Jyotish Maha Charts

Nakshatra Swati

Swati is once again among the few asterisms which are represented by a single star. Its representative is a yellowish star commonly known as Arcturus {Alpha-Bootis). It is the central star of the constellation of Bootis which can be said to lie on top of the gateway formed between Virgo and Libra. However, as we can see, this asterism occupies the heart of the sign Libra and has nothing to do with the sign Virgo. With a visual magnitude of 0.16, Arcturus is the third brightest among the stars in the night sky and can be spotted even in the polluted skies over big metropolitan cities. Ancient Vedic seers associated a lot of importance to this bright star and saw it as the abode of Saraswati, the goddess of learning.

«Swati», like other Sanskrit terms, evokes a wide variety of English meanings — «self-going», «good goer», «independent», «sword», «self-blowing», «delicate» and «tender». Each of these meanings relay a different side of this asterisms nature and functionings.

Its symbol is a «young plant shoot blown by the wind'. The wind symbolism suggests the airy quality of this asterism which promotes restlessness, adaptability, dexterity and a roaming disposition. The young plant symbolism suggests delicacy. This is the reason why this asterism strives for strength and independence, just like a young plant shoot strives for maturity. Air is the balancing element among the five interacting elements in nature. This nakshatra is the balancing pivot of the zodiac in the sense that it is the middle most nakshatra, with thirteen nakshatras on either side. It represents the atmospheric aspect, where there's neither a lull nor a storm and a gentle breeze is blowing. Swati thus represents the period of our lives where smooth sailing takes place.

In ancient Vedic texts, wind also suggests an idea of force and ability to move things, like clouds. This implies that even though gentle, Swati is capable of applying force whenever required. The young delicate sapling is always growing to become a strong sturdy tree, which has very little to fear from nature's pressures like weather and animals.

A lcoral' is the alernative symbol of this nakshatra. The coral is a plant which makes its progeny out of its own body like bacterias and other micro-organisms. In the same way, Swati's creativity comes out of parting with a piece of itself. It is common knowledge that coral relates to the planet Mars. Swati has no direct correlation with the planet Mars, but through coral a connection is established. Just like wind gets the impetus to move through the imbalance between heat and cold, Swati gets its extraordinary mobility, energy and strength from the heating effect of the planet Mars.

Swati falls in the cardinal, achievement-oriented sign of Libra. This is why 'a sword' is also seen as a symbol of this nakshatra, to represent its cutting, fiery quality. In a way, it can be said, that in time this asterism transforms from the delicate young plant shoot into a hard and strong, razor sharp sword. Thus those with prominent Swati in their charts are late bloomers and have a stronger second half of life as compared to the first half.

Source: «The Book of Nakshatras» by Prash Trivedi

Source: «The Book of Nakshatras» by Prash Trivedi