Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.1578

c7.1578

The astronomers have divided the sky that surrounds the earth into twelve parts called rāśis (zodiacs). All the stars of the first zodiac appear in the shape of a goat (Meṣa) so that zodiac was called Meṣa. Thus the zodiac in which the stars took the shape of an ox was called Ṛṣabha (ox). In the zodiac Mithuna the stars took the shape of a young couple. Karkaṭaka means crab. In that zodiac the stars appear in the shape of a crab. In the same way Siṃha means lion and Kanyā means a damsel. Tulā means balance and Vṛścika means scorpion; Dhanus means bow and Makara means Makara matsya (horned shark). Kumbha is a water pot and Mīna means fish. The name of the zodiac is according to the sign of the zodiac. That is, in what shape the stars in that particular zodiac appear to the people of the earth. The figure of the twelve zodiacs with the earth as centre is given below:—