Rahu is depicted as a naga king, a deity of the earth and/or of water whose tail and lower torso are those of a serpent. Rahu is a rakshasa, a trickster-deity sometimes described as a demon or ogre. However, this category of being also includes some anti-gods ("titans") that can function as protectors. The recurrence of eclipses in a regular pattern is explained by one Hindu myth which tells how Rahu stole Amrita, the Water of Life [Nectar of Immortality] from the gods, but the sun and moon were witnesses. Lord Vishnu punished the thief, Rahu, by cutting off 2 of his 4 arms and Rahu, in his anger, stalks back and forth across the heavens from the moon to the sun. The presence of Rahu and his other half, Ketu, in the heavens comes only because ... just as he was getting what he sought, he w