Vrishabha

Vrishabha, the bull, is the second sign. It spans the 30 degrees after Mesha and contains the last three quarters of the nakshatra Krittika, all of Rohini, and the first two quarters of Mrigashira. Iyer's note on the Brihat Jataka, Varahamihira's book on horoscopes, observes that the second quarter of Krittika is where Taurus begins. The book matches the sign to the face of the Kalapurusha, the zodiac drawn as a body, and, for a four-footed animal, to the face and neck.

Venus is the lord of Vrishabha. The Moon is exalted here at the third degree, and Taurus is the sign the book lists as the Moon's mulatrikona, one of its strong placements. Iyer reads the sign as female, benefic, fixed and southern; it counts as a night sign that rises feet first, and its color is white. The first of its nine navamsas, the ninth parts of 3 degrees 20 minutes, belongs to Capricorn, and the Greek-derived name the book offers is Tavuri.

The Moon-in-signs chapter of the Brihat Jataka describes Taurus with a fine appearance, a beautiful gait, a large face, generosity and a patient nature, among other items. Iyer's 1905 note on the same entry says the happiness it promises for middle and old age implies a harder youth. That is the text's own list, set down in Iyer's English. For the calculator, Vrishabha is the sidereal band from 30 to 60 degrees, so its start falls late in the Western Taurus.