Hastā (Nakshatra)
Hastā, “the hand”
Grammar: feminine noun, also Hasta, from hasta (the hand): “the hand”.
Meaning: one of the twenty-seven nakshatras (the lunar mansions), lying wholly in the rāśi Kanyā.
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 belly of Kālarūpī, called Kāla, is Kanyā, the second house of Budha, made of the remaining three pādas (quarters) of Uttaraphalgunī, Hastā and two pādas of Citrā (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5).
Among the rules of conduct the ṛshis give the rākshasa king Sukeśī by nakshatra, one should not take an oil-bath (abhyañjana) on Citrā, Hastā or Śravaṇa (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 14).
In the Nakshatra Purusha vrata, the twenty-seven nakshatras are the limbs of Śrī Hari, the nakshatra-purusha form of Śrīman Nārāyaṇa, and Hastā is on his two hands. In the rite, on the day the moon is joined with Hastā, one worships the two hands of Śrī Hari and offers barley food (yavānna) as the dohada, the special offering that fulfils the longing (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 54).
Related terms: Nakshatra · Uttaraphalgunī · Citrā · Kanyā · Kālarūpī · Dohada
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 5, 14, 54