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रोहिणीशकटम् / प्राजापत्यं शकटम् Rohiṇī-śakaṭa / Prājāpatya śakaṭa

the 'Wain of Rohiṇī' — the V-shaped Hyades cluster with Aldebaran · α, θ¹, θ², γ, δ, ε Tauri · Taurus

collectiveidentification certainattestations 1

Attestations

Utpala's commentary · mūla 6th c. CE; commentary 966 CE; Brahmagupta 628 CE

प्राजापत्ये शकटे भिन्ने कृत्वेव पातकं वसुधा। केशास्थिशकलशबला कापालमिव व्रतं धत्ते॥९.२५॥ [टीका] प्राजापत्ये शकटे रोहिण्याः शकटे भिन्ने। शकटभेदलक्षणं गणितकारैरुक्तम्। तथा च ब्रह्मसिद्धान्ते— विक्षेपोंऽशद्वितयादधिको वृषभस्य सप्तदशभागे। यस्य ग्रहस्य याम्यो भिनत्ति शकटं स रोहिण्याः॥ तथा च भानुभट्टः— वृषस्यांशे सप्तदशे विक्षेपो यस्य दक्षिणः। अंशद्वयाधिको भिन्द्याद्रोहिण्याः शकटं तु सः॥ [टीका ऑन २४.३०] षट्तारकत्वाद्रोहिण्याः शकटः समूहः।

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. The mūla half-verse 9.25 is given from GRETIL (https://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/corpustei/transformations/plaintext/sa_varAhamihira-bRhatsaMhitA.txt: 'prājāpatye śakaṭe bhinne kṛtvā^iva pātakaṃ vasudhā / keśa^asthi^śakala^śabalā kāpālam iva vrataṃ dhatte'); the commentary and the two quoted verses from the OCR of the printed edition. The final sentence is from the commentary on BS 24.30.

Mūla 9.25 (Iyer 1884, ch. IX v. 25, verbatim, OCR of the proper name corrected): 'If Venus should pass through the constellation of Rohini, Earth will assume the same appearance of death and devastation as if she was going through the ceremony of Kapala.' Mūla 24.30 (Iyer, ch. XXIV v. 30, verbatim): 'If the Moon should enter the Rohini group and pass through its centre, mankind will be rendered helpless and, troubled by the cries of children for food, they will travel to foreign lands, drinking the waters of muddy pools from their broken bowls.' Commentary (rendered by the compiler): '"In the Prājāpatya cart" — in Rohiṇī's cart, when it is split. The definition of the splitting of the cart has been stated by the computers. Thus in the Brahmasiddhānta: "Whatever planet's southern latitude exceeds two degrees at the seventeenth degree of Taurus, that one splits Rohiṇī's cart." And so Bhānubhaṭṭa: "He whose southern latitude at the seventeenth degree of Taurus exceeds two degrees would split Rohiṇī's cart."' … 'Because it has six stars, Rohiṇī's group is a cart.' — N. Chidambaram Iyer (1884) for the two mūla verses; commentary rendered by the compiler

A NAMED STAR-FIGURE, not a single star: the V of the Hyades read as a cart or wain. Varāhamihira names it twice (BS 9.25 'prājāpatye śakaṭe bhinne'; BS 24.30 'rohiṇī-śakaṭa-madhya-saṃsthite'; also BS 47.14). Utpala supplies two things the mūla does not. (i) A STAR COUNT: 'ṣaṭ-tārakatvād rohiṇyāḥ śakaṭaḥ samūhaḥ' — 'because it has six stars, Rohiṇī's group is [called] a cart' (comm. on 24.30). This is a SIX-star figure, against the FIVE stars of the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna's śakaṭākṛti already in the database — a genuine textual divergence in the count, worth recording. (ii) A COORDINATE: he says the criterion for 'splitting the cart' is a matter for the computers, and quotes the Brahmasiddhānta (Brahmagupta) and one Bhānubhaṭṭa — a planet at Taurus 17° with south latitude greater than 2° splits Rohiṇī's cart. Taurus 17° in the Indian sidereal frame with about 2° south latitude falls on the southern arm of the Hyades V, which fixes the figure on the Hyades independently of the name. NAME-COLLISION: 'prājāpatya' here means Rohiṇī (deity Prajāpati), the same usage as Prājeśa/Paitāmaha, and NOT the separate star Prajāpati (δ Aurigae) of Sūrya-siddhānta 8, nor the circumpolar Prajāpati on the Śiśumāra's tail.

Bṛhat Saṃhitā 9.25 and 24.30, with Utpala's Vivṛti (quoting the Brahmasiddhānta and Bhānubhaṭṭa) · text · translation

रोहिणीशकटम् / प्राजापत्यं शकटम् Rohiṇī-śakaṭa / Prājāpatya śakaṭa

Attestations

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