Pushya (Nakshatra)

Pushya, “the nourishing one”

Grammar: masculine noun, from the root push (to nourish): “the nourishing one”. The text also calls the nakshatra Pushyamī, and gives the same name, Pushya, to the month that is elsewhere called Pausha.

Meaning: one of the twenty-seven nakshatras (the lunar mansions), lying in the rāśi Karkaṭaka; also the month of the lunar year in which the full moon stands in this nakshatra.

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 Vyomakeśa (“whose hair is the sky”) are Karkaṭaka, the kshetra of Candra, made of the last caraṇa (quarter) of Punarvasu, Pushyamī and Āśleshā (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5).

In the Nakshatra Purusha vrata, the twenty-seven nakshatras are the limbs of Śrī Hari, the nakshatra-purusha form of Śrīman Nārāyaṇa, and Pushya dwells on his mouth. In the rite, on the day the moon is joined with Pushya, one worships the face of Śrī Hari and offers pāyasa (sweet rice cooked in milk) made with ghee as the dohada (the special offering that fulfils the longing) (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 54).

The month Pushya has its own rites. In the Kālāshṭamī vrata to Bhagavān Śiva, in the holy month of Pushya one bathes the deity with ghee, worships with tagara flowers, offers dhūpa of the bark of the madhūka tree and naivedya of madhu-śashkulī (a sweet cake), gives that naivedya to a brāhmaṇa with a dakshiṇā of green gram, and praises: “Devādhideva! Tryambaka! Namaskāra to you!” (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 17).

The word in use:

  • In the dvādaśa-patraka yoga (the yoga of the twelve leaves), the ninth leaf rests on the waist, with the rāśi Dhanus, the syllable “su” and the month Pushya (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 35).
  • In his stotra to Bhagavān Vishṇu, Brahmā says: “You are Time, shining in the form of the months Āśvayuja, Pushya, Māgha, Phālguna, Caitra, Vaiśākha” (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 66).
  • In Prahlāda‘s teaching to Bali on the gifts for each month, in Pushya one gives mansions, cities, houses and doorways with bhakti, for the pleasure of Keśava (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 68).

Related terms: Nakshatra · Karkaṭaka · Punarvasu · Āśleshā · Kālāshṭamī · Dohada · Māgha

Sources

  • Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 5, 17, 35, 54, 66, 68