, nurturing and maternal — Hasta pāda 4 charts are classically read for healing work done with the hands and for cooking at the professional level.

Practical interpretation

A graha in Hasta carries the nakshatra's grasping and impelling signature into that graha's functional domain. Janma-nakṣatra Hasta — the Moon here at birth — reads for manual skill, quick reflex, and a characteristic practicality in emotional processing. In muhūrta reading, Hasta is laghu (light, swift) and is used for short-duration undertakings, travel, and first-step initiations where the classical texts name it among the favourable options.

Related Concepts

• Chandra — ruling graha in the Vimśottarī scheme
• Kanyā — rāśi occupied (fully or partially) by this nakshatra
• Nāḍī-kūṭa — Aṣṭa-kūṭa compatibility via nāḍī classification
• Yoni-kūṭa — Aṣṭa-kūṭa compatibility via yoni classification
• Gaṇa-kūṭa — Aṣṭa-kūṭa compatibility via gaṇa classification
• Tārā-kūṭa — Aṣṭa-kūṭa compatibility via nakshatra Tārā cycle