Nakshatrapurusha

Nakshatrapurusha · nakshatra-purusha, “the Purusha formed of the nakshatras”

Aśvinī has other meanings too: see all meanings of Aśvinī. Hastā has other meanings too: see all meanings of Hastā. Kṛttikā has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kṛttikā. Mṛgaśira has other meanings too: see all meanings of Mṛgaśira. Punarvasu has other meanings too: see all meanings of Punarvasu. Pushya has other meanings too: see all meanings of Pushya. Revatī has other meanings too: see all meanings of Revatī. Rohiṇī has other meanings too: see all meanings of Rohiṇī. Śravaṇa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śravaṇa. Svātī has other meanings too: see all meanings of Svātī. Caitra has other meanings too: see all meanings of Caitra.

Nakshatrapurusha is Bhagavān Vishṇu in the form of the nakshatras. Each nakshatra is a limb of his form, from the feet to the hair, and the devotee does pūjā of those limbs one by one. Whoever longs for excellent form, aiśvarya and children does pūjā of Bhagavān Vishṇu as Nakshatrapurusha.

Yudhishṭhira asks Śrī Kṛshṇa by what deed men and women gain excellent form, beautiful in every limb. Śrī Kṛshṇa answers with what Vasishṭha Maharshi told Arundhatī when she asked the same thing. Without ārādhanā and pūjā of Bhagavān Vishṇu, Vasishṭha said, excellent form cannot be gained.

The nakshatras and the limbs

Beginning from Caitra, purified by bathing and fasting, the devotee makes an image of Bhagavān Vishṇu as Nakshatrapurusha and does pūjā of its limbs from foot to head, in this order:

The text also names Anurādhā in the list, after Revatī, and gives the neck to a nakshatra whose name is damaged in this copy, after Āśleshā.

The vrata

On the day of fasting no oil is applied to the body. On each nakshatra the devotee does pūjā also of the devatā of that nakshatra and of Candra, king of the nakshatras, and feeds a learned brāhmaṇa. If aśauca or the like falls during the vrata, the fast and pūjā are done on another nakshatra.

The vrata is complete in the month of Māgha, and then the udyāpana is done. As means allow, the devotee makes a gold Nakshatrapurusha, adorns it and sets it on an excellent bed. A brāhmaṇa couple is seated on the bed and honoured with cloth, ornaments and the like. They are given the image with saptadhānya (seven grains), a cow with her calf, an umbrella, sandals, a vessel of ghee and dakshiṇā.

The phala

One who keeps it with faith gains form beautiful in every limb, a clear mind, health, excellent children, sweet speech, unbroken aiśvarya birth after birth, and the ending of all pāpas. Śrī Kṛshṇa says that those who do pūjā of Bhagavān Vishṇu in the form of the nakshatras by this vidhi surely gain excellent form.

The Śaiva vrata of the same name

Yudhishṭhira then asks for the devotees of Bhagavān Śiva, and Śrī Kṛshṇa teaches a Śaiva Nakshatrapurusha vrata. From the day of Hasta in the śukla paksha of Phālguna, on twenty-seven nakshatras, the devotee does pūjā at night of the limbs of Bhagavān Śiva from feet to head, with his twenty-seven names. He eats at night food free of oil and kshāra, and on each nakshatra gives a brāhmaṇa a ser of śāli rice and a vessel of ghee. At the pāraṇā he satisfies brāhmaṇas, and gives a brāhmaṇa a gold image of Bhagavān Śiva and Devī Pārvatī on an excellent bed, with a kapilā cow and other gifts. The vrata is for those of peaceful nature and bhakti to Bhagavān Śiva. By it even mahāpātakas are ended; a woman who completes it with her husband’s leave never suffers separation from what is dear; and the pitṛs of whoever reads or hears its glory are lifted out of naraka.

Afterwards Yudhishṭhira asks how the vrata is counted as done when a person takes it up and cannot perform it, and Śrī Kṛshṇa teaches the prāyaścitta for a broken vrata.

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 108–111