सप्तर्षयः / ऋक्षाः Saptarṣayaḥ / Ṛkṣāḥ
the Big Dipper - seven bright stars of Ursa Major (Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, Alkaid) · α, β, γ, δ, ε, ζ, η Ursae Majoris · Ursa Major
saptarshiidentification disputedattestations 11stars 7
In the living languages
Ursa Major (the Big Dipper) (93 names)
Attestations
Vedic corpus
अथ यस्मान्न कृत्तिकास्वादधीत । ऋक्षाणां ह वा एता अग्रे पत्न्य आसुः सप्तर्षीनु ह स्म वै पुरर्क्षा इत्याचक्षते ता मिथुनेन व्यार्ध्यन्तामी ह्युत्तरा हि सप्तर्षय उद्यन्ति पुर एता अशमिव वै तद्यो मिथुनेन व्यृद्धः स नेन्मिथुनेन व्यृध्या इति तस्मान्न कृत्तिकास्वादधीत - २.१.२.४
On the other hand (it is argued) why he should not set up the fires under the Krittikas. Originally, namely, the latter were the wives of the Bears (riksha); for the seven Rishis were in former times called the Rikshas (bears). They were, however, precluded from intercourse (with their husbands), for the latter, the seven Rishis, rise in the north, and they (the Krittikas) in the east. Now it is a misfortune for one to be precluded from intercourse (with his wife): he should therefore not set up his fires under the Krittikas, lest he should thereby be precluded from intercourse. — Julius Eggeling, SBE vol. 12 (1882), pp. 282-283
The ŚB states that the Seven Rishis 'were in former times called the Rkshas (bears)' - preserving the older name ṛkṣāḥ 'bears' (cf. RV 1.24.10) that matches the Greco-Roman Bear, and notes they rise in the north while the Krittikas rise in the east - exactly true of the circumpolar Dipper vs. the equatorial Pleiades. Also shown to the bride in ĀGS 1.7.22.
Purāṇas · Vāyu/Matsya/Brahmāṇḍa c. 3rd-5th c. CE; Viṣṇu c. 4th-5th c. CE; Bhāgavata c. 9th-10th c. CE
सप्तर्षीणां तु यौ पूर्वौ दृश्येते ह्युदितौ दिवि ।
तयोस्तु मध्ये नक्षत्रं दृश्यते यत्समं निशि १०५ ।
तेन सप्तर्षयो युक्तास्तिष्ठंत्यब्दशतं नृणाम् ।
ते तु पारीक्षिते काले मघास्वासन्द्विजोत्तम १०६ ।
When the two first stars of the seven Rishis (the great Bear) rise in the heavens, and some lunar asterism is seen at night at an equal distance between them, then the seven Rishis continue stationary in that conjunction for a hundred years of men. At the birth of Paríkshit they were in Maghá... — H.H. Wilson (1840; public domain), Viṣṇu Purāṇa Book IV ch. XXIV, pp. 484-486
New attestation carrying a distinct astronomical doctrine: the SAPTARṢI CYCLE, in which the seven sages occupy each nakṣatra for 100 human years, completing 27 × 100 = 2700 years. The method is observational and stated: take the two leading ṛṣis visible in the north, and the asterism seen midway between them on the meridian is the one they 'occupy'. Attested in four recensions. Śrīdhara Svāmī's commentary maps the sages onto Ursa Major and notes that the two that rise first are Pulaha and Kratu — i.e. the Pointers, Merak and Dubhe. Whether the cycle tracks any real motion is disputed; the 1916 Matsya editor calls it 'a contrivance of historians', and the sages' proper motion is far too small to produce it.
