History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.124

v6.c82.124

It is time now to set out in a list the names of nakṣatras, deities governing them, their gender and the number of stars in each. There is some divergence of views as regards the names and the deities, which will also be pointed out in the appended table: complete lists occur in Tai. S IV. 4.10. 1–3, Tai Br. I. 5 and III. 1, Atharvaveda XIX. 7. 2–5, Kāṭhaka Saṁhitā 39 13, Maitrāyaṇī Saṁhitā II. 13 20 and Vedāṅga-Jyotiṣa. For European equivalents of the Indian nakṣatras, vide Colebrooke in Asiatic Researches vol. IX chart opposite p 322, Dikshit's Marathi work (2nd ed. p 459) and Burgess in J. R A. S for 1893 p. 756. It is not unlikely that there is a veiled reference to Revatī, Punarvasū and Puṣya nakṣatras in Ṛg X. 119. 1–3⁷²⁸, and Ṛg X 86.22 appears to refer⁷²⁹, as Tilak says in 'Orion' p 166 ff., to the Mṛgaśiras nakṣatra; 'Vṛṣākapi 'O Indra' when you dashing upwards came to the house, where was that Mṛga guilty of a good deal of sin, to whom did that Mṛga, that confounds people, go? Indra is superior to all'. From Ṛg I. 161 11 and 13 and IV. 33.7, Atharvaveda IV. 11.11 it appears that the dog-star (Sirius) is referred to, and that twelve days were added at the end of the year during which the Ṛbhus slept or took rest or enjoyed the hospitality of the Sun.⁷³⁰ In Ṛg I. 124.9 'śataṁ te rājan bhiṣajaḥ sahasram' it is possible to see a reference to the Śatabhiṣak nakṣatra of which Varuṇa is said be the devatā in the Tai. Br. III. 1, especially as in the following verse (amī ya ṛkṣā nihitāsa uccā) there is a special reference to the Great Bear or to nakṣatras in general.