Surya Grahan 2022: When Rahu swallows the Sun

New Delhi, Oct 25: The last solar eclipse of 2022 has come to an end! For the uninitated, a partial solar eclipse occurs when Sun, Moon, and Earth will come together, although unevenly. The Sun appears to have a dark shadow on only part of its surface.

It should be noted that this astronomical event is special in India as it is visible for the first time since 2007. However, the partial solar eclipse will not be visible in India till 2032.

In astrology, a solar eclipse is considered an important astronomical phenomenon. It is said that Rahu and Ketu are the north and the south lunar nodes that cause eclipses when the Sun and Moon are at these nodes, because of which an illusory effect of Sun and Moon being swallowed by a snake occurs, which is referred to as Grahan or eclipse. As per common belief, this is the reason why the sun suffers and becomes less auspicious during the time. It is also said that Sutak Kaal are not applicable during the Solar Eclipse.

When Goddess Lakshmi was disappointed with Lord Vishnu

The story goes back to the time when Goddess Lakshmi was disappointed with Lord Vishnu. She had left his abode and as is obvious, the whole of the Dev Loka was facing a shortage of resources in the absence of the goddess of wealth. While all wanted things to get back to normal soon, the biggest question was how to get the goddess of wealth back as quickly as possible since she brings prosperity and wealth along with her always.

Samudra manthana

In order to appease Goddess Lakshmi, Lord Vishnu approached Lord Brahma. He got the advise that since Goddess Lakshmi is also known as the daughter of ocean, she has gone into deep meditation amidst the milk of the Kshir Sagar, the great ocean of milk. She would be invoked and requested to come back if the milk of the ocean is churned.

Since the churning of the milk of the Kshir Sagar was a big enough task, Lord Brahma mentioned that gods alone will not be able to churn the water of the ocean. They would have to request the demons or asuras as well for this.

Lord Vishnu then approached the asuras and told them about the Amrit, which if one drinks would become immortal. Hence, the gods and the demons agreed to share the amrit and become immortal and therefore, set for the task. When the devas and asuras churned the ocean of milk to extract from it the amrita, the elixir of immortality. After the ocean is properly churned coveted amrita is produced. During the churning, several wonderful objects sprung out of the ocean. Fooling the demons, Vishnu then turns himself into Mohini, the only female avatar of Vishnu and started distributing amrita to the devas. However, one of the asuras, Svarbhanu, sat in the row of devas and drank the amrita.

Surya and Chandra noticed him and they informed Mohini about it. But by then, the Lord had already handed him Amrit. And by that time, Svarbhanu had already become immortal.

Amrit had reached his throat when Vishnu, as Mohini, cut off Svarbhanu's head with the Sudarshana Chakra. Since the demon had already drunk Amrit, his head became immortal as Rahu and body as Ketu. Svarbhanu could not die, but his head was separated from his body and his head came to be known as Rahu, while his body came to be known as Ketu.

Since the sun and moon took the secret out, Rahu and Ketu became their enemies. So, from time to time, Rahu catches up with the Sun and the Moon, and in anger, occasionally swallowing them, causing the eclipse. The incident doesn't last long because Rahu has no hands to grab onto these two celestial gods.

Following this event, Rahu and Ketu were given the responsibility to influence the lives of the humans on Earth.