The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c9.4

Language: English

c9.4.1

We shall first take up Mṛigashiras or Âgrahāyaṇî according to Amarasinha. The very name of the Nakshatra, which means "an antelope's head,"* suggests the figure of the asterism But the constellation consists of so many stars that it is very difficult to say which of them might have suggested the name. I may here remark that the doctrine of "Yogatârâs" or the junction stars cannot be supposed to have been developed in the early days we are here speaking of. I do not mean to say that single stars may not have been or were not specifically named. But wherever a constellation is spoken of, it is more probable that the whole group was intended, as in the case of the Seven Bears or the Kṛittikās; and hence the determination of the junction stars, as given in later astronomical works, cannot help us beyond indicating where we are to look for the constellation described in the old works. For instance, if we take Mṛigashiras we are told that one of the three small stars in the head of Orion is the junction star. This means that we must look for Mṛigashiras in the constellation of Orion. But how can these three stars give us the figure of an antelope's head? The three stars are so close that between themselves they give us no figure at all. It is, however, suggested that the two stars in the shoulders and two in the knees of Orion give us the four feet of the antelope, whose head may then be said to correspond with the three stars in the Orion's head.

c9.4.2

In short it is the antelope's head in the same way as it is the head of Orion. But besides being open to the objection that this gives us the head and not the form of an antelope's head, the explanation presupposes that the whole of the antelope is in the heavens; and if Ārdrā be correctly identified with the star in the right shoulder of Orion we shall have also to include this star in the four feet of the antelope. The old Vedic works, however, seem to lay down that it was the head of the antelope and not the antelope itself, that was transplanted to the heavens. Referring to the legend of Rudra piercing Prajāpati, Sāyaṇa in his commentary on the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (ii. 1. 2. 8) * observes that he, the terrible form created by the gods, "cut off Prajâpati's head by the arrow," and "the arrow and the head both jumped up to the heavens and are there stationed." The Aitareya Brâhmaṇa (iii. 33) gives the same story and there too Pashuman or Bhûtavan is said to have pierced Prajâpati with an arrow. But it does not distinctly say whether it was the head or the body that was pierced by him though in the Shatapatha Brâhmaṇa Mṛigashiras is described as the head of Prajâpati. The tradition of piercing the head does not, however, occur in this form in the Rigveda, though in Rig. x. 61. 5-7 this story of Prajâpati is alluded to. But in many places where Indra is mentioned as killing Vṛitra we are told that he cut off the head of his enemy (i. 52. 10; iv. 18. 9; viii. 6. 7) and in Rig.

c9.4.3

v. 34. 2 and viii. 93. 14, Indra's enemy is described as appearing in the form of an antelope. This shows that the Rigveda indirectly speaks of an antelope's head having been cut off by Indra, and it may justify us in holding that Rudra did the same. The tradition is preserved even in the Greek mythology which tells us that Apollo, indignant at her sister's affections for Orion, made her hit, with an arrow, a mark in the distant sea, which turned out to be the Orion's head.* In the heavens we must therefore look for the "cut off" head of Mṛiga with the arrow pierced in it. There are other circumstances which point to the conclusion. Sanskrit writers have described a small group of stars in Mṛigashiras called Invakâs. Amarasinha tells us that they are "on the top of Mṛigashiras.† Now if Mṛigashiras itself be understood to denote the three small stars in the head of Orion, Invakâs become identical with them and the distinction given in Amara must be put aside as meaningless. I am, therefore, of opinion that the asterism of Mṛigashiras was once really believed to possess the *form* of an antelope's head with an arrow sticking to it. The mention of the arrow in these traditions at once enables us to determine the form, for the arrow can be readily and easily identified with the three stars in the belt of Orion.

c9.4.4

The head with the arrow at the top must therefore be made up by taking along with the belt the two stars in the knees and one in the left shoulder of Orion somewhat as below :—