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गोवीथी Govīthī

the Cow-road · — · Pegasus/Pisces (Pūrva- and Uttara-proṣṭhapadā, Revatī)

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Attestations

Purāṇas · c. 3rd-5th c. CE
पूर्वोत्तरप्रोष्ठपदौ गोवीथी रेवती स्मृता।। १२४.५६ ।।
Pūrva- and Uttara-proṣṭhapadā and Revatī are remembered as Govīthī. — Literal rendering by the compiler

Matsya 124.57 assigns it Pūrva/Uttara-proṣṭhapadā and Revatī. Bṛhat Saṃhitā 9.2cd (GRETIL, Yano/Sugita e-text) reads govīthyām aśvinyaḥ pauṣṇaṃ dve ca api bhadrapade — Govīthī = Aśvinī, Revatī (pauṣṇa, Pūṣan's asterism) and the two Bhādrapadās, i.e. FOUR members. That substantially AGREES with the Matsya, adding only Aśvinī. The often-repeated claim that Varāhamihira makes Govīthī = Hasta/Citrā/Svāti comes from BS 9.1, a different, purely sequential scheme that he explicitly attributes to others (kaiś cit) before giving his own.

Matsya Purāṇa 124.57 · text · translation
Utpala'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॥ … 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। … वीथी नागा नाम्नी स्वातिर्भरणी च कृत्तिका चैव। स्वायम्भुवत्रिभाः स्युर्गजवीथ्यैरावती वृषभा॥ एकपदादिचतुष्कं गौः स्याज्जारद्गवी त्रिभा श्रवणात्। मैत्रात्त्रिभं मृगाऽजा हस्तश्चित्रा विशाखा च॥ द्वे चाषाढे दहना तिस्र उदग्वीथयः क्रमाच्छुभदाः। मध्या मध्यास्तिस्रो याम्याः पापा मृगाद्यास्ताः॥ इति॥

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', 'varuna-shatabhishaj' and 'ekapada' for the three 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 Go-vīthī is the WORST-attested of the nine and the split is total. Devala and Kāśyapa put it at Hasta, Citrā, Svātī ('hastādyā gauḥ prakīrtitā'); Varāhamihira, Parāśara, Garga and the Samāsa-saṃhitā move it to the opposite side of the sky — the four asterisms Pūrva-Bhādrapadā, Uttara-Bhādrapadā, Revatī, Aśvinī (Parāśara: 'the four beginning with Prākproṣṭhapadā'; Samāsa-saṃhitā: 'the four beginning with Ekapāda'). VARIANT NAME-FORM: the bare GAUḤ, in both Kāśyapa and the Samāsa-saṃhitā. Garga's line for it appears to have lost one asterism-name in transmission — 'ahibudhnyāśvipauṣṇaṃ ca' names only three where four are needed, and the two scans differ (Krishna Chandra Dvivedi अहिवृध्न्याद्विपौष्णं, Achyuta Nand Jha अहिबुध्न्याश्विपौष्णं); flagged rather than emended.

Utpala, Vivṛti on Bṛhat Saṃhitā 9.1–9.4, quoting Kāśyapa, Parāśara, Garga and the Samāsa-saṃhitā · text · translation

See also

Airāvata / Jaradgava / Vaiśvānara (the three mārgas)