Viśākhā (Nakshatra)
Viśākhā · vi-śākhā, “the branched one”
Grammar: feminine noun; vi (apart) and śākhā (branch): “the branched one”, “with two branches”.
Meaning: one of the twenty-seven nakshatras (the lunar mansions), its first three pādas lying in the rāśi Tulā and its last pāda in Vṛścika.
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 navel, called “the path of the sky”, is Tulā, the second house of Śukra, made of the third and fourth pādas of Citrā, Svātī and three pādas of Viśākhā. The private part is Vṛścika, the second house of Kuja, made of the fourth pāda of Viśākhā, Anurādhā and Jyeshṭhā (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5).
In their teaching on conduct to the rākshasa king Sukeśī, the ṛshis give rules by nakshatra: there is no shaving on Viśākhā and Abhijit (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 Viśākhā is his arms. The vrata begins with Mūla on Caitra śukla ashṭamī; its tenth step is Viśākhā. On the day the moon is joined with Viśākhā, one worships the two arms of Śrī Hari and offers paramānna (rice cooked in milk and sugar) as the dohada (the special offering that fulfils the longing) (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 54).
Related terms: Nakshatra · Tulā · Vṛścika · Svātī · Anurādhā · Kālarūpī
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 5, 14, 54