Nepal
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Dhruva-Tara
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Why the Canopus Star Always Appears in the South Sky
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Story about the Birth of Mars
01
Dhruva-Tara (the North Pole Star)
As Compiled by: Jayanta Acharya
A very long time ago, there was a king named Uttanapada. He had two queens, Suniti and Suruchi.
Queen Suniti was the senior queen. She was very kind and gentle. She had a little son named Dhruva. Queen Suruchi, the younger queen, was very beautiful, but she was proud and haughty. Suruchi also had a son whoes name was Uttama.
One day King Uttanapada went hunting in the jungle. Dhruva was playing in the palace. The innocent five-year-old boy reached the royal throne and sat on it. Suruchi came there and scolded Dhruva, saying, “You horrible little brat, how dare you sit there?” Pulling Dhruva down from the king’s throne, she threw him out of the palace.
Dhruva went back to his mother, Suniti, and asked, “Is there anyone more powerful than the king? Is there any place higher than the throne? How can I get to a place higher than the throne?”
Suniti said, “Lord Vishnu, whose other name is Narayana, is ranks higher than anybody else. He is greater than the king.”
Dhruva asked another question, “How can I meet Narayana?”
Suniti said, “Think only of Narayana and have patience.”
That same day, Dhruva decided to go through a great penance in the forest. He said to his mother, “I am going to go through a great penance in the forest; let me go.”
Suniti replied, “Oh my dear son, you are just five years old. This is not the time to do penance, so I cannot permit you to leave the palace. Please don’t go away.” Aware of his mother’s love, Dhruva decided to do penance at night. That night, when his mother was asleep, Dhruva sneaked out from the palace and began walking towards the forest in the mountains. He walked and walked and walked, and he thought only of Narayana. Narayana was none other than the Lord Vishnu, the preserver of the world. Dhruva finally arrived at the end of the northern sky, where he met the sage Narada and asked him, “Where can I find Narayana?”
Narada said, “Stay right where you are. Think only of Narayana and have patience. You will find him.”
So Dhruva stopped where he was and meditated, thinking only of Narayana. His meditation released such tremendous energy that the very Earth shook and disturbed the Saptarishis, the Seven Sages, who were meditating nearby. They wondered whoes strong meditation was releasing such energy. They said, “It must be a great king, or a god, to have so much power.”
They were amazed to find that it was only a little five-year-old boy who was meditating upon Lord Narayana. The Rishis surrounded him and prayed with him as he meditated.
Soon Indra, the king of the gods, became worried. “What does this little boy want from Narayana?” he wondered. “Maybe, he will ask for my throne in the heavens! So Indra tried to distract Dhruva from his meditation. He sent all kinds of monsters, snakes, and evil spirits to scare the boy and force him to give up his meditation, but Dhruva remained still and calm, unaware of anything except Narayana.
Ultimately Lord Vishnu himself noticed the boy and felt the strength of his meditation. The lord said, “I must grant him what he wants. Such perseverance and steadiness of purpose must be rewarded.”
So Narayana came down to the forest and stood before Dhruva. He said, “I am here, Dhruva. What is it that you want so much?”
But Dhruva only smiled when he saw Narayana. The lord already knew the little boy’s wish. The Lord Vishnu turned Dhruva into a bright star and placed him high up in the sky, above the world, and away from all jealousy and evil. Lord Vishnua turned the Seven Rishis, who had protected Dhruva as he prayed, into seven bright stars and were placed them protectively around Dhruva (the North Pole star).
Even today, when you look up into the sky, you will see a little star shining high above. This little star never moves, for it is Dhruva (which means stable), who never moves from his meditation on Narayana. We call this star the North Pole Star. Children in Nepal still call it 'Dhruva-tara' or 'Dhruva-star'. We can see the seven stars, or the Seven Rishis, slowly moving around the North Pole Star. These Seven Stars form the constellation known as Saptarishi in Nepal, and as the Great Bear in other parts of the world.
02
Why the Canopus Star Always Appears in the South Sky
As complied by: Samanta Acharya
A long time ago, there lived a sage called Agasti, who was very powerful and had performed many amazing feats. Agasti had killed a powerful demon known as Batapi, who used to kill many innocent sages. Another effort involved very influential king, Nahush, who dominated the world many years ago and was careless with his power. He used his power to fight with the king of Heaven, Indra, and wanted to seduce his queen. King Indra knew his plan and asked for help from the sage Agasti. The sage used his power of meditation to change King Nahush into a snake. On another ocassion, the ocean was very angry and used its tremendous power without regard for it inflicted the damage on the world. The earth was sinking, day-by-day. During this period, sage Agasti used his power to drink up all of the water. So he controlled the power of the ocean and saved the earth.
