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

Taurus, Vrishabha in Sanskrit, is the second of the twelve rashis: the sidereal zodiac from 30 to 60 degrees. BPHS gives the sign a single sloka - fixed, earthy, female, ruled by Venus, the face of Time personified - and spends far more words on what each graha does there. The Moon is exalted in its first three degrees and holds its Moolatrikona in the rest, Venus owns the whole sign, and no graha is debilitated in it.

This page sets out what the texts say, with chapter and sloka; what lies inside the sign degree by degree; how this app's engine treats each graha in it; how Taurus behaves as a rising sign; and when its periods and transits run. It is a reference for rules, not a portrait of "Taurus people". To see whether your Moon is in Taurus, use the Moon Sign calculator.

Three different things are called "Taurus"

BPHS Ch. 3 Sloka 4-6 divides one circle twice, into 27 nakshatras and into 12 rashis, and names the rashi rising in the east the Lagna. A chart can therefore "be Taurus" in three independent ways. In Indian usage "my rashi is Vrishabha" means the first: the Moon was in Taurus at birth. Moon sign and nakshatra explains why.

The dates are sidereal. This app uses the Lahiri ayanamsa, 24.23 degrees on 5 October 2026 (see the Methodology page). In 2026 the engine puts the Sun in sidereal Taurus from 15 May, 06:02 IST, to 15 June, 12:36 IST; the tropical Taurus of Western columns ran, by the same Sun, from 20 April to 21 May. The two overlap for about six days, so someone born on 1 May with a Western Taurus Sun has a sidereal Sun in Aries, and the Sun Sign calculator will say so.

The Lagna runs on the fastest clock. Saravali Ch. 3 Sloka 37-38 lists Taurus among the signs of short ascension, with Pisces, Aries and Aquarius, and Daivajna Vallabha Ch. 10 Sloka 6 repeats the list. The engine half agrees: swept minute by minute at New Delhi, Taurus took 116 minutes to rise - short of Cancer (141), but longer than Pisces (85), Aquarius (88), Aries (95) and even Capricorn (102), which Saravali calls medium. On 15 May 2026 the window opened at 05:35 IST, five minutes after sunrise, and it moves about two hours earlier each month. Check a birth time against it with the Lagna calculator.

How the texts describe Vrishabha

BPHS Ch. 4 calls the twelve rashis the limbs of Time personified (Sloka 1-2) and describes Vrishabh in Sloka 8: white in complexion, lorded by Venus, long, a quadruped, strong at night, resident in the south, representing "villages and businessmen", earthy, and rising with its back. Saravali Ch. 3, "Rasi Description", covers the same ground.

The sources differ on one row: the body table in Advanced Predictive Astrology (Vol. II, p. 214), a modern book, gives Taurus the neck and throat. Two entries come with a rule for use. Saravali Ch. 3 Sloka 5-6 says a benefic in a sign makes its limb strong and a malefic makes it weak, and Sloka 25 says a rashi is strong when aspected by its own lord, by a planet friendly to its lord, or by Mercury or Jupiter.

Of all this the engine keeps four things: the names (Taurus, Vrishabha), the lord (Venus), the element (Earth) and the mobility (fixed). The element feeds the "dominant element" line among your Kundali quick insights. The mobility decides where the Navamsa count starts, which signs Taurus aspects, and which house is flagged as the badhaka for a Taurus Lagna. Colour, direction and humour are not used.

Inside the sign: three nakshatras, nine padas

Thirty degrees hold two and a quarter nakshatras: the last three padas of Krittika, all of Rohini and the first two padas of Mrigashira. Each pada is 3 degrees 20 minutes wide, which is also the width of a Navamsa, and BPHS Ch. 6 Sloka 12 starts the Navamsa count of a fixed sign from the ninth sign from it: for Taurus, Capricorn. So the Moon's degree fixes three things at once: its nakshatra and pada, its Navamsa sign, and the lord of the first Vimshottari Mahadasha.

Saravali Ch. 3 Sloka 13 names the fifth Navamsa of a fixed sign Vargottama; the engine marks any graha or Lagna between 13 degrees 20 minutes and 16 degrees 40 minutes of Taurus that way. The Navamsa (D9) calculator shows the flag and Navamsa, the second chart explains it. One detail is easy to get wrong: the Moon's deepest exaltation, 3 degrees, lies in Krittika pada 2. Rohini does not begin until 10 degrees.

