Shatabhisha Nakshatra
Written & reviewed by Ravi Prajapati Luhaniwal · Founder, Kundli.me · Vedic astrologer with 5 years of practice
Shatabhisha is the twenty-fourth of the 27 nakshatras, spanning 6°40′–20° of Aquarius. Ruled by Rahu, presided over by Varuna the god of cosmic waters and celestial law, and symbolised by an empty circle, it is the 'hundred healers' — standing for healing and medicine, secrecy and boundaries, cosmic truth and the penetration of what stays hidden from ordinary sight.
What Shatabhisha Nakshatra is
Shatabhisha (शतभिषा), also written Shatabhishak or Shatataraka, is the twenty-fourth nakshatra of the zodiac, occupying 6°40′ to 20° of Aquarius (Kumbh). Its name means "the hundred healers" or "hundred medicines" — it is the great healing star of the zodiac, but also its most veiled and secretive one. In the sky it is marked by a faint scattering of stars around Gamma Aquarii (Sadachbia) — a hundred dim points that tradition reads as a hundred physicians, or as the many starry eyes of its god.
Your nakshatra is decided by the precise position of the Moon at birth, so you need an accurate birth time to know it. You can find your Moon's nakshatra in minutes with the free janam kundli generator, and read more about how the chart is built in What is a Janam Kundli?
The core symbolism
Shatabhisha's presiding deity is Varuna — the ancient god of the cosmic waters, of the night sky, and of Ṛta, the natural and moral order of the universe. Varuna is the keeper of oaths and cosmic contracts who, through his thousand starry eyes, sees everything; nothing stays hidden from him. From him the nakshatra draws its double nature: on one side healing and cosmic law, on the other secrecy and the hidden.
Its symbol is an empty circle — a void, a veil, a protective boundary, or a ring of a hundred faint stars. It speaks of containment, privacy and a wholeness that hides its contents, which is why Shatabhisha is so linked to secrets, boundaries and mysteries that resist ordinary investigation. Its animal (yoni) is the female horse — swift and spirited — which pairs it with the male-horse nakshatra Ashwini (itself a healing star). Its shakti (special power) is bheshaja shakti — the power of healing.
Shatabhisha at a glance
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Range | 6°40′ – 20°00′ Aquarius (Kumbh) |
| Ruling planet (dasha lord) | Rahu (north lunar node) |
| Sign lord | Saturn (Shani) |
| Deity | Varuna — god of cosmic waters & celestial law (Ṛta) |
| Symbol | An empty circle; a hundred stars |
| Animal (yoni) | Female horse (Ashwa) — pairs with Ashwini |
| Gana (temperament) | Rakshasa |
| Nature | Chara (movable) — good for travel, change, momentum |
| Motivation (purushartha) | Dharma |
| Theme | Healing, secrecy, cosmic law & the hidden |
| Shakti (power) | Bheshaja shakti — the power of healing |
Personality of Shatabhisha natives
Ruled by mysterious Rahu inside inventive, Saturn-owned Aquarius, Shatabhisha produces a temperament that is independent, private and deeply curious — drawn to whatever is hidden, technical or taboo. These are researchers and healers by instinct: they want to understand the machinery behind things, and they often carry a quiet, self-contained quality, keeping their own counsel. There is real originality here, and a scientific, sometimes mystical, cast of mind.
Strengths
- Healing instinct — a genuine gift for medicine, therapy and restoring what is broken.
- Research and insight — probes mysteries others give up on; strong analytical, investigative mind.
- Independent and principled — self-reliant, honest, bound to their own inner law (Varuna's Ṛta).
- Original and inventive — the Aquarian streak brings unconventional, ahead-of-its-time thinking.
- Resilient — endures hardship privately and recovers with quiet strength.
Challenges
- Secrecy and isolation — the empty circle can wall them off; loneliness and withholding are risks.
- Stubbornness — a fixed, hard-to-move quality once decided.
- Suppression — bottled-up feelings and stress that show up in the body.
- Cynicism or escapism — Rahu can tip curiosity into detachment, secrecy, or vices.
Read these as tendencies, not verdicts: the sign, the house the Moon sits in, and the aspects on it all shape how strongly each trait appears. A single placement never describes a whole person.
