The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c8.29.3

c8.29.3

If we, however, rely on analogy there is every reason to hold that *Agrahâyanî*, like *Kârtikî* and *Phâlgunî*, may have been derived from *Agrahâyana*, and that this may originally be the name of the Nakshatra of Mrigashiras. This supposition derives support from the fact that if, like Amarsinha, we take *Agrahâyanî* as synonymous with the Nakshatra of Mrigashiras and follow the native grammarians in deriving this name of the Nakshatra from that of the full-moon, it is very difficult to account for the initial long vowel in Âgrahâyanî. All lexicographers derive the word from Agra and Hâyana combined in a Bahuvrîhi compound and afterwards adding the feminine termination; thus Agra + hâyana + î. But the feminine termination cannot be added without a previous suffix (an) which also gives the initial long vowel, as î is not a general feminine suffix, but is only used in special cases. We cannot get this an by Pânini iv, 2. 3, as Âgrahâyana is not the name of a Nakshatra according to Amarsinha. Various suggestions have, therefore, been made to account for the initial long vowel. Bhattoji suggests that we should obtain the long vowel by including Âgrahâyana in the Prajnâdi list (Pan. v. 4. 38); but in the Ganapâtha, the list is not said to be a ‘specimen list,’* nor is the word Âgrahâyana specifically included in the list there given. Boehtlingk and Roth in their dictionary obtain the long vowel by Pan. v. 4. 36; but here 36 may probably be a misprint for 38.