Viṣṇu Purāṇa 4.24.105-106 (vulgate; = 4.24.25-26 in Pathak's critical ed.); Bhāgavata Purāṇa 12.2.27-28; Matsya Purāṇa 273.39-43; Vāyu Purāṇa uttarārdha 37.413-417; Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa 2,74.230-235 ·
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translationPurāṇas · c. 3rd-5th c. CE
सप्तर्षयस्तु वर्त्तन्ते यत्र नक्षत्रमण्डले।
सप्तर्षयस्तु तिष्ठन्ति पर्य्यायेण शतं शतम्।। २७३.३९
सप्तर्षीणाञ्च यौ पूर्वौ दृश्येते ह्युदितौ निशि ।। २७३.४१
तयोर्मध्ये तु नक्षत्रं दृश्यते यत्समं दिवि।
तेन सप्तर्षयो ज्ञेया युक्ता व्योम्नि शतं समाः ।। २७३.४२
नक्षत्राणामृषीणाञ्च योगस्यैतन्निदर्शनम्।
सप्तर्षयो मघायुक्ताः काले पारिक्षिते शतम् ।। २७३.४३
"In the circle of the lunar constellations, wherein the Great Bear revolves, and which contains 27 constellations in its circumstance, the Great Bear remains 100 years in (conjoined with) each in turn." ... The two front stars of the Great Bear, which are seen when risen at night, the lunar constellation which is seen situated equally between them in the sky, the Great Bear is to be known as conjoined with that constellation 100 years in the sky. ... This is the exposition of the conjunction of the lunar constellations and the Great Bear. The Great Bear was conjoined with the Maghâs in Parikṣit's time 100 years. — 'A Taluqdar of Oudh', The Matsya Puranam Part II (Sacred Books of the Hindus, Allahabad, 1917), p. 344, rendering Pargiter's emended text; public domain. Transcribed from the page images, the archive.org OCR of these pages being badly garbled.
The Matsya recension of the Saptarṣi cycle, independently verified. Its text is corrupt at 273.38-39 (the vulgate repeats सप्तर्षयस्तु where the Brahmāṇḍa/Vāyu have सप्तविंशतिपर्यन्ते कृत्स्ने नक्षत्रमण्डले); both Wilson (1840) and the 1917 Taluqdar edition flag this, and Pargiter emended the passage. NOTE the verse-number offset: the Taluqdar/Pargiter numbering runs one higher than the Wikisource text (Taluqdar 44 = Wikisource 273.43). Wilson's note 81 records the manuscript spread for the Parīkṣit-to-Nanda interval: 1015 years in all his Viṣṇu copies, 1050 in three Vāyu copies and five Matsya copies, 1500 in one Matsya copy — and the Viṣṇu critical edition indeed reads pañcadaśottaram (1015) where the vulgate has pañcāśaduttaram (1050).
Matsya Purāṇa 273.39-43 (Wikisource numbering; = 40-44 in Taluqdar/Pargiter) ·
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translationLexicons, Nirukta & Buddhist · c. 6th century CE
सप्तर्षयो मरीच्यत्रिमुखाश्चित्रशिखण्डिनः ॥ १.३.२२९ ॥
'Ursa major.' — H.T. Colebrooke (1808)
Lexicon attestation adding Colebrooke's explicit roll-call of the seven stars as the seven sages, and the alternative collective Citraśikhaṇḍinaḥ. Note Amarakośa's ordering 'headed by Marīci and Atri' (marīcy-atri-mukhāḥ).
Later siddhāntas & al-Bīrūnī · core text c. 400–600 CE
याम्योदग्गोलसम्स्थानाम् भानाम् अभिजितस् तथा // सप्तर्षीणाम् अगस्त्यस्य ब्रह्मादीनाम् च कल्पयेत् /
8. ... Those likewise of the asterisms (bha) situated in the southern and northern hemispheres, of Abhijit, 9. Of the Seven Sages (saptarshayas), of Agastya, of Brahma etc., are to be fixed .... — E. Burgess (1860)
SS 13.8–9 (the armillary-sphere chapter) directs that day-circles be fixed for the asterisms of both hemispheres, for Abhijit, for the Seven Sages, for Agastya, and for 'Brahmā etc.' — confirming that the treatise treats the Saptarṣayaḥ as observable stars with definite declinations, not merely as myth. Burgess computes this would burden the instrument with forty-two extra circles and remarks that 'such impracticable directions... cannot but inspire the suspicion that the instrument may never have been constructed except upon paper.' Al-Bīrūnī separately gives Ptolemaic Ursa Major catalogue numbers for the seven rishis (Marīci 27th, Vasiṣṭha 26th, Aṅgiras 25th, Atri 18th, Kratu 16th, Pulaha 17th, Pulastya 19th), broadly consistent with the east-to-west mapping on file, and demolishes the Saptarṣi-cycle chronology: 'The words of Garga are without any foundation.'
