History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.118
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.118
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v6.c82.118.1
Nakṣatras have been a matter of serious discussions in numerous works. The word 'Nakṣatra' has in all three senses (1) star in general; (2) 27 equal parts of the zodiac; (3) asterism in the zodiacal belt (which may each consist of one or more stars). In my opinion the first and the 3rd are the most frequent meanings of the word in the Vedic saṃhitās. It may be that the zodiacal belt was divided into 27 equal parts called nakṣatras, but the easier, more natural and probably the earlier way was to mark some conspicuous star groups like Kṛttikās, Mṛgaśīras and to refer to them as nakṣatras. The word 'nakṣatra' occurs frequently in the Ṛgveda and the other Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas; 'the nakṣatras like thieves go away along with nights (to make room) for the Sun that sees the world'⁷²³ (Rg. I. 50. 2), 'May the earth, the heaven, the waters, the Sun along with the nakṣatras and the wide sky listen to us' (Rg. III. 54. 19); 'he (Varuṇa) urges on in two ways the big and high heaven (the Sun) and nakṣatras and also spreads the earth' (Rg. VII. 86. 1); 'when he (the Sun) comes up, nakṣatras are not seen in the heavens, no one knows truly (how this happens)' Rg. X. 111. 7, 'The Ādityas are strong through Soma, the earth is great through Soma and then Soma is placed in the lap of these nakṣatras' (Rg. X 85 2) In some passages like Rg. VII. 81. 2 and X. 88. 13, it is difficult to say what 'nakṣatram' stands for. Nakṣatra in most of the above passages means a star in general But in Rg. X.
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85 2 and in X. 68 11 (the pitṛs adorned the heavens with nakṣatras)723a nakṣatra appears to mean the 27 well-known asterisms. So also when the Śatapatha contrasts the Kṛttikās (that do not swerve from the east) with other nakṣatras (that do swerve), nakṣatra should be taken to mean asterisms in the Zodiacal belt, the 27 (or 28) constellations in the Zodiacal belt in which the moon appears to move. Another word is 'stṛ' (that is an Indo-European word), which always occurs in the instrumental plural in the Ṛgveda (as in I 68. 5, I. 87. 1, I 166. 11, II. 2 5, II. 34 2, IV. 7. 3, VI. 49. 3 and 12) and is often connected with decking the sky. The word 'ṛkṣa' in the sense of 'star' occurs in Rg⁷²⁴ I. 24. 10 'these ṛkṣas that are established high up (in the sky) are seen at night, but where did they go by day'. This refers to the constellation of the seven sages (Ursa Major). In the Atharvaveda VI. 40 1, the constellation of the seven sages is expressly mentioned: "May Heaven and Earth confer on us freedom from danger here, may the Sun and the Moon do the same for us; may the wide mid regions confer on us freedom from danger and may there be abhaya for us on account of the oblation offered to the Seven Sages" The Śatapatha states that the seven sages were formerly called 'ṛkṣāḥ' (note 727 below) In Rg V. 56 3, VIII. 24. 27, VIII. 68 15 the word ṛkṣa means either 'bear' or something else It has been pointed out above p 494 that in Rg.
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X.55.3 there is a reference to twenty-seven naksatras.⁷²⁵ Apart from that the Ṛgveda mentions the naksatras Tiṣya (as above) and Aghā and Arjunī⁷²⁶ (in Ṛg. X. 85. 13) which two latter correspond to Maghā and Phalgunīs according to the Atharvaveda. It is possible to hold either that Aghā and Maghā were names for the same naksatra in Ṛgvedic times or that Aghā was changed to Maghā by the time of the Tai S. and the Atharvaveda hymns. If the latter alternative be accepted the change in the names of the two naksatras (Aghā and Arjunī) could not have taken place in a short time, but would require at least a hundred years between the time of Ṛg. X.85 on the one hand and Tai. S. and Atharva 19. 7 on the other. This would strongly militate against Max Muller's assignment of two hundred years to the Saṁhitās which are purely hypothetical and the minimum dates (vide Intro p XV to the 4th volume of his 4 volume ed of the Ṛgveda) Apart from Aghā and Arjunī which it is agreed are two of the 27 naksatras, it is probable that the Ṛgveda refers to Mṛgaśīras, Punarvasu, Satabhisak and one or two more by name. The Naksatras are 27 or 28 (adding Abhijit after Uttarā- ṣāḍhā and before Śravaṇa in ancient authorities ) In the Vedic literature, Vedāṅgajyotiṣa and even in Yājñavalkya-smṛti they are enumerated from Kṛttikā to Apabharaṇī (or Bharaṇī) while in works from the 3rd or 4th century A. D. and in modern times they are enumerated from Aśvinī to Revatī.