Aśvinī (Nakshatra)
Aśvinī, “she who belongs to the horses”
Grammar: feminine noun, from aśva (horse): “she who belongs to the horses”.
Meaning: one of the twenty-seven nakshatras (the lunar mansions), lying in the rāśi Mesha.
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 head of Kāleśvara is Mesha, the kshetra of Kuja, made of Aśvinī, Bharaṇī and the first pāda of Kṛttikā (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 the Aśvinīs take form as his knees. The vrata begins with Mūla on Caitra śukla ashṭamī; its second step is Aśvinī. On the day the moon is joined with Aśvinī, one worships the knees of Śrī Hari with bhakti, offers havishyānna (food fit for offering) as the dohada (the special offering that fulfils the longing), and feeds brāhmaṇas as before (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 54).
Related terms: Nakshatra · Mesha · Bharaṇī · Kṛttikā · Kālarūpī · Dohada
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 5, 54