Utpala's commentary · Utpala 966 CE; Brahmagupta 628 CE; Vṛddha-Garga and Kāśyapa pre-Varāhamihira
यस्मात् सकलज्योतिश्चक्रस्य ध्रुव एव भ्रामकः। तथा च भट्टब्रह्मगुप्तः— ध्रुवयोर्बद्धं सव्यगममराणां क्षितिजसंस्थमृक्षचक्रम्। अपसव्यगमसुराणां भ्रमति प्रवहानिलक्षिप्तम्॥ इति। तेषां मुनीनां चारमहं वृद्धगर्गमतात् कथयिष्ये। वृद्धगर्गो नाम महामुनिस्तन्मतात्तत्कृताच्छास्त्रादिति। … तथा च वृद्धगर्गः— कलिद्वापरसन्धौ तु स्थितास्ते पितृदैवतम्। मुनयो धर्मनिरताः प्रजानां पालने रताः॥
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.
'Because it is Dhruva alone that whirls the entire circle of lights. And so Bhaṭṭa-Brahmagupta: "The circle of asterisms, bound to the two poles and resting upon the horizon, revolves leftward for the gods and rightward for the demons, flung round by the Pravaha wind." I shall declare the course of those sages according to the opinion of Vṛddha-Garga — Vṛddha-Garga being a great sage, from his opinion, that is from the śāstra composed by him. … And so Vṛddha-Garga: "At the junction of Kali and Dvāpara they stood in the asterism whose deity is the Fathers (Maghā), those sages devoted to dharma and intent on the protection of creatures."' — Literal rendering by the compiler
Utpala names his sources for the Saptarṣi doctrine where Varāhamihira names only VṚDDHA-GARGA: he glosses 'vṛddhagargo nāma mahāmuniḥ tanmatāt tatkṛtāc chāstrāt' (from the śāstra composed by him) and quotes Vṛddha-Garga directly on the Kali/Dvāpara junction, and Kāśyapa on the hundred-year residence. No new star-name and no change to the rishi-to-star mapping, which Utpala does not give any more than Varāhamihira does. He does add one cosmological gloss with a named quotation: on BS 13.2 he explains 'dhruva-nāyakopadeśāt' by 'the whirler of the whole circle of lights is Dhruva alone', and quotes BHAṬṬA-BRAHMAGUPTA — 'the circle of asterisms, fixed to the two poles and resting on the horizon, moves leftward for the gods and rightward for the demons, driven by the Pravaha wind.' This is an additional, dated (628 CE) attestation for the database's 'dhruva' and 'pravaha' entries and for the generic 'ṛkṣa-cakra'.
Utpala, Vivṛti on Bṛhat Saṃhitā 13.2 and 13.4, quoting Bhaṭṭa-Brahmagupta, Vṛddha-Garga and Kāśyapa ·
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translationPāṇini & Patañjali · c. 150 BCE (Patañjali). NOT attested in Pāṇini's sūtras.
iha tarhi saptarṣayaḥ igante dvigau iti eṣaḥ svaraḥ prāpnoti . … katham saptarṣayaḥ . antodāttaprakaraṇe tricakrādīnām chandasi iti evam etat siddham .
IAST verbatim from the GRETIL Mahābhāṣya plaintext (text in pausā); the ellipsis marks omitted intervening sentences of the same passage.
