Bharaṇī Nakṣatra

At a Glance

The Name, and the Root Under It

Bharani comes from bhr, a Sanskrit root that means to bear, to carry and to nourish. That root also gives bharana, the upkeep of a household, and bhartri, the one who supports a family. So the first reading of the name is gentle. Bharani is the one who bears, the way a mother carries a child or a head of house carries everyone under the roof.

The Brahmana calls the star by a longer name, Apabharani. The prefix apa means away. Put it in front of bhr and bearing becomes bearing away, which is what Yama does with the dead. The oldest texts keep both senses side by side. The Atharvaveda asks the Bharanis to carry wealth home. The Brahmana has them carry things off. Yama's own hymn in the Rigveda uses the root once more, for the road he found, which no one can carry away.

Everything this star is known for sits inside that one verb. It carries a child to birth and a life to its end. It carries a family's debts, a household's weight, a promise nobody else would keep. The astrologer Sunil John puts it in three words, bear, maintain, support, and says the whole star opens up once those three are understood.

Where the Star Stands

Bharani is the second star from the start of the zodiac and lies wholly inside Aries. Ashwini, the first, belongs to the twin horsemen who heal. Krittika, the third, belongs to Agni, the fire. Between the physicians of the gods and the fire that eats the offering stands the god of death, and every text that lists the stars keeps him there.

The Taittiriya Brahmana adds a sharper fact. It divides the ring of stars into two halves. The fourteen from Krittika to Vishakha are the stars of the gods. The rest, from Anuradha round to Bharani, are the stars of Yama. Bharani is the very last of Yama's stars. One step further on, at Krittika, the gods' half begins again.

Mars rules the sign and Venus rules the star. Mars is heat, drive and the blade. Venus is desire, pleasure and art. Most of what practitioners say about Bharani comes from watching those two share one small stretch of sky, under a god whose whole business is to say when enough is enough.

The Same Three Stars Elsewhere

Bharani is a small triangle of faint stars in the constellation Aries, 35, 39 and 41 Arietis. Two other old sky traditions used the same three. The Chinese lunar mansion drawn from them is Wei, the Stomach. The Arab lunar mansion is al-Butain, the Little Belly. India saw a womb. Three cultures that did not share a sky map looked at the same faint triangle and saw a hollow in the body that holds something.