Sagittarius (Dhanu Rashi) in Vedic astrology: the sign, its nakshatras, and what each graha does in it

Dhanu, the bow, is the ninth sign of the zodiac. It belongs to Jupiter and holds his Moolatrikona, it is fiery and dual, and it is one of four signs in which none of the seven grahas is exalted or debilitated. Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (BPHS) adds that the sign is split: two-footed in its first half, four-footed in its second. Most of what the classical texts say about Dhanu follows from those facts: a sign read through teaching, counsel, weapons and kings, where strength comes from Jupiter and not from any exaltation.

This page sets out what BPHS, Saravali and the other source texts behind this app say about Sagittarius, with chapter and sloka, and how the engine turns the sign into the lines in your own chart. It describes rules, not people. To find out whether Sagittarius matters in your chart at all, start with the Moon Sign calculator.

Three different things are called "Sagittarius"

In Vedic practice, "my rashi is Dhanu" means the Moon was in sidereal Sagittarius at birth. The Moon crosses the sign in a little over two days: in this engine it made 133 passes through Sagittarius between 2020 and 2029, lasting from 47.3 to 61.0 hours, 54.5 on average. The next one runs from 06:48 IST on 16 October 2026 to 19:33 IST on 18 October. Moon sign and nakshatra explains why the Moon, not the Sun, is the default.

The Sun is in sidereal Sagittarius for about thirty days a year: from 10:15 IST on 16 December 2026 to 21:00 IST on 14 January 2027. The tropical zodiac used by Western Sun-sign columns puts the Sun in Sagittarius from 22 November to 22 December 2026. The gap is the Lahiri ayanamsa, 24.2266 degrees on 5 October 2026 in this engine, as the Methodology page describes. So most people who call themselves a Sagittarius from a magazine have the Sun in sidereal Scorpio; only those born in the last week of that window have it in Dhanu. The Sun Sign calculator gives the sidereal answer.

The third meaning is Dhanu Lagna: Sagittarius rising on the eastern horizon at birth. At New Delhi on 5 October 2026 Sagittarius rose from 11:55 to 13:57 IST, about 124 minutes, against 85 for Pisces and 141 for Cancer the same day. Saravali Ch. 3 Sloka 37-38 lists Sagittarius among the signs of medium ascension. The window moves about two hours earlier each month: on 15 July 2026 it ran from 17:17 to 19:20, and on 15 January 2026 from 05:13 to 07:16. The Lagna needs a birth time and a place, and the Lagna calculator computes it.

How the texts describe Dhanu

BPHS Ch. 4 describes each rashi in a sloka or two. Its lines for Dhanu (Sloka 17-18 1/2), with the general classifications of Sloka 3 to 5 1/2 and the parallel chapter of Saravali, give the following.

The two main texts disagree on one attribute. BPHS says Dhanu "rises with its head", a Sirshodaya sign. Saravali Ch. 3 Sloka 24 lists Sagittarius among the Prishtodaya signs, which rise hind part first. This engine uses neither classification, so nothing in your chart depends on which is right.

The split into a human half and an animal half is used, not just stated. BPHS Ch. 27 Sloka 26-29, on the strength of houses, groups a house in the first half of Dhanu with the human signs and one in the second half with the quadrupeds. Saravali Ch. 55 Sloka 4-5 likewise counts only the first half of Sagittarius as human.

BPHS also calls Dhanu "a royal rashi". This app reads that phrase as the sign's varna class, uses it only inside the Varna koota of Kundli matching, and makes no statement about people from it.

The engine uses the rest of these attributes mechanically. The element feeds the dominant-element count on the Kundali page. The modality fixes where the Navamsa count starts, which signs Sagittarius aspects and which house is badhaka for a Sagittarius Lagna. The lord, Jupiter, decides the dignity of every other graha placed here. The app also prints one curated temperament line for a Sagittarius Moon: "generous and diplomatic, a natural, engaging communicator".

