Meaning
Vrishabha is the bull, "of the shape of a bull" in Iyer's note to the Brihat Jataka, which also gives it the name Tavuri, one of those Iyer notes as Greek.
It is a fixed sign, even and feminine in the text's scheme, and its triangle with Kanya and Makara faces south. It is a night sign that rises by its feet. Shukra rules it, and the Moon is exalted in it at the 3rd degree, and the Brihat Jataka makes Vrishabha the Moon's moolatrikona as well; no graha is debilitated here.
Our chart's text for a Vrishabha lagna describes a steady, patient and appreciative disposition, drawn to art, comfort and graceful living, whose endurance serves best when it can also change course.
Its stars include Rohini, Aldebaran, the Moon's favourite in the old story, which lies wholly inside it.
In the chart
Vrishabha is the second rashi, 30° to 60° of the sidereal zodiac, and it holds the last three padas of Krittika, Rohini and the first two padas of Mrigashira. In the whole-sign houses of the chart, the rashi of the lagna is the first bhava and each rashi after it the next, so Vrishabha is the first bhava for a Vrishabha lagna, the seventh for a Vrishchika lagna, and so on round the twelve.
Its navamsas begin with Makara: the nine parts of 3°20′ run Makara, Kumbha, Meena, Mesha, Vrishabha, Mithuna, Karka, Simha and Kanya, as the Brihat Jataka's rule gives them, the movable rashis starting from themselves, the fixed from the ninth and the dual from the fifth. In 2026 the rashi covers about 24°13′ Taurus to 24°13′ Gemini of the tropical zodiac, by the Lahiri measure, so a planet in tropical Taurus is often in Mesha here; another ayanamsa would move the edges by up to about 2.5°.
Correspondences
Each item with how it stands: “sourced” is in the work cited, “our construction” is EsoTerrier’s own, and “disputed” means the sources disagree.
- Shape (Brihat Jataka I.5, Iyer 1885)
- "of the shape of a bull", in Iyer's note to the stanza sourced
- Other name (I.8)
- Tavuri, one of the names Iyer notes as Greek sourced
- Direction of its triangle (I.11)
- south sourced
- Day or night (I.10)
- a night sign, powerful by night; rises by its feet sourced
- Exalted here (I.13)
- Chandra, at 3° sourced
- Debilitated here (I.13)
- no graha sourced
- Themes in our chart's text, our words
- a steady, patient and appreciative disposition, with the bull's endurance our construction
How the schools read it
- The Brihat Jataka (Varahamihira, 6th century; Iyer 1885)
- Shaped like a bull; called Tavuri; fixed, even and feminine; its triangle faces south; a night sign rising by its feet; lord Venus; the Moon exalted at 3°.
- Modern Jyotisha
- A fixed earth rashi ruled by Shukra, its element and quality grouped as in the Western triplicities.
- Western tropical astrology
- Taurus, the same twelfth of the circle counted from the March equinox, about 24° ahead in 2026.
- Other ayanamsas
- Raman's about 1.5° smaller than Lahiri's, Krishnamurti's about 5′ smaller, Fagan-Bradley's about 53′ larger: a placement near an edge can change rashi.
- The chart forms
- South Indian: Vrishabha has its own fixed box; North Indian: the boxes are the bhavas and the rashi's number, 2, moves with the lagna.
- EsoTerrier
- Our chart's text for a Vrishabha lagna: "Vrishabha lagna, a fixed earth rashi ruled by Shukra, gives a steady, patient and appreciative disposition. With Shukra as lagnesha, art, comfort and graceful living often matter, and the bull's endurance serves best when balanced with a willingness to change course." Our words.
Claims about it
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The sidereal rashi shows the sky as it really is: it is the constellation of that name.
falseWhat the record shows: Both zodiacs measure the same positions from different starting points. A rashi is an equal 30° division counted from a point set by the ayanamsa, not the constellation of the same name.
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The Lahiri ayanamsa is accepted everywhere.
falseWhat the record shows: Lahiri is India's national standard and by far the most used, but the KP school, B. V. Raman's followers and Western siderealists use other values, up to about 2.5° apart; a placement near a rashi's edge can change rashi between them.
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The sidereal signs sit about 24° behind the tropical ones whichever ayanamsa is used.
disputedWhat the record shows: True for Lahiri (about 24°13′ in 2026) and close for Krishnamurti; Raman's is about 1.5° less and Fagan-Bradley's about 0°53′ more.
