Ārdrā (Nakshatra)
Ārdrā, “the moist one”
Grammar: feminine noun, from ārdra (moist, wet): “the moist one”.
Meaning: one of the twenty-seven nakshatras (the lunar mansions), lying in the rāśi Mithuna.
In the scriptures: when the devatā of Daksha‘s yajña fled into the sky in the form of a deer, Bhagavān Śiva pursued it as Kālarūpī, the form of Time, and occupied the sky. Pulastya Maharshi describes that body to Nārada limb by limb, each limb a rāśi with its nakshatras. The arms of Mahādeva are Mithuna, the kshetra of Budha, made of the third and fourth pādas of Mṛgaśira, Ārdrā and the first three pādas of Punarvasu (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5).
In the Nakshatra Purusha vrata, the twenty-seven nakshatras are the limbs of Śrī Hari, the nakshatra-purusha form of Śrīman Nārāyaṇa, and Ārdrā dwells as his hair. In the rite, on the day the moon is joined with Ārdrā, the learned one worships the mass of Śrī Hari’s hair (keśajāla), offers as the dohada (the special offering that fulfils the longing) kuḍumulu, steamed cakes made with ginger and jaggery, and feeds the best of brāhmaṇas. It is the last step of the vrata as the text gives it (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 54).
Related terms: Nakshatra · Mithuna · Mṛgaśira · Punarvasu · Kālarūpī · Dohada
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 5, 54