The other divisions of Taurus

• Hora (BPHS Ch. 6 Sl. 5-6): Taurus is an even sign, so its first 15 degrees are the Moon's Hora and the last 15 the Sun's. See the Hora (D2) calculator.
• Drekkana (Ch. 6 Sl. 7-8; Saravali Ch. 3 Sl. 14): 0 to 10 degrees falls in Taurus, 10 to 20 in Virgo, 20 to 30 in Capricorn. See the Drekkana (D3) calculator. BPHS Ch. 47 Sl. 3-4 adds that a graha in the first Drekkana shows its Dasha results early in the period, in the second mid-period and in the third late.
• Trimshamsa (Ch. 6 Sl. 27-28): the odd-sign order reversed, so 0 to 5 degrees Venus, 5 to 12 Mercury, 12 to 20 Jupiter, 20 to 25 Saturn, 25 to 30 Mars. See the Trimshamsa (D30) calculator.

The two edges of the sign

Neither edge of Taurus is a nakshatra boundary. When the Moon enters Taurus - at 21:08 IST on 27 October 2026, by this engine - Krittika and the opening Mahadasha lord, the Sun, stay the same, while the sign lord changes from Mars to Venus and the Moon's dignity label jumps from Neutral to Exalted. When it leaves for Gemini at 22:08 IST on 29 October, Mrigashira and Mars carry on across the line. On that 27 October the Moon is in Aries at 00:00 IST and in Taurus at 23:59; given no time, the Moon Sign calculator reports both ends rather than guessing. See what a missing birth time does.

Dignity: the Moon's exaltation, Venus's own house

BPHS Ch. 3 Sloka 49-50 exalts the Moon in Vrishabh, deepest at 3 degrees, and Sloka 51-54 adds that "after the first 3 degrees of exaltation portion" the rest of the sign is her Moolatrikona. Saravali (Ch. 3 Sloka 34-36, Ch. 5 Sloka 21-24) and Bhrigu Sutras (p. 7) say the same. Venus owns the sign, and Bhrigu Sutras (p. 11) notes that "the whole of Taurus is also his Swakshetra". Since each graha falls in the seventh sign from its exaltation, none is debilitated here.

BPHS grades these more finely than the engine does. Ch. 3 Sloka 59-60 gives a graha its full good effects in exaltation, three quarters in Moolatrikona, half in its own house, a quarter in a friendly sign, an eighth in a neutral one and none in debilitation or an enemy's sign. By that sloka a Moon at 2 degrees of Taurus outranks a Moon at 20; the engine scores both 10, and gives an enemy sign the same zero as a fall. Its finer measure is the planetary-rays figure, after Saravali Ch. 36 Sloka 3-6: a Moon at 3 degrees of Taurus scores 7.00 of 7, at 15 degrees 6.53, at the end of the sign 5.95. The Shad Bala calculator shows the positional score with the other five components.

The friend and enemy labels are conditional. BPHS Ch. 3 Sloka 56-58 adds a temporary friendship - grahas in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th from each other are friends - and the engine applies it when given the chart. With Venus in one of those six signs from Taurus, a Sun or Jupiter in Taurus came out Neutral and Mars Friendly; otherwise all three read Enemy sign and Mercury and Saturn drop to Neutral.

Each graha in Taurus, as Saravali reads it

Saravali Ch. 22 to 29 give one passage for each graha in each sign, then six lines for how another graha's aspect changes it; for Taurus those are shared with Libra, as "a House of Venus". The table paraphrases them; their sexual verdicts and most disease lines are left out.

Two patterns stand out. Venus's aspect is favourable in all six lines it appears in, which is Saravali's own rule about a sign aspected by its lord. And the sign line is not the dignity label: Jupiter, in what the engine calls an enemy sign, gets one of the best passages, while Saturn, in a friendly sign, gets one of the poorest. Each graha has its own page: the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn.

The exalted Moon: where the texts part

Saravali Ch. 30 Sloka 14 singles out three signs for a Moon in the ascendant - Cancer, Taurus and Aries - as liberal, attractive, rich and enjoying. Bhrigu Sutras (p. 32) gives the same three, but its commentator is "not sure" about Taurus: there the exalted Moon sits in the 1st as lord of the 3rd, and he quotes Bhavartha Ratnakar that it "is not particularly good for giving wealth". BPHS Ch. 34 goes further and counts the Moon a malefic for this Lagna. This app's line for an exalted Moon in the 1st keeps the favourable reading; the Moon in the 1st house follows the disagreement through. Its temperament line for any Moon in Taurus, from its own curated table, is "steady and influential, patient and loyal once trust is built".

