History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.118.1

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.