List of all Articles About the author Ask the author
     


Comparison of Vedic period star name identities from R. H. Allen’s "Star names- Their lore & meaning" of circa 1899 with "Names of Stars from the period of Vedas" from 1999.

Vrishchika, Dhanu, Makara

The first picture above shows a large number of constellations starting from Vrischika(Scorpio), Dhanu(Sagittarius), and Makara(Capricorn). The Nakshathras visible are Anuradha, Jyeshta, Moola, Poorva Ashaada, Uttara Ashada, Abhijit, Shravana and Dhanishta. These are shown as bands in green in the above picture. These are detailed below.

The figure above shows Dhanu(Sagittarius) constellation and the tail of vrischika (Scorpio). 100% of Moola and 100% of Poorva Aashada , and 25% of Uttara Aashada are considered as part of Dhanu. R.H.Allen identifies Moola (or Vischruta) as Shaula, Scorpio-35l,34u, (Ref-1, page 370) where as, Balakrishna calls Ophiuchus-42q as Moola. While Shaula is 12 degrees south of Ecliptic, Ophiuchus 42 q is within 2 degrees of ecliptic. While Shaula is marginally in the Moola range of 17h36m to 18h29m, Ophiuchus 42 q is not in this range.

In Dhanu(Sagittarius), Balakrishna identifies Nunki as Poorva Aashsda. R.H .Allen has not proposed a specific star as Poorva Aashada (Ref 1 Page 354). Nunki or Poorva Aashada falls in the proper Jyotishya range of 18h29m to 19h22m.

The following picture shows the Capricorn Constellation (Makara) with 25% of Uttara Aashada as Dhanu and 75% as Makara, and 100% of Shravana as Makara.

Balakrishna identifies a- capricorni Al Geidi as Uttara Aashada, whileR.H.Allen has not explicitly identified Uttara Aasahda. It is in the range 19h22m to 20h16m. Al Gieidi is at 20h17m a little out of the range.

The ecliptic range 20h16m to 21h9m should show the nakshathra Shravana. Balakrishna has proposed Deneb Al Giedi d-capricorni as Shravana. It is at 21h40m along ecliptic clearly out of range of Jyotishya. R.H.Allen identified the trio Tarazed, Altair and Alshain of Aquila a,b,g (ref –1, page 59) at 19h45m along ecliptic and +10 deg north as Shravana. This identity is in the Uttara Aashada range of 19h22m to 20h16m, and it is nearly 27 degrees north of the ecliptic.

Abhijit is an original nakshathra between Uttara Aashada and Shravana whose use has been discontinued in Jyotishya. It is still reckoned to exist between 20h0m to 20h20m. R.H.Allen identifies Lyra a,e,z, the star Vega included, as Abhiji t(Ref-1, page 288). Vega is at 18h 35m in the Poorva Aashada range of 18h29m to 19h22m. Further, Vega is nearly 50 degree’s north of ecliptic.

Both Abhijit and R.H.Allen’s Shravana are shown in the composite figure below.

R.H.Allen identifies (Ref 1- page 200) the constellation Delphinus as Dhanishta. Constellation Delphinus has seven stars a,b,g,d,q,h,e and is located at 20h40m, and 30 degrees north of ecliptic at +13 deg (ecliptic being at –17 degrees), where as Jyotishya range for Dhanishta is 21h9m to 22h2m.

Clearly identities of Shravana, Dhanishta proposed by both R.H.Allen and Balakrishna are out of the nominal ecliptic ranges proposed in Jyotishya.


 

 

 
Copyright 2005-2006 . All rights reserved.
Site designed by SV3 designs