Purāṇas · c. 3rd-5th c. CE
रोहिण्यार्द्रा मृगशिरो नागवीथिरिति स्मृता। [transmitted reading; emend नागवीथिः → गजवीथिः]
...those of the northern portion are termed Nágavithi, Gajavíthi, and Airávati... — H.H. Wilson (1840; public domain), note 21 to VP 2.8
The second vīthī of the northern (Airāvata) mārga. TEXTUAL PROBLEM: Matsya 124.55 as transmitted reads nāgavīthī for this road, repeating the previous name — certainly corrupt for Gajavīthī. Both witnesses checked (GRETIL's Chaukhamba text and sa.wikisource) share the error, so it is old; the 1916 translator flags it, noting the text Wilson quoted should read Gajavīthī. Wilson's own note 21 to VP 2.8 lists Gajavíthi among the nine.
Matsya Purāṇa 124.55 (transmitted as nāgavīthī, emend to gajavīthī); named in Wilson's note 21 to Viṣṇu Purāṇa 2.8 ·
text ·
translationUtpala's commentary · Utpala 966 CE; the authorities he quotes (Garga, Parāśara, Kāśyapa, Devala) are all pre-Varāhamihira, surviving only in citation
त्रिष्वश्विन्यादिषु यदा चरति भृगुनन्दनः। नागवीथीति सा ज्ञेया प्रथमान्या निबोधत॥ रोहिण्यादिगजा ज्ञेयाऽदित्याद्यैरावती स्मृता। मघाद्या वृषभा ज्ञेया हस्ताद्या गौः प्रकीर्तिता॥ जारद्गवी विशाखाद्या मूलाद्या मृगवीथिका। अजवीथी विष्णुभाद्याऽजाद्या तु दहना स्मृता॥ इति॥ … [९.२ टीका] पवनः स्वातिः। याम्यं भरणी। अनलः कृत्तिकाः। एतानि नक्षत्राणि नागवीथी। पैतामहात्त्रिभास्तिस्रः। पैतामहं रोहिणी तत आरभ्य त्रिभास्त्रिभिस्त्रिभिर्भनक्षत्रैस्तिस्रो वीथयो भवन्ति। तद्यथा—रोहिणीमृगशिरआर्द्रा गजवीथी। पुनर्वसुतिष्याश्लेषा ऐरावती। मघा पूर्वफल्गुनी उत्तरफल्गुनी चेति वृषभा। गोवीथ्यामिति। अश्विन्यः पौष्णं रेवती द्वे भद्रपदे पूर्वभद्रपदोत्तरभद्रपदे। एतानि चत्वारि नक्षत्राणि गोवीथी।
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 'aditya-punarvasu' and 'paitamaha' 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. The Gaja-vīthī is the ONE vīthī on which every authority Utpala quotes agrees: Rohiṇī, Mṛgaśiras, Ārdrā. The database's entry for it rests on a conjectural emendation of Matsya 124.55; Utpala's five witnesses put the content beyond doubt.