ब्राह्मण Brāhmaṇa

unidentified · — · —

nakshatra aliasidentification disputedattestations 1

Attestations

Ṛgveda & Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa · c. 1200–900 BCE

... revatī nakṣatraṃ pūṣā devatāśvayujau nakṣatram aśvinau devatā bharaṇīr nakṣatraṃ yamo devatā brāhmaṇo nakṣatraṃ somo devatā ... //MS_2,13.20//

Bharaṇī is the asterism, Yama the deity; Brāhmaṇa is the asterism, Soma the deity. — No public-domain English translation of the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā located; literal rendering supplied by the compiler

An anomalous extra nakshatra appended after Bharaṇī at the very end of the Maitrāyaṇī list, with Soma as its deity — 'brāhmaṇo nakṣatraṃ somo devatā'. The MS list already contains 28 including Abhijit, so Brāhmaṇa is a 29th. Macdonell & Keith, Vedic Index (1912) i.414 confirm: 'the list in the Maitrayani Samhita contains 28 Naksatras, including Abhijit, and adds Brahmana at the end as another', noting that Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa 3.1.4 likewise 'mentions Brahmana as the 28th Naksatra' — a point Weber used to argue Abhijit was an interpolation. Almost certainly a ritual or classificatory category rather than an observed asterism; recorded because it is a genuine textual name, not because it is identifiable in the sky. SCRIPT NOTE: source e-text is romanised IAST.

Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā 2.13.20 · text · translation