Inside the sign: three nakshatras, nine padas

Thirty degrees of Sagittarius hold all four padas of Mula, all four of Purva Ashadha and the first pada of Uttara Ashadha. Each pada is 3 degrees 20 minutes and maps to one Navamsa sign. BPHS Ch. 6 Sloka 12 starts the Navamsas of a dual rashi from the fifth sign from it, so those of Sagittarius begin in Aries and end in Sagittarius.

Three consequences follow. A graha or Lagna in the last 3 degrees 20 minutes of Sagittarius is Vargottama, in the same sign in both charts; Saravali Ch. 3 Sloka 13 names the ninth Navamsa of a dual sign as that portion. Jupiter's Moolatrikona, the first 10 degrees, lies wholly inside Mula. And the sign opens on a junction: BPHS Ch. 92 Sloka 3-4 calls the first two ghatikas of Mula a Nakshatra Gandanta and the first half ghatika of Dhanu rising a Lagna Gandanta, and prescribes rites. This app prescribes none and does not flag Gandanta. The Nakshatra calculator returns the pada, the Navamsa (D9) calculator the Navamsa sign, and Navamsa, the second chart covers how to read it.

BPHS Ch. 33 Sloka 2-8 has a hazard line, about falls, for an Atma Karaka in Dhanu Navamsa, and adds that the drishti of a benefic removes such evils. The Karakamsa calculator reports the sign only; the engine uses none of that chapter's per-sign text.

The other divisions of Sagittarius

• Hora (D2): Sagittarius is odd, so its first 15 degrees are the Sun's Hora and the second 15 the Moon's (BPHS Ch. 6 Sl. 5-6; Saravali Ch. 3 Sl. 14).
• Drekkana (D3): the three decanates fall in Sagittarius, Aries and Leo, the sign itself, the 5th and the 9th from it, so all three stay in fire signs (BPHS Ch. 6 Sl. 7-8).
• Trimshamsa (D30): for an odd sign, 0 to 5 degrees go to Mars, 5 to 10 to Saturn, 10 to 18 to Jupiter, 18 to 25 to Mercury, 25 to 30 to Venus (BPHS Ch. 6 Sl. 27-28; Saravali Ch. 3 Sl. 15).
• Shodashamsa (D16) and Akshavedamsa (D45): BPHS Ch. 6 Sl. 16 and 31-32 start both counts for a dual sign from Dhanu, so for Sagittarius each begins at home.

Dignity: who is strong in Sagittarius, and who is not

BPHS Ch. 3 Sloka 49-50 lists the exaltation signs of the seven grahas and puts each one's fall in the seventh sign from it. Sagittarius is in neither list, like Gemini, Leo and Aquarius. Strength in this sign therefore comes from one source, its lord, and Saravali Ch. 3 Sloka 34 names Sagittarius as the Moolatrikona sign of Jupiter.

The rows move because this engine judges a graha in another's sign by the fivefold relationship with the sign lord: a natural relationship, in which the Sun and Mars count Jupiter a friend and the other four count him neutral, combined with a temporary one read from the chart. By BPHS Ch. 3 Sloka 56 a graha in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th sign from another is its temporary friend. For a graha in Sagittarius that means Jupiter in Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Virgo, Libra or Scorpio; then all six other grahas read as in a friendly sign. With Jupiter anywhere else, Sagittarius included, the Sun and Mars drop to neutral and the Moon, Mercury, Venus and Saturn read as in an enemy sign.

Jupiter: one Moolatrikona, two boundaries

The sources agree that the Moolatrikona portion comes first, and nearly agree on where it ends. BPHS Ch. 3 Sloka 51-54 gives "the first one third of Dhanu", which is 10 degrees. Saravali Ch. 5 Sloka 21-24 gives the first 10 degrees outright. Bhrigu Sutras (p. 10) gives only the first 5. This engine marks 0 to 10 degrees, and scores Moolatrikona as full positional strength and own sign as three quarters. Jupiter in Vedic astrology covers the graha itself, and the Shad Bala calculator weighs dignity beside the other strengths.

