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कुम्भयोनि Kumbhayoni

Canopus · α Carinae · Carina

individual staridentification certainattestations 1 Canopus α CarHIP 30438mag -0.62

In the living languages

Canopus (14 names)

Attestations

Classical kāvya · c. 4th-5th century CE
प्रससादोदयादम्भः कुम्भयोनेर्महौजसः । रघोरभिभवाशङ्कि चुक्षुभे द्विषतां मनः । । ४.२१ । ।

Devanagari from Sanskrit Wikisource; identical word-for-word with the GRETIL IAST e-text (prasasādodayād ambhaḥ kumbhayoner mahaujasaḥ / raghor abhibhavāśaṅki cukṣubhe dviṣatāṃ manaḥ).

Literal rendering: 'The waters grew clear at the rising of the mighty Jar-born (Agastya = Canopus); the minds of Raghu's enemies grew troubled, fearing defeat.' — Literal rendering by the compiler (no public-domain published translation of this verse was located)

'Jar-born' - a synonym of Agastya, distinct in form from the Amarakosa's Kumbhasambhava already in the database. The star-sense here is decisive and this is the single best kavya witness to Agastya as the autumn marker and clearer of waters: the verse turns on udayāt, 'from the RISING' (i.e. the heliacal rising of Canopus), the effect is that the water grew clear (prasasāda ambhaḥ), and the surrounding stanzas 4.17-4.24 are a set-piece description of śarad (autumn), closing with 'śarat urged him to the march'. A sage does not rise; a star does. Kalidasa elsewhere uses kumbhayoni / kumbhajanman purely of the SAGE Agastya in the Rama cantos (13.36, 15.55, 16.72), so the same word carries both senses within this one poem - the discriminator is 'udayāt' plus the water-clearing.

Raghuvaṃśa 4.21 · text · translation

See also

Agastya, Kumbhasambhava, Maitrāvaruṇi, Muni