The Fiery Asterism_Agni Natchathiram

THE FIERY ASTERISM @
AGNI NATCHATHIRAM
VIDYALANKARA
DR.S.JAYABARATHI
JayBee

        Agni Natchaththiram Festival is a little known festival that is held in Murugan Temples.
        We will go into some details about this rare festival.

        The asterism 'Kriththikai - Kaarththigai' is one of those which are closely associated with Murugan. They represent the Six Matrons - Kaarththigai Maathar - who breast-fed Murugan with their milk, when he was in the form of six babies in the Saravana Poygai.

        In the sky, the six Maathars are present in the form of the six stars that make up this asterism. Astronmically, it is known as Pleiades - the Seven Sisters.

KRITIKA MANDALAM @ PLEIADES

        In Greek mythology, they are called the seven sisters. But only six are visible. The seventh sister called Elektra hid herself and is said to occassionally appear as a comet.

        In Hindu mythology, seven sisters are actually associated. Out of the seven, six sisters received a saapam from a rishi. They became the six Kaarthikai maathars. The seventh sister was Arundhathi.
She is seen as a very faint star in the Saptha Rishi constellation. She will be seen very close to the star Vasishtar.
        In actual fact, there are more than two hundred stars in the Karthikai group. Most of the stars
are very young. Some stars are in the process of being born. This groups is one of the hottest spots
in the whole universe. There are nebulae in the star group which serve as the birth place for the stars.
        You can see the picture of the natchaththiram group with a write-up in this URL -

http://www.geocities.com/visvageo2/krithikai_pleiades1.html

        Kaarththikai is known as Agni's natchaththiram.

        Agni is also associated with Murugan. Murugan was born form the third eye of Sivan. Six very
hot sparks came out from Sivan's third eye which were carried by Agni - Deva of fire and left in the Ganges River. He was assisted by Vaayu, the Deva of wind and air.
        Because of the association of Agni, Murugan is also hailed as 'Agni janma bhuve' in His ashtoththarasatha namaavaLi.
        Mars is a fiery planet. The deity representing Mars is Murugan.
        Mars and Agni have the ram as their vaahanams. Murugan also has the ram. The ram served
as the vaahanam before the pea-cock.

      Kaarththikai and Visaakam are both Murugan's asterisms.

        When the Moon is full when it is present in the Karththikai natchaththiram, it is celebrated as ThiruKaarththikai. This falls in the month of November/December.

        During the month of May, the Sun traverses through the Kaarththikai natchaththiram. This
occurs during the last four days of Chiththirai and first ten days of Vaikaasi. But it is commonly
stated as 'pin Elzu, mun Elzu' - meaning the last seven days of Chiththirai and the first seven days
of Vaikaasi. This is a misquotation. The actual quotation should be 'pin nAnku, mun paththu'.
        Since Kaarthikai is Agni's natchaththiram, the traverse of the Sun in Kaarththikai is commonly refered to as Agni Natchaththiram Period. It is supposed to be the hottest time of the year.
        The Moon also traverses the Karthikai constellation. It does so in the month of Karthikai - November/December. The Full Moon falls in that asterism during that time.
        It is the coolest time of the year because of of the incessant rainfall that takes place during that
time.
        Just as the Moon in Kaarththikai is held as a festival for Murugan, the Sun in Kaarththikai is
also a festival for Murugan. But less famous than Thiru Kaarththikai.

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