Ketu and Dhanu

The nodes get a line of their own. BPHS Ch. 47 Sloka 34-39 1/2 gives Dhanu as the Moolatrikona of Ketu and Mithun as that of Rahu, and puts Ketu's exaltation in Vrischik. Bhrigu Sutras (p. 13) reports a different scheme from a work it calls Sanketnidhi, in which Sagittarius is Ketu's exaltation sign. The books do not agree, and this engine assigns Rahu and Ketu no dignity at all, so a Ketu in Sagittarius carries no dignity label in this app. Ketu in Vedic astrology has the wider picture.

Each graha in Sagittarius, as Saravali reads it

Saravali gives every graha a sloka or two for each sign. The Sagittarius lines are paraphrased below. Its descriptions of the body and its harsher character words are left out.

Read across the rows and a pattern shows. Five of the seven mention learning, teaching or scripture. Four name a minister, a priest or a king's favour. The Sun and Mars lines turn to weapons and war. That is the sign's figure, an archer, read alongside its lord, whom BPHS calls Guru. Mars is the one graha Saravali treats roughly here, even though this engine counts Jupiter his natural friend.

Saravali then modifies each line by aspect, treating Sagittarius and Pisces together as the signs of Jupiter for every graha but the Moon. A few of those lines, again paraphrased:

• Sun in a sign of Jupiter aspected by Jupiter: moves in royal palaces or is a king himself, ever after learning (Ch. 22 Sl. 50-55).
• Moon in Sagittarius aspected by Jupiter: a king's minister with wealth, virtues and happiness. By Mercury: an expert astrologer and artist. By Saturn: sweet in speech, truthful, widely read in the Shastras (Ch. 23 Sl. 59-64).
• Jupiter in his own sign aspected by Mercury: a minister or a king, happy with wealth and progeny. By the Sun: at odds with the king, without wealth or relatives (Ch. 27 Sl. 55-60).
• Saturn in a sign of Jupiter aspected by Jupiter: a king, a minister or an army chief, free from danger. By Mercury: equal to a king, a preceptor, honourable and rich (Ch. 29 Sl. 55-60).

Sagittarius rising: Dhanu Lagna

Saravali Ch. 48 Sloka 34-37 describes the Sagittarius-born as courageous, strong and just, skilled in the Shastras, highly intelligent, a patron of dependents and important among his own people, and also irascible, "short tempered even with mighty men", and inclined to find fault with relatives. It is a list of possibilities, not a portrait. What a Lagna reliably fixes is which graha rules which house, and BPHS Ch. 34 Sloka 37-38 reads that for Dhanu. The 1st house page covers the Lagna as a house.

The reasons are in the same chapter. Sloka 2-7 says any graha owning the 3rd, 6th or 11th gives evil effects, which is Venus twice over and Saturn once. Saturn also rules the 2nd, the stronger of the two Marak Bhavas of Ch. 44 Sloka 2-5; this app reports that label and computes no death timing. The lord of a kona gives auspicious results, which covers the Sun in the 9th and Mars in the 5th, and an 8th lordship of the Sun or Moon "is not evil", so the Moon escapes the list. Jupiter is the odd case: the Lagna lord is "specially auspicious", but a benefic owning kendras "will not give benefic effects", and he owns two. Parashara settles on neutral.

The Yog of the Sun and Mercury is the 9th lord with the 10th lord. Sloka 11-12 says the lord of a kendra and the lord of a kona cause a Yog when they exchange signs, join in a kendra or kona, or fully aspect each other. This app's Yoga Karaka panel follows the sloka: on a Sagittarius-rising Kundali it lists the Sun and Mercury, with Mars and the Sun as auspicious, Venus as malefic and Saturn as the killer. See the Sun and Mercury for the grahas themselves.

The later books add one disagreement. Advanced Predictive Astrology calls Jupiter in the 9th "very good" for Sagittarius Lagna (p. 21). On Saturn, though, Bhrigu Sutras (p. 99) reports the view that he is "very beneficial" in the ascendant in either sign of Jupiter, a translator's note in BPHS Ch. 59 cites Brihat Jataka for a Raj Yog from Saturn in Dhanu in the Lagna, and BPHS Ch. 47 Sloka 57-60 itself gives gains in his Dasha to a Saturn placed in Dhanu or Meen. That sits oddly beside Parashara's "killer" for this Lagna, and no book here resolves it. Saturn in Vedic astrology has more on the graha.

