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पितृयाण / देवयान Pitṛyāṇa / Devayāna

the Road of the Fathers / the Road of the Gods — two celestial bands defined by star markers · — · Pitṛyāṇa: north of Canopus and south of Ajavīthī. Devayāna: north of Nāgavīthī (Aries/Taurus) and south of Ursa Major

star roadidentification likelyattestations 1

Attestations

Purāṇas · c. 3rd-5th c. CE
उत्तरं [य]दगस्त्यस्य अजवीथ्याश्च दक्षिणम् । पितृयानः स वै पन्था वैश्वानरपथाद्बहिः ॥ ८५ ॥
On the north of Agastya, and south of the line of the Goat, exterior to the Vaiswánara path, lies the road of the Pitris. / The path of the gods lies to the north of the solar sphere, north of the Nágavithi, and south of the seven Rishis. — H.H. Wilson (1840; public domain)

Valuable for a star database because these are defined ASTRONOMICALLY, by named stellar boundary markers rather than by myth: Agastya (Canopus) and Ajavīthī bound the Pitṛyāṇa; Nāgavīthī and the Saptarṣis bound the Devayāna. Attested identically in three recensions.

Viṣṇu Purāṇa 2.8.85 and 2.8.90; Vāyu Purāṇa 50.208 and 50.216; Matsya Purāṇa 124.97; Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa 1,21.168-169 · text · translation

See also

Agastya, Ajavīthī, Nāgavīthī, Saptarṣayaḥ / Ṛkṣāḥ