the Goat-road — a three-nakṣatra segment of the ecliptic belt · — · Scorpius–Sagittarius (Mūla + both Aṣāḍhās) on one reading; Corvus–Virgo–Boötes (Hasta, Citrā, Svāti) on the other
Purāṇas · c. 3rd-5th c. CE (Matsya/Vāyu/Brahmāṇḍa); Bhāgavata c. 9th-10th c. CE
उत्तरं [य]दगस्त्यस्य अजवीथ्याश्च दक्षिणम् । पितृयानः स वै पन्था वैश्वानरपथाद्बहिः ॥ ८५ ॥ — cf. मत्स्य १२४.५८: हस्त चित्रा तथा स्वाती ह्यजवीथिरितिस्मृता।
On the north of Agastya, and south of the line of the Goat, exterior to the Vaiswánara path, lies the road of the Pitris. — H.H. Wilson (1840; public domain)
A star-road, not a star. Brahmāṇḍa 2.21.76 & 159, Matsya 124.53 and Viṣṇu P. 2.8.85 make it Mūla, Pūrvāṣāḍhā, Uttarāṣāḍhā — part of the Pitṛyāṇa. But Matsya 124.58, in the SAME chapter, makes it Hasta, Citrā, Svāti and reassigns Mūla + Aṣāḍhās to Vaiśvānarī. The 1916 translator flags 124.53/58 as corrupt and his rendering as 'tentative only'. Bṛhat Saṃhitā 9.3cd, hasta-viśākhā-tvāṣṭrāṇy aja iti, gives Ajā = Hasta, Viśākhā, Citrā (tvāṣṭra = Tvaṣṭṛ's asterism, Citrā). That independently corroborates Matsya 124.58 (Hasta, Citrā, Svāti) against Matsya 124.53, agreeing on Hasta and Citrā and differing only in the third member. In Bhāgavata 5.23.5 it is placed on the back (pṛṣṭha) of the Śiśumāra.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 5.23.5; Viṣṇu Purāṇa 2.8.85; Matsya Purāṇa 124.53 and 124.58; Vāyu Purāṇa 50.130; Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa 1,21.76 ·
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translationUtpala's commentary · Utpala 966 CE; the authorities he quotes (Garga, Parāśara, Kāśyapa, Devala) are all pre-Varāhamihira, surviving only in citation
अथ मार्गास्त्रयो भवन्त्युत्तरमध्यमदक्षिणाः। पुनरेकैकशस्त्रिधा नव वीथय इत्याचक्षते। तत्रोत्तरे नागगजैरावत्यः। मध्ये वृषभगोजारद्गव्यः। दक्षिणे मृगाजदहनाः। तासां नागाऽऽग्नेययाम्यवायव्यानि। गजवीथी रोहिण्यादीनि त्रीणि। चत्वारि परमैरावती। वृषभा फल्गुन्यौ। गोवीथी प्राक्प्रोष्ठपदादीनि चत्वारि। श्रवणधनिष्ठावारुणानि जारद्गवी। मृगवीथी त्वाष्ट्रहस्तम्। आजी मैत्रमैन्द्राग्न्यधिपमैन्द्रम्। मूलमषाढाद्वयं च वैश्वानरीमितीच्छन्ति। … [९.३ टीका] हस्तो विशाखा त्वष्ट चित्रा। एतानि नक्षत्राण्यजा अजवीथी।
Transcribed from the Devanagari OCR of the printed edition at shloka_source_url (Achyuta Nand Jha ed., vol. 1) and checked word-for-word against two further independent scans of two different printed editions of the same commentary — Krishna Chandra Dvivedi's (https://archive.org/download/brihatsamhitawithbhattotpalavivrittipartidr.krishnachandradvivedi/Brihat%20Samhita%20%20with%20Bhattotpala%20Vivritti%20Part%20I%20-%20Dr.%20Krishna%20Chandra%20Dvivedi_djvu.txt) and A.V. Tripathi's (https://archive.org/download/JiUm_brihat-samhita-part-1-of-varaha-mihira-by-avadh-bihari-tripathi-saraswati-bhavan-granthamala/Brihat%20Samhita%20Part%201%20of%20Varaha%20Mihira%20by%20Avadh%20Bihari%20Tripathi%20-%20Saraswati%20Bhavan%20Granthamala_djvu.txt). Only glyph-level OCR artifacts that all three scans show to be artifacts (e.g. OCR रद्वव for रद्गव, श्व for श्च) have been normalised; every substantive reading is as scanned, and the two places where the scans genuinely differ are flagged in identification_notes.
See db_ids 'varuna-shatabhishaj' and 'tvashtra' for the renderings. — Literal rendering by the compiler
FIVE INDEPENDENT SCHEMES, four of them pre-Varāhamihira, are set side by side by Utpala in ch. 9 — this is the single densest surviving witness to the vīthī system, and the database's vīthī entries hitherto rest on the Purāṇas alone. (a) DEVALA and others: nine triads straight from Aśvinī, Nāgā to Dahanā. (b) KĀŚYAPA: the same triads, given asterism by asterism. (c) VARĀHAMIHIRA'S OWN (BS 9.2–3), which starts the Nāgā with Svātī instead of Aśvinī and gives the Go-vīthī four asterisms and the Dahanā two. (d) PARĀŚARA, differing again (Airāvatī four, Vṛṣabhā two, Mṛga-vīthī two, Ājī = Anurādhā/Viśākhā/Jyeṣṭhā, Vaiśvānarī = Mūla + the two Āṣāḍhās). (e) GARGA, close to Varāhamihira. Plus (f) the SAMĀSA-SAṂHITĀ, Varāhamihira's own lost epitome, agreeing with (c). Utpala explicitly notes the clash — 'atra varāhamihireṇa saha bhedaḥ', 'here there is a difference with Varāhamihira' — and Varāhamihira himself refuses to adjudicate at 9.7. NEW NAME-FORM: ĀJĪ, in Parāśara ('ājī maitram aindrāgnyadhipam maindram'); the short form AJĀ is Varāhamihira's own (BS 9.3 'ajā') and Utpala's. Content is disputed FOUR ways: Varāhamihira, Garga and the Samāsa-saṃhitā give Hasta, Citrā, Viśākhā; Devala and Kāśyapa give the triad from Śravaṇa; Parāśara gives Anurādhā, Viśākhā, Jyeṣṭhā; the Purāṇas (Matsya 124.53, already in the database) give Mūla and the two Āṣāḍhās. Parāśara's testimony bears directly on the self-contradiction the database flags in the Matsya: since Parāśara assigns Mūla + the two Āṣāḍhās to the VAIŚVĀNARĪ, Matsya 124.59 (Vaiśvānarī = Mūla + the Āṣāḍhās) is the sound verse and Matsya 124.53 the corrupt one. The identification is therefore left 'disputed', but the Purāṇic Ajavīthī content is now the odd one out among all six witnesses.
Utpala, Vivṛti on Bṛhat Saṃhitā 9.3–9.4, quoting Parāśara (with Kāśyapa, Garga and the Samāsa-saṃhitā ad 9.1–9.4) ·
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