Karkaṭa (Rāśi)
Karkaṭa, “the crab”
Grammar: masculine noun, also karkaṭaka: “the crab”.
Meaning: the crab; and the fourth of the twelve rāśis (the signs through which the Sun and the planets move), the kshetra of Candra, named for its form as a crab.
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 two sides of Kālarūpī, who is here called Vyomakeśa, are Karkaṭaka, the kshetra of Candra, made of the last pāda (quarter) of Punarvasu, Pushya and Āśleshā (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5).
Nārada then asks the form and marks of the twelve rāśis, and Pulastya Maharshi tells each in turn. Karkaṭaka has the shape of a crab, and water, wet paddy fields, wells, river banks and solitary places lie under its influence. 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).
When Sūrya enters Karkaṭa, the night of the devas begins; that is the Dakshiṇāyana, the Sun’s southward course (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 17).
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 fourth leaf is the syllable bhā on the two eyes, with Karkaṭa and the month Śrāvaṇa. The twelve leaves make the cakra of Keśava Vāsudeva, the Paramātmā, and for those who know it there is no more death (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 35).
Related terms: Rāśi · Kālarūpī · Punarvasu · Pushya · Āśleshā · Dakshiṇāyana
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 5, 17, 35