The four padas of Shatabhisha
Each nakshatra is divided into four quarters, or padas, of 3°20′ each. Because Shatabhisha sits entirely within Aquarius, every pada is in Aquarius, but each takes on the flavour of a different navamsa lord — and this changes the person meaningfully.
| Pada | Degrees (Aquarius) | Navamsa sign | Sub-lord | Flavour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6°40′ – 10°00′ | Sagittarius | Jupiter | Philosophical and ethical — healing joined to wisdom and belief |
| 2 | 10°00′ – 13°20′ | Capricorn | Saturn | Disciplined and structured — hard-working, methodical, ambitious |
| 3 | 13°20′ – 16°40′ | Aquarius | Saturn | Vargottama (sign = navamsa) — humanitarian, inventive, unconventional; the strongest quarter |
| 4 | 16°40′ – 20°00′ | Pisces | Jupiter | Mystical and compassionate — spiritual healing, imagination, surrender |
Knowing your pada refines the reading considerably: a Pada 1 native heals through wisdom and belief, while a Pada 3 native (vargottama, doubly Aquarian) is the inventive humanitarian, and a Pada 4 native carries the healing into mystical, spiritual territory.
Career and work
The deity and shakti set the vocation. With healing at the core and Rahu's pull toward the hidden, the clearest fits sit in medicine and healing; Varuna and Rahu open a second family of research, science and the unconventional.
| Theme | Well-suited fields |
|---|---|
| Healing (the hundred physicians) | Doctors, surgeons, nurses, therapists; Ayurveda, acupuncture, homeopathy, energy and mantra healing |
| Research & the hidden (Rahu/Varuna) | Scientists, astronomers, astrologers and mystics, researchers, detectives, addiction and crisis work |
| Technology & water | Electronics, IT, aviation and space, engineering; marine, water-supply and liquid trades |
The recurring lesson is the same in work as in life: Shatabhisha succeeds by penetrating what is hidden and mending what is broken — it does its best work quietly, at the edge of the known, and should guard against isolating itself from the people it heals.
Love, marriage and compatibility
In relationships the Shatabhisha native is loyal and deep, but private — slow to open the empty circle and let a partner all the way in. Given trust, they are steadfast; without it, the secrecy can create distance. As a Rakshasa-gana, horse-yoni nakshatra it is strong-willed, so compatibility is always read from the whole chart, never a single factor.
Traditional matching (Ashtakoota / Gun Milan) weighs eight factors including gana, yoni and nadi. The horse yoni pairs most naturally with the other horse-yoni nakshatra, Ashwini, and clashes most with the buffalo yoni; Rakshasa gana sits most easily with its own. But the decisive checks — Moon-sign harmony, Mangal Dosha, nadi dosha and the running dasha — need the two full kundlis side by side. Run a proper Kundli Milan (Gun Milan) before drawing conclusions.
Rahu, the ruling planet
Shatabhisha's dasha lord is Rahu, the north lunar node — the great amplifier of desire, obsession, foreignness and the unconventional. Ruling here inside Saturn's cool, structured Aquarius, Rahu turns its hunger toward research, mystery and healing rather than mere ambition: it wants to know the unknowable and to mend the un-mendable. This is exactly what gives the Shatabhisha native such fascination with the hidden and such capacity for original, boundary-crossing work.
Rahu's periods matter here. The Rahu mahadasha runs for 18 years, and when it activates a Shatabhisha Moon it brings intensity, research, foreign or unconventional paths, and sudden turns to the forefront, along with the nakshatra's signature drive toward healing and hidden truth. The Vimshottari dasha system is what tells you when these periods run — and the Rahu-Ketu guide explains the nodes in depth.
Remedies for a troubled Shatabhisha or Rahu
If Rahu or the Shatabhisha Moon is afflicted — badly placed, hemmed by malefics, or delivering a hard dasha — the remedies are Rahu-centred and, as always, support honest effort rather than replace it.
- Worship Goddess Durga and honour Varuna by offering water (arghya) to the setting sun or a flowing source.
- Chant the Rahu mantra — "Om Rahave Namah" (or the Rahu beej mantra) — and Durga mantras.
