त्वाष्ट्र Tvāṣṭra

Spica · α Virginis · Virgo

nakshatra aliasidentification certainattestations 1 Spica α VirHIP 65474mag 0.98

In the living languages

Spica (4 names)

Attestations

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

जारद्गव्यामिति। श्रवणात्प्रभृति त्रिभं नक्षत्रत्रयं श्रवणा धनिष्ठा शतभिषगिति जारद्गव्याम्। मृगाख्या त्रिभं तु मैत्राद्यम्। मैत्रमनुराधा तदाद्यं त्रिभं नक्षत्रत्रितयम्। अनुराधा ज्येष्ठा मूलमिति मृगाख्या। तुशब्दः पादपूरणे। हस्तो विशाखा त्वष्ट चित्रा। एतानि नक्षत्राण्यजा अजवीथी। अषाढाद्वयं पूर्वाषाढोत्तराषाढा चेति दहनवीथी।

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. All three scans print त्वष्ट here where the mūla has त्वाष्ट्राणि; the missing -ra- is an OCR/typesetting artifact, and the sense (Citrā) is stated outright in the same clause.

'"In the Jāradgavī": the triad of asterisms beginning from Śravaṇa — Śravaṇā, Dhaniṣṭhā, Śatabhiṣaj — are in the Jāradgavī. "The Mṛga-named, a triad beginning with Maitra": Maitra is Anurādhā, and the triad of asterisms beginning with it — Anurādhā, Jyeṣṭhā, Mūla — is the Mṛgākhyā. The word tu is a metrical filler. Hasta, Viśākhā, Tvāṣṭra (Citrā): these asterisms are the Ajā, the Aja-vīthī. The two Āṣāḍhās, Pūrvāṣāḍhā and Uttarāṣāḍhā, are the Dahana-vīthī.' — Literal rendering by the compiler

'That of Tvaṣṭṛ' = CITRĀ, whose regent is Tvaṣṭṛ. Varāhamihira's word at BS 9.3 ('hasta-viśākhā-tvāṣṭrāṇy ajā'), glossed by Utpala 'hasto viśākhā tvaṣṭ[ra] citrā — etāni nakṣatrāṇy ajā ajavīthī'. Parāśara's quoted scheme uses it too ('mṛgavīthī tvāṣṭra-hastam'). Utpala confirms the deity at BS 97.4: 'tvaṣṭā citrāyāḥ'. The word is old — Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā 2.13.20, already in the database under 'nishtya', gives 'citrā nakṣatraṃ tvaṣṭā devatā'. Modern star follows the database's 'chitra' entry.

Bṛhat Saṃhitā 9.3 with Utpala's Vivṛti; Utpala on 9.4 quoting Parāśara · text · translation