Mṛgaśira (Nakshatra)

Mṛgaśira · mṛga-śira, “the deer’s head”

Grammar: neuter noun; a compound of mṛga (deer) and śiras (head): “the deer’s head”. It is also written Mṛgaśirā and Mṛgaśīrsha.

Meaning: one of the twenty-seven nakshatras (the lunar mansions), its first two pādas (quarters) in the rāśi Vṛshabha and its last two in Mithuna.

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 face of Kālarūpī is Vṛshabha, the kshetra of Śukra, made of the remaining three pādas of Kṛttikā, Rohiṇī and two pādas of Mṛgaśira. The arms of Mahādeva are Mithuna, the kshetra of Budha, made of the third and fourth pādas of Mṛgaśira, Ārdrā and the first three pādas of Punarvasu (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5).

In their teaching on conduct to the rākshasa king Sukeśī, the ṛshis give rules by nakshatra: no meat is eaten on Mūla, Mṛgaśira and Bhādrapadā (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 14).

The kṛshṇa ashṭamī of Śrāvaṇa joined with Mṛgaśirā is holy, and is called the Kālāshṭamī (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 17).

Bhagavān Mahāvishṇu tells the devas that the holy tithi on which Sūrya, Candra and Bṛhaspati are together in Mṛgaśira is called akshaya (imperishable), and sends them to the Pṛthūdaka tīrtha in Kurukshetra to honour the pitṛs with śrāddha. There the devas asked Bṛhaspati to enter Mṛgaśira and make the tithi holy, since Sūrya and Candra had already entered it. Bṛhaspati asked for the lordship of the year; the devas agreed, and he entered Mṛgaśira at once. On the amāvāsyā of Āshāḍha joined with Mṛgaśira, Devendra offered piṇḍa of sesame, honey and havishyānna (food fit for offering) to the pitṛs in Kurukshetra. Pleased, the pitṛs gave their daughter Menā to Himavān in marriage (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 24).

In the Nakshatra Purusha vrata, the twenty-seven nakshatras are the limbs of Śrī Hari, the nakshatra-purusha form of Śrīman Nārāyaṇa, and Mṛgaśira is in the form of his eyes. On the day the moon is joined with Mṛgaśira, one worships the eyes of Śrī Hari and offers the flesh of the deer as the dohada (the special offering that fulfils the longing) (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 54).

Related terms: Nakshatra · Vṛshabha · Mithuna · Kālāshṭamī · Akshaya · Dohada

Sources

• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 5, 14, 17, 24, 54