A History of Indian Medical Literature v2.c30.881

v2.c30.881

78 Pāṇini 4.3.34 (see V.S. Agrawala, 1947). Several persons called Punarvasu are known (see MW; PW). The constellation (nakṣatra) Punarvasū consists of α and β Geminorum. The Carakasamhitā knows about the custom of giving a nākṣatrika name to a child (Śā.8.50). Another example of such a name is Phalguna or Phālguna, applied to Arjuna in the Mahābhārata and Bhāgavatapurāṇa. See on names derived from the nakṣatras: A. Hilka (1910): 33–38, 42; J.A. van Velze (1938): 47–49. G. Hāldār (Vṛddhatrayī 74) has his own views on the etymology of the name Punarvasu. P.V. Sharma (AVI 89) suggested that Punarvasu was added to Ātreya's name by one of the revisers of the treatise that became the Carakasamhitā.