Dhanus (Rāśi)
Dhanus, “the bow”
Grammar: neuter noun, “the bow”; as the name of the rāśi it is also Dhanu.
Meaning: the bow; and the ninth of the twelve rāśis (the signs through which the Sun and the planets move), the kshetra of Bṛhaspati, named for the bow held by its figure.
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 thighs of Kālarūpī, called Īśvara, are Dhanus, the kshetra of Bṛhaspati, made of Mūla, Pūrvāshāḍhā and the first caraṇa (quarter) of Uttarāshāḍhā (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5).
Nārada then asks the form and marks of the twelve rāśis, and Pulastya Maharshi tells each in turn. Dhanus has the form of a man with the hindquarters of a horse, holding a bow in his hand. Its places are the brave, those skilled in astras, heroes, elephants, chariots and horses. 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 ninth leaf rests on the waist, with the Dhanus rāśi and the syllable su, in the month Pushya (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 35).
Related terms: Rāśi · Kālarūpī · Mūla · Pūrvāshāḍhā · Uttarāshāḍhā · Pushya
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 5, 35