The sign and its names
Dhanu means a bow, and the sign is drawn as an archer or a bow with an arrow. Sagittarius is the Latin word for archer. It is the ninth sign. In Devanagari the Sanskrit name is written धनु.
Element, quality and ruler
In the traditional labels, Sagittarius belongs to the fire group (Sagittarius, Aries and Leo) and to the dual group (Sagittarius, Gemini, Virgo and Pisces). The dual signs close each run of three: the third, sixth, ninth and twelfth. The fire signs are the first, fifth and ninth of the twelve. Elements are spaced 120 degrees apart, and the qualities repeat every three signs.
The ruling planet of Sagittarius is Jupiter. Jupiter also rules Pisces. Jupiter is the largest planet and goes round the Sun in 11.86 years, so it moves through about one sign a year.
The nakshatras in Sagittarius
Sagittarius covers sidereal longitude 240 to 270 degrees, which is exactly nine padas, or two and a quarter nakshatras. The nakshatras with a part inside it are: Mula (all four padas); Purva Ashadha (all four padas); Uttara Ashadha (pada 1 only). Their ruling planets are Ketu, Venus and Sun. Sagittarius lies in the direction of the centre of the Milky Way. Mula nakshatra begins here, with Purva Ashadha and the start of Uttara Ashadha. Its opposite sign is Gemini.
The Moon takes about two to two and a half days to cross a sign, so a moon sign of Sagittarius lasts that long each month. The nakshatra the Moon is in narrows it down further. Use the nakshatra finder to see both for your birth.
Moon sign Sagittarius and Sun sign Sagittarius
A moon sign counts the sidereal position of the Moon at birth, while a Western sun sign counts the tropical position of the Sun. The zodiacs are offset by the ayanamsa, about 24 degrees 13 minutes in 2026.
For Sagittarius the dates show it. In 2026 the Sun is in sidereal Sagittarius from 16 December 2026 to 14 January 2026, and in the Western Sagittarius from 22 November 2026 to 22 December 2026. Only about 6 days of those two ranges overlap, so most people with a Western sun sign of Sagittarius have a Vedic sun sign in Scorpio, and a moon sign in any of the twelve. The moon sign changes every couple of days, so the moon sign calculator asks for your birth time and place.
The padas of Sagittarius and the navamsha
The nine padas inside Sagittarius take nine navamsha signs in a row. They start at Aries and run on to Sagittarius, then the next sign, Capricorn, starts again at Capricorn. That is how a single degree of the moon sign points to a second sign in the D9 chart, which is read for finer detail.
Counting from Sagittarius
When a planet is described as being some number of signs from the Moon, the count starts at the moon sign itself. For Sagittarius that gives: Capricorn is second, Aquarius is third, Pisces is fourth, Aries is fifth, Taurus is sixth, Gemini is seventh, Cancer is eighth, Leo is ninth, Virgo is tenth, Libra is eleventh, Scorpio is twelfth. Opposite Sagittarius lies Gemini, while Aries and Leo make the trine.
Sun in Sagittarius: Dhanu Sankranti
The Sun enters Dhanu in mid December. It starts the Tamil month Margazhi and the Malayalam month Dhanu.
Calculated with the Lahiri ayanamsa and whole sign houses; every setting is on the method page. Last checked 2026-10-04.