Uttara Bhādrapadā/ Uttharataadhi captured using mobile astrophotography
This is the 26th Nakshatra and one that is very closely associated with Poorva bhadra pada. Uttara Bhadrapada means “the second of the blessed feet”, Ahirbhudnya is the reigning deity. Indian zodiac: 3°20' — 16°40' Meena ; Western zodiac 27°06' Pisces — 10°26' Aries.
Ahirbhudnya is identified as a dragon like serpent, and the parallels are drawn to Aadhisesha. Ahirbhudnya also means as “the one who carries the burden of the world” . While Ananthasayana sai, the Supreme god is the one who takes the burden of the world, Aadisesha , the bed of the Supreme self is seen as the one who takes that burden indirectly.
Karkala is a beautiful and silent town in the Udupi district of Karnataka. It is located 380kms from Bangalore and 50kms from Mangalore. I had a wonderful opportunity to visit this town en route to Udupi. Sri Ananthasayana temple in Karkala has a very interesting legend attached to it.
This temple was originally a Jain Basadi in 15th century. During that time, Sringeri Jagadguru Sri Narasimha Bharathi Swamiji came to Karkala and the Jain King gave him a warm welcome. But Swamiji said he will stay only if there is a temple with Lord Vishnu installed in it. The king agreed but didn’t have the idol of Lord.The swamiji then informed the King that there is an idol of Lord Anantha Padmanabha Swamy immersed in a small river in Nellikar.To the King’s surprise the idol was indeed found in the river and later the prathishtapana was done.
Thus the king gave his Basadi to His Holiness Sringeri Swamiji and installed a magnificently sculpted stone idol of Lord Vishnu in sleeping position. The magnificent idol of Lord Vishnu is carved out of a single black stone with Lord Brahma coming out of Vishnu’s navel and his consorts Sridevi and Bhudevi at his feet.
The main deity is Vishnu resting on the coils of Adisesha. The image is surrounded by Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha in the niches of the sanctum. Brahma rests on the lotus which issues from Vishnu’s navel and Lakshmi attends on Vishnu near the feet.
Let us look at the Uttaratadhi lunar mansion captured as part of both Pegasus and Andromeda constellation.
Uttarataadhi consists of γ Pegasi and α Andromedae.
Gamma Pegasi (γ Pegasi ), also called Algenib is a star in the constellation of Pegasus, located at the southeast corner of the asterism known as the Great Square. The average apparent visual magnitude of +2.84 puts this at fourth place among the brightest stars in the constellation.
Alpha Andromedae also known as Alpheratz is a binary system star with an apparent visual magnitude of +2.06.
Next we will see the last Nakshatra of the series, Revathi :-) . Until then, have a great day :-)
