Revatī (Nakshatra)
Revatī, “the wealthy one”
Grammar: feminine noun, from revat (wealthy, prosperous): “the wealthy one”.
Meaning: the twenty-seventh and last of the nakshatras (the lunar mansions), lying in the rāśi Mīna. This is the nakshatra, not Revatī the wife of Balarāma.
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 two feet of Maheśvara are Mīna, the second house of Bṛhaspati, made of the last pāda of Pūrvābhādrā, Uttarābhādrā and Revatī (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 Revatī dwells on his belly. In the rite, on the day the moon is joined with Revatī, one worships the two bellies of Śrī Hari, the upper and the lower, and offers laḍḍus of green gram as the dohada (the special offering that fulfils the longing) (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 54).
Related terms: Nakshatra · Mīna · Uttara Bhādrapadā · Aśvinī · Kālarūpī · Dohada
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 5, 54