The Maitrāyaṇī and Kāṭhaka name for the asterism the Taittirīya Saṃhitā calls Svāti — the most substantive divergence between the Yajurveda nakshatra lists. Note the neuter gender (निष्ट्यं नक्षत्रं) and the deity Vāyu, matching TS's Svāti. Macdonell & Keith, Vedic Index (1912) i.417: 'Svati or Nistya is later clearly the brilliant star Arcturus or α Bootis, its place in the north being assured by the notice in the Santikalpa'; their comparative table gives slot 13 as 'Svati | Nistya (neut.) | Nistya' for TS | MS | KS. The same form Nistyā stands in the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa 1.5.1 list. SCRIPT NOTE: the GRETIL Maitrāyaṇī e-text is romanised IAST, not Devanagari; the Devanagari headword is supplied by the compiler and is NOT copied from an e-text.
Home › Sanskrit stars › Niṣṭya / Nistyā
निष्ट्यम् / निस्त्या Niṣṭya / Nistyā
Arcturus · α Boötis · Boötes
nakshatra aliasidentification likelyattestations 1 Arcturus α BooHIP 69673mag -0.05
In the living languages
Arcturus (8 names)
Attestations
Ṛgveda & Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa · c. 1200–900 BCE
... hasto nakṣatraṃ savitā devatā citrā nakṣatraṃ tvaṣṭā devatā niṣṭyaṃ nakṣatraṃ vāyur devatā viśākhaṃ nakṣatram indrāgnī devatānūrādhā nakṣatraṃ mitro devatā jyeṣṭhā nakṣatraṃ varuṇo devatā mūlaṃ nakṣatraṃ nirṛtir devatā ... //MS_2,13.20//
Niṣṭya is the asterism, Vāyu the deity. — No public-domain English translation of the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā located; literal rendering supplied by the compiler (name forms corroborated by Macdonell & Keith, Vedic Index, 1912, i.413)
Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā 2.13.20 (also Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā 39.13) · text · translation