Jyeṣṭha (ज्येष्ठा)

Depiction of the 18th nakshatra, Jyeshtha, in temples.

The 17th, 18th, 19th nakshatra mapped to the Stellarium base chart, animated GIF, WGSN 2025: Jyeshtha is the middle one.

Jyeṣṭha (ज्येष्ठा) is an Indian name, used by the Indian Vedic tradition. Most of these names are roughly 3000 years old. They pre-date Hinduism but were taken over by it.

Etymology and History

Name Variants

• Jyeṣṭha,
• Jyeshtha,
• Śakra,
• Aindra

The Goddess with same name: Jyestha devi, Kailas temple, kanchipuram

Origin of Constellation

The asterism is depicted as a group of three stars and typically identified with the bright star Antares (α Sco). As the term "nakshatra" literally means "not bright", it is more likely that the stars surrounding Antares, τ and σ Scorpii plus i Sco (or d Sco?), were interpreted as an asterism framing the bright star in the center.

Jyeshtha is also the name of a goddess.

Mythology

mnemonic tales and cultural significance

References

• References (general)