The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c9.4.3

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.