A further story about Agasti relates to a very powerful hill known as Vindhyachal. Vindhyachal found out that the Lord Sun was circling around the Meru hill every day but not around him. He got angry with the sun and ordered the sun to orbit him as well. The sun replied, "I am not revolving around Meru because of my own wishes: the great lord who created this world assigned my path. I can't change my established path because I want to." After hearing the sun’s reply, Vindhyachal got very angry with him. He decided to retaliate by increasing his size and becoming an obstacle in the sun’s path so that he could not maintain his orbit. He increased his size and became taller and taller day-by-day. Indra, the king of the gods, witnessed these activities from Heaven and was worried. He came down to Earth to advise the hill to stop increasing his size. He explained many things, particularly the damage that his behavior could inflict. Nevertheless, the hill did not follow the instructions from the gods, and he continued increasing his size more and more. Then the gods went to the sage Agasti, who was very famous for his power and the prestige gained from his meditations. The gods explained, "The hill wants to block the paths of the Sun and the Moon. If he does this, he will damage all cosmological conditions and destroy Earth as well as Heaven. You are the one who can stop this disaster. Vindhyachal obeys you. So, our great sage, please go to him and advise him to stop inflicting great damage on the world."
After listening to these prayers from the gods to save the world, sage Agasti went immediately to the hill Vindhyachal. The hill was well aware of the sage, his power, and prestige. When the sage reached the hill Vindhyachal, he said " Oh, greatest hill, I am going to the south for meditation. Do not increase your size any more and let me go. Do not increase your size until I return." The hill happily obeyed him and stopped increasing his size.
Since then, the sage has not returned from the south[1]. The star Agasti (known as the Canopus star, a supergiant star 650 light years from Earth and the second brightest star in the sky) appears in the south from Nepal. Sage Agastisaved our earth during many difficult situations, so we worship him as a star in the southern sky.
[1] The Canopus star is seen at the south of Nepal and the hill Vindhyachal or Bindhyachala is on the North.
03
A Story about the Birth of Mars
As complied by: Jayanta Acharya
A very long time ago, there was a king named Dakshyaprajapati, who had a very beautiful daughter named Sati. As the years passed day-by-day and week-by-week, Sati came of age. Her father King Dakshyaprajapati wanted her to marry the crown-prince of a neighboring country, but she refused to marry the prince chosen by the king. She said, “Father, I have decided to marry the god Shiva.”
The king became quite upset and worried when he heard his beloved daughter’s decision. Dakshayaprajapati criticized Shiva in front of Sati, but Sati could not tolerate her father’s criticism of Shiva; she immediately went to Shiva and married him.
After some time Dakshyaprajapati organized a great yagńa, a Vedic sacrificial ritual to worship the god of fire and other divinities. He invited all of the celebrities from the three worlds of heaven, Earth, and the lower regions, but he did not invite his son-in-law Shiva and his daughter Sati. Although Lord Shiva tried to dissuade her from going, Sati fervently wanted to attend the ritual. She was determined to go, and no one could stop her. So Sati went to the ceremony and asked the king, “Father, why did you not invite my husband and me?”
Dakshyaprajapati looked at his daughter’s beautiful face and repeated the same criticism of Shiva. But Sati could not tolerate her father’s behavior and lost control. She went to the yagńa and committed suicide by jumping into the yagńa fire. News about Sati is self-immolation spread around the whole world. Losing his beloved wife Sati in that way made, Lord Shiva very angry. His anger caused him sweat heavily, and the sweat flowed from his forehead to the Earth from which a powerful boy appeared before Lord Shiva. He looked like fire and had thousands of hands and mouths. The boy bowed to Lord Shiva and asked, “What do you command me to do?”
Shiva ordered him to destroy the yagńa of Dakshyaprajapati. The boy went to the palace of Dakshyaprajapati right away and easily destroyed his yagńa. After he demolished the yagńa, he went into the womb of the Earth (Prithibi) and tried to annihilate the Earth and the whole Universe. Seeing what the boy had done, Shiva stopped him from destroying everything. To lessen his anger, Shiva made him a peaceful, strong and reddish planet called Angaraka (Mars) in the heavens. Now we can see Mars as a red planet. Many people in Nepal still worship Mars as the powerful god of war.