Literal rendering: 'But here, in saptarṣayaḥ, the accent [ordained by] "in a dvigu ending in ik" would apply. … How then [is the accent of] saptarṣayaḥ [derived]? — In the section on final-acute [accent], by "of tricakra etc. in the Chandas", this is established.' — Literal rendering by the compiler
NEGATIVE-LEANING FINDING, recorded because the brief asked. Saptarṣi does NOT occur anywhere in Pāṇini's sūtra text (sandhi-tolerant search of both recensions: zero). It occurs in Patañjali only as a citation-word in an ACCENT discussion under 2.1.52: he asks how the accent of saptarṣayaḥ is derived and answers that it follows the tricakrādi rule for the Chandas. Nothing in the passage identifies it as the constellation as opposed to the seven sages, and the accompanying examples (ekāpūpī, pañca-hotāraḥ, daśa-hotāraḥ) are all ritual/numerical compounds. There is also a Vedic quotation at 8.2.15 containing saptarṣimantam. So: the WORD is attested in Patañjali c. 150 BCE; the STAR sense is not established by this source. Similarly Arundhatī does not occur in either text, and Dhruva occurs in the Aṣṭādhyāyī only in its ordinary sense 'fixed' (1.4.24 dhruvam apāye 'pādānam, 3.4.54, 6.2.177) — never as the pole star.
Patañjali, Mahābhāṣya on 2.1.52 (Kielhorn i.396.13-23) ·
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translationVaṭeśvara & Sāmanta · composed 1869 CE (Śaka 1791); edited by Joges Chandra Ray, Calcutta 1899
सप्तर्षीणां ध्रुवं प्राग्भिर्नोक्तः सञ्चारसम्भवात् ।
तथाप्यनुभवात्तेषां व्यवस्था क्रियतेऽधुना ॥ ४१ ॥
पूर्व्वायं शकटाकारमुदक्स्थमुडुसप्तकम् ।
सुरर्षिमण्डलं प्रोक्तं व्यक्तं विश्वनमस्कृतम् ॥ ४२ ॥
तत्पूर्व्वोन्नतरेखायै मरीचिः पश्चिमे ततः ।
वसिष्ठोऽरुन्धतीयुक्तस्तत्पश्चादङ्गिराः स्थितः ॥ ४३ ॥
तत्पश्चाच्चतुरस्रस्य शम्भुदिश्यत्रिरस्य च ।
पुलस्त्यो दक्षिणे तस्य पश्चिमे पुलहः स्थितः ॥ ४४ ॥
Devanagari transcribed by the compiler from the page FACSIMILE (archive.org scan leaf n221 = printed p. 119) because the archive.org OCR of this volume is unusable for Devanagari; the page image itself was fetched in this session at https://archive.org/download/in.ernet.dli.2015.292705/page/n221.jpg . Every numeral was re-read at full scan resolution. Cross-checked against a second, independent scan of the same Ray edition at https://archive.org/download/siddhantadarpanachandrashekarsimha1897_252_Z/ , which agrees character for character on the figures. Round brackets and the figures in them are the PRINTED EDITION'S own: (n) is the serial number of the asterism/star, the figure after it the edition's decoding of the preceding bhūtasaṅkhyā word-numeral, so no numeral has been silently converted here. A handful of the compound word-forms in this worn 1899 type are uncertain and are marked in this database as read, not emended; the FIGURES, which carry the astronomy, were verified at high magnification in both scans.
See the Kratu entry for the translation of verses 41–44 and 53–54. — Literal rendering by the compiler
Sāmanta's collective name for the group is surarṣi-maṇḍala, 'the circle of the divine sages', and he describes it (XII.42) as 'the seven stars standing in the north, cart-shaped, with the front to the east, manifest, saluted by all'. The cart (śakaṭa) figure is the same one the Ṛgveda's ṛkṣāḥ tradition carries. His refusal at XII.41 to take the ancients' silence as final — they omitted the Ṛṣis' dhruva 'because of the possibility of their motion', but he determines it 'from observation' — is a compact statement of his whole method.
