Vṛshabha (Rāśi)
Vṛshabha, “the bull”
Grammar: masculine noun, from the root vṛsh (to rain, to be strong): “the strong one”, the bull.
Meaning: the bull; and the second of the twelve rāśis (the signs through which the Sun and the planets move), the kshetra of Śukra, named for its form as a bull.
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 face of Kālarūpī is Vṛshabha, the kshetra of Śukra, made of the remaining three pādas (quarters) of Kṛttikā, Rohiṇī and two pādas of Mṛgaśira (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5).
Nārada then asks the form and marks of the twelve rāśis, and Pulastya Maharshi tells each in turn. Vṛshabha has the shape of a bull, and cowsheds and farmland lie under its movement and influence. Pulastya Maharshi closes by saying that what he has told of the rāśis is very secret and ancient, not to be told to anyone (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5).
In the dvādaśa-patraka yoga, the yoga of the twelve leaves that Brahmā (Pitāmaha) teaches Sanatkumāra, each leaf has a syllable, a place on the body, a rāśi and a month. The second leaf is the syllable na on the face, with the Vṛshabha rāśi and the month Jyeshṭha. The twelve leaves make the cakra of Keśava Vāsudeva, the Paramātmā, and for those who know it there is no more death (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 35).
In its plain sense, the bull, the word names the divine vāhana of Bhagavān Śiva:
- Brahmā and Vishṇu praise the liṅga as Vṛshabhadhvaja, “he whose banner is the bull” (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 6), and the Kālāshṭamī vrata promises its fruit to one who worships Vṛshabhaketana, “he whose banner bears the bull” (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 17).
- When the devas went with Janārdana and Indra to Mount Mandara, they saw neither Śiva and Pārvatī, nor Nandīśvara, nor the bull (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 36).
- Showing his form that was half Vishṇu and half Śiva, Bhagavān Śiva appeared at one time holding the Garuḍa banner and seated on the bull, and at another holding the bull banner and riding a bird. Some of the Mahāpāśupata gaṇas came to him with bull banners. White Mandara, ringed by the gaṇas dark as blue-black clouds, shone like Hara’s white king of bulls covered with a black hide (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 41).
- Setting out against Andhaka, Bhagavān Śiva mounted the bull and went forth, his śūla in hand, amid the pramathas’ cries of “Jaya! Jaya!” (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 42).
Related terms: Rāśi · Kālarūpī · Kṛttikā · Rohiṇī · Mṛgaśira · Vṛshabhadhvaja
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 5, 6, 17, 35, 36, 41, 42