Kṛttikā (Nakshatra)
Kṛttikā, “the cutters”
Grammar: feminine noun, usually plural (Kṛttikāḥ), from the root kṛt (to cut): “the cutters”.
Meaning: the third of the twenty-seven nakshatras (the lunar mansions), the cluster of stars known as the Pleiades; its first pāda lies in the rāśi Mesha and its other three in Vṛshabha.
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; his face is Vṛshabha, the kshetra of Śukra, made of the remaining three pādas of Kṛttikā, Rohiṇī and two pādas of Mṛgaśira (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5).
Among the rules of conduct that the ṛshis teach Sukeśī, nakshatra by nakshatra, one should not have union on Maghā, Kṛttikā and Uttarā (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 14).
In the Nakshatra Purusha vrata, the twenty-seven nakshatras are the limbs of Śrī Hari, and the Kṛttikās are his waist (kaṭi). The vrata begins with Mūla on Caitra śukla ashṭamī; its fifth step is Kṛttikā. On the day the moon is joined with Kṛttikā, one keeps the senses in check, fasts, worships the waist of Śrī Hari, and offers water scented with flowers as the dohada (the special offering that fulfils the longing) (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 54).
When Vāmana showed his cosmic form at Bali‘s yajña, the nakshatras beginning with Kṛttikā were in his eyelids (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 65).
Related terms: Nakshatra · Mesha · Vṛshabha · Bharaṇī · Rohiṇī · Kālarūpī
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 5, 14, 54, 65