विशाखा
Viśākhā Nakṣatra
Indra and Agni, the king of the gods and the god of fire, share this star. The Rigveda calls them twins. The Brahmana pictures yoked oxen and men ploughing, and the two gods win the first grain of every harvest. Vishakha is the last of the gods' stars, and the line between Libra and Scorpio cuts it in two.
At a Glance
The Name
Shakha means a branch, and the prefix vi gives it two directions. Vishakha is the two-branched star, the fork. The Veda names it in the dual, the two Vishakhas, because two bright stars mark it, both close to the Moon's road.
Its older name is Radha. The Atharvaveda calls it radhe vishakhe, the two Radhas, the two Vishakhas. Radha comes from a root that means to succeed. The teachers take the fork in two ways. Abhigya Anand and Joni Patry see the star of purpose, which picks one road and goes down it. Dr Arjun Pai says the word can also be read as no fork at all, no two ways, a mind made up. Vic DiCara reads it as the point where two branches meet.
The Mahabharata gives the name another story. When Indra struck the boy-god Skanda with his vajra, a second youth sprang from the wound. The epic says he was called Vishakha because he came from the vajra's entering. In the Tamil country Murugan himself is called Visakan, and his birthday falls on this star.
Where the Star Stands
Vishakha runs from Libra 20 degrees to Scorpio 3 degrees 20 minutes. Three of its quarters are in Libra, under Venus, and the fourth is in Scorpio, under Mars.
तौलिनि चित्रान्त्यार्धं स्वातिः पादत्रयं विशाखायाः । अलिनि विशाखापादस् तथानुराधान्विता ज्येष्ठा ॥
taulini citrāntyārdhaṃ svātiḥ pādatrayaṃ viśākhāyāḥ | alini viśākhāpādas tathānurādhānvitā jyeṣṭhā ||
Translation — In Libra: the last half of Chitra, Swati, three quarters of Vishakha. In Scorpio: one quarter of Vishakha, with Anuradha and Jyeshtha.
Explanation — Varahamihira defines the signs by the stars that fill them. Libra holds the second half of Chitra, all of Swati and three quarters of Vishakha. Scorpio holds the last quarter of Vishakha, then Anuradha and Jyeshtha. So Vishakha is the one star cut by the line between these two signs.
— Bṛhat Saṃhitā 102.4 (Kern; Tripāṭhī 101.4) — the stars that make Libra and Scorpio
Two of the great degrees of the zodiac fall inside it. Saturn is exalted at Libra 20 degrees, which is the very first point of Vishakha. The Moon falls at Scorpio 3 degrees, inside the fourth quarter. Each planet has one degree of exaltation and one of fall, fourteen in all, and they are spread over thirteen stars. Vishakha is the only star that holds two of them, and it holds one of each kind.
Its yogatara, the marker star, is alpha Librae, at Libra 21 degrees 14 minutes on the Lahiri reckoning, almost on the ecliptic. Beta Librae, the second of the pair, stands at Libra 25 degrees 31 minutes, eight and a half degrees to the north. The Moon often passes between the two. The Sun crosses the star from about 6 to 20 November.
An Arch and a Field
Muhurta Chintamani gives every star a shape and a count of stars. Vishakha has four stars, and its shape is a torana, the arch set up over a gateway or a doorway for a festival. The later tables add a potter's wheel. Dr Arjun Pai says the centre of the wheel stays still while the clay spins around it.
The Brahmana's picture is plainer. Above are yokes, below are men ploughing. Abhigya Anand counts a farmer at the plough among the star's symbols. Dr Pai calls Vishakha a farming star, like Rohini, a star of sowing and of the harvest.
Varahamihira fixes the karma class, the body part, the direction, the class in his varna list and the earthquake circle of this star, and the Brahmana fixes its god and its old name. The guna, the gender, the colour and the pada syllables come only from the later tables. The shakti name vyapana is David Frawley's reading, not a word in the Brahmana.