Which Mahapurusha Yogas can form

BPHS Ch. 75 Sloka 1-2 gives five Mahapurusha Yogas; this engine flags one when Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus or Saturn is exalted, in Moolatrikona or in its own sign in a kendra from the Lagna. For Sagittarius rising that allows Hamsa (Jupiter in Sagittarius in the 1st or Pisces in the 4th), Bhadra (Mercury in Gemini in the 7th or Virgo in the 10th) and Malavya (Venus in Pisces in the 4th). Ruchaka and Sasa cannot form: the signs of Mars fall in the 5th, 12th and 2nd houses and those of Saturn in the 2nd, 3rd and 11th. Bhrigu Sutras (pp. 73-74) counts Jupiter in his own sign in the 1st a Hamsa Yoga and reads a good speaker, versed in the Shastras. The Yogas calculator lists what your chart forms, and what a yoga in your chart means explains how to weigh it.

The badhaka house

This engine takes the 7th as the badhaka house of a dual Lagna, Gemini for Sagittarius rising, and uses it in one place: a graha there carries the note "badhaka house (sensitive to affliction)" in the strength table. BPHS Ch. 50 Sloka 20-21, as this app's corpus has it, states the rule only for the movable signs, where the Badhak is the 11th. The app reads no event into the label.

Sagittarius among the signs: aspects and questions

BPHS Ch. 8 Sloka 1-3 gives the signs aspects of their own: a dual rashi aspects the other three dual rashis. Sagittarius therefore aspects Gemini, Virgo and Pisces, and the same three aspect it back. With a birth time, the Kundali page shows this rashi drishti beside the graha aspects. Advanced Predictive Astrology, discussing foreign travel, singles out Sagittarius among the dual signs because it is the 9th sign of the zodiac (pp. 84-86).

In horary astrology the modality carries the rules, and a dual sign gets the undecided answer. Daivajna Vallabha Ch. 3 Sloka 5 says a question about gaining status succeeds under a fixed ascendant, fails under a movable one, and under a dual one "both results happen". Ch. 4 Sloka 1 says travel does not occur under a fixed ascendant, does under a movable one, and under a dual one depends on which half is rising. This app's Prashna feature prints the first rule as a reason without moving the score, and does not count a dual rising sign either way for travel, because the sloka does not say which half is which.

A worked chart: Jupiter on the Moolatrikona line, rising and combust

This is an illustrative birth, not a real person: 5 January 2008, 07:15 IST, New Delhi (28.6139 N, 77.2090 E). Every figure is this engine's output.

Sagittarius rises at 19.15 degrees, in Purva Ashadha. The Sun is in the 1st house at 20.11 degrees and Jupiter at 10.05 degrees, in Mula, five hundredths of a degree past the Moolatrikona boundary. The engine labels Jupiter Own sign and flags Hamsa Yoga: "Jupiter is in its own sign, Sagittarius, in your 1st house (a kendra)". (Before the engine began precessing the planets to the date in October 2026 it put Jupiter at 9.94, just inside the line, and said Moolatrikona; the chart is a reminder of how thin that line is.) The Sun reads as Neutral, not Friendly, because Jupiter shares his sign. The Yoga Karaka panel lists the Sun in house 1 and Mercury in house 2.

Now the other side. Jupiter is 10.06 degrees from the Sun, inside the 11-degree combustion orb this engine uses for him, and the strength table sets a combust graha's positional strength to zero, Moolatrikona or not. Jupiter comes out Weak, at 5.5 of 20. Mercury is combust too. The Moon is debilitated in Scorpio in the 12th, with Venus beside it in an enemy sign. Mars is retrograde in Gemini in the 7th: the badhaka house, a Moderate Mangal Dosha, and, through his mutual aspect with Jupiter, half of the Kendra-Kona Raj Yoga the engine reports.

The Moon in Anuradha starts the Vimshottari sequence in Saturn's Mahadasha, until 28 December 2014, followed by Mercury's until December 2031. The engine grades Jupiter's period good, the Sun's neutral and those of the other five grahas challenging. Chara Dasha opens with twelve years of Sagittarius, then runs backwards into nine years of Scorpio, counted to Ketu in Leo rather than Mars. The sign delivers a named yoga and a zero on the same graha, and neither line cancels the other.

