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विचृतौ (vicRtau)

 
Monier Williams 1872
English
वि-चृतौ, m. du. ‘two releasers, ’ N. of two stars
the rising of which promotes relief from disease.
Vedic Reference
English
17. Vicṛtau, ‘the two releasers’
Mūla, ‘root’
or Mūla-
barhaṇī, ‘uprooting, ’ denote primarily λ and ν at the extremity
of the tail of the Scorpion, but including also the nine or
eleven stars from ε to ν.
18, 19. Aṣāḍhās (‘unconquered’), distinguished as Pūrvās,
‘former, ’ and Uttarās, ‘latter, ’ are really two constellations, of
which the former is composed of γ, δ, ε, and η Sagittarii, or of
δ and ε only, and the latter of θ, σ, τ, and ζ Sagittarii, or of two,
σ and ζ, only. It is probable that originally only four stars
forming a square were meant as included in the whole con-
stellation^89 — viz., σ and ζ, with δ and ε.
20. Abhijit is the brilliant star α Lyræ with its two com-
panions ε and ζ. Its location in 60° north latitude is completely
discordant with the position of the corresponding Arabian and
Chinese asterisms. This fact is considered by Oldenberg^90 to
support the view that it was a later addition to the system
its
occurrence, however, as early as the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, ^91
which he does not note, somewhat invalidates^92 that view. In
the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa^93 Abhijit is said to be ‘over Aṣāḍhās,
under Śroṇā, ’ which Weber^94 held to refer to its position in
space, inferring thence that its Vedic position corresponded to
that of the Arab Manāzil and the Chinese Sieou — viz., α, β
Capricorni. But Whitney^95 argues effectively that the words
‘over’ and ‘under’ really refer to the place of Abhijit in the
list, ‘after’ Aṣāḍhās and ‘before’ Śroṇā.
89) Cf. Thibaut, Journal of the Asiatic
Society of Bengal, 63, 156.
90) Nachrichten der königl. Gesellschaft
der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 1909,
551, 552.
91) ii. 13, 20.
92) It is at the same time to be noted
that Abhijit is wanting both in the
Taittirīya Saṃhitā and in the Kāṭhaka
Saṃhitā lists.
93) i. 5, 2, 3.
94) Op. cit., 1, 320, 321
2, 307
Indische Studien, 10, 224 et seq.
95) Journal of the American Oriental
Society, 8, 393.