History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c23.267

v2.c23.267

Hundreds of names occur in the Vedic Literature, but there are hardly any names directly derived from a nakṣatra. In the Śatapatha (VI. 2. 1. 37) there is an Āṣāḍhī Sauśromateya (son of Aṣāḍha and Suśromatā). Here Aṣāḍha is probably connected with the nakṣatra Aṣāḍhā. It appears therefore that in the times of the brāhmaṇas nakṣatra names were secret and so are not met with. Gradually however nakṣatra names ceased to be secret and became common. For several centuries before the Christian era nakṣatra names were very common. Pāṇini (who cannot be placed later than 300 B. C. and may have flourished some centuries earlier still) 'gives several rules (IV. 3. 34-37 and VII. 3. 18) for deriving names of males and females from nakṣatras. In IV. 3. 34 he says that names are derived from Śraviṣṭhā, Phālgunī, Anurādhā, Śvāti, Tiṣya, Punarvasu, Hasta, Asāḍhā and Bahulā (Kṛttikā) without adding any termination signifying 'born on' (e. g. we have the names Śraviṣṭhaḥ, Phālgunaḥ &c.). In VII. 3. 18 he derives the name Proṣṭhapadaḥ from Proṣṭhapadā. In the Junagadh inscription of Rudradāman (150 A. D.) the brother-in-law of Candragupta Maurya is said to have been a vaiśya named Puṣyagupta (E. I. vol. VIII. p. 43). This shows that in the 4th century B. C. a name was derived from the nakṣatra Puṣya (so the name was nakṣatrāśraya). The Mahābhāṣya (vol. I. p. 231) speaks of boys named Tiṣya and Punarvasu and cites Citrā, Revatī, Rohiṇī as names of women born on these nakṣatras (vol. II. p. 307) and of Caitra as a male (vol. II. p. 128). The Mahābhāṣya speaks of Puṣyamitra, the founder of the Śuṅga dynasty (vol. I. p. 177, vol. II. pp. 34 and 123). Buddhists also had nakṣatra names e. g. Moggaliputta Tissa (where a gotra name and a nakṣatra name from Tiṣya are combined), a parivrājaka Poṭṭhapāda in Dīgha I. p. 187 and III. p. 1 (from the nakṣatra Proṣṭhapadā), Asāḍa, Phaguna, Svātiguta, Pusarakhita and in the Sāñcī inscriptions of 3rd century B. C. (E. I. (vol. II. p. 95). The giving of nakṣatra names continued for centuries after the Christian era. For example, in the Palitana plate of Dhruvasena I dated Valabhī saṁvat 210 (about 529 A. D.) there is a brāhmaṇa named Viśākha. We have names like Puṣyasvāmī, Rohiṇīsvāmī (in the plates of Śivarāja dated 602-3 A. D., in E. I. vol. IX. p. 288). Another way of deriving names from nakṣatras was to form them from the presiding deity of the nakṣatra on which a person was born. A man was called Āgneya, if he was born on Kṛttikā (Agni being its devatā), Maitra (from being born on Anurādhā). In modern times this round-about way is given up and persons are named directly from the names of gods and avatāras (like Rāma).