Timing: dashas and transits through Sagittarius

Dashas

Vimshottari Dasha starts from the Moon's nakshatra, so a Sagittarius Moon begins life in the Mahadasha of Ketu (Mula), Venus (Purva Ashadha) or the Sun (the first pada of Uttara Ashadha), part-way through. The order from there is fixed: Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars. The Vimshottari Dasha calculator dates yours, and what a Mahadasha is explains the arithmetic.

For a graha placed in Sagittarius, BPHS Ch. 47 Sloka 5-6 gives the test: its Dasha is favourable when the lord is in the Lagna, exalted, or in its own or a friendly sign, and unfavourable when it is debilitated, in an inimical sign or in the 6th, 8th or 12th house. This app grades a Mahadasha "challenging" when its lord is debilitated, in an enemy sign or in one of those three houses, "good" when it is exalted, in Moolatrikona or in its own sign, and "neutral" otherwise. So a Jupiter in Sagittarius earns "good" unless Sagittarius is the 6th, 8th or 12th from your Lagna, as it is for Cancer, Taurus and Capricorn rising. The Jupiter Mahadasha covers his sixteen years.

Sagittarius also has a period of its own in the sign-based Chara Dasha of BPHS Ch. 46 Sloka 158-167. In this engine Sagittarius is an odd-Pad sign, so its length is counted forward to the sign Jupiter occupies, less one, then one year more if he is exalted and one fewer if he is debilitated: none with Jupiter in Capricorn (one, less one for his debilitation), eleven with Jupiter in Scorpio, twelve with Jupiter in Sagittarius itself. For a Sagittarius Lagna the sequence opens with Sagittarius and then runs in reverse, to Scorpio and Libra, because Leo, the sign in the 9th house, is an even-Pad sign.

Transits

Transits are read from the natal Moon. The Gochar calculator counts each graha's sign from your Moon and applies this engine's rule set; for a Sagittarius Moon on 5 October 2026 it reads Mercury and Venus in Libra (11th) and Rahu in Aquarius (3rd) as favourable, and Saturn in Pisces (4th) with Jupiter and Mars in Cancer (8th) as testing.

Sade Sati and Ashtama Sani for a Sagittarius Moon

Sade Sati, as this app defines it, is Saturn in the 12th, 1st or 2nd sign from the natal Moon: Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn for a Dhanu rashi. The last one ran from 2 November 2014 to 17 January 2023, with a two-month break in 2022 while Saturn was in Aquarius. The next runs from 12 December 2043 to 25 February 2052, with a three-month break in 2044. The app describes the period as "traditionally read as a time to consolidate rather than expand, not as an omen." The Sade Sati calculator gives the phase for your Moon.

What is active on 5 October 2026 is Ardha Ashtama Sani, Saturn in the 4th from the Moon: Saturn is in Pisces from 29 March 2025 to 22 February 2028, apart from four months of 2027. The app reads it as "testing domestic peace and family matters, calling for patience at home rather than signalling anything fixed or fated". Ashtama Sani proper, Saturn in the 8th, means Cancer for a Sagittarius Moon: 13 July 2034 to 1 September 2036. The Ashtama Sani calculator checks both, and the Timing feature places them beside your dashas.

Common misreadings

• "I am a Sagittarius" from a Western column. That is the tropical Sun. The sidereal Sun is in Sagittarius from mid December to mid January, and your rashi is the Moon's sign, not the Sun's.
• "Jupiter in his own sign always delivers." The engine zeroes his positional strength when combust and grades his Mahadasha challenging in the 6th, 8th or 12th house; BPHS calls him neutral for Dhanu Lagna.
• "Planets sitting with Jupiter in Sagittarius are with a friend." By BPHS Ch. 3 Sloka 56 a graha in the same sign is not a temporary friend, so this engine reads the Moon, Mercury, Venus or Saturn beside Jupiter as in an enemy sign.
• "Ketu is exalted in Sagittarius." One work quoted in Bhrigu Sutras says so; BPHS makes Dhanu Ketu's Moolatrikona and puts the exaltation in Vrischik. This app gives the nodes no dignity.
• "A Mula birth is a bad sign." BPHS names the opening of Mula as a Gandanta, a junction, and attaches rites to it. This app does not flag Gandanta and draws no conclusion about a person from it.
• "A dual fire sign means a restless person." Modality drives mechanical rules here: the Navamsa count, sign aspects, the badhaka house. Saravali's "irascible" sits in the same list as "just".

