Punarvasu

Punarvasu is the lunar mansion through which the Moon is said to pass on the day before Rama’s planned consecration. Its explicit significance in the poem is calendrical: it marks the present day in a sequence that leads to the anointing scheduled for the next day, when the Moon is expected to enter Pushya.

Place in the Consecration Calendar

The passage sets out the timing in two steps. The Moon has entered Punarvasu today; tomorrow, according to the prediction, it will dwell in Pushya’s favorable stars. The movement from one mansion to the next places the proposed consecration within a specific celestial schedule rather than presenting it as an undated royal decision.

Significance and Limits

Punarvasu functions here as a marker of the day preceding the ceremony. The passage calls Pushya favorable for the anointing, but does not assign Punarvasu an auspicious or inauspicious quality of its own. Its role is therefore precise but limited: it locates the moment before the planned rite, whose timing depends on the Moon’s expected passage into Pushya.