Karka, the Crab, spans 90° to 120° of the sidereal zodiac and belongs to the jala (water) tattva with a cardinal (cara) quality — the movable water that flows, shifts, and responds to its container with total sensitivity. It is a female (strī) sign, classified by Parāśara as a brāhmaṇa rāśi, rising from the back (pṛṣṭhodaya), and profoundly associated with the watery, reflective, nurturing dimensions of existence. As the sign of Guru’s (Jupiter’s) exaltation at 5°, Karka is considered a seat of wisdom and expansive benevolence — the inner guru arising from deep emotional intelligence rather than mere intellectual learning.
Candra (Moon) is the rāśi’s lord, making this the sign most directly reflective of the lunar principle in the horoscope. The Moon in its own sign in Karka is deeply at home — nurturing, protective, emotionally perceptive, and oriented toward family, home, and the sustaining of relationships across time. Planets placed in Karka absorb a strongly instinctual, empathic quality; they tend to operate through feeling, memory, and an almost psychic sensitivity to the emotional environment. The challenge of this placement is the difficulty of maintaining boundaries when one’s nature is essentially porous and receptive.
The nakṣatras spanning Karka are the last pāda of Punarvasu (0°–3°20’), Puṣya (3°20’–16°40’), and Āśleṣā (16°40’–30°). Puṣya — presided over by Bṛhaspati (Jupiter) and ruled by Saturn — occupies the central degrees and is considered among the most auspicious of all nakṣatras for undertakings of spiritual significance. Āśleṣā, whose serpentine symbolism and Mercurian rulership introduces a coiling, investigative energy into the later degrees of Karka, suggests depths beneath the surface that are not immediately apparent.
Mars reaches its debilitation in Karka at 28°, and this combination reveals the essential incompatibility between the aggressive, individualistic Martian drive and the empathic, family-centered Cancerian field. Mars here is like a warrior asked to nurture — the courage remains, but it is confused about its target and may turn inward as anxiety or outward as disproportionate emotional reactivity. In contrast, Jupiter’s exaltation here attests that wisdom flourishes when it is rooted in compassion and nourishment rather than mere doctrine.
In Praśna Jyotiṣa, Karka lagna is often associated with questions about home, mother, property, emotional security, family matters, and the distant past. The condition of the Moon in such a chart is paramount — an exalted or well-placed Moon brings clarity and favorable resolution; a debilitated or afflicted Moon suggests emotional turbulence, unclear perception, or entanglement with the past. For Muhūrta, Karka is chosen for initiating matters related to domestic life, agricultural work, water-related activities, and the establishment of family structures, but is generally avoided for bold new ventures requiring sustained fire and aggression.