- Rahu charity (daan): blue/grey cloth, sesame (til), mustard oil and coconut; feed the needy.
- Live the Varuna virtues: keep honesty and your word, avoid intoxicants and deceit, and channel the secrecy into healing and research rather than isolation.
A hessonite (gomed) is Rahu's gemstone — potent, and advised only after a full chart reading, never casually. The Lal Kitab tradition offers simpler low-cost measures worth exploring first.
Related reading
- Aquarius (Kumbh) Rashifal — the sign that holds all of Shatabhisha
- Rahu & Ketu — the lunar nodes explained
- What is a Janam Kundli? — find your Moon's nakshatra and pada
- Vimshottari Dasha — when your Rahu period runs
- Kundli Milan (Gun Milan) — match nakshatras the complete way
- All 27 nakshatras — the full lunar-mansion guide
Explore more
About the author
Ravi Prajapati Luhaniwal· Founder, Kundli.me
Ravi Prajapati Luhaniwal is the founder of Kundli.me and a Vedic astrologer with 5 years of practice. He oversees the classical accuracy of every reading and article on the site.
More about us →Frequently asked questions
What is special about Shatabhisha Nakshatra?
Shatabhisha is the twenty-fourth nakshatra, spanning 6°40′–20° of Aquarius. Its name means 'the hundred healers' or 'hundred medicines', and it is the great healing star of the zodiac. Presided over by Varuna, god of the cosmic waters and celestial law, and symbolised by an empty circle, it carries themes of healing, secrecy, boundaries and hidden knowledge. Its shakti is bheshaja shakti — the power of healing.
Which planet rules Shatabhisha Nakshatra?
Rahu (the north lunar node) is the ruling planet (dasha lord) of Shatabhisha, while Aquarius is ruled by Saturn. This Rahu-in-Saturn's-sign blend gives an unconventional, research-minded, secretive and mystical nature — drawn to the hidden, the technical and the taboo. During a Rahu mahadasha (18 years in the Vimshottari system) the themes of your Shatabhisha placement come strongly to the fore.
What is the symbol and deity of Shatabhisha?
Shatabhisha's symbol is an empty circle — a void, a veil, or a ring of a hundred faint stars — standing for secrecy, containment, boundaries and the hidden wholeness from which healing emerges. Its deity is Varuna, the god of the cosmic waters and of Ṛta (the natural and moral order); he is the keeper of oaths who sees everything through his thousand starry eyes, so nothing stays hidden from him. This is why the nakshatra unites healing with truth, law and mystery.
What careers suit Shatabhisha Nakshatra natives?
Healing comes first — doctors, surgeons, nurses, and especially alternative and energy healers (Ayurveda, acupuncture, homeopathy, mantra and pranic healing). The Rahu-and-Varuna mix also favours research and the hidden: scientists, astronomers, astrologers and mystics, electronics, technology and aviation, water and marine work, and addiction-recovery or crisis work. Shatabhisha natives do best where they can probe what others can't reach.
What are the four padas of Shatabhisha Nakshatra?
All four padas fall in Aquarius. Pada 1 (6°40′–10°) is Sagittarius navamsa, ruled by Jupiter — philosophical, ethical, healing-with-wisdom. Pada 2 (10°–13°20′) is Capricorn navamsa, ruled by Saturn — disciplined, hard-working, structured. Pada 3 (13°20′–16°40′) is Aquarius navamsa, ruled by Saturn — and because sign and navamsa match it is vargottama and especially strong: humanitarian, inventive, unconventional. Pada 4 (16°40′–20°) is Pisces navamsa, ruled by Jupiter — mystical, compassionate, spiritual.
What are the remedies for a weak or afflicted Shatabhisha / Rahu?
Because Rahu rules Shatabhisha, the remedies are Rahu-centred: worship of Goddess Durga and of Varuna (offering water), chanting 'Om Rahave Namah' or the Durga mantras, and donating Rahu items — blue/grey cloth, sesame, mustard oil and coconut. Water offerings (arghya), keeping honesty and avoiding intoxicants suit Varuna's law. A hessonite (gomed) is Rahu's gemstone but is potent and should be worn only after a full chart reading — see the Rahu-Ketu guide.