Lexicons, Nirukta & Buddhist · Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna c. 2nd–4th c. CE; Mahāmāyūrī c. 4th–5th c. CE
amīṣāṃ bhoḥ puṣkarasārin saptānāṃ nakṣatrāṇāṃ pūrva-dvārikāṇāṃ kṛttikā prathamā nāmāśleṣā paścimā nāma/ ... dakṣiṇa-dvārikāṇāṃ maghā prathamā nāma viśākhā paścimā nāma/ ... paścimadvārikāṇāṃ ... anurādhā prathamā nāma śravaṇā paścimā nāma/ ... uttara-dvārikāṇāṃ dhaniṣṭhā prathamā nāma bharaṇī paścimā nāma/
Literal rendering (Mahāmāyūrī): 'Kṛttikā and Rohiṇī, Mṛgaśiras, Ārdrā, Punarvasu, Puṣya endowed with good fortune, and Aśleṣā is the seventh. These seven asterisms are stationed at the eastern gate; they guard and protect the eastern quarter.' ... 'The twenty-eight asterisms stand seven by seven in the [four] directions.' — Literal rendering by the compiler
A structural scheme attested independently in two Buddhist texts: the 28 are divided into four sevens 'stationed at the gates' of the four directions — Kṛttikā–Aśleṣā (east), Maghā–Viśākhā (south), Anurādhā–Śravaṇā (west), Dhaniṣṭhā–Bharaṇī (north). The Mahāmāyūrī makes each seven the guardian of its quarter. Note the boundaries fall between Aśleṣā/Maghā and between Śravaṇā/Dhaniṣṭhā, i.e. near the old solstitial colures — the same division the Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa's Śraviṣṭhā/Sārpa solstices imply.
Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna (Divyāvadāna 33), pp. 47–52; Mahāmāyūrī-vidyārājñī (Takubo ed. pp. 50–52) ·
text ·
translationChinese Buddhist witnesses · Xiuyao jing 759 CE (revised recension 764 CE); Modengqie jing (T1300) 230 CE; Shetoujian jing (T1301) c. 307 CE
東方七宿，初起於昴。南方七宿，初起七星。西方七宿，初起於房。北方七宿，初起於虛。
T21n1301 at T21.416a13–16: 「厥東方宿，名稱在前、前魚在後。南方宿者，土地在前、善格在後。西方宿者，北魚在前、耳聰在後。北方宿者，貪財在前、長息在後。是為二十八宿。」 (the east's last member and the west's first are corrupt; the south — Maghā first, Viśākhā last — and the north — Dhaniṣṭhā first, Bharaṇī last — match the Sanskrit exactly).
"The seven eastern lodges begin from Mao (Kṛttikā). The seven southern lodges begin from Xing (Maghā). The seven western lodges begin from Fang (Anurādhā). The seven northern lodges begin from Xu (Dhaniṣṭhā)." — T1301: "Of the eastern lodges, Renown (Kṛttikā) is first … Of the southern lodges, Earth (Maghā) is first, Good-Frame (Viśākhā) last. Of the western lodges, … Keen-of-Hearing (Śravaṇa) is last. Of the northern lodges, Greedy-for-Wealth (Dhaniṣṭhā) is first, Long-Breath (Bharaṇī) last. These are the twenty-eight lodges." — Literal rendering by the compiler
The four-gate scheme already on file from the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna and the Mahāmāyūrī is confirmed with identical boundaries by a Chinese translation of 230 CE. T1300 marks the four groups of seven inline as it describes them (有此七宿，在於東方 after Liu/Āśleṣā; 有此七宿，在於南方 after Di/Viśākhā; 有斯七宿，在於西方 after Nü/Śravaṇa; 有此七星，在於北方 after Wei/Bharaṇī) and then restates them as first-members. T1301 gives the same by first and last member. The boundaries therefore fall between Āśleṣā/Maghā and between Śravaṇa/Dhaniṣṭhā in both, exactly as in the Sanskrit — i.e. near the old solstitial colures. Note that T1300 assigns Anurādhā (房) to the WEST and T1301 (in a corrupt line) names 北魚 = Uttarāṣāḍhā as the west's first member, which is plainly an error for 悅可 = Anurādhā; T1301's east-group last member is likewise corrupt (前魚 for 不覲). The Chinese Mahāmāyūrī, T19n0982, independently gives the same four groups of seven guarding the four gates in Chinese lodge-names (e.g. T19.437a09–13, the northern seven: 虛星與危星，室星辟星等，奎星及婁星，胃星最居後).
Taishō T21n1300 fasc. 1 (T21.404c21, 405a04, 405a17, 405a29 and 405b06–08); T21n1301 (T21.416a13–16); cf. T19n0982 (T19.436c–437a) ·
text ·
translation