How to check this in your own chart

1. 1.Run the Moon Sign calculator. Without a birth time it also reports the Moon at both ends of your birth date and whether the sign changed; what an unknown birth time costs explains the rest.
2. 2.Check the Sun with the Sun Sign calculator and the Lagna with the Lagna calculator. Then cast the full chart with the Birth Chart calculator. Note every graha in Sagittarius, its degree, its house and its combust flag.
3. 3.Find Jupiter first. In Sagittarius, his degree decides Moolatrikona or own sign. Elsewhere, his sign decides whether the grahas in Sagittarius read as friendly.
4. 4.Use the nakshatra table for the pada and Navamsa sign of each, and check the last pada for Vargottama.
5. 5.If Sagittarius rises, read the lordship table, then the Yoga Karaka panel and the yoga list on your Kundali.
6. 6.Date the Dashas of the grahas in Sagittarius and of Jupiter, and, for a Sagittarius Moon, check Sade Sati, Ashtama Sani and Gochar.
7. 7.To verify a citation, the Sources page lists the texts this app draws on.

Frequently asked questions

What are the dates for Sagittarius in Vedic astrology?

For the Sun, about 16 December to 14 January each year. But Dhanu rashi usually means the Moon sign, and the Moon is in Sagittarius for about 54 hours every month, so no date range answers that. It needs your birth date and sometimes your birth time.

Who rules Dhanu Rashi, and what kind of sign is it?

Jupiter rules it (BPHS Ch. 4 Sloka 17-18 1/2). It is the ninth sign: dual, odd and male, fiery, Sattvic, strong at night and placed in the East. BPHS makes its first half two-footed and its second half four-footed.

Which nakshatras fall in Sagittarius?

All of Mula, all of Purva Ashadha, and the first pada of Uttara Ashadha. Their Vimshottari lords are Ketu, Venus and the Sun, which decides the first Mahadasha of a Sagittarius Moon.

Is any planet exalted or debilitated in Sagittarius?

None of the seven grahas. BPHS Ch. 3 Sloka 49-50 lists the exaltation signs and their opposites, and Sagittarius is in neither list. The strongest dignity here is Jupiter's Moolatrikona in the first 10 degrees. For Ketu the books disagree, and this app gives the nodes no dignity.

Which planets are good for Sagittarius ascendant?

BPHS Ch. 34 Sloka 37-38 calls Mars and the Sun auspicious, says the Sun and Mercury can confer a Yog, calls Venus the only inauspicious graha and Saturn a killer, and rates Jupiter neutral. These are roles from house lordship; where each graha sits still has to be read from the chart.

Why does my chart say "Own sign" for Jupiter in Sagittarius and not Moolatrikona?

Because of the degree. This engine, like BPHS and Saravali, counts only the first 10 degrees of Sagittarius as Jupiter's Moolatrikona; after that he is in his own sign. Bhrigu Sutras draws the line at 5 degrees.

When is the next Sade Sati for Dhanu Rashi?

In this engine it begins when Saturn enters Scorpio on 12 December 2043 and ends when Saturn leaves Capricorn on 25 February 2052. The previous one ran from November 2014 to January 2023. On 5 October 2026 Saturn is in Pisces, which the app reports as Ardha Ashtama Sani.

Is a Sagittarius Moon compatible with a particular sign?

None of the source texts behind this app gives sign-to-sign verdicts, so this page gives none. Matching in the Indian tradition scores eight kootas from both Moons' signs and nakshatras; the Kundli Matching calculator and the Compatibility feature show each part of that score for two real birth dates.