Mūla occupies the first portion of Dhanus (Sagittarius), from 0°00’ to 13°20’. Astronomically, this nakṣatra points toward the Galactic Center — the actual gravitational center of our galaxy — making it uniquely connected to what is most fundamental, most root-level, most beyond the comprehension of the ordinary mind. Governed by Ketu and presided over by Nirṛti (sometimes identified with Alakṣmī, the goddess of poverty, dissolution, and the removal of what is excessive or corrupt), Mūla is simultaneously the most destabilizing and most foundationally important nakṣatra.
The name “mūla” means “root” — both in the botanical sense (the root that anchors and nourishes) and in the sense of returning to first principles, stripping away accretion to find what is essential. The bunch of roots tied together suggests the complexity of what lies beneath the surface: the root system, invisible above ground, is where the real work happens. Mūla natives are drawn to questions of ultimate causation — “why does this exist at all?” — and to the dismantling of structures that have lost their foundational integrity.
Nirṛti’s presence as presiding deity is significant and worth understanding carefully. She is not evil in the Western sense; she is the principle of dissolution that operates when accumulated error or excess makes continuation impossible. Where Lakṣmī brings prosperity, Nirṛti removes what prosperity can no longer sustain. Mūla natives often find themselves as agents of necessary endings — the researcher who dismantles a flawed paradigm, the therapist who leads the patient through dissolution of dysfunctional patterns, the revolutionary who tears down a corrupt institution to make space for something genuinely new.
Parāśara notes that Mūla natives are firm, proud, rich, happy, not tormented by ill-health, devoted to their goals, and capable of great wealth — but also warns of the nakṣatra’s association with misfortune if Ketu’s energy is expressed in its least conscious form (unconscious destruction, acting from unexamined compulsion). The classical literature repeatedly notes that Mūla’s energy must be consciously engaged: the root is necessary, but it must be tended. Ketu’s detachment combined with Sagittarius’s philosophical breadth creates an individual capable of remarkable clarity about fundamental truths — but this clarity must serve some constructive purpose or it becomes merely nihilistic.
Mūla is classified as a tikṣṇa (fierce) and ugra (harsh) nakṣatra — appropriate for investigation, research into hidden causation, surgical interventions, and situations requiring radical clearing. Varāhamihira notes that those born under Mūla are “proud, wealthy, happy, not tormented by illness, and engaged in important activities.”