Anurādhā (Nakshatra)
Anurādhā · anu-rādhā, “the one that follows Rādhā”
Grammar: feminine noun; anu (after, following) and rādhā (the name of the nakshatra before it): “the one that follows Rādhā”.
Meaning: one of the twenty-seven nakshatras (the lunar mansions), lying in the rāśi Vṛścika.
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 private part of Kālarūpī is Vṛścika, the second house of Kuja, made of the fourth pāda of Viśākhā, Anurādhā and Jyeshṭhā (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. In the list of the limbs, Anurādhā is on the chest (vakshasthala). In the rite, on the day the moon is joined with Anurādhā, one worships the jaṭhara (stomach) of Śrī Hari and offers puffed rice as the dohada, the special offering that fulfils the longing (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 54).
In the account of Bhagavān Vāmana’s virāṭ form, made of all the devas, the list of its parts names Anurādhā as the door of svarga (Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 10).
Related terms: Nakshatra · Viśākhā · Jyeshṭhā · Vṛścika · Kālarūpī · Dohada
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 5, 54
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 10