Râhu
(Sk.)
A Daitya (demon) whose lower parts were like a dragon’s tail. He made himself immortal by robbing the gods of some Amrita — the elixir of divine life — for which they were churning the ocean of milk. Unable to deprive him of his immortality, Vishnu exiled him from the earth and made of him the constellation Draco, his head being called Râhu and his tail Ketu — astronomically, the ascending and descending nodes. With the latter appendage he has ever since waged a destructive war on the denouncers of his robbery, the sun and the moon, and (during the eclipses) is said to swallow them. Of course the fable has a mystic and occult meaning. (TG).
Some links:
- Quotes: H. P. Blavatsky
DATA
To show: Râhu; sortable: Rahu
Lifetime:
Shortly: A Daitya (demon) whose lower parts were like a dragon’s tail. He made himself immortal by robbin...