Wikipedia Trail: From Narada to the Lunar Node

I began my Wikipedia trail on Narada, an important sage in Hinduism and the main character for a story for my project. I wanted to learn more about Narada in the Mahabharata, and the Wikipedia page explained how Narada was capable of arriving at specific conclusions with wealth, devotion, and religion. Narada was intelligent and had a powerful memory, harboring knowledge of all of the universe and everything surrounding it. Specifically, Narada was capable of answering Brihaspati. This led my to my second Wikipeda page on Brihaspati. Brihaspati is a Vedic era sage who counsels the gods, but medieval texts portray him as Jupiter. He was important in teaching both Bhishma and Vidura the duties of a king. In astrology, Birhaspati is part of the Navagraha in the Hindu zodiac system. This led me to my third Wikipedia page on Navagraha, which are the nine important heavenly bodies in Hinduism. These celestial objects are told to influence life on Earth. Furthermore, specific planets, such as Earth, Venus, and Neptune, are not considered in the system. One of the bodies was Rahu, who was the north node of the moon. I didn't know about lunar nodes, and this led me to my fourth Wikipedia page. Lunar nodes are the two orbital nodes where the Moon intersects the ecliptic, which is the path the Earth makes around the Sun. Lunar nodes are significant for lunar eclipses, as the Moon needs to be close to the lunar node for these events to occur. These nodes are significant in a range of cultures.

 

A painting of Navagraha. Source: Wikipedia