Jyotish Maha Charts

Nakshatra Revati

Revati, the culmination of Mercurial energy, in fact all zodiacal energies, is represented in the celestial firmament by a group of very faint stars in the constellation of Pisces. The exact number of these stars is not specified in the ancient texts, although 27 seems like an automatic choice! The ancient vedic seers saw that ttiese stars made a shape similar to a dhoia (drum strung across the neck with a strap and played with both hands, used for carrying in processions).

The brightest among these faint stars is known in modem astronomy as Zeta-Piscium, which has a visual magnitude of only 5.20. It is located close to a comparatively brighter star, Mu-Piscium, around the fag end of the tail of the fish formed by the constellation Pisces. This asterism is not easy to locate in the night sky, but one can always utilize the fact that Zeta-Piscium lies almost exactly on the planetary ecliptic (the path of the planets around the zodiac); in order to locate it in a very clear new moon night sky.

«Revati» has a simple translation — «wealthy». As we shall discover later, this name conveys alot about this asterism on all ievels, even though it is not apparent straightaway why the final asterism representing complete dissolution be related to something as transitory as wealth. Its alternative translation is «to transcend», which is more in keeping wrjji this being the final nakshatra.

Since this asterism has a lot to do with duality, it has two and not one main symbol — a «fish swimming in the sea» and a «drum».

A fish swimming in the water is an obvious choice as a symbol for this nakshatra, as it falls completely in the sign of Pisces, which as we know is represented by two fishes swimming in opposite directions. The symbolism of a fish swimming in the sea has been used from time immemorial to show the soul's journey in the waters of the universe. Vishnu, the preserver among the Trinity, is often shown sitting atop the sea of consciousness.

The fish swimming in the sea also suggests a path. This nakshatra has a lot to do with paths of all kinds, whether it is just a path to one's house or the whole life-path itself. As declared by all wise men and incarnations, knowing and following one's path in life is the biggest penance of all. In a way it is the one and only path to liberation.

This nakshatra, as we know, is the last among nakshatras and thus has a lot to do with moksha and final enlightenment. It should be noted here that moksha doesn't actually mean liberation from cycles of births and deaths, as is enunciated by many schools of thought. Even after final enlightenment, one might have to take birth in some cycle of some universe. To find one's true path in life, one has to learn to see the bigger picture. This happens through connecting oneself with the universal mind, which in turn is tuned to the collective consciousness. This nakshatra represents collective consciousness. This however is a little different from the mass consciousness represented by the sign Cancer.

A drum as we recall is the symbol for Dhanishta as well. There's a lot of similarity between RevarJ and Dhanishta. One similarity which stands out immediately is that they are both regarded as wealthy. Please refer to the symbol section in Dhanishta for understanding the signification of a drum as a symbol. Revati's drum is similar to a Naggada (a type of Indian drum played with two sticks), and other types of modem drums used by marching bands (refer to the image).

It can be seen that Revati's drums are always played by sticks of some kind instead of by hand. They also have a connotation of bringing news, which the Dhanishta drum doesn't have. In all the ancient cultures, any news of importance to the community was always announced accompanied by the sound of drums. In some cultures, drum beats were even used as a way of sending signals in much the same way as morse code. We can thus infer that 'communication' is one of the key aspects of this nakshatra.

Source: «The Book of Nakshatras» by Prash Trivedi

Source: «The Book of Nakshatras» by Prash Trivedi