Siddhānta Darpaṇa of Candraśekhara Sāmanta, Grahagaṇita, Tripraśnādhikāra, 12th prakāśa (Bhagrahayogavarṇana) 41–45, 53–54 ·
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translationMahābhārata & Rāmāyaṇa · MBh c. 1st–4th c. CE
grahau tāmrāruṇaśikhau prajvalantāv iva sthitau / saptarṣīṇām udārāṇāṃ samavacchādya vai prabhām //
CE lines 06,003.024a/024c.
The effulgence of the constellation known by the name of the seven high-souled Rishis, hath been dimmed. — Kisari Mohan Ganguli (1883-96)
Celestial (as opposed to narrative) Saptarṣi occurrences that meet the discrimination test: MBh 6.3.24 'two planets with coppery-red crests, blazing as it were, stood covering the radiance of the noble Saptarṣi' — a portent in a purely astronomical list; MBh 3.26.13 and 14.26.3 'saptarṣayaḥ ... divi prabhānti' (they shine in heaven); MBh 12.126.25 the simile of the ṛṣis around Dhruva; MBh 5.109.12, the seven ṛṣis with Arundhatī located in the northern quarter; and Rāmāyaṇa 6.4.43, where they circle Dhruva clockwise. The seven-star identification is not stated in the epics; it is carried over from the Bṛhat Saṃhitā entry. Griffith's footnote to Yuddha IV states it explicitly: 'The seven rishis or saints who form the constellation of the Great Bear.'
Mahābhārata 6.3.24 (Critical Edition) = vulgate Bhīṣma Parva Section III; cf. Rāmāyaṇa 6.4.43 ·
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translationClassical kāvya · c. 4th-5th century CE
saptarṣihastāvacitāvaśeṣāṇy adho vivasvān parivartamānaḥ / padmāni yasyāgrasaroruhāṇi prabodhayaty ūrdhvamukhair mayūkhaiḥ // Ks_1.16
Given in IAST from GRETIL (Utz Podzeit's e-text); the Sanskrit Wikisource Devanagari of this stanza is OCR-damaged, reading 'सत्पर्षिहस्तावचिता वशेषाण्यधो'.
Literal rendering: 'Below whose topmost lake-lotuses - those left over from the plucking by the hands of the Seven Sages - the sun revolves, waking them with his upturned rays.' — Literal rendering by the compiler
An astronomical statement dressed as hyperbole: the sun revolves BELOW (adhaḥ ... parivartamānaḥ) the lotuses left over after the Seven Sages have plucked them on Himalaya's lakes, and wakes them with UPWARD-turned rays. This presupposes that the Saptarsi are north of and above the sun's path - which is exactly true of Ursa Major relative to the ecliptic.
Classical kāvya · c. 7th century CE
स्फुटतरमुपरिष्टादल्पमूर्तेर्ध्रुवस्य स्फुरति सुरमुनीनां मण्डलं व्यस्तमेथ् । शकटमिव महीयः शैशवे शार्ङ्गपाणेश्चपलचरणकाब्जप्रेरणोत्तुङ्गिताग्रं ।। ११.२ ।।
See the note on the Dhruva entry for the same verse: both e-texts misnumber it 11.2 and both carry the corruption 'vyastamet'.
Literal rendering: 'More brightly than the small-bodied Dhruva above him shines the outspread circle of the divine sages - like that huge cart in the infancy of the bow-bearer (Krsna), its end tilted up by the thrust of his restless little lotus-foot.' — Literal rendering by the compiler
Same verse as the Dhruva entry above, recorded separately because it gives the Saptarsi group two things the database does not yet have from any source: a relative-brightness comparison with the pole star, and a CART figure (śakaṭa) for the asterism. Magha does not say the Dipper IS called a cart, only that it looks like one - but the simile presupposes the familiar shape.
See also
Marīci, Vasiṣṭha, Aṅgiras, Atri, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Arundhatī, Ṛkṣāḥ