Where Magha sits in the zodiac
On the sidereal circle Magha begins at 120.00 degrees and ends at 133.33. In signs, that is 0°00′ Leo to 13°20′ Leo. The whole nakshatra lies in Leo.
Here the zodiac is sidereal, shifted from the Western one by the Lahiri ayanamsa (about 24 degrees 13 minutes in early 2026). Every one of the 27 nakshatras is 13 degrees 20 minutes wide, an exact third-based fraction of the circle. The 27 divisions are slices of the ecliptic, not the outlines of constellations. Magha is marked by Regulus, the bright blue-white star at the heart of Leo. Regulus lies almost exactly on the path the Sun takes, and the Moon passes close to it every month. On the circle it follows Ashlesha and comes before Purva Phalguni. The signs it touches are Leo.
The name Magha
Magha means 'the great' or 'the mighty gift', from a root meaning to give or to be generous. It is the tenth nakshatra and the first of Leo.
Deity and symbol
Its deity is the Pitris, the ancestors. In the Vedic and later ritual they receive offerings of water and rice balls, and a fortnight of the year is set aside to remember them.
The symbol is a royal throne or palanquin, a seat that is kept for those who came before. It fits the link with ancestors.
Ruling planet and the Vimshottari dasha
In the Vimshottari scheme Magha is ruled by Ketu. The nine lords go round in a fixed order, and Ketu is given 7 years out of 120.
A birth with the Moon in Magha begins partway through Ketu's dasha. The part left is in proportion to the distance still to run: close to 7 years at the start, 3.5 at the middle, close to nothing at the end. After Ketu the order runs Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury. The other nakshatras ruled by Ketu are Ashwini and Mula. The dasha calculator shows the balance for your own chart.
The four padas of Magha
Each nakshatra splits into four padas of 3 degrees 20 minutes. A pada matches one sign of the navamsha (D9) chart, and the four take four signs in a row.
In pada 1, from 0°00′ Leo to 3°20′ Leo, the navamsha sign is Aries. Names for this pada begin with Ma.
In pada 2, from 3°20′ Leo to 6°40′ Leo, the navamsha sign is Taurus. Names for this pada begin with Mi.
Pada 3 starts at 6°40′ Leo. It falls in the navamsha sign Gemini, and its naming syllable is Mu.
Pada 4 starts at 10°00′ Leo. It falls in the navamsha sign Cancer, and its naming syllable is Me.
The first pada of Purva Phalguni then starts at Leo. Syllables follow the commonly printed lists, and regional lists differ slightly.
Magha in the sky and in the year
Texts on choosing times for activities sort the stars into categories, and Magha is placed in the Ugra (intense) group. The Sun passes through it once a year: in 2026 from 17 August 2026 to 31 August 2026, by Indian time. The Moon crosses a nakshatra in about a day, between roughly 21 and 27 hours depending on how fast it is moving.
Magha beside its neighbours
All four padas of Magha sit in Leo, so the sign never changes while the Moon crosses it. Counted from Ketu at year 0, the 120-year cycle reaches Ketu at year 0, and the Ketu period ends at year 7. Magha is the second of the three nakshatras Ketu rules, each 120 degrees apart.
Beside it, Ashlesha belongs to Mercury and Purva Phalguni to Venus, so each step round the circle moves to the next lord. Ashlesha is Tikshna (sharp) while Magha is Ugra (intense), and Purva Phalguni is Ugra (intense). The deities also change. Ashlesha has the Nagas, the serpent deities, and Purva Phalguni has Bhaga, a god of shared goods.
How to find out if your Moon is in Magha
Look at the Moon's sidereal longitude at birth. A reading from 120.00 up to 133.33 degrees means the Moon was in Magha. The Moon moves about half a degree an hour, so a birth within an hour or two of a boundary can land on either side if the time is slightly off. The nakshatra finder works it out from your date, time and place of birth.
Calculated with the Lahiri ayanamsa and whole sign houses; every setting is on the method page. Last checked 2026-10-04.