पैतामह Paitāmaha

Aldebaran · α Tauri · Taurus

nakshatra aliasidentification certainattestations 1 Aldebaran α TauHIP 21421mag 0.87

In the living languages

Attestations

Utpala's commentary · mūla 6th c. CE; Utpala's commentary 966 CE

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.

'Pavana is Svātī. Yāmya is Bharaṇī. Anala is Kṛttikā. These asterisms are the Nāga-vīthī. "Three triads from Paitāmaha": Paitāmaha is Rohiṇī; beginning from it, three vīthīs of three asterisms each are formed, namely: Rohiṇī, Mṛgaśiras, Ārdrā — the Gaja-vīthī; Punarvasu, Tiṣya, Āśleṣā — the Airāvatī; Maghā, Pūrva-Phalgunī, Uttara-Phalgunī — the Vṛṣabhā. "In the Go-vīthī": Aśvinī, Pauṣṇa (which is Revatī), and the two Bhadrapadās, Pūrva-Bhādrapadā and Uttara-Bhādrapadā — these four asterisms are the Go-vīthī.' — Literal rendering by the compiler

'That of Pitāmaha (Brahmā/Prajāpati)' = ROHIṆĪ. Varāhamihira's own word at BS 9.2 ('paitāmahāt tribhās tisraḥ'), glossed flatly by Utpala: 'paitāmahaṃ rohiṇī' — 'Paitāmaha is Rohiṇī'. Confirmed structurally: counting three triads from Rohiṇī yields exactly Gaja, Airāvatī and Vṛṣabhā as Utpala then spells out. NAME-COLLISION, THIRD MEMBER OF A KNOWN FAMILY: the database already flags Prājeśa (= Rohiṇī, Brahmagupta) against the separate star Prajāpati (δ Aurigae, Sūrya-siddhānta 8) and against the circumpolar Prajāpati on the Śiśumāra's tail. Paitāmaha, Prājāpatya (BS 9.25, of Rohiṇī's cart) and Svāyambhuva (Samāsa-saṃhitā, below) are three further Prajāpati-derived epithets that all denote ROHIṆĪ = Aldebaran, not δ Aurigae.

Bṛhat Saṃhitā 9.2 with Utpala's Vivṛti · text · translation

पैतामह Paitāmaha

In the living languages

Attestations

See also