Research source

In the Râmâyanam, I frequently find the moon as a beneficent fairy, who succours the dawn Sîtâ; for the moon,…

Date of account: English edition published 1872
Source: Zoological Mythology; or, The Legends of Animals, Volume 1 (of 2)
Reference: Zoological Mythology; or, The Legends of Animals, Volume 1 (of 2) · selected passage 20
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-25

Record summary

In the Râmâyanam, I frequently find the moon as a beneficent fairy, who succours the dawn Sîtâ; for the moon, as ráganîkaras (she who gives light to the night), assumes a benignant aspect

Published source text

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Source passage

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In the _Râmâyanam_, I frequently find the moon as a beneficent fairy, who succours the dawn Sîtâ; for the moon, as _ráganîkaras_ (she who gives light to the night), assumes a benignant aspect. We have already said that the moon is generally a male in India; but as full moon and new moon it assumes, even in the Vedic texts, a feminine name. In a Vedic hymn, _Râkâ_, the full moon is exhorted to sew the work with a needle that cannot be broken.[174] Here we have the moon personified as a marvellous workwoman, a fairy with golden fingers, a good fairy; and in this character we find her again in the _Râmâyanam_, under the form of the old _Anasûyâ_, who anoints the darkened Sîtâ (for Sîtâ, like the Vedic girl, is dark and ugly during the night, or winter, when she is hidden) in the wood, with a divine unguent; gives her a garland, various ornaments, and two beauteous garments, which are always pure (as, _i.e._, they do not touch the earth, like the cows of the Vedic dawn, who do not cover themselves with dust), and similar in colour to the young sun;[175] in all which the fairy moon appears as working during the night for the aurora, preparing her luminous garments--the two garments, of which the one is for the evening and the other for

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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