The engine scores no dignity for Rahu and Ketu, but BPHS Ch. 47 Sloka 34-39 calls Vrishabh the exaltation rashi of Rahu, and Bhrigu Sutras (p. 13) reports the same from Uttara Kalamrita, with Ketu the reverse. Saravali Ch. 12 Sloka 10-11 says Rahu in an ascendant of Aries, Taurus or Cancer protects the native from evils.

Taurus rising: Vrishabha Lagna

Saravali Ch. 48 Sloka 7-9 describes a birth with Taurus rising: brave, able to endure hardship, industrious, fortunate, liberal, with "the tendency of gathering wealth right from boyhood" - but also many expenses and a very short temper. With whole-sign houses, which this app uses, Taurus rising fixes the lord of every house, and BPHS Ch. 34 Sloka 23-24 says what that does to each graha.

The sloka ends by saying that Jupiter, the Moon, Venus and Mars "will inflict death". That is the maraka label of a longevity calculation this app does not run: it computes no death timing, and its panel leaves the killer list empty for Taurus. The house itself is covered in the 1st house, Tanu Bhava.

Saturn: one graha, both houses of the yoga

For this Lagna one graha owns the 9th and the 10th, a trine and an angle, and BPHS puts the result in four words: Saturn "will cause Raj Yog". Advanced Predictive Astrology (Vol. II, p. 41) reads a chart on that basis: Saturn is the Yogakaraka, so its placement in the 5th "is not detrimental". The commentator of Bhrigu Sutras expects good finances from it in the 2nd (p. 100) and "extremely favourable results" in its own sign in the 10th (p. 106). See Saturn in the 9th house and Saturn in the 10th house.

The engine carries this in three places. The Yoga Karaka panel names Saturn. Its Dharma-Karmadhipati rule asks whether the lords of the 9th and 10th share an angle or a trine; here they are one graha, so the yoga is listed whenever Saturn is in the 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th or 10th house - six of its twelve possible signs - and the row names Saturn twice. And for a fixed Lagna the engine treats the 9th as the badhaka house, so a Saturn in Capricorn is credited as "trikona house" and flagged "badhaka house (sensitive to affliction)" in the same line. The Yogas calculator lists the row; What a yoga in your chart means explains how to weigh it.

Venus, Jupiter and Mercury: the sources disagree

Venus rules the Lagna and the 6th, and BPHS lists it with the malefics. Bhrigu Sutras disagrees in practice: its sutra on Venus in the 1st promises a "Maharaja yoga" in its own sign, and the commentator (p. 87) argues that the own-sign effect prevails over a 6th lordship and names the result Malavya Yoga. The engine holds both views at once: the panel lists Venus as a malefic, and a Venus in Taurus in the 1st is listed as Malavya Yoga. Venus in the 1st house covers the placement.

Jupiter rules the 8th and 11th. BPHS calls it a malefic and Advanced Predictive Astrology (Vol. II, p. 137) "a first rate malefic", with Saturn and Mercury as the benefics - and then presents a Taurus-rising case in which the malefic's period made a man rich and the benefics' periods ruined him. Mercury, lord of the 2nd and 5th, is "somewhat inauspicious" in BPHS, a benefic in the modern book, and "very beneficial" in Bhrigu Sutras when in its own sign in the 2nd (p. 63).

Which Mahapurusha Yogas can form

BPHS Ch. 75 Sloka 1-2 forms a Panchamahapurusha Yoga when Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus or Saturn is in its own or exaltation sign in an angle. The angles of a Taurus Lagna are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. None is an exaltation sign of those five and none belongs to Mercury or Jupiter, so only three yogas are possible, each by own sign: Venus in Taurus (Malavya), Mars in Scorpio (Ruchaka) and Saturn in Aquarius (Sasa). Saravali Ch. 35 Sloka 11 builds a royal combination on the same angles - Taurus rising with a full Moon while Saturn, the Sun and Jupiter hold Aquarius, Leo and Scorpio - which this app does not detect.

Taurus among the signs: aspects, questions and matching

BPHS Ch. 8 Sloka 1-3 gives the signs aspects of their own: every fixed rashi aspects the three movable ones, barring the one next to it, and a graha in a sign aspects as the sign does. Taurus therefore aspects Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, and each aspects Taurus back. The engine publishes this rashi drishti in your Kundali as a separate table; for a Taurus Lagna, any graha in Taurus aspects the 3rd, 6th and 9th houses by sign.

In a prashna, a chart cast for the moment of a question, the fixity of the rising sign is read directly. Daivajna Vallabha Ch. 3 Sloka 5 says that if the query ascendant falls in Taurus, Leo, Scorpio or Aquarius the person "gains some position (status) or post"; Ch. 4 Sloka 1 that with a fixed ascendant "there is no coming and going"; and Sloka 3 that a fixed ascendant holding Jupiter, Mercury, Venus or the Sun means the traveller breaks the journey and returns. The Prashna feature applies all three, so a question asked while Taurus rises gets credit on status and a count against travel.

A Taurus Moon in Kundli matching

None of the books in this app's library contains the Ashtakoot tables; the engine's header names the published references it follows for Bhakoot, Gana and Graha Maitri (since October 2026). What follows is how the engine scores. For a Taurus Moon, Graha Maitri - the friendship between the lords of the two Moon signs, worth 5 - came out full with Taurus, Gemini, Virgo, Libra, Capricorn and Aquarius, 3 with Aries and Scorpio, 1 with Cancer, Sagittarius and Pisces, and 0 with Leo. Bhakoot, the distance between the signs, worth 7, came out zero with Aries, Gemini, Virgo, Libra, Sagittarius and Capricorn and full with the rest. So Gemini, Virgo, Libra and Capricorn score full on one and nothing on the other. The Kundli Matching calculator runs all eight, and the Compatibility feature shows what else is compared.

A worked chart: Moon and Venus rising in Taurus

This is an illustrative birth, not a real person, computed in this app's engine: 17 April 1991, 08:00 IST, New Delhi (28.6139 N, 77.2090 E). Taurus rises at 9.72 degrees, with the Moon and Venus in it.

The Moon is 0.71 of a degree past its deepest exaltation: Moolatrikona by BPHS, Exalted by the engine's label, and 6.97 of 7 rays. It is in Krittika pada 3, so its Navamsa is Aquarius and life opens in the Sun Mahadasha. The yoga list carries Malavya Yoga - "Venus is in its own sign, Taurus, in your 1st house (a kendra)" - and the Dharma-Karmadhipati row that Saturn forms alone. Saturn's strength reasons read "its own sign in Capricorn, trikona house (9th), badhaka house (sensitive to affliction)". Mars in the 2nd makes the Mangal Dosha row present, graded Mild.

The three exalted grahas get three different verdicts. The Sun is the strongest graha in the chart by Shad Bala and sits in the 12th, so the engine grades its Mahadasha challenging. Jupiter, exalted in the 3rd, is graded good, although BPHS calls it a malefic for this Lagna. Only the Moon is exalted, in an angle and graded good. The periods add a fourth test: the Mahadasha of Saturn, the Yoga Karaka, runs from 2045 to 2064, and that of Venus - Lagna lord, in its own sign, forming Malavya Yoga - does not begin until 2088. A strong placement and a period in which it speaks are separate facts.

Timing: dashas and transits through Taurus

Dashas

A Moon in Taurus opens life in the Mahadasha of the Sun, the Moon or Mars, by the nakshatra table above; the Vimshottari Dasha calculator dates the whole sequence and what a Mahadasha is explains the arithmetic. For a graha sitting in Taurus, BPHS Ch. 47 Sloka 5-6 gives the general test: a Dasha is favourable when its lord is in the Lagna, in exaltation or in its own or a friendly sign, and unfavourable in the 6th, 8th or 12th, in debilitation or in an enemy's sign.

• The Moon: Ch. 47 Sloka 16-22 promise opulence and gain of wealth in the Dasha of a Moon in her exaltation, and Sloka 23-26 withdraw much of it from a waning Moon. See the Moon Mahadasha.
• Venus: Sloka 79-82 read a Venus in its own rashi as clothes, ornaments, conveyances, cattle, land and recognition. See the Venus Mahadasha.
• The Sun and Jupiter: BPHS Ch. 50 Sloka 29-32 says the Dasha of a graha in an inimical rashi "will be full of adversities", and names Vrishabh first among the Sun's. See the Sun Mahadasha.

The engine's three-level grade uses the chart-aware dignity: good for a Moon or Venus in Taurus unless it is in the 6th, 8th or 12th house; neutral for a Mercury or Saturn outside those houses; and, for the Sun, Jupiter or Mars, challenging when Venus's position makes Taurus an enemy sign for them. In the sign-based Chara Dasha, a Taurus Lagna runs its periods in reverse order - Taurus, Aries, Pisces - because the sign in its 9th house, Capricorn, is even-footed (BPHS Ch. 46 Sloka 167).

Transits

Sade Sati for a Taurus Moon

The engine calls Sade Sati active while Saturn transits the 12th, 1st or 2nd sign from the natal Moon: for a Taurus Moon, Aries, Taurus and Gemini. On 5 October 2026 Saturn is at 17.09 degrees of Pisces, the 11th from Taurus, so Sade Sati is not active and the Gochar calculator grades that transit favourable. By the engine's astronomy the rising phase begins when Saturn enters Aries on 2 June 2027 and lapses from 21 October 2027 to 22 February 2028 while Saturn steps back into Pisces. The peak phase, Saturn in Taurus itself, covers 16 August to 7 October 2029 and 16 April 2030 to 30 May 2032, and the setting phase ends when Saturn leaves Gemini on 13 July 2034. The app describes the period as "traditionally read as a time to consolidate rather than expand, not as an omen". Advanced Predictive Astrology (Vol. II, p. 312) reports "a school of thought in North India" that holds only the first two and a half years adverse for a Taurus Moon; the engine does not apply that. The Sade Sati calculator gives your phase; see also the Timing feature.

Common misreadings

• "I am a Taurus" from a Western column is not Vrishabha Rashi. The first is the tropical Sun; the second is the sidereal Moon, and the two zodiacs stand 24 degrees apart.
• The Moon is not equally exalted across the sign. BPHS stops the exaltation at 3 degrees and calls the rest Moolatrikona; the engine's single label hides the step.
• Venus owning the sign does not make Venus a benefic for Taurus rising. BPHS Ch. 34 lists it with the malefics; Bhrigu Sutras argues the other way.
• A Dharma-Karmadhipati row on a Taurus-rising chart is not rare. Saturn forms it alone in six of its twelve signs.
• An exalted graha does not guarantee a good period. In the worked chart the exalted Sun, in the 12th, is graded challenging.

How to check this in your own chart

1. 1.Run the Moon Sign calculator with your birth date, adding the time if the Moon changed sign that day; the Nakshatra calculator gives the pada.
2. 2.Run the Lagna calculator with your birth time and place to see whether Taurus was rising.
3. 3.Open the Birth Chart calculator to see which grahas are in Taurus and in which house. The books behind these rules are on the Sources page.

Is Vrishabha Rashi the same as being a Taurus in Western astrology?

No. Vrishabha Rashi means the Moon was in sidereal Taurus at birth, which happens for about 55 hours in every 27.3 days. A Western Taurus is a tropical Sun sign, 20 April to 21 May in 2026; the sidereal Sun is in Taurus from 15 May to 15 June.

Is the Moon exalted everywhere in Taurus?

BPHS Ch. 3 Sloka 49-54 exalts it in the first 3 degrees and calls the remaining 27 its Moolatrikona. This app labels the Moon Exalted anywhere in the sign with the top positional score; its planetary-rays figure falls from 7.00 at 3 degrees to 5.95 at the end of the sign.

Who rules Taurus, and which planet is the Yoga Karaka for Taurus rising?

Venus rules the sign. For a Taurus Lagna, Saturn rules the 9th and 10th houses and BPHS Ch. 34 Sloka 23-24 says it "will cause Raj Yog".

Is any planet debilitated in Taurus?

None of the seven. The engine does label the Sun and Jupiter as in an enemy sign in Taurus, with the same positional score of zero as a fall, unless Venus's place in the chart makes it a temporary friend.

When is Sade Sati for a Taurus Moon?

While Saturn is in Aries, Taurus or Gemini. By this app's astronomy the next one begins on 2 June 2027 and ends on 13 July 2034, with a gap of about four months from October 2027 while Saturn is back in Pisces.

I was born on a day the Moon changed sign. Is my rashi Taurus?

It depends on the birth time. On 27 October 2026, for example, the Moon is in Aries until 21:08 IST and in Taurus after that. Without a time, the Moon Sign calculator shows the Moon at both ends of the date instead of choosing one.