Śravaṇa (Nakshatra)
Śravaṇa, “hearing, the ear”
Grammar: masculine and neuter noun, from the root śru (to hear): “hearing, the ear”.
Meaning: one of the twenty-seven nakshatras (the lunar mansions), lying in the rāśi Makara.
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 knees of Parameśvara are Makara, the house of Śani, made of the second, third and fourth caraṇas of Uttarāshāḍhā, Śravaṇa and two caraṇas of Dhanishṭhā (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5).
In their teaching on conduct to the rākshasa king Sukeśī, the ṛshis give rules by nakshatra: there is no abhyañjana (oil-bath) on Citrā, Hasta and Śravaṇa (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 14).
In the Nakshatra Purusha vrata, the twenty-seven nakshatras are the limbs of Śrī Hari, the nakshatra-purusha form of Śrīman Nārāyaṇa, and Śravaṇa is his two ears. The vrata begins with Mūla on Caitra śukla ashṭamī; its fifteenth step is Śravaṇa. On the day the moon is joined with Śravaṇa, one worships the ears of the Svāmī and offers curd rice as the dohada (the special offering that fulfils the longing) (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 54).
The Vāmana Purāṇa uses the word in these places as well:
- A preta-leader tells the merchant Sudharma of the great fruit of the Śravaṇa Dvādaśī vrata: if he keeps the dvādaśī of Bhādrapada śukla joined with Budha and the Śravaṇa nakshatra, endless happiness will come to him. Sudharma keeps the vrata through his births and is born at last as Purūravas (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 53).
Related terms: Nakshatra · Makara · Uttarāshāḍhā · Dhanishṭhā · Śrāvaṇa · Dohada
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 5, 14, 53, 54