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Scorpius
Shaula and the Scorpion's sting · λ Scorpii and the ε–υ chain · Scorpius
names 12languages 10stars 14
In the classical tradition this is ज्येष्ठा Jyeṣṭhā, attested in 5 texts.
The names
vernacular 1 · folk 1 · tribal 9 · borrowed 1
| Name | Language | Meaning | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sap | Chhattisgarhi the Baiga chak and the surrounding country — Mandla, Baihar, Kawardha, Dindori and Rewa, in what was then the Central Provinces | 'the snake' Dharti Mata was digging white mud when her cloth fell down and she swung it back over her shoulder; there was a scorpion in the folds of the cloth, and it flew into the air and stuck there. | tribal |
| މުލަ mula | Divehi (Mahl) the Maldives, and Minicoy (Maliku) in Lakshadweep, which speaks the same language and keeps the same calendar | THE FIRST nakaiy of the north-east monsoon, and so the hinge of the Divehi year: the point at which the wind reverses and the sailing season changes. Maniku names ε, μ, ξ, η, θ, ι, χ, υ and λ (Shaula) in Scorpius. | borrowed |
| Michu; Vinchu | Gondi Nagpur region: Chandrapur, Yavatmal, Gondia (Maharashtra), Adilabad (Telangana), Balaghat, Seoni, Mandla (Madhya Pradesh) | the scorpion Michu is held responsible for producing the corpse that appears in Leo. | tribal |
| Borenagu / Borenag / Bornagu; Nago; Nagun / Nagpan | Kolami Kolam villages of Yavatmal and Chandrapur districts, Vidarbha, Maharashtra, and adjoining Adilabad, Telangana | 'a snake'; nāgun 'a cobra' Eight of ten villages. | tribal |
| Danedare Pila | Kolami Kolam villages of Yavatmal and Chandrapur districts, Vidarbha, Maharashtra, and adjoining Adilabad, Telangana | Described as a spiral-shaped asterism; the recorders suggest it is the tail of Scorpius. Two of ten villages. | tribal |
| Tuntor / Tootera | Kolami Kolam villages of Yavatmal and Chandrapur districts, Vidarbha, Maharashtra, and adjoining Adilabad, Telangana | 'a scorpion' Four of ten villages. | tribal |
| Kiding / Clemp | Korku Melghat, Amravati district, Maharashtra, and adjoining Betul and Khandwa districts, Madhya Pradesh | Four of twelve villages recognise the lower part of Scorpius, two the whole figure. | tribal |
| बडवण्या baḍavaṇyā | Marathi Maharashtra | beaters, mallets named from the heaviness of the rain | folk |
| अळी ali | Mavchi Mavchi Bhil villages, north-western Maharashtra | 'a worm' The Pawras noted that Orion and Scorpius are 180° apart, so that when one rises the other sets. | tribal |
| ମୂଳା ଶଙ୍ଖ Mūḻā ṡaṅkha | Odia Odisha | 'the Mūlā conch' Given as the Odia or native name of the 19th asterism, whose eleven stars Praharaj describes as a pair of dogs. The Odia figure for the whole Scorpius region is spelled out in the Jyeṣṭhā note: joining the stars of Anurādhā, Jyeṣṭhā and Mūlā gives a crab-scorpion (କଙ୍କଡ଼ାବିଛା) with its tail curled up — head Anurādhā, back Jyeṣṭhā, tail Mūlā. | vernacular |
| Sapani fani, Fano nikalyo, Naganu fanu, Naganu fan, Nagani fani | Pardhi fourteen Pardhi villages of the Amravati and Yeotmal districts, Vidarbha, Maharashtra, surveyed 2016-2018 | 'the cobra's hood'; 'the hood has come out' Reported in twelve villages. The vocabulary table gives hambel and kavadata for a cobra or snake, so the sky word is the Sanskritic nāg rather than the everyday Pardhi one. | tribal |
| Miroleach | Teressa Teressa island, Nicobars | — | tribal |
Sources
- Verrier Elwin, The Baiga (London: John Murray, 1939), p. 335 link
- Hassan Ahmed Maniku, A Concise Etymological Vocabulary of Dhivehi Language, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, Special Volume XLIV (Colombo, 2000), s.v. mula, p. 181 link
- Vahia & Halkare, 'Aspects of Gond Astronomy', Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage 16(1), 29-44 (2013); preprint arXiv:1306.2416 link
- M.N. Vahia, Ganesh Halkare, Kishore Menon and Harini Calamur, 'The astronomy of two Indian tribes: the Banjaras and the Kolams', Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 17(1), 65-84 (2014), Table 2, p. 71, and Appendix 1.2.6 (Landgi Pod) and 1.2.7 (Chinchpod), p. 82 link
- M.N. Vahia, Ganesh Halkare, Kishore Menon and Harini Calamur, 'The astronomy of two Indian tribes: the Banjaras and the Kolams', Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 17(1), 65-84 (2014), Table 2, p. 71 link
- M.N. Vahia, Ganesh Halkare and Purushottam Dahedar, 'Astronomy of the Korku tribe of India', Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 19(2), 216-232 (2016), Table 2, p. 221 link
- J. T. Molesworth, A Dictionary, Marathi and English, 2nd ed. rev. and enl. (Bombay: Bombay Education Society's Press, 1857), s.v. बडवण्या, p. 562 link
- Shreya Shetye, Ganesh Halkare and Aniket Sule, 'Bhil, Pawra and Kokna astronomy', Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 26(2), 441-468 (2023), p. 464 link
- G. C. Praharaj, Purnnachandra Ordia Bhashakosha: a lexicon of the Oriya language, Cuttack: Utkal Sahitya Press, 1931-1940 (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. ନକ୍ଷତ୍ର Nakshatra, note on the 19th asterism ମୂଳା, p. 4095 link
- Ganesh Halkare, Purushottam Dahedar, Wayne Orchiston and M.N. Vahia, 'Astronomy of the Pardhi tribe of central India', Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 22(1), 179-194 (2019), Table 5, pp. 184-185 link
- M.N. Vahia, Ganesh Halkare, S.A. Awaradi and Kishore Menon, 'In situ studies of astronomy of the Nicobarese tribe of Nicobar Islands', Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology, 6, 1014-1039 (2018), Table 3, pp. 1026-1027 link