Bhagol
HomeSanskrit stars › Nairṛta (nairṛtaṃ nakṣatram)

नैर्ऋत Nairṛta (nairṛtaṃ nakṣatram)

Shaula · λ Scorpii · Scorpius

nakshatra aliasidentification certainattestations 1 Shaula λ ScoHIP 85927mag 1.62

Attestations

Mahābhārata & Rāmāyaṇa · c. 2nd c. BCE – 2nd c. CE
nairṛtaṃ nairṛtānāṃ ca nakṣatram abhipīḍyate / mūlaṃ mūlavatā spṛṣṭaṃ dhūpyate dhūmaketunā //

CE reference R_6,004.046. Griffith and Dutt both place the passage in Yuddha Kāṇḍa chapter 4, so CE and vulgate numbering agree here.

Griffith: 'And Nairrit's influence that aids / Our Rákshas foemen faints and fades', with the footnote 'The lunar asterism Múla, belonging to the Rákshases.' Dutt: 'And Nairita, the radical star of the Nairitas, is sore afflicted and, touched by the rod-bearing Dhumketu is in trouble. All this is for the destruction of the Rakshasas.' — Ralph T. H. Griffith (1870-74) and Manmatha Nath Dutt (1893)

A deity-derived alias for Mūla (Nirṛti is Mūla's presiding deity), identified inside the verse by juxtaposition: 'the Nairṛta asterism OF THE NAIRṚTAS is afflicted; MŪLA, touched by the mūlavat, is smoked by a comet.' The play on nairṛta (the asterism / the rākṣasas, who are Nirṛti's people) and on mūla ('root, base' / the asterism) is the point of the verse — the rākṣasas' own star is being struck. Griffith's footnote makes the identification explicit: 'The lunar asterism Múla, belonging to the Rákshases.' Dutt renders 'Nairita, the radical star of the Nairitas'. λ Sco comes from the Sūrya Siddhānta entry. Not previously in the database.

Rāmāyaṇa 6.4.46 (Critical Edition, Yuddha Kāṇḍa) = Griffith